Duolingo Latin

Slipping words

In January 2019 I started having online Latin lessons together with another student once a week. I had never learn Latin before, but by June I was translating Latin A-level exam papers as homework. Latin grammar seemed logical straight away because I am familiar with inflection in modern languages. I accurately translated original Latin text with the help from dictionaries, but I quickly forgot most words I came across.

Even a fast learner needs constant repetition

Latin as a 'dead language' is tricky to learn. To master any language you need to first understand what you hear and then use it to create spoken or written content. This cannot be applied to Latin easily, but Duolingo cleverly pretends that Latin is still spoken nowadays and builds the course around familiar subjects and audio samples. Repeatedly hearing Latin sentences and then transcribing them strengthens the ability to recall words and phrases.

My overview: solid basics in three weeks

Duolingo Latin / English site language

Content	22 topics with 5 levels each
Method	Assisted production, Recall, Listening, Unassisted Production
Completed course	in 20 days
Time spent	27 hours

Strengths

The magic of immediate feedback and the grind of constant repetition

• immediate feedback: any time you make a mistake in a sentence, the app shows you where you made the mistake and the correct solution.
  You will get a chance to practise the same sentence again at the end of the exercise until you master the task, and only then you move on to the next exercise.
• it's free but all your activity is analysed to create ‘the most effective educational system possible’
• user friendly interface
• male and female voices on audio samples
• repetition: it can be a hard and boring pill to swallow, but it certainly helps with properly memorising the learning material
• a marathon instead of a sprint: the higher the level, the longer it takes to complete

Weaknesses

Shies from real Latin

• verbs only in the present tense
• no genitive and dative case
• limited scope of topics
• little chance of being able to translate any Latin text despite having completed the course

Summary

This is an useful app to get to grips with the foundations of Latin using really effective methods. Its biggest strength is that it mimics how people learn to speak a living language. Its biggest weakness is that is forgets the goal of learning Latin: to be able to make sense of real Latin, which means historical texts. More advanced topics could have easily introduced adapted passages from the Latin literature.

It is ironic that there are more Duolingo learners of Klingon or Esperanto than Latin, yet none of them offers the wealth of intellectual and cultural legacy like Latin. A significant proportion of English vocabulary derives from Latin so its echoes are still very much present. Give Duolingo Latin course a go, then find a tutor and make friends with the ablative absolute. Valete!