I’ve been learning Japanese with Duolingo for more than two years. I wanted to use Duolingo to learn more each day, so I finally upgraded to Duolingo’s premium subscription.

1Unlimited Hearts

Using an app to learn Japanesemeans I’ll make a lot of mistakes. With a free account onDuolingo, I only got five hearts at a time. Hearts deplete from each mistake made, meaning I was frequently unable to complete a lesson because I made so many mistakes. I would have to return to the app after waiting hours for my hearts to refill and finally finish a lesson, which proved annoying.

Because I couldn’t complete a lesson in a single setting, I ended up going back to the first few lessons that covered the absolute basics to ensure that I kept my daily streak alive. This became tedious, and I soon realized that I wasn’t actually progressing in my language learning.

Duolingo language tree with options going over characters, listening exercises, and speaking exercises

Screenshot by Marissa Zupancic — no attribution

With a subscription to Super Duolingo for $10 per month, I can now learn as much as I want in a single sitting without worrying about making mistakes. There are no hearts with a premium subscription, so I’ve actually been making progress this year.

Super Duolingo benefits including unlimited hearts, no ads, free legendary challenges, and a special app icon

2Personalized Practice

As I mentioned earlier, I make a lot of mistakes while learning Japanese. Between learning the multiple new alphabets and characters and then remembering what order to put words in for sentences, it’s not an easy task.

A subscription to Super Duolingo also grants access to personalized practice for frequent mistakes. The Frequent Mistakes section shows your recent mistakes, and you can start a lesson to go over 10 to 20 of those mistakes at any given time.

Duolingo personalized practice options showing mistakes, words, and listen exercises

There are also sections to review individual words to build your vocabulary and practice listening exercises. If you upgrade to a Duolingo Max subscription, which is $30 per month, that allows you to video chat with a Duolingo character. I’m still very early in my language learning, so I don’t feel this feature is worth it at the moment.

Another great feature is that a premium subscription removes ads. Last year, I would have to sit through two ads after each lesson I completed. This made me not want to stick around to complete further lessons, often meaning I would only complete one lesson per day. Now, I can continue my language learning uninterrupted.

Duolingo personalized practice showing my 30 most recent mistakes

4Legendary Lessons and Rapid Reviews

After you complete a group of lessons, you can redo the lesson to earn Legendary status. This turns the icon to gold and gives more experience points than a regular lesson. I like to do the legendary lessons because I’m a completionist when it comes to anything remotely game-related. There are plenty ofways to maximize your Duolingo XP, too.

With the free version of Duolingo, I had to spend 100 gems per legendary lesson I attempted. If I failed that attempt, I didn’t get the gems back, either. Super Duolingo grants access to legendary lessons without having to spend gems. Instead, I can save my gems to get extra experience potions, streak freezes, and even send gifts to my friends.

Option to do a video call with Duolingo Max subscription

There are also lessons next to the main lesson tree called Rapid Reviews. These are timed lessons in groups of three that provide extra practice if you want to revisit a unit. With a premium subscription, you can play these without paying gems, too.

While there are plenty oflanguage-learning appsavailable, I’ve found Duolingo to be the most convenient and best suited to my learning style. Now, I’m able to get more learning done during the day without worrying about spending in-app currency, watching ads, and making mistakes.