Are you trying to figure out how to remove a language course on Duolingo?
Perhaps you dabbled with a language and decided it wasn’t for you. Or maybe the new learning path update has placed you in a weird part of the path and you want to reset it.
Well, in this article, I’ll walk you through how to weed down your course list.
Let’s get into it!
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How to remove a language course
The good news is that it’s really easy to remove a course. It might not seem that obvious but the process is actually really straightforward.
However, the process differs depending on the device you’re using.
Mobile
If you’re using the Duolingo app, follow these steps to remove a language course.
First, open up Duolingo and tap on your profile icon…

Then, tap the settings icon…

Swipe down to ‘manage courses’…

And tap on the red button next to the course (or courses) you want to remove…

You’ll then get a prompt to remove the language course, with a warning that it can’t be undone. Tap ‘remove’…

Et voilà! The language course will no longer show in your list of languages!
Desktop
The process is pretty much the same on desktop.
First, hover your cursor over the ‘more’ option, then click ‘settings’…

Click ‘manage courses’…

Then click ‘remove’ next to the language course you want to get rid of…

You’ll then get a prompt to remove the language course, with a warning that it can’t be undone. Click ‘remove’…

And that should be that! The language course should no longer appear in your list of languages.
What happens when you remove a course?
When you remove a language course on Duolingo, a few things will happen.
The first thing is that the course will no longer show on your profile. The little flag will disappear from your list, along with all the XP you may have earned.
Along with your XP, your progress will also disappear, meaning if ever you decide to tackle the course again, you’ll have to start from the beginning (or where the placement test puts you).
Should you remove a course?
With all this in mind, you might be wondering whether or not you should bother removing a course. After all, it’s not ideal to lose all your progress, even if you don’t think you’ll try the language again!
However, I can think of at least three reasons why you might want to remove them:
You’ve had a long time away from the language
The main reason is that you may have had a long time away from the language.
It could be that you made a bit of progress the first time you tried it, then left it for over a year.
In this scenario, you might be further along the course than you’d like to be, in which case you might like to just start from the beginning.
Removing the course will allow you to reset your progress and make a fresh start.
The path update might have placed you incorrectly
One of the biggest criticisms many have had of the new learning path is that it placed them in a part of the course they weren’t comfortable with.
In some cases, Duolingo underestimated users’ levels, meaning they were placed too far back on the path.
As such, they find the lessons too easy and want to skip ahead.
But in other cases, Duolingo overestimated users’ levels, meaning they’ve been placed too far ahead. In this scenario, the lessons are too difficult.
This is particularly problematic if the user hasn’t studied the language for a few months!
If this happens, and you only consider yourself a beginner in your language, it might be a good idea to remove the course and start again.
Clutter
Finally, it might be that you just want to clean up your course list.
This one sounds a bit silly as it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things!
But if you’re anything like me you’ll probably end up dabbling with loads of different courses, many of which you’re never likely to devote much time to in the long run.
As such, you might want a list that better represents the languages you’ve spent a good bit of time with. In which case, it makes sense to remove them!
For more tips and walkthroughs, feel free to follow me on Twitter.
You might also be interested in some of these walkthroughs:
I have several things to say after reading this article. First of all, welcome back! After a long time away, you’ve finally posted lots of articles again.
Second, I’ve removed languages before when I tried them for my Language and Culture class at school.
Third, even if I complete a course, I wouldn’t want to remove it, as I still want to keep my progress.