I only knew about it because in sophomore year of high school our new spanish teacher either resigned or got fired after the first semester so while they were trying to find a new spanish teacher they had us sign up on duolingo as well as doing work packets and stuff. yeah that school really failed hard :^)
I do, I wonder if they'll give us more of an idea on what Duolingo's aim is nowadays, if it has any, and there are also some Linguistics-related presentations, and Linguistics is one of my interests and one of my two fields of study.
Nice, apparently I made the comment before the discussion was posted. I think this probably always happens, this is just the first time that I was the first one to comment on a new sentence.
I might be using an actual program for learning languages soon. https://www.humblebundle.com/software/learn-a-new-language-for-kids-and-adults-software Edit: If I do, this is a good point to quit Duolingo for the time being. Edit: I read through some reddit threads about the site that the Humble Bundle gives access too: I could not find anything positive, and quite some negative things. Its Japanese courses are targeted at beginners, too, which I am not anymore. So it's not for me!
Huh, I just noticed that I started this thread, I thought someone else did. I guess I mixed it up with the topic on StreamingSoundtracks.com. Duolingo has removed the forum, so there's no way to give feedback anymore. The forum was already quite bad, because discussions were automatically hidden when they got five downvotes netto, which happened very quickly for some reason. But not having it at all feels a lot worse. There's now also no way to give feedback anymore, except Reddit I guess... the Duolingo subreddit is official, maybe it is read by people at Duolingo. What's worst is that the sentence discussions are apparently closed too; these were very important for language-learning, as Duolingo rarely explains stuff, and people would ask for and provide explanations here. For now, the discussions are still visible, but it is impossible to add onto them.
Is there any point to getting skills to legendary? I thought that would change how often they'd break, but it doesn't seem like it... then it just seems like a waste of time and lingots (not that lingots are useful otherwise ).
Oh. Doing a test to skip a level now also uses lingots. I don't like that. Well, I don't think I'll need to skip any more levels (at least not on the Japanese course), so it's not a problem for me.
Duolingo gave me an okay understanding of written German when I used it (rather intermittently) back in 2016 - 2019. But, oopsie-daisies, I haven't practiced that language for two and a half years now and I discovered earlier this year (after making a new German friend) that I can no longer understand a single word of German. And since I no longer plan on ever even visiting Germany I have no use for practicing it any more. I learned Spanish for five years at secondary school and have three basic qualifications in speaking/writing/reading it, so I'm fairly knowledgeable about the language already (knowledge that never faded away - compare and contrast with what happened to me with Duolingo's German course). When I visited Spain in 2019, Duolingo was really good for brushing up on common phrases for me - so when I decided earlier this year I wanted to practice Spanish again, I immediately downloaded Duolingo. But... it honestly really annoyed me with the microtransaction-laden ad-fest it's become and I uninstalled it after two days and ordered some textbooks instead lol
Hasn't Duolingo always worked like that on mobile devices? The heart thing is strange, but it's been around for many years, I'm sure. Maybe not since the very beginning, but it was there since before 2016, I think.
In November 2022, Duolingo experienced a big overhaul. Learning paths are now used, rather than trees. (image from Duolingo blog post) I was unsure about its merit at first, but after reading the blog post it sounded pretty good to me! It does take away most of the autonomy of the Duolingo user, though, which might be detrimental. Before you'd have to decide yourself which skills to take lessons in. Personally, I'd usually take one lesson in a skill I hadn't got any levels in yet, then one in one I'd already get several levels, then one in one I'd got one or two levels in. This ensures spaced repetition, which is important for concepts to stick. However, now this is built-in to the learning path. In fact, the learning path is dynamic, partly customised to the user. That is pretty cool! I also noticed that the exercises where you have to translate to English are apparently completely gone, and instead there are a lot more listening and speaking exercises. I wouldn't be surprised if these are indeed more effective!
Ah, I am mistaken. You do have to translate to English, but you can only use the word bank. That is actually kind of annoying. Let me know if you can guess why!
I think it's to reduce workload on the people working on the course, because they don't have to add all the different ways to word the sentence in English. It also reduces user frustration when working on new sentences, or not being near native level of English. I do notice it wears me out more, though. Clicking is a lot of work, and you can type, but you can't type properly, because it works a bit weird. I don't feel like explaining it, unless anyone wants me to. I've noticed that the practice comes very quickly after first learning the words. I don't like this, for me there should be a greater gap, as it is boring to get the same words again so quickly (often in the same session, because I go quickly through the language I'm currently doing). Before, I could decide myself how long I would wait until repeating old words, now I cannot. :/ You also cannot skip individual parts anymore. I wanted to skip the practice about time, but later on in the unit I would learn about family, so I couldn't do the test yet because there were lots of words I hadn't yet learnt.
Huh, I just found out Duolingo doesn't support Paypal. So if you wanted to actually get the Plus plan, that they keep nagging you about, you need to acquire a credit card... but in the USA, where I suppose Duolingo is most commonly used, almost everyone has a credit card. I think Duolingo is also popular in many other countries, though!
You can’t use a debit card? That’s how I set up my plan with the free trial. I didn’t go past the trial and pay for a subscription, though. Also, 35.6% of the U.S. population has a credit card.
No, I need to put in a card number and CVC, with debit cards don't have (at least mine doesn't). And I'm surprised to hear that! I thought a credit card was required to mortgage.
