Learning a new language . . . quickly!

How duolingo came about

Being in Haiti has encouraged me to learn a new language as quickly as possible but learning my new job has taken precedence over everything else. I have been in Haiti for almost a year and I still have only the basics of Creole under my belt. With some help from the online version of Rosetta Stone, I now how a few French words that I use, but for me, none of this is happening quickly enough. 

This morning, I came across another option to learn a new language called DuoLingo and the best part is, that it's free!  Gotta love the sound of that, right?  So, I dug a bit deeper to understand what DuoLingo is and how it came about. What I found was fascinating.  Professor Luis von Ahn from Carnegie Mellon University has helped create DuoLingo with his Computer Science team.  DuoLingo is a quick, easy and free way to learn a language in a short amount of time and the best part is that while you are learning, you are actually helping to translate the Web in every language. If you are interested in more information, check out the video at http://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration.html

Over the summer months of 2013, I will definitely be checking this out and I'll let you know what worked better for me - my expensive Rosetta Stone or the free DuoLingo. (I'm thinking the later).