Language learning app Duolingo has stirred up a lot of controversy over the last couple of days after it was reported that they let go of 10% of their contracted translators in favor of using AI, and that the remaining contractors are simply checking AI-generated translations for errors. According to an article in The Washington Post, there are already errors in those translations making their way into the app.
Since being let go, Costello [one of the contractors let go by Duolingo] has gone into the app to use the course for which he used to write lessons. “There are tons and tons of errors in it,” he said.
Many users have reported deleting the app since this news broke and many of those users are looking for alternatives. Luckily there is a great alternative already out there that uses real humans and very little AI: Mango Languages.
The only AI Mango uses is some of its audio generation. However, the majority of their audio is still real human voices, and their translations are done by actual native speakers. In fact, they have a relatively recent resource article on their site about why AI translators cannot replace native speakers.
In addition, Mango teaches more than just vocabulary. Of course they do that, too, and some say they do it even better than Duolingo. But where Mango really shines is in their cultural context lessons. Interspersed with the vocabulary lessons are articles about cultural norms, in what situations you might use one word or phrase over another, etc. This leads to a better understanding of the language as well as helping to ensure you know what you’re doing if you ever visit a place that speaks the language you’re learning.
The one drawback to Mango is that it is a paid app, but there’s a solution to that for many users: Many libraries offer Mango for free to anyone with a library card! If you are not lucky enough to have a card at one of those libraries, ask your library to consider it. The cost is not prohibitive for most users, however: for $7.99 per month you have access to learning one language.
Over all, Mango is a great alternative to Duolingo and even if you can’t get it for free, the cultural context lessons and real native-speaker-recorded audio make it well worth the subscription cost.