If you need any more motivation to log in and complete your daily Duolingo lessons, then Duolingo Challenges might just give you the nudge you’re looking for!
Challenges have been around for a while now and have become a big part of the Duolingo experience.
So in this article, we’ll take a closer look at Duolingo challenges. We’ll go over what they are, how you get them, what you get for completing them, as well as some thoughts about they could be improved.
Let’s get into it!
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What are Duolingo Challenges?
As of July 2022, Duolingo challenges are split into three categories: Daily Quests, Friend Quests and Monthly Challenges.
However, it’s important to point out that Duolingo are doing A LOT of A/B testing at the moment.
So if you don’t have access to some of the stuff below, don’t worry — everyone’s getting a different experience.
Daily Quests
Daily Quests were added to Duolingo challenges in early 2022.
They’re basically a set of 3 random challenges that you have to complete every day to earn gems.
They’re usually pretty easy and can include some of the following:
- Earn XP
- Complete lessons
- Spend […] minutes learning
For each quest you complete you’ll unlock a chest. The bronze and silver chests contain gems, while the gold chest usually contains a 15-minute XP Boost.
Friends Quests
Friends Quests appeared on Duolingo sometime between May and June 2022.
They’re similar to the daily quests in that they’re random challenges.
However, the biggest difference is that you complete them with one of your Duolingo friends and it refreshes every week.
The challenges include earning a certain amount of XP and completing a certain amount of lessons.
It’s a cooperative thing, so you have to share the load between you.
So if the challenge is to complete 30 lessons in 4 days, then you could do 15 lessons each, 10 + 20, 1 + 29 etc.
For completing the challenge, you both get a 30-minute XP Boost, 100 gems, and 5 quests towards your monthly challenge badge…
Monthly Challenges
The third kind of challenge is the monthly challenge.
Back in the day, the goal was to earn 1000 XP before the end of the month. Although the name and theme of the challenge would change each month, the goal itself was exactly the same for all users.
However, in July 2022, Duolingo introduced a new format built around quests.
Although each challenge still has its own unique theme, users now have to complete a certain number of quests each month to complete it.
The number of quests you have to complete appears to be determined by how much time you spend on Duolingo. The more you’re on there, the more quests you’ll have to complete, up to a current maximum of 50 per month.
If you manage to complete the required number of quests before the month ends, you’ll unlock the month’s exclusive badge.
How to access Duolingo Challenges
To access Duolingo Challenges, simply navigate to your quests/challenges dashboard by tapping the little chest icon at the bottom of the screen…
Here you will find a list of your current challenges and quests, as well as your progress in all of them…
The second tab shows you your completed monthly challenges and will display all of your badges…
What do you get for completing a challenge?
For every daily quest you complete, you’ll earn a chest of gems.
For every friend quest you complete, you’ll earn a chest of gems, an XP Boost, and 5 quests towards your monthly challenge.
And when you complete a monthly challenge, you’ll receive an exclusive badge.
This month’s challenge (December 2023) is called Eddy’s Wood Carving Craft.
The goal is to complete a certain number of quests before the month is out.
For completing this you will earn the Wood Carving badge.
Badges can only be earned once, so if you don’t hit your target by the end of the month you won’t get another chance to earn it. So time is of the essence!
Once you’ve completed a challenge, the badge will appear in your ‘Completed’ section.
Follow me on Duolingo!
Up for some friendly competition? Then be sure to follow me on Duolingo!
My username isDCiiieee🙂
(If the link doesn’t work then just type my username into the ‘Search for friends’ bar on the app)
All Duolingo Monthly Challenges so far
So far there have been 32 monthly challenges.
The first challenge was in May 2021: The Hamamatsu Kite Festival Challenge. This is something that has been celebrated in Hamamatsu, Japan for over 450 years!
The second challenge, the 9th Duoversary Challenge, celebrates 9 years since Duolingo first launched to the public.
The third challenge was called Eddy’s Big Race, which celebrated the Summer Olympics in Japan.
August’s challenge was called Oscar’s Duocon Keynote, which was all about getting you ready for Duocon on August 20!
September’s challenge was Junior’s Field Trip, October’s challenge celebrated Halloween with Lily’s Jack-o-lantern, and November’s challenge was Oscar’s Mustache Marathon.
The December challenge was Falstaff’s Big Sleep, and the first challenge of 2022 was Zari’s Sparkly New Year.
The objectives of the pre-July 2022 challenges were exactly the same: earn 1000 XP by the end of the month.
In July 2021, some users got a slightly different format, which broke the challenges down into three tiers: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
To unlock the Bronze badge you needed to earn 500 XP by the end of the month; for Silver, 1000 XP; and for Gold, 2000 XP.
However, Duolingo reverted to the original format of just one badge for 1000 XP in September.
The bronze, silver and gold format was probably just in the spirit of the Olympic challenge back in July — although, knowing how Duolingo likes to experiment, I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring it back in future!
Every Duolingo Monthly Challenge in order
- May 2021 – The Hamamatsu Kite Festival
- June 2021 – The 9th Duoversary
- July 2021 – Eddy’s Big Race
- August 2021 – Oscar’s Duocon Keynote
- September 2021 – Junior’s Field Trip
- October 2021 – Lily’s Jack-o-lantern
- November 2021 – Oscar’s Mustache Marathon
- December 2021 – Falstaff’s Big Sleep
- January 2022 – Zari’s Sparkly New Year
- February 2022 – Lin and Lucy’s Lunar New Year
- March 2022 – Vikram’s Garden
- April 2022 – Zari’s Cherry Blossom Picnic
- May 2022 – Bea’s Mindfulness Practice
- June 2022 – A Decade of Duo
- July 2022 – Junior and Eddy’s Beach Trip
- August 2022 – Lily and Zari host Duocon
- September 2022 – Vikram’s Reading Marathon
- October 2022 – Lily’s Halloween Costume
- November 2022 – Duo’s Big Game
- December 2022 – Oscar Goes Ice Skating
- January 2023 – Celebrate the New Year with Duo
- February 2023 – Junior’s Love Letter
- March 2023 – Lily’s Punk Rock Band
- April 2023 – Bea’s Earth Day Celebration
- May 2023 – Eddy and Junior’s Fishing Trip
- June 2023 – Duo’s Birthday
- July 2023 – Falstaff’s Discovery
- August 2023 – Lucy’s Cat Clowder
- September 2023 – Vikram’s Sunny Hike
- October 2023 – Duocon 2023
- November 2023 – Duo’s Chess Match
- December 2023 – Eddy’s Wood Carving Craft
duolingo badges list
For every challenge, there’s a badge! Here’s the complete list of every single Duolingo badge:
2021
May – The Hamamatsu Kite Festival badge
June 2021 – The 9th Duoversary badge
July 2021 – Eddy’s Big Race badge
August 2021 – Oscar’s Duocon Keynote badge
September 2021 – Junior’s Field Trip badge
October 2021 – Lily’s Jack-o-lantern badge
November 2021 – Oscar’s Mustache Marathon badge
December 2021 – Falstaff’s Big Sleep badge
2022
January 2022 – Zari’s Sparkly New Year badge
February 2022 – Lin and Lucy’s Lunar New Year badge
March 2022 – Vikram’s Garden badge
April 2022 – Zari’s Cherry Blossom Picnic badge
May 2022 – Bea’s Mindfulness Practice badge
June 2022 – A Decade of Duo badge
July 2022 – Junior and Eddy’s Beach Trip badge
August 2022 – Lily and Zari host Duocon badge
September 2022 – Vikram’s Reading Marathon badge
October 2022 – Lily’s Halloween Costume badge
November 2022 – Duo’s Big Game badge
December 2022 – Oscar Goes Ice Skating badge
2023
January 2023 – Duo’s New Year’s Party badge
February 2023 – Junior’s Love Letter badge
March 2023 – Lily’s Punk Rock Band badge
April 2023 – Bea’s Earth Day Celebration badge
May 2023 – Eddy and Junior’s Fishing Trip badge
June 2023 – Duo’s Birthday badge
July 2023 – Falstaff’s Discovery badge
August 2023 – Lucy’s Cat Clowder badge
September 2023 – Vikram’s Sunny Hike badge
October 2023 – Duocon 2023 badge
November 2023 – Duo’s Chess Match badge
The state of Duolingo Challenges [updated: July 2022]
I think I speak for a lot of Duolingo users when I say I’ve got mixed feelings about challenges.
In theory, I think they’re a great idea.
Although your priority should be learning your target language, ultimately it gives you another reason to login and do some lessons.
And given you need to spend lots of time with a language to learn it, this can only be a good thing.
I also think the daily quests are pretty cool, especially for free members who need gems to replenish their hearts.
And the new friend quests are a neat way of connecting with your Duolingo buddies.
I also like what the direction they’re taking with the new monthly challenges.
They were pretty boring before — every month the challenge was exactly the same, just with a different name and theme.
I’m not sure they really motivated anyone to go the extra mile in their lessons.
But now they’re mixing it up with the objectives, it definitely makes things more interesting.
how duolingo could improve challenges
Even so, I think there’s still some room for improvement!
I think the current formula’s fine. Duolingo just need to be a bit more imaginative.
For instance:
- Let learners display their badges on their public profiles
- Bring back the challenge tiers from Summer 2021, then…
- Offer different rewards for each tier. These could include:
- Limited edition costumes for Duo
- League statuses
- Profile themes
- Plus/Super free trials
- XP boosts
- Gems
- Keep mixing up the monthly objectives. It looks like Duolingo are starting to head in this direction, so hopefully each monthly objective is more than just a different theme. XP, quests, perfect lessons etc. There’s a lot of room for Duolingo to get creative!
These simple changes would make the monthly challenges wayyyyy more interesting and worthwhile.
They’d actually be worth completing and would finally incentivise learners to spend more time on Duolingo — which, surely, is a win-win for everyone!
What do you think of Duolingo Challenges?
Challenges have so much potential. Thankfully it seems Duolingo are starting to realise it!
With a few simple tweaks, I think it could soon become one of Duolingo’s main features.
But what do you think?
As always, let me know in the comments!
