Yes. A language app can teach useful skills, especially at beginner level, and studies of Duolingo and Babbel have found measurable learning gains. But completing an app course does not prove you can hold a fluent, unpredictable conversation. The answer depends on the app, language pair, time spent, and—most importantly—which skill you want to learn.
What an app can teach—and what “learn” means
Language learning includes several distinct abilities: understanding speech, reading, writing, recalling words without prompts, and interacting with another person. An app can provide structured lessons and repeated practice, but a strong result in one area does not automatically transfer to the others. Recognizing a word in a multiple-choice exercise, for example, is different from retrieving it during a conversation.
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Evidence supports a measured yes. In a 2025 comparison of beginner French learners over 16 weeks, the classroom-only group (58 participants), Duolingo-only group (65), and classroom-plus-Duolingo group (60) improved on nearly all tested measures. The groups did not differ significantly overall, except that the combined group made stronger gains on the pragmatic distinction between tu and vous. This suggests app-only study can support beginner progress in the setting studied; it does not establish equal results for every app, language, learner, or goal. Cambridge University Press study (2025).
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteA separate 2020 study followed 54 English-speaking adults learning Spanish with Babbel for 12 weeks. The study aimed for roughly 10 minutes of app use per day; participants developed receptive grammar and vocabulary knowledge as well as oral communicative ability. That is evidence for this particular app, language pair, sample, and study period—not proof that 10 minutes a day is enough for everyone. Loewen, Isbell, and Sporn, Foreign Language Annals (2020).
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What the evidence does not establish
Published app studies have often focused on vocabulary, grammar, reading, or listening. Oral ability has been studied less often, and a speaking test based on scripted prompts may show that someone can respond to a task without showing that they can manage natural, unpredictable conversation. A 2024 systematic review record likewise notes a dearth of efficacy studies on commercial apps and that vocabulary was commonly assessed. Cambridge University Press literature review; 2024 systematic review record.
Duolingo has published its own results, which are useful to read with their scope in mind. Among selected Spanish and French learners who said they had no prior knowledge or other study materials and had completed Unit 5, Duolingo reports that 66% of Spanish learners and 53% of French learners reached A2-or-higher on its speaking assessment. The company describes Unit 5 as the end of its beginner A1/A2 content and start of intermediate B1 material. These are publisher-reported assessment results for particular learners and courses; they are not an independent guarantee of conversational fluency. Duolingo’s speaking assessment summary.
In another publisher report, 263 Spanish-speaking learners of English who said they had no or very little prior English and were not taking classes or using another program were assessed after completing Duolingo’s A2 content. Duolingo reports average results of ACTFL Intermediate High in reading and Intermediate Mid in listening on a third-party assessment. Those results concern reading and listening for one language pair and course stage, not all four skills or all app learners. Duolingo’s English learner assessment summary.
What app-only progress may look like in everyday life
The CEFR describes six proficiency levels, from A1 to C2, as communicative abilities rather than identical performance guarantees. Its descriptors offer a more practical way to think about progress than a streak or course-completion badge. Council of Europe CEFR level descriptions.
- A1: You can ask and answer simple questions about immediate needs or familiar subjects when the other person is willing to repeat or rephrase. The Council of Europe descriptor begins, “I can ask and answer simple questions in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics.” This is a useful start, but it is not conversational independence.
- A2: You can exchange information in simple routine tasks and manage short social exchanges. The Council of Europe describes this as communicating in “simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar topics and activities.” You may still struggle to keep an exchange going by yourself.
- B1: You can handle many travel situations and enter unprepared conversations about familiar or personally relevant topics.
- B2: You can interact with enough fluency and spontaneity for regular conversation without strain for either person.
If your goal is travel basics, an app may be a plausible primary tool for a while. If you need sustained conversation, work or study communication, or the ability to follow varied accents and fast speech, check those specific abilities rather than assuming an app level covers them. Conversation with real people, varied natural listening, and feedback are sensible ways to practise skills that a course may not fully test; the cited studies do not establish a universal minimum amount of each.
How to tell whether your app is preparing you for your goal
Judge the practice against the language task you want to do. Course completion, streaks, and in-app scores show activity or performance within that app; by themselves, they do not demonstrate proficiency.
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- Check skill coverage. Does the course make you understand, read, speak, and write, or mostly recognize and translate items? The research base is uneven across skills.
- Look for original production. Does the app ask you to create your own language and respond to unfamiliar follow-up questions, or mostly repeat and select scripted answers?
- Seek an independent check. Use a task or assessment beyond the app’s own progress metric. The CEFR’s skill-specific descriptors can help you choose what to test.
- Match evidence to your course. Results from beginner French or Spanish studies should not be assumed to apply to a different language pair, course depth, or goal.
- Test practical performance. Try understanding an unfamiliar short recording, retrieving words without a prompt, writing a message, and responding to an unpractised question from another person.
The Council of Europe’s CEFR Companion Volume is an optional reference for exploring the framework’s descriptors; it is guidance, not a course in a particular language.
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What educators think is not the same as a proficiency test
A 2024 Duolingo Research perception report surveyed educators recruited through online posts and an ACTFL listserv; responses were collected May 2–12, 2023, and 116 completed responses were analyzed. In that survey, 96% endorsed language apps as effective in general, while 54% agreed or strongly agreed that apps help students learn real-world communication. These figures describe surveyed educators’ opinions, not measured learner outcomes or the share of all educators who hold those views. Duolingo Research educator perception report.
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