… and other useful phrases! Learning Danish with Duolingo is challenging and fascinating even if some of the vocabulary is obscure and some of the phrases downright weird.

If you have access to the internet an activity accessible to all is learning a language and using Duolingo is one way of going about it. I haven’t investigated the app, just the website but I had been aware of Duolingo for some time as people I had taught Spanish to had often mentioned it. I looked at the Spanish materials a while back and thought the choice of vocabulary was a little random, an opinion confirmed in spades when I started to learn Danish. I’m not sure words like hedgehog and penguin are essential for beginners of any language!

I had always wanted to try a language that was not Latin-based to see how I would get on. Watching Danish dramas on television I noticed words with links to northern English or Scottish dialect (barn for child, kendte for knew) so I thought it would be interesting to give learning Danish a go.

Many more linguistic links came along such as dale for valley or rygsaeck for backpack and I found that when we next watched a Danish drama I could pick out a word or two. I even on occasion recognised a whole sentence. That felt like progress!

Although you can pay for access to more exercises on Duolingo, there is far more free content on there than I expected. As I wanted to test how good Duolingo was as a language learning method as well as have a go at learning Danish, I didn’t consult any other materials for a long while. Eventually, however, I felt frustrated by not having a set of pronunciation rules so I looked online for some information.

If I seriously needed to learn Danish for some reason, or any other language for that matter, I would go about it differently. Having taught languages for over twenty years my advice to anyone would be to take a multi-pronged approach. You need exposure to some authentic language rather than the out-of-context praises on Duolingo. I was able to experience this thanks to the many Danish dramas available to view but there is an argument that it is better to be exposed to language which is just a little bit more advanced than the level you are at as some people find it off-putting when they cannot understand every word they are hearing or reading.

This is where things like graded reading materials come in or sites like News in Slow Spanish. I would advise using both methods: some easier stuff and some more challenging stuff!

Obviously, different approaches suit different people but it is always good to push yourself and try things which might not be your favourite way of learning but which are nevertheless beneficial. For example, if you prefer working methodically through a grammar exercise, try something a bit more unstructured for a change such as looking at a newspaper or listening to the radio from the country whose language you are studying. If being methodical isn’t your thing, sometimes you could try focusing on a particular area of grammar you are unsure of: look up the rules and do some exercises until you feel confident with it.

Duolingo is one tool in your language learning kit. It’s not perfect but it’s compelling, it’s fun and it’s free!