Sometimes you just hit a wall. You open the app, look at a complex lesson on French subjunctives or Japanese Kanji, and realize you have absolutely no idea what’s going on anymore. Life happened. Maybe you took a six-month break to focus on work, or maybe you just "brute-forced" your way through a unit without actually learning anything. Now, you're stuck in a loop of failing lessons and losing hearts. You want a clean slate. You want to restart a language on Duolingo, but the app doesn't exactly make the "delete" button front and center.
It's actually a bit of a hidden process.
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Duolingo is designed to keep you moving forward, often using gamification to prevent you from looking back. But if your foundation is shaky, the rest of the house is going to fall down eventually. I've been there. I once spent three months "learning" Italian only to realize I was just memorizing the patterns of the multiple-choice questions rather than the actual grammar. I needed to burn it all down and start over.
The Nuclear Option: How to Actually Restart a Language on Duolingo
If you're looking for a giant "Reset Course" button in the middle of your learning path, you won't find it. Duolingo hides these settings because they don't want people accidentally nuking years of work in a moment of frustration.
To get this done, you have to head into the Settings. If you’re on a desktop, it’s a bit more straightforward. You click your profile picture, hit "Settings," and then find "Manage Courses" on the right-hand sidebar. This is the control room. Here, you’ll see every language you’ve ever dabbled in. Next to the language you’re struggling with, there’s a big red button that says "Remove."
Wait.
Before you click that, understand that "Remove" is permanent. You aren't just going back to Lesson 1; you are erasing your XP, your crowns (if your version still shows them), and your placement in that specific course. It's like it never happened. If you’re okay with that, click it. On the mobile app, it’s similar but involves tapping your profile, hitting the gear icon, scrolling to "Manage Courses," and then deleting the language.
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Interestingly, if you only have one language on your profile, Duolingo might get grumpy about you deleting it. You might need to add a second language (literally any language) just to give yourself the "room" to delete the first one. It’s a weird quirk of the software architecture. Once the second language is there, you can trash the first one, then go back and re-add it from scratch.
Why the Reset Button is Sometimes a Trap
There’s a psychological phenomenon here. We think a "fresh start" will fix our lack of discipline. It usually doesn't.
Many users find themselves in a "reset loop." They get 20% into the Spanish tree, feel overwhelmed, restart, and then spend another month learning how to say la niña come una manzana for the hundredth time. You get really good at the basics, but you never progress. If you restart a language on Duolingo, you are trading your progress for comfort. Sometimes that's necessary. Other times, it's just procrastination in disguise.
If you’re just a little bit rusty, there’s a better way. You don’t have to delete your soul.
The Alternative: The Placement Test Shortcut
Let’s say you deleted the course. You’re back at zero. But wait—you actually do remember how to conjugate basic verbs. You don't want to spend three weeks clicking on pictures of bread and water.
When you re-add a language after deleting it, Duolingo will ask if you’re a beginner or if you already know some of the language. Take the placement test. This is the smartest way to restart a language on Duolingo without wasting time. The test is adaptive. If you get the easy stuff right, it jumps ahead. It’ll drop you exactly where your current knowledge level ends. This prevents the "boredom burnout" that happens when you're forced to repeat content that is too easy. According to various linguistics experts, the "Zone of Proximal Development" is where learning actually happens—it shouldn't be too easy, but it shouldn't be so hard that you give up. The placement test helps you find that sweet spot again.
What Happens to Your Streak?
Good news: Your streak is safe.
Your overall Duolingo streak is tied to your account, not an individual language. You could delete every single course you have, start Klingon, and as long as you do one lesson in Klingon today, your 500-day streak remains intact. This is a common fear. People think "restarting" means losing that fire emoji next to their name. It doesn't. Your total XP also stays on your profile, though the XP within that specific language path will reset to zero.
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Sectioning: A Less Drastic Way to Re-Learn
Before you go through the hassle of deleting and re-adding, look at the "Sections" at the top of your learning path.
In the modern Duolingo interface (post-2023/2024 updates), the "Path" is broken into major blocks. You can actually scroll back up and tap on any previous "Node" or "Circle" to review it. You won't get the same XP as a new lesson, but you get the practice.
There's also the "Review" tab—the little dumbbell icon. If you have Duolingo Super or Max, you have access to specialized review sessions like "Mistakes," "Listening," and "Speaking." Even if you’re on the free tier, you can tap on older units to "Legendary" them. If you haven't turned an old unit gold or purple yet, do that instead of restarting. It forces you to prove you know the old material before you move on.
The Reality of Course Updates
Here is something most people don't realize: Duolingo updates their courses constantly.
If you started the Spanish or French course three years ago and you come back today, your path might look like a mess. This is because Duolingo often maps old progress onto a new curriculum. Sometimes, this mapping is glitchy. You might find you've "completed" lessons that contain words you've never seen before.
In this specific scenario, I actually recommend that you restart a language on Duolingo. When the curriculum changes significantly—like when Duolingo aligned their major courses with the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)—the old progress markers become almost meaningless. Starting fresh ensures you hit the new vocabulary and grammar points in the order the pedagogical team intended.
Why "Removing" isn't "Resetting"
Technically, Duolingo uses the word "Remove."
When you remove a language, you are telling the system to wipe the database entries for your user ID associated with that language code (e.g., 'es' for Spanish). It’s a clean break. There is no "undo." If you do this and realize you made a mistake, you can't email support to get your progress back. It's gone.
Actionable Steps for a Successful Reset
If you’ve decided that a total reset is the only way forward, don't just jump back in blindly. Do it with a plan so you don't end up back in the same "stuck" position three months from now.
- Audit your "Why": Why did you stop last time? If it was because the lessons got too hard, restarting only helps if you change how you study. Maybe take notes this time.
- Use the Desktop Version: It is much easier to manage your courses at duolingo.com than it is through the app’s nested menus.
- The Placement Test is your friend: Do not feel like a "cheater" for skipping the basics. If you know them, skip them. Boredom is the number one killer of language learning.
- Supplement the App: Duolingo is a great tool, but it's a game. If you’re restarting because you felt you weren't "actually learning," try pairing your new start with a podcast like Coffee Break Spanish or a grammar workbook.
- Check your subscription: If you’re on a Family Plan, your reset won't affect anyone else in the group. Your progress is individual.
Restarting is not a failure. Honestly, it’s often a sign of a mature learner recognizing that they need a firmer foundation. Languages are cumulative. If you don't understand how "is" and "are" work, you're never going to understand "would have been."
Go to your settings, hit that red button if you need to, and start over. This time, focus on the sounds and the rhythm of the words rather than just keeping the bird happy. You've got this.