Duory User Guide

For iOS

Duory aims to help you actually remember your Duolingo lessons!

Duory lets you create dynamic language learning notes using powerful embedded phrases. Embedded phrases are interactive, automagically adding transliteration and letting you translate** without leaving the app. You can even record phrases in your own voice for listening and pronunciation practice later in a playlist that you can control from your lock screen!

You can also share screenshots from your Duolingo lessons (or similar language apps) into Duory.

Getting Started

Duory language notes are organized by topic and language.

Adding a topic 🎈

Open Duory and tap on the plus icon in top right corner
Choose Add Topic
Enter a name for the topic
Choose the target language
Save

Adding a language note 💥

After creating a topic, you should be taken straight to it
Next, add a note by tapping on the Edit icon at the bottom of the screen

Language journals ❤️

In Duory, a language journal provides a space to express yourself in the language you’re learning.

Here are the key differences between language Topics and language Journals:

A journal is a collection of entries (similar to notes) that you create over time.
Journals are like Topics, but they do not contain sub-topics.
When you create or edit a Journal Entry, Duory will attempt to set the keyboard to the target language. For example, if you’ve started a journal in Mandarin, Duory will suggest the appropriate keyboard language for your entry.

To have the keyboard open in the target language, ensure you’ve added the keyboard in your iOS settings. For instructions, refer to the iPhone User Guide.

Adding a phrase ⚡️

You've created your first language note and you've been typing away. You have few phrases in your note already. One thing left to do! Supercharge your phrases! Select an example phrase and tap on "Add Phrase ⚡️" in the context menu.
In the Phrase pop up, tap on Done to save the added phrase.
Before saving...
You can also use Duory's built-in translation tool (which leverages Apple's translation API) to translate the phrase right there and then.
Or tap on the microphone icon at the bottom right corner to record the phrase in your own voice. The recording will auto-stop when you stop speaking and then you can play it back with the same button.
To save your changes, tap on Done, if you don't want to save your changes, just swipe down to dismiss without saving.

Using the Duory Playlist 🎧

When you record or add audio clips to your phrases, Duory turns them into playlists based on what language note or topic you are presently in.

If you are in a topic with no open notes, Duory makes a playlist with all of the phrases (that have audio attached) found in that topic.
And when you open a note, Duory also makes a playlist with phrases found in that note.
You can listen to a playlist by tapping on the audio button at the bottom left corner of the screen. An audio player will pop up showing what's currently playing along with playback controls.
Tap on the audio player to see more options like repeating the current phrase or repeating the entire list of phrases.
To shuffle the playlist, toggle the shuffle option.
Tap on the button with the dumbbell icon enable practice mode (which pauses briefly after each phrase to let you repeat it out load after the chime!)

⚡️Tip: While listening to a playlist, you can control playback from your lockscreen or the iOS Control Center.

Sharing Phrases to Duory Notes ⚡️

Duory includes a share extension that allows you to import phrases from images and documents. This feature is particularly helpful for adding phrases from your Duolingo lessons while minimizing context switching.

Sharing a Phrase from an Image or Duolingo

To share a phrase with Duory, follow these steps:

Before You Share 💡:

Ensure you’ve added the relevant target language. For example, to add a Japanese phrase, Duory needs to know that you are studying Japanese.

Adding Phrases:

Start a lesson in Duolingo. After solving a puzzle, tap the Share button, then tap More.
In the share sheet, select Duory.
Alternatively, you can open your camera roll, select an image containing a phrase in your target language, and share it to Duory.
Duory will detect all phrases in the image and display them in a list.
Select the phrases you want to add.
If translations are included in the source image, Duory will try to pick them up automatically. If no translations are available, tap the menu icon in the top-right corner and choose Add Missing Translations. (Note: Check the list of supported translation pairs for compatibility.)
Once your phrases are ready, choose a note to save them to—this can be an existing note, or you can create a new one.
Tap Save, and you’re done!

🚩Video Guide: How to Add a Phrase
🚩Video Guide: How to Use Duory with Duolingo

Adding Links 🔗

In Duory, you can add links to web pages or to other notes.

1. Link to a web page:

In the language note where you want to insert a link, select the text, then tap Add Link.
The selected text becomes the text link.
Enter the URL to specify the link destination.
Tap done to save the link.

2. Link to another note using the title:

Where you want to insert a link, select the text, then tap Add Link. The selected text becomes the text link.
Start typing the title of the target note.
When the target note shows in the search results, tap on it to choose it.
Tap done to save the link.

Important ℹ️

** Duory uses Apple's Translation API for on-device in-app translation. The following languages are currently supported:

Arabic
Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified)
Chinese (Mandarin, Traditional)
Dutch
English
French
German
Hindi
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese (Brazil)
Russian
Spanish (Spain)
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese