In today’s comparison review, we will be reading about Rosetta Stone vs Duolingo, which are two phenomenal learning apps. We will try and understand more about them and find out which one is better.
It is an often-asked question in the world of language learning apps, and a fair one as well. They are popular in their own ways and come with extremely modern methods of teaching you a new language.
When you want to decide which one among them is the better one, it can be really tough. While Duolingo comes with some fun learning experience methods, Rosetta Stone has its own credibility through serious lessons and the voice recognition feature in it.
Let us summarize the differences between them.
- Rosetta Stone comes infused with tremendous potential and offers you with a fun learning experience. Besides, it helps you to learn through listening and image-matching lessons. It also comes with the TruAccent speech recognition technology.
- On the other hand, Duolingo is quite a grammar-intensive learning app. It does not mean it is a serious mode of learning the language. But you are provided with a gamified method of fill in blank’s lessons.
That is what we will be reading about and going through in this review. Why a learning app, you may ask? Well, a learning app is easy to learn with. You can download it on your device. It could be your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or even your PC.
You can get started. There is no need to attend physical classes that can be a bother when the weather in your area does not permit you to do that. Besides, you are saving on both time and money.
You don’t have to get ready, and then travel all the way to your learning center. You can instead, learn right from the comfort of your home, office (during lunch breaks), or even inside your vehicle (if you are in a parking lot or waiting for someone) if you want to.
It is that simple and easy to learn. How do you choose from these learning apps through this review? In this review, we will try and understand, how you can choose the right learning app. Besides, we will also come to know about some of the features, pros & cons in this review.
Read here about Babbel vs Duolingo
 |  |
|---|---|
| Rosetta Stone | Duolingo |
| PROS | PROS |
| Emphasis is given to speaking & conversational skills. The voice recognition technology is good. Exceptional integration of grammar in lessons. Fantastic supplemental resources. Very affordable. | The UI is just fantastic. It is elegant to see and learn. Learn through games, which is fun. There are plenty of exercises & drills. It is free to use. |
| CONS | CONS |
| More focus on the immersion. | Lack of focus on grammatical lessons. |
Pricing
The pricing of the learning apps is a crucial pointer that can help us understand the kind of learning app we want to go with. Rosetta Stone is a paid learning app. You have several packages to choose from.
It comes with a 3-month, 12-month, and lifetime package subscription. With the monthly package, you get to choose only one language. When you need to learn several languages, then you may want to go with the lifetime package.
Using that package, you can get 20 languages to learn. The 3-month subscription plan costs around $12/month. The 12-month subscription plan will cost you $8/month. You will want to know that the lifetime package costs $180.
Yes, it is kind of expensive, but when you want to learn 20 languages, then it is definitely worth the price you are going to pay. On the other hand, Duolingo is completely free. While we all love anything that comes for free, you will want to know that there are several limitations to it.
Luckily, they also offer you with a Plus Plan that is paid. It will cost you $7/month and will cost you around $84/year. Using the Plus Plan, you can get rid of those pesky advertisements and use other features like unlimited test attempts, and personalized lessons to review errors.
Overall, Rosetta Stone comes with a good package, and you have a 3-day free trial period. Moreover, they provide you with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Duolingo offers you with a 14-day free trial period to test the Plus Plan.
Features
The best way to understand the learning app would be to know its features. That is what we are going to do here. Rosetta Stone has structured their program quite well. This is a result of being in the market for so many years.
You know that you are dealing with a professional learning app here. The user interface could have been better. But as you go through our review, you will understand that it is more for serious, senior learners, and not kids.
The Rosetta Stone learning module has a 30-minute session. You can then make use of the 15 supplemental exercises. These exercises are in place for you to learn and understand the core lessons.
The core lessons are 10 minutes in duration. You learn how to listen, write, and find out more about the grammatical aspect of a particular language. We felt that this aspect was extremely crucial for learning any language.
Beautiful lessons
It is nicely done, and you don’t feel bored at all. We found that if you actually sit down with the intention to learn, then you can do it yourself. Users have commended that the lessons can be learned in under an hour, so that is extremely good.
Their programs have visuals, which is interesting. Sometimes learning through visuals enhances your study capability. It makes the sessions more useful. You can learn the word or phrase easily.
Moreover, you can match the words or sentences with a particular visual or image. They come designed in various flashcards. When you learn a particular language, then you can listen to some words.
Then you have to click on the action of those words or sentences that you heard. For example, if you are learning Spanish and listen to the words, “Halo.” It is greetings. You can click on an image where you find one person greeting the other person.
This enables students to learn and grasp the language more quickly. We emphasized how fast and quickly you are able to learn, depending on the quality of the learning app. Is it not? Once you are done, you can move on to the next lesson.
If you like to learn through images, visuals, and voice, then this learning app can come in handy for your cause. You can learn most languages effectively. We know that many of you might prefer to learn this way because you not only learn the word but learn how to pronounce it like a native.
For example, you can learn how to say Hola like a Spanish native would say it. For beginners, this aspect is extremely vital. Moreover, through visuals, you are able to make the right kind of connection with the word to the purpose of it being used in the first place.
TruAccent voice technology
We liked the voice recognition technology that is infused in this learning app. It is known as the TruAccent voice recognition technology. It has a patent on it. You know that you are dealing with the right kind of deal here.
As you are doing exercising, saying words, and phrases, filling in the blanks, and so on, when TurAccent hears something wrongly said, then it immediately corrects you. Isn’t that amazing? Who would have thought about this patented feature?
It helps you until you are able to get the word, phrase, and answer correctly. Of course, we are not saying that it is perfect in comparison to somebody actually speaking. But it can incredibly help you out.
Besides, the learning app offers you with several additional resources. There are on-demand videos that let us go deeper into the lessons. You get to know the people and the language.
We feel that this connection or bonding as well call it is essential to evoke some kind of interest within the learner. When you want to learn Spanish, then you might be intrigued by seeing a Spanish dancer or the food.
This may help you if at all you decide to visit a Spanish restaurant or shop. If you make use of the lifetime subscription package, then you are offered short stories that can enhance your reading and listening abilities.
There is also an Alphabet tool that helps you write the new language that you have just learned. Since you are still learning, and need some time to become a professional, you can use this tool to refine your skills.
When you want to choose a second or third language, then Rosetta Stone can help you because it can provdie live classes. Moreover, their coaching is something that Duolingo can’t offer to you.
Live classes
The learning app comes with live classes for you. Some things just don’t get old you see. Having a live class, helps you to contact and communicate with somebody who is familiar with the language.
Besides, you can meet people and understand more about the language, culture, and food as well. Of course, this is a paid package. This feature is for those of you who are really serious and want to learn a new language for professional gains or personal reasons.
All in all Rosetta Stone learning app is the perfect tool that comes infused with a ton of features and capabilities. It enables you to learn a new language within a short while. The schedule is fantastic, and you can move around from lesson to lesson.
Duolingo app is fun to learn
Now we will read about the Duolingo learning app. The first thing that we instantly noticed is that the lessons are much shorter. In this sense, the lessons are only for 10 minutes. You are done before you know it.
We are not sure whether this is a good or bad thing when you want to learn a new language. They are more interactive exercises that give you the ability to learn a new language quickly. The exercises have fill-in-the-blanks, listening classes, and learning how to write complete sentences.
We can see that there is some fun and excitement in this app. You can see more variations in this app. They provide you with corrections and translations in English. So, if you are familiar with English, then you will find this learning app helpful.
The learning app is completely free, though they also have a paid package that we will be reading about later on. First, we may want to read about the free package. Basically, the free plan is like a marketing tactic.
Is it not? Nobody says no to a free tool. We may want to appreciate Duolingo for doing that and giving us something for free. If you are a student or a working professional who is under a tight budget, then you download this tool right now.
Sadly, the features, capabilities, and learning skills provided as much less in comparison to a paid tool. It comes with loads of advertisements. We tried it for some time and were quite frustrated with the constant ads.
There are several hearts or incorrect answers. When you begin with 5 hearts, and for each wrong answer, you lose a heart. When your hearts are over, then you have to stop learning for that day or move to another lesson.
When you are learning a new language, these things are bound to happen. You may make several mistakes. But this app sort of discourages you from moving further. We were bewildered by this concept.
Besides, you have a limited amount of test outs. When you are sure about a concept, then you can use a test out. The test out helps you learn more about that particular lesson or topic to help move forward.
If you are using the free package, then you can use only a limited number of tests out. While it is free, there are many things that as a new learner, you would have wished were present. Otherwise, you can make use of the paid package.
Plenty of variations
There is a variation in the lessons in the drills & exercises. The content is presented to you in many ways in a short time. Using the lessons, you can interact with the course material as you want.
You don’t lose your attention, unlike in Rosetta Stone. While you can learn the language on that app efficiently, but matching words with images can get monotonous. Moreover, you do not have to spend too much time on Duolingo to learn the lessons.
This is quite suitable for those of you wanting to learn lessons swiftly or just want to brush up on the language. Once you finish learning the lesson, you stand to get experience points. It is also known as XP points.
The XP points help you track your progress. This is a useful feature as you know where you stand in your learning quest of the new language. However, you will need to make use of the paid package for purchasing additional features.
These additional features are pretty handy than the free package. The digital platform is also smooth and comes with exceptional images. The UI was fantastic and quite easy to move around for a new user.
You can find many animations throughout inside the learning app. We felt that it was a good initiative. There is a scoreboard, and daily goal tracker, where you can compete with other users that can make your sessions fun and interesting.
Coming to the supplemental exercises, we felt that the Rosetta Stone offered better than this app in this regard. When you feel that you are weak in a particular area of learning the language, then you can focus on the area that you need to until you are able to learn it.
Sadly, we did not feel the same about Duolingo. The lessons, review sessions, and quizzes are not very flexible. All in all, the learning app comes with some exceptional features, but due to the fact that it is a free app causes serious limitations.
We doubt we can recommend it to serious learners. This app is more sort of a community app, so we can provide some respect to it for that.
Verdict
Our winner in this comparison review between Rosetta Stone vs Duolingo is Rosetta Stone. While Duolingo is a good learning app, the Rosetta Stone learning app provides you with a few benefits than the Duolingo learning app.
Yes, Rosetta Stone might be in the market for quite a while, but it is certainly not down and out. We may want to remind you that several learning apps have taken a leaf from this app. Rosetta Stone taught them that it was possible to combine technology with language.
It is one of the oldest online language learning platforms that are available in the market currently. We found Rosetta Stone useful in learning several languages including German. Moreover, users have described this learning app as persuasive and encouraging.
Having said that, you can find several benefits of learning the Duolingo learning app as well. When you know bits & pieces of a language, and want to brush up your skills, then it could come in handy. For example, if you know how to communicate in Spanish, but want to enhance your speaking abilities, then this app can be helpful.
But when you want to learn something from scratch like Hungarian or something like that, then you would require a more serious learning app like Rosetta Stone. The lessons and concepts are better and stronger than Duolingo.
We liked the TruAccent voice recognition and additional features in their programs. Besides, they offer more flexibility. There is no doubt that Rosetta Stone is the better learning app. In this context, it is our preferred recommendation for our readers.
At the end of the day, it boils down to your learning preferences & choices of the learning app. Duolingo comes with its own several benefits and features. Likewise, Rosetta Stone can give you that edge you are looking for when learning language programs.
FAQs
Rosetta Stone is more effective than Duolingo. We have reviewed both learning apps and have concluded that Rosetta Stone does have some major advantages over the Duolingo learning app.
The reason for that being Rosetta Stone is effective and comprehensive.
Rosetta Stone can help you become fluent in the language of your desire. That is because, the foundation, grammar, and lessons are pretty accurate. The elements are just perfect. When you have completed the course, then you can find yourself using these experiences instead of using the learning app.
Some of the alternatives for Rosetta Stone include Duolingo, Busuu, Babbel, and Mango Languages. However, these learning apps are in no specific order. You can use them for learning the language of your preference and choice.
Duolingo learning app has its own advantages & disadvantages. You can use them according to your own purposes. It can help you learn several sentences, words, and even grammar. You might want to communicate with somebody else to know your level of speaking.
Based on the CEFR model, some new learners may not be halfway down there. But every language can be learned at some point or the other. As you keep learning, you will learn several lessons that are extremely useful for you.
Yes, the Duolingo certification is worth it. You might want to know that the certification is worth two years. You can find your scores printed on the certificate. However, the exam can be taken as many times as you require as this helps you understand your level of learning.
James Smith has always been intrigued by electronic products since his childhood. After his post graduation in electronics from a popular university, he decided to pursue a career in the electronics sector. But his calling for writing about these marvellous pieces of work got the better of him. That is how UBG was started. With a writing career spanning more than 12 years, James has worked on several hundred product reviews. During his free time, he like to spend time with his pet dog and relax in the swimming pool.