From Duolingo to reality: My week of learning Italian and what it taught me

This summer, I enjoyed three weeks of campervanning with my family through central Europe, marking the third consecutive August that I spent exploring different European countries. From travelling through Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France, the experience of different cultures was also met with different languages, including those I was very unfamiliar with. Although I had completed a GCSE in German, meaning I had basic conversational knowledge, my linguistic skills in French were not strong, and I had no experience in Italian at all. Spending a week in Italian speaking areas, such as Lake Como and Lugano (an Italian speaking Swiss city), it felt like the perfect time to set myself the challenge of learning basic, yet functional, Italian, over the space of the week, to embrace the culture more deeply.

My method of learning came in the form of Duolingo, the most popular language learning app, and equally the most accessible. Duolingo has become a highly successful educational app, offering courses in 38 different languages, hooking users with their engaging features such as personal streaks and friend quests. Prior to my personal Italian challenge, I was a frequent Duolingo user, primarily to keep up my German skills I’d learnt in school. However, I wanted to know if learning a language from scratch on Duolingo would be enough for me to have grammatically correct Italian conversations. And my final verdict is… kind of?

Duolingo makes starting a language from scratch incredibly easy, with the mixture of learning vocabulary with matching images, and filling in basic sentences.

The format of Duolingo makes starting a language from scratch incredibly easy, with the mixture of learning vocabulary with matching images, and filling in basic sentences, making various words very catchy. The beginning of the Italian course clearly caters to those wanting to transfer their skills to travel, with the first one being ‘Order in a cafe’, as well as learning how to introduce yourself. After about 30 minutes, I could confidently, and politely, introduce myself and order a drink. My family also upgraded our plan to Duolingo Max, meaning I could access the feature of AI roleplay. Going from practising the basics of learning a language, I could transition into conversational practise, being able to respond to various statements and continue an italian discussion. This felt like a bit of an achievement for me, especially with Italian being completely new to me.

However, after practising Duolingo for a week, whilst being immersed in the Italian world and its culture, I found myself having doubts about speaking the language with Italian natives. Notably, when buying something at a shop, those who can speak the native language speak far quicker than what I was used to on Duolingo, leaving me feeling rather confused and a bit stunned to speak. Similarly to slang used in English, I felt like my lack of experience in Italian meant I could not pick up on colloquial methods of phrasing that were not expressed on Duolingo. Although I had practised rather intensively, I felt a bit embarrassed, and lacked the confidence to string together the words I had memorised so far.

I think Duolingo, especially for travel, is a good starting point, but if you are aiming to become fluent, you need some additional learning tools.

From these experiences, I felt unsure whether learning on Duolingo seemed as worth it as I thought. Whilst I knew the words, I didn’t feel like I had the confidence to actually speak them, from fears of being misunderstood or embarrassed. Duolingo, compared to the likes of immersion language learning, felt a bit gimmicky and gamelike. I think Duolingo, especially for travel, is a good starting point, but if you are aiming to become fluent, you need some additional learning tools.

Nevertheless, I do think Duolingo is a truly valuable app, as are all language learning apps, considering how valued language efficiency is in the working world. However, maybe the game-like nature of Duolingo doesn’t suffice your travel needs, and what is really necessary is the personal confidence to actually say the words in a foreign environment. Hopefully, with a bit more practice, my Italian learning will improve, but I definitely feel I need to browse for wider resources to assure myself when travelling in the future.