Duolingo is a well-known app for learning French vocabulary, and it can be a useful “training wheels” tool. But you can have a 800-day streak on Duolingo, and still can’t order coffee in Paris.
1) Behavioral Psychology
Consistency really is an important key of learning.
Duolingo uses a bag of psychological tricks to make you keep learning, like:
- The Streak Success
- Experience Points
- Competition with other users
- Shiny Achievements
These features have their use – especially for beginners. Intermediate learners quickly need different challenges to improve your comprehension and communication skills.
2) The Content Gap
Duolingo sentences can often be very far from real everyday spoken French. Things like:
- “Le cheval mange les pommes orange.” (= The horse eats the orange apples.)
- “Mon ours boit de la bière.” (= My bear drinks beer.)
- “La femme écrit une lettre à son chat.” (= The woman writes a letter to her cat.)
These sentences teach grammar patterns and vocabulary in memorable ways. That’s actually good design for beginners.
But meanwhile, here are conversations French people have every single day:
- “Tu fais quoi ce week-end ?” (= What are you doing this weekend?)
- “J’ai dû taffer toute la soirée, j’en ai marre.” (= I had to work the whole evening, I’m tired of that.)
- “J’ai maté Astérix à la télé, bah ça m’fait toujours marrer.” (= I watched “Astérix” on TV, well, it still cracks me up.)
3) The Listening Limitation
Here’s where Duolingo hits its natural ceiling: listening comprehension.
Duolingo’s French audio is spoken by computer voices at controlled speeds with perfect pronunciation. This is actually perfect for beginners – it lets you hear each word clearly and build confidence.
But real French people speak quickly, with contractions, regional accents, and background noise.
You’ve been training your ear for beginner-friendly French. That was the right first step. But now you need to train for real French.
After 1,000 days of Duolingo, you go to France and struggle because no one speaks at Duolingo speed with Duolingo clarity. It’s a natural progression issue: you’ve outgrown the training environment.
4) The Speaking Plateau
Duolingo’s speaking exercises serve their purpose for beginners. You read predetermined sentences, and the app confirms your pronunciation is acceptable. This builds confidence and gets you comfortable making French sounds.
But real speaking involves completely different skills:
- Thinking of what you want to say in real time
- Finding words when you don’t know the exact vocabulary
- Adapting when someone asks an unexpected question
- Managing the natural flow of conversation
- Handling interruptions, clarifications, and topic changes
Duolingo teaches you sentence recitation, which is a valuable first step. But conversation requires spontaneous communication skills that no app can fully provide.
It’s like learning to drive. Duolingo taught you the controls and basic maneuvers in a safe parking lot. Now you need highway practice.
5) The Grammar Foundations vs Real Patterns
Duolingo teaches: “Que faites-vous ce soir ?”
French people say: “Vous faites quoi ce soir ?” or “Tu fais quoi ce soir ?”
Duolingo teaches: “Je ne sais pas.”
French people say: “J’sais pas” or “Chai pa.”
Duolingo teaches: “Il n’y a pas de problème.”
French people say: “Y’a pas d’problème.”
The formal patterns Duolingo taught you are correct and important. You need to understand them to understand French structure.
But French people use shortcuts and informal patterns in everyday conversation. Duolingo couldn’t teach you these because they’re harder to systematize and gamify.
You learned the full sentences. Now you need to learn how French people actually adapt them in real life.
6) The Vocabulary Starter Pack vs Real Words
Duolingo teaches you essential French vocabulary – and does a good job with core words that every beginner needs.
Words Duolingo teaches (and you needed to learn):
- “Éléphant” (elephant) – good for learning sounds
- “Bibliothèque” (library) – useful formal vocabulary
- “Parapluie” (umbrella) – practical word
- “Papillon” (butterfly) – helps with pronunciation
But French people use different words in casual conversation:
- “Le machin” (thingy) – everyday word
- “C’est un mec canon.” (he’s a really handsome guy) – sentence with informal vocabulary
- “J’ai pas tout pigé mais je kiffe.” (I didn’t understand everything but I love it) – informal verbs
- “Je m’en fous.” (I don’t care) – common expression !
Both vocabulary sets matter. Duolingo gave you the foundation. Now you need to add the conversational layer.
After mastering Duolingo’s vocabulary, you know formal words but need to learn how French people actually talk day-to-day.
7) The Conversation Reality
Let me show you what happens when someone graduates from Duolingo and tries real French conversation at a social event:
French person: “Salut, ça va ? T’es une copine de Christina, c’est ça ?” (= Hi, how are you? You’re a friend of Christina’s, right?)
Duolingo graduate: “Bonjour madame. Je vais bien, merci. Euh, oui je connais Christina. Je suis Américaine.” (= Hello madam. I’m fine, thank you. Hum, yes I know Christina. I’m from the US.)
French person: “Ah, c’est chouette. Et t’es ici pour visiter, ou genre, pour le boulot ?”
(= Oh, that’s nice. And you’re here to visit, or, like, for work.)
Duolingo graduate: “Désolée, je n’ai pas compris… Sorry, could you repeat that please?” (= I’m sorry, I didn’t understand….)
The Duolingo graduate is using perfectly correct French learned from the app, but a bit too formal. The French person is speaking normally, but it’s already too fast and informal for our fictional student here.
This isn’t a failure – it’s a natural progression point. Duolingo taught them correct French. Now they need to learn appropriate French for different contexts.
8) Graduate to Real French
So what should you do after mastering Duolingo basics? Here’s how to graduate to real French:
Step 1: Upgrade your listening practice Replace Duolingo audio with real French content:
- French YouTubers talking about topics you enjoy, like Foulouscopie about surprising crowd behaviors or Calmos about French cinema.
- French podcasts for intermediate learners, like Coffee-break French
- If you’re bold, real French radio shows like the human-interest reportage of Les Pieds sur Terre, or even the fun snob reviews of Le Masque et la Plume on books and movies, or even the gameshow Le Jeu des Mille Euros that travels across the country week after week
- French Netflix shows with French subtitles, like Lupin, Dix pour Cent, or the time-travel teen-mystery rural France of Les 7 vies de Léa
- French Instagram accounts with videos that you’ll find interesting, like the gardening comedy of Ophélie – Ta mère nature, or the recipes of Bonne Pitance, or the creative Mademoiselle Sophie
Your goal: train your ear for real French speed and pronunciation.
Step 2: Add conversation practice Find a French conversation partner:
- HelloTalk or Tandem apps
- ConversationExchange website
- Local French meetups or conversation groups
- Online French conversation classes
Start with 15-minute conversations once a week. You’ll make mistakes – this is good! This is where real learning happens.
Step 3: Learn contextual vocabulary Instead of memorizing word lists, learn vocabulary from real content:
- Write down words you hear repeatedly in French videos
- Look up their meanings and usage patterns
- Notice how French people actually use them
- Practice using them in your own sentences
Quality over quantity. Context over isolation.
Step 4: Study real grammar patterns Notice how French people actually use the grammar Duolingo taught you:
- How do they ask questions in conversation?
- When do they use contractions?
- How do they express emotions and opinions?
- What shortcuts do they use?
Build on your Duolingo foundation with real-world application.
It can feel a little scary to leave the cozy, gamified world of an app and step into the messy reality of spoken French. You might be asking: So… Now, what?
Well, I don’t want you to feel lost, and that’s why I created a free personalised weekly practice plan. Think of it as your personal GPS for graduating from Duolingo.
It’s a clear roadmap that helps you identify your exact starting point and then guides you to create a simple, week-by-week pathway to follow.
It shows you exactly what to focus on, to start having real conversations, understanding real videos, and feeling that amazing spark of progress you’ve been missing.
Click here to download your Weekly Practice Plan for free
À très vite! I’ll see you in the next video 🙂
Super! Insightful…
Marvellous
I’m curious if using ChatGPT for conversation practice would work? Do AI chatbots usually use overly formal French or more realistic conversational French?