Language acquisition for procrastinators

I am a procrastinator.  And I'll bet I am not alone in the world.  But I think I have found a language learning program that I will stick with for a while.

Last week I wrote about starting DuoLingo,

a web-based language learning program available on computer and mobile devices.  For the first few days, I tried out the program just on my laptop.  Recently I also put the free app on the iPad, and today, waiting for a friend at a restaurant, I downloaded the app for the iPhone. Now I have fewer excuses not to improve my language skills.

Instructions for using the program are minimal, which for a procrastinator is a good thing. You can't put off starting by saying that you are going to learn how to use it first (old thinking!).  I just started clicking on buttons.  Nothing disastrous happened.  I chose Portuguese as my language and was taken through a series of  questions and then placed at a certain level.  If I would have realized that I was being given a placement exam, I would have been a bit more careful with my answers, but I feel comfortable with the results.  The questions are (like the Three Bears) sometimes a little too easy, sometimes a little too hard, and sometimes just right.

I'm not absolutely certain about the following information, but it appears that you can practice grammar skills

and vocabulary

to gain experience points (if you are successful - not always easy). You can also participate in real world translations.  I have only felt brave enough to choose the practice option up to now.

When you sign in, you are given three icons at the bottom of the screen.  One is learn, one is practice, and one is store.  The store allows participants to spend virtual currency, called Lingots, for virtual prizes.  I'm getting in over my head here, so I'll stop and talk about motivation, an important topic in the field of language acquisition.

Language acquisition is a task that is appealing to many people but very difficult to follow through on.  I am very impressed with the motivational features of DuoLingo and surprised at myself for devoting extra time for a few extra experience points.  And when I receive an email from the DuoLingo gently chiding me because I haven't participated yet that day, I feel real guilt and move language learning up to the top of my to do list.  

Last night I really wanted to skip language instruction and escape into a good murder mystery novel, but I used my iPhone to do a practice and earned 10 experience points!  I'll be exploring more features this week. If you use DuoLingo, please let me know your experiences.

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