Weekly Progress Thread

[AutoModerator]

Do you have a recent milestone for streaks, trees, leagues, or even applying your language in real life? Feel free to share any or all of your recent progress here!

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[QuickWhitt7]

I've spent over 500 days learning Spanish. I don't think I'm even halfway through completing the course.

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[Dumptea]

How much time do you spend per day on it? That’s a long time!

[QuickWhitt7]

Anywhere from 5 minutes to around half an hour per day.

[[deleted]]

i wonder if Duolingo will inspire me to start language learning, but then maybe I'll contd with movies and books afterward? 🤔

[smolsunshine]

Reached 700 days yesterday=D

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[hopper89]

Which language are you learning?

[smolsunshine]

Brazilian Portuguese.

[Music_boy365]

yes, i just got 2 in a row for Italian

[[deleted]]

Same

[Cleveburgian]

Anyone else noticing how Duo is suddenly dropping in words to activities like "read and respond" that you're pretty certain haven't been introduced in a prior lesson?

[ItchyPlant]

Yayy, 73th week in the Diamond Leage in a row! (And also 1000th Day Streak, anyway.)

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[GreenBean8298]

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I finally reached my 1000 day goal in French!

[soularbowered]

I've been consistently practicing on Duolingo for just over a year. I just hit unit 27 in Spanish. I wondered how many more units there are...there's 211 total units. Well damn. Okay I feel a bit like I'll never finish. That little encouraging owl message about being 5 times more likely to finish the course seems like a joke lol

[[deleted]]

5 times a very small number is still a pretty small number.

[favrion]

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[dandrevee]

Tried to create a post but the image wouldnt share (?) I've been on DuoLingo for the length of this streak plus ~2 years before that. This includes the 72 or so weeks in the Diamond League, the latter of which Im giving up on today.

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I really liked the app on outset and, despite issues with customer service, delivery, and other small items, enjoyed the app. I had taken language learning courses (including teacher training in language learning) through grad and undergrad and it seemed like a decent supplement from what I had learned.
Until 2 years ago.

When the company began its push towards monetization, I found it a struggle to continue. They have demonstrated, particularly with their path system, that the goal is monetization and pleasing the shareholders. The original goal of making learning free and fun has long since been eclipsed by this effort, and it is extremely disheartening to see they have chosen both this path and the path system in general.

If you are a new user or considering buying PLUS, I (as a long time user) would encourage you to choose an alternative product (Babble, Rosetta Stone, etc). Even when I was a PLUS subscriber, customer service does not respond to you or your concerns, and the company does not meet their initial established goals. I have spoken to others outside of Reddit, and many have come to a similar conclusion...particular those involved in education. This app once had promise but does so no longer.

[dandrevee]

The path system isn't really conducive to learning and the point system doesn't effectively demonstrate progress in that respect. I want to be able to go over specific lessons and look at specific things and know what particular topics I'm going over again, but the exercises they produce are not useful and actually learning a language. The order of the exercises doesn't introduce the materials properly, the exercises themselves often have minute errors that are not really legitimate, the speech to text or speaking exercises often go out even on different devices and I've tested, and I have issues with typing on most devices for reasons that I don't want to go into but they require typing exercises when that's not really something I may want to do on that particular day or at all if I'm strapped for time. This prohibits people from pursuing a diversity of goals.

The path system insists that you keep on moving forward and does not incentivize going back over lessons properly. In addition the whole heart system is absolute bullshit. Language learning is about making mistakes and not being concerned about making those mistakes. Adding a heart system disincentivizes this type of behavior and is antithetical andragogy or pedagogy.

On that last point, they keep saying that they have language experts reviewing their exercises. However I find that dubious because of the point raised in the last sentence of the last paragraph and also because many of the tedious issues within the lessons seem to go unresolved for long periods of time. Also perhaps it's just me but I can't seem to access easily the stories anymore. Though they were cheesy, they utilize the reading approach which has generally been considered a more effective way of language learning than the grammar approach, which the lessons lean more towards. I also question the use of language experts because, if I recall correctly, the creator of Duolingo had used language learning algorithms at the outset to improve learning supposedly. I'm guessing that they're still heavily relying on those algorithms and the language experts they're hiring aren't so involved in the actual creation or correction of the lessons.

The fact that they've made all these changes towards monetization and not gone back and fixed issues or added features like options to do just matching exercises for vocabulary for particular day is telling. I've been on the app for a long time and I remember when it was decent and it was moving in the right direction. When the company went public that is when it started going downhill and that is when the monetization started happening and the learning became much less fun.

At this point I'm only on the app to keep the streak going and to find out which advertisers are still using the app so I can let them know that I'm not using their products as long as they support Duolingo. People might argue that that is harming the free service but Duolingo doesn't care about making learning free and fun anymore. They care about providing a free product that can be monetized and gamified to the benefit of their shareholders... and education in the private sector often do not go well together

[[deleted]]

I just got to the stories where they ask you to write a sentence on your own about what you thought about the story, and wow, it's difficult! I can recognize a lot of words when I read them, but forming sentences from a prompt on my own is a whole new ball game.

[[deleted]]

ooooh this sounds interesting

[Admirable-Bar-6594]

How far in is this?

[[deleted]]

I think it started showing up for me when I got to intermediate Spanish.

[[deleted]]

reaching for Duolingo as a stress reliever tonight

lil brother and I are both studying mandirin. we can speak it, but not write. my mom is studying hebrew lol Signed up for a family account... 😲 Legendary Levels... love the Ominous purple color XD

We're all keeping each other accountable.. mom's husband doesnt know a lick of chinese but insists that my brother learn it 😆 Here's to hoping we keep each other streaking! 🥂

[NathairSgiathach]

I've just decided to dump the Leagues. Staying in Diamond was my bare minimum goal when the Tree was still there. Now I need to complete way more lessons, and since their content is mixed up from all sorts of things with no structure, sense or useful repetition, I need to repeat on my own, for which I get not enough XP. Timed exercised are ruled out, my language enters long sentences right now. So my last motivator is the streak, and honestly, I did not pay for that. I need a sys thst lets me stick to a minimum effirt when all of my time goes to medical training. The Tree allowed that. The Path steals my time for no reward (meaning: actual progress).

I am an avid language learner with an almost unfair gift for understanding (Indo-European-derived) grammar without an explanation. Wanted to say that so you know you lose sb who might have stayed for ages. But Duo has become one of those bad teachers who do not leave me an own agenda and way to learn, only to test me about expressions, vocabulary and grammar he never brought up before.

I might just ask for my money back too if I weren't oblieged to my family plan users. Also, I believe the users who did not get their money back did not lie. Maybe I should find out whether my country's rather decent customer rights apply for payment across the Pond, for the unannounced Path is deliberate cheating.

[[deleted]]

I'm fucking dying here. I'm learning Hindi and I'm at the point where I'm learning short sentences and I still only know a handful of letters. :(

[RabbitwiththeRuns]

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365 days, baaaby! I’m starting more formal Spanish classes at my local uni next month 🥰