I am desperate to learn how to speak Spanish. A lot of my friends in Miami speak Spanish because their parents and grandparents come from South America, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. I get so envious when I hear them switch from English to Spanish and back again.

I often think to myself that those who speak several languages are really smarter than everyone else. Of course that is not true; it just feels that way. People who only speak one language sometimes make up the excuse that everyone speaks English so what is the point of learning a second one. I think it is more about the difficulty of learning and retaining.

People swear by Rosetta Stone. It never worked for me. Now Apple has recognized Duolingo as their favorite free iPhone App of the Year. The app is also available on Android. I am going to give this one a whirl. The app has been around 12 months and already has received 10 million downloads. That is huge.

The app was developed at Carnegie Mellon University where computer science teacher Luis von Ahn and student Severin Hacker thought there should be a way to use smartphones to learn new languages.

Duolingo offers six languages: Spanish, French, German, Italian, English, and Portuguese. Pictures and videos are used for association purposes. The app is like a game so it’s fun. That should do it. I am starting today. I will report back.