I recently wrote a review for Duolingo Spanish. Since I noticed that people seem to be reading it, I 'd like to update it. I am a 76-year-old man. My retention is not as good as it used to be. However, I am surprised that I can still remember a lot. I just finished section 7. Even though I can't speak Spanish, I can understand just about anything my handyman is texting me. Given that he does not speak a word of English, this is an accomplishment. Sometimes, I don't understand the words he is using (he must be speaking a different dialect of Mexican Spanish that Duolingo is teaching). But I am still happy with my cognition of Spanish. So, I decided to go with it for another year. As they say, I had a change of mind (Cambiaré de parecer!) Also, as I was doing unit 1 of section 8 today, I was bombarded with quite a few emails from Duolingo telling me the acceptance of nearly 20 corrections I had made over the year. It is good that they started paying attention! This tool keeps me connected with the Spanish language and culture in a useful way. I really like the practices without much grammar lessons in it. Studying grammar is fine. But it is never a replacement for the practice this tool provides. I must say that Subjunctive is a very difficult topic in Spanish for non-native speakers, and it must be covered a little bit earlier in the courses with more detail on when to use it. I captured more than 12 rules on Barron's Spanish Words about it and they were very helpful. I must also mention that I truly like their stories. They are very entertaining. Acting and their role playing in them with different voices are very funny. It is true that there seems to be some gay/lesbian aura in them. But it doesn't bother me. I am too old to be bothered by these things.
