When you do a lesson on Duolingo, you’ll encounter exercises designed to teach you four fundamental language skills: speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Sometimes, we refer to these as “SWRL” skills, and together, they account for the different things you can do with a language.
You might practice your reading skills with a Duolingo Story, or practice your listening skills by identifying what word you hear Lucy or Bea say in a sentence. And of course, most exercises combine multiple skills! Usually, you know exactly what skill you're practicing based on the type of exercise.
But if you’re looking to really amp up your speaking practice, there is a sneaky way to turn an easier writing exercise into a more challenging speaking exercise! When you’re asked to translate a sentence into your new language, you’re faced with a blank box. Although these are designed to focus on writing… at the bottom of that box, there’s a little microphone 👀
Tap that microphone, and you can dictate the translation to Duolingo! Our app will pick up your speech and write it out (just like we do in more traditional speaking exercises). And because speaking is a skill with more time pressure, and it requires a faster response from your brain, it might feel more challenging to complete these exercises by saying the answer out loud. But that’s a good thing!
And since our AI voice recognition is trained to pick up on your pronunciation, you’ll be able to get real-time feedback on how you sound, and then edit your answer before submitting.
That’s it! This speaking exercise is hiding in plain sight—and now you can take advantage of it whenever you’re up for a challenge. Want more tips on how to improve your speaking and pronunciation skills? Check out…