Duolingo vs. Rosetta Stone

Whether you are traveling or simply want to communicate with friends abroad, speaking a second language is a huge asset. With so many learning apps like Duolingo and Rosetta Stone, instruction in a classroom is no longer the only option- but how exactly do apps compare to traditional classroom learning? Which app is most effective for achieving fluency?

Duolingo and Rosetta Stone both use different teaching methods. Duolingo is more poised toward language engagement and basic exposure, while Rosetta Stone works to build a strong foundation using a more traditional and immersive approach. For these reasons, Rosetta Stone is our clear winner.

Depending on what your goals are and how much time you have to commit to the task, each program has its benefits. While Duolingo may be a more fun and accessible way to get acquainted with a language, Rosetta Stone will guide you through lessons in a more formal approach. Either way, to achieve true fluency you will have to supplement both programs.

Learning a language demands commitment: daily practice and exposure to your target language are essential. In a traditional academic setting, this means committing to at least four hours of classroom meetings a week, hours of homework, and grueling assessments. The progression is slow but builds core skills needed to achieve true language fluency.

In today’s day and age, however, many don’t have the time or effort for such a commitment. Cue Duolingo and Rosetta Stone. Online programs offer a modern approach to language learning, with the intent to achieve fluency in your target language through providing:

Virtual lessons.

Practice activities.
Comprehensive assessments to track progress.

Both use elements of traditional learning, adapting them in their unique ways.

Though both Duolingo and Rosetta Stone have the same goal of helping you achieve fluency, they take very different approaches. Take Duolingo for example. The app is designed much like a game: earn virtual coins, unlock levels, and build your fluency score by completing lessons. The app is free to download and to use for both Android and Apple.

Contrastingly, you will have to pay subscription fees to use Rosetta Stone. The program uses deductive reasoning in an immersive approach to language learning, opting to follow similar methods used in formal classroom settings. Each core lesson introduces new material followed by activities to build on pronunciation, reading, listening, grammar, and vocabulary.

In reality, both programs in and of themselves will not be enough to perfect your language skills. Though both are good tools to build vocabulary and expose you to your target language, you will need to supplement in other ways, like:

Getting a tutor to use your language in a real-life setting, and to get tailored feedback.

Reading and writing every day. Buy a book or find a penpal to correspond with!

Practicing comprehension by listening to music, podcasts, or watching movies daily.

The road to fluency is long and winding, but to get there we must first understand our destination- what exactly does it mean to be fluent?

What Exactly does it mean to be Fluent?

‘Fluent’ as defined by Merriam-Wester dictionary describes someone capable of using a language easily and accurately- but how exactly does one measure such things? Not so simple is it. Everyone experiences varying degrees of ease and accuracy when using a language, depending on their level. Therefore, there exist different degrees of fluency, too.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is a widely recognized standard for assessing fluency levels. They use a six-point scale beginning at A1 (beginner) up to C2 (mastery). Each level has proficiency benchmarks and qualifications. These categories help to more precisely determine language abilities and fluency.

There are three categories, split into two alphabetical and numerical levels, including:

Basic user:	A1, A2.
Independent user:	B1, B2.
Profiencet user:	C1, C2

Some overlaps between levels exist, but each has distinct characteristics as follows :

A1: at the A1 level learners can introduce themselves and converse using basic words and phrases. They can also ask and respond to basic questions. Learners can interact simply and understand others only if they speak slowly.

A2: At this level, learners can understand common expressions and converse about simple and routine matters. They also can describe and discuss their background, immediate environment, and basic needs.

B1: at the B1 level you are now considered an independent user who can understand more complex ideas like dreams, hopes, ideas, and opinions. These learners can explain opinions and understand the main points of standard daily topics.

B2: level B2 learners can interact and converse with native speakers with spontaneity and ease. They can have technical discussions in their area of expertise and can understand the main ideas of complex abstract and concrete topics.

C1: at this level, the speaker is now considered a proficient user of the language. They can communicate flexibly and effectively in social, academic, and professional environments, with little hesitation.

C2: the final and highest level of fluency, the C2 level describes a fluent speaker who understands virtually everything they hear or read. They can summarize information from different sources and reconstruct them coherently.

While Duolingo and Rosetta Stone may give you the tools to reach an A2 or B1 level, you will not be able to advance much farther with just the apps alone. Only when you supplement with other resources and support will you have the potential to attain upper levels of fluency.

Duolingo: What’s all the Hype About?

Duolingo is the new language learning app on the block. The program quickly became a sensation when it launched to the public in 2012, and we can see why it’s a fan favorite. There are over 34 languages to choose from for English learners, including:

Arabic
Chinese

Dutch
French
German

Italian
Korean
Spanish

In addition to these options, Duolingo even has a course on High Valyrian-all this to say there is a language out there for everyone. Even so, the most popular language on the app has consistently and overwhelmingly been English, with Spanish and French battling it out for second place.

It’s easy to see why Duolingo has become the most popular way to learn a language and the most downloaded education app in the world. It’s highly structured lessons progressively guide you through more complex topics, while the game-like interface feels whimsical, colorful, and fun. Reminders to complete lessons keep you accountable and on track.

If you’re an aspiring polyglot, you even have the option of toggling between more than one language. Duolingo’s short, informative lessons make it addictive- it’s quick and easy to pull out your phone and learn anywhere, even while you wait for the bus or on your commute.

Duolingo differs greatly from Rosetta Stone, though there are some overlaps with both programs. To pick a winner we compared the two apps, focusing on:

App interface
Methods of teaching

Results that learners achieve.

Interface

Many learners note that Duolingo looks and feels like a gaming app- and they are not wrong. You can download the app for free to use on both your phone and desktop computer. Duolingo has a colorful and easy to navigate interface, so getting to know your way around doesn’t require much help.

Before you begin, you will create a profile, choose your target language, and set your weekly goals. Duolingo offers a placement test that will assess your language level to tailor where you should begin learning. Once you are placed, Duolingo helps learners gradually build vocabulary and familiarity with grammar, mainly through translation and repetition.

To start a lesson, click on the green owl icon on your laptop or phone to open the app, and you will be immediately directed to your skills tree. Each skill is represented by a circle and an image depending on the topic. All learners will generally start with the basics unless they have some previous experience with the language.

Each skill module has 5 levels each, starting at level 0. Each level contains a lesson, which generally can be completed in around 5 minutes. Much like a game, you earn XP points, gems, and crowns by completing levels. Lessons are quite consistent in formating and will generally touch on reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.

Reading and Writing Activities

Reading and writing activities are most common, and include the following:

Translation.
Light bulb icon explanations.
Reading and understanding transcripts and stories.

One of the core activities on Duolingo is translating from your native language into your target language, and vice versa. You will be prompted to pick from a word bank to translate a word, group of words, or sentence. Often you will have to string together sentences, placing the words available to you in the correct order. You can also opt to type the words yourself.

These activities are repetitive, as Duolingo will choose key vocabulary or word structures to focus on and reinforce throughout each lesson. Translation is a great activity because it reinforces sentence structure and helps strengthen grammar components, like agreement.

Light bulb icons provide bonus information and explain more complicated structures, like grammar conjugations. These light bulbs are crucial to your understanding of the material and to deepen your mastery of concepts. Besides, Duolingo has provided transcripts for a reading component of Podcasts and stories for extra practice.

Listening and Speaking Activities

In addition to reading and writing, listening and speaking are essential skills to build on when learning a language. Duolingo agrees, and uses activities to bolster these skills, like:

Pronunciation.
Podcasts and stories.

Speaking exercises.

Pronunciation is present throughout the app, however, if you are not able to play audio for any reason you do miss out on this aspect. Whenever you click on a word the app pronounces it for you. Podcasts and stories are the newest and most welcome addition to the app. Each 20-minute Podcast episode contains a native-speaker discussing various topics.

Stories are another way to get comprehension practice. They break the mold of traditional core activities, taking you through a story read by a native speaker. However, they are only available in the following languages:

Spanish
French
German

Portuguese

Speaking exercises are also part of core module activities, however, if you are not able to participate you can opt-out of these. To practice, you are presented with a word or sentence to read aloud. The app listens to your pronunciation to assess if you were successful, then pronounces it correctly so you can compare your answers.

Methods

As a learner, it’s crucial to find an app that is conducive to your unique learning style and goals so you can set yourself up for success. Duolingo offers structure and progression, only allowing you to unlock new modules once you complete current ones. This allows you to build on concepts, and grow your knowledge progressively.

You will often reencounter the same words and concepts throughout a module, but if you feel it’s too easy you can test out of lessons to advance to more difficult concepts. Though it is successful in engaging users and progressively exposing them to vocabulary, syntax, and grammar, Duolingo can fall short on key aspects, including:

Scope and Challenge: the scope of education and cultural intelligence is lost in the core modules. The focus is generally on translation and not other important skills like production. Duolingo is also limited in how it challenges you. Multiple-choice options are usually obvious and don’t allow for deductive reasoning.

Native-langue: Duolingo uses your native language throughout lessons as you translate back and forth. You also have the option to click on a word at any time for its definition. Immersion into the language is therefore not possible, limiting your capabilities to grow a deep understanding of the language.

General Skills: as the main bulk of work is translation, learners don’t get the opportunity to produce or read complex written texts. Oral production is also minimal as you are only tasked with repeating phrases, and not organically generating them. You can opt-out of these activities too, so speaking can fall completely to the wayside.

Assessment: though you get instant feedback on right or wrong answers, there is no nuance or explanation. This is especially true for speaking exercises.

If you are a learner that thrives on structured tutorials or explicit grammar explanations and are looking for challenging and immersive lessons with tailored feedback, Duolingo may not be the app for you.

Results

So how long does it take to see results? According to a study by Duolingo on Spanish and French learners, it took about 120 hours on the app to reach an A2 proficiency level. Duolingo users’ listening and reading skills were on par with university students who had completed four semesters’ worth of language courses- or about 240 hours of learning!

These impressive stats can largely be attributed to Duolingo’s genius engagement tactics. In fact, Luis Von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo, admits that their main focus when building content is more about retention of users than propelling them quickly towards fluency. The hardest part of a language is the commitment, and Duolingo tackles this head-on.

The addictive formatting of the app, coupled with daily reminder notifications and emails, has resulted in about 27.5 million active monthly users. Though seeing that little green bird pop up on your screen can get annoying, it serves a purpose. In theory, the more engagement with the app, the more learning that takes place- but it’s not that simple.

Prioritizing retention of users over content means learners aren’t reaching their full potential and learning as quickly as possible to reach their goals. Using the app alone is not enough to help reach true fluency, but works well for basic conversational phrases and exposure to language structure and vocabulary.

Though it falls a bit short on pragmatics, Duolingo is by far the best free language app. It’s best for beginners who want to learn quickly and is an effective and fun way to get exposure to a language.

Rosetta Stone: How does it Compare?

So what about the veteran Rosetta Stone? How does it compare to Duolingo? Rosetta Stone has been around since the early ’90s and has been the go-to language learning program for 25 years. With a total of 28 languages, the program beats out Duolingo. Most notably you can learn:

Farsi
Swahili
Pashto

Urdu
Dari
Filipino

Unlike Duolingo, Rosetta Stone is not free. Users have a variety of subscription options as follows:

3-month subscription:	Language of your choosing for 36 dollars.
12-month subscription:	Unlimited languages for 179 dollars.
Lifetime access:	Unlimited languages for 199 dollars (best value).
Lifetime access Plus:	Unlimited languages, plus 12 months of unlimited group coaching for 299 dollars.

Each package offers the full course and the app, so you can work at home or on the go. All programs also include their patented TrueAccent speech recognition software for personalized feedback, and extended learning resources like podcasts, stories, and phrasebooks to complement your lessons. Bonus: you can learn multiple languages at once!

Rosetta Stone is particularly interesting because of their patented Dynamic Immersion method; the learner experiences the language, using their senses to associate images to meanings. Studies show that multi-sensory learning enhances language acquisition, so Rosetta Stone replicated this making it the basis of their lessons.

Motivational learning is crucial to language success, so Rosetta stone learners will never simply translate sentences. Instead, their brains are pushed to make necessary connections between images, sounds, and meaning instead of just being fed information. This method of learning is modeled after first language acquisition in children.

Interface

Rosetta Stone has had decades to perfect its platform and interface. For this reason, the platform is sleek and simple. When you join Rosetta Stone you will be prompted to choose a language, and then your goal for the language, which includes:

Travel

Career
Family
Basic and Beyond

Rosetta Stone doesn’t have a placement test and it’s up to you to choose your level. The good news is you can jump around to easier or harder lessons if you didn’t choose correctly, unlike Duolingo. The interface is intuitive and you won’t need much help finding your way around.

You can quickly check your progress and scores for each lesson by looking at your dashboard. This simple organization keeps you up to date on your progress. If you are working on your app, progress will automatically sync to your desktop.

Core lessons take about 30 minutes to complete and are broken down into 5 to 10-minute sub-sections. Each of these modules can involve pronunciation, reading, listening, grammar, vocabulary, and more. Also, the program exclusively uses your target language, forcing you to immerse yourself in full. Most activities follow the same consistent format:

Step 1: The learner is presented with four images.
Step 2: They see or hear a word they must associate with the correct image.
Step 3: After repeatedly encountering the word through a series of activities, the learner will produce it themselves in speech and writing.

Activities are extremely repetitive, however, repetition is a key component to language acquisition and simply apart of the process. If you have no experience with a language you may find the program difficult at first as there are no translations or instructions in English. This immersive experience is proven to help accelerate learning and progression.

Methods

Rosetta Stone is built around research that says immersion is the best method of learning a language. For this reason, you will not find any text or instruction in your native-language anywhere in your lessons. Learners will be pushed to use deductive reasoning from the get-go, instead of simply receiving translations of words or phrases to memorize.

Learners can also better tailor the program to their immediate needs. Unlike Duolingo, learners have the option of picking why they are learning the language to build vocabulary in those areas. One of the coolest features of Rosette Stone is its TruAccent voice-recognition system that gives you instant and tailored feedback on your accent and speaking accuracy.

The best part is you can adjust the degree of difficulty depending on your abilities. This is a huge feat, as the major problem with online language learning is the lack of individualized feedback.

Rosetta Stone knows that just completing the core lessons will not be enough to get you to true fluency, so that’s why they offer supplementary resources in the Extended Learning Section, like:

Play: you can choose to play games solo or with other learners. Games are a fun and interactive way to get you to use your target language in a real-life situation.

Talk: language production is the hardest part of learning a second language, so that’s why Rosetta Stone offers the opportunity to chat with other learners and native speakers. You can even hire a native-speaking tutor for real-time feedback and tailored help, or join a group class with other students.

Read: In core lessons, learners don’t have the opportunity to read long, complex texts. For this reason, Rosetta Stone offers resources for you to read or listen to stories read by native-speakers. You can even record yourself reading to get more practice!

Though Rosetta Stone may be extremely repetitive with its content and does not offer a placement test, it’s other features and resources make up for it. Its hefty price-tag may deter you at first, but the program offers the best alternative to traditional classroom learning with all of the benefits of immersion and deductive-reasoning.

Results

With Rosetta Stone, you will quickly be on your way to fluency. Studies show that one semester’s worth of learning can compare to 55 hours of learning with Rosetta Stone. However, Duolingo wins this one by a mile as learners achieved the same results with only 34 hours on the app. Duolingo therefore can teach you faster, but what about quality?

In terms of quality, Rosetta Stone takes the cake. Learners work through lessons built around research employing the best methods for memory retention, language acquisition, and motivational learning. Though you may not be able to hop on a plane to experience real immersion yourself, you get the next best thing with Rosetta Stone.

With Rosetta Stone, you will learn a language from the ground up, and not just simple words or phrases that you have learned to translate. Learners organically produce oral and written speech with the program, unlike Duolingo which doesn’t offer much real-world practice. When you start to think in your target language, magic happens.

Don’t be fooled though- you won’t become fluent by just completing core lessons. To reach levels higher than A2 or B1 you will have to supplement with Extended Resources or with a tutor. Using your language as much as possible is the only way you will achieve your goal of true fluency.

Wrap-up: Our Clear Winner

Both Duolingo and Rosetta Stone are great options for any language learner. Choosing between the two depends on motivation. For fun, casual learning that won’t cost you a cent, Duolingo is the obvious winner. It’s a great resource for beginners looking to dip their toes into a language, however, translation activities don’t provide much depth.

Contrastingly, Rosetta is better suited for committed and motivated learners looking to build the foundation for true fluency, and achieve a deeper understanding of a language. Due to its immersive methods and supplementary features, learners have a better chance of working towards a C2 level, and for that reason, Rosetta Stone is our clear winner.

If you’re not sure what to pick, don’t worry. Duolingo is free to download and use, and Rosetta Stone offers a free trial for new users. There are so many benefits to speaking a second language. So what are you waiting for? A new world awaits you, and it’s just a click of a button away.