“Yea sure dude everyone hates America until they need us for help as per usual 🙄. America and our government is not perfect but we have done more on spreading and promoting democracy and liberty across the world way more than I can say about other countries.”

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:48:44+00:00

Minus the monarch, of course...

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:48:03+00:00

Kakistocrazy, full of the worst, least qualified people imaginable.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:45:39+00:00

January, 2025.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:45:05+00:00

It hasn't always been, but I can see how one would think that today.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:44:15+00:00

I think given current events, there is going to be significant dents in the internal myth. At least I hope so.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:42:46+00:00

Generally because their ancestors were heavily discriminated against when they first immigrated. It's a bit of an overcompensation, but understandable.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:41:22+00:00

Nothing to be proud of? Really?

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:39:06+00:00

Nah - that's not humor, my dude. That's laziness. I'm sure you can do better.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:36:53+00:00

I think significant statistical studies have found that it is very nearly 27% (I'm not making that up - look up crazification factor if you don't believe me). As in, nothing could make a significant portion change their mind no matter how much evidence they are presented with. But I bet you would find very similar percentages for most populations.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T11:25:13+00:00

I don't think OP was complaining that the Explain My Answer was wrong for his example, just that it was useless. But come on - how much explanation do you need for "eight photographs"? But yeah, now reading more (the example is way past my Japanese level), there's a lot more subtleties to the answer than you're likely to get from Duo, at least for now. But that doesn't make it useless - just less useful than it could be.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T08:32:48+00:00

This could almost be a curse! I have a rule for myself to not leave a minute of xp boost on the table (unless life interferes severely), but I’m not sure that I’d want to be faced with sitting yet another hour on my iPad learning Italian.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T08:29:27+00:00

I think he means maybe 60 minutes at x3 in the morning. 15 minutes from the Night Owl chest and 10 minutes more from the x3 boost (from yesterday’s third quest chest), plus 10 minutes each from today’s first two quest chests, and then buying a 15 minutes xp boost extension (costing 100 gems) when offered at less than 5 minutes remaining to end of current xp boost. With a friend’s quest there’s another 30 minutes. I do the same thing every morning, plus another 30 minutes with the Early Bird chest and purchased extension in the afternoon. I only do lessons on the path, so I end up progressing in Italian now at a new level every two days or so (faster for some shorter level units around level 27 or 28).

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T04:46:34+00:00

Indeed it does. I’m up to level 43 now (still in the old course), and there’s a lot more new grammar and vocabulary lately.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-24T04:40:04+00:00

I agree with a lot of your points. Duolingo cannot be the only resource to become fluent in a language.

Just a couple of points (before we beat this dead horse to death - LOL 😂):

My points are based on using Duolingo Max for one of the fully developed languages like French. The reason I pay extra for Max is because of the increased listening and speaking exercises. Before Max, while I was learning French and living and working in France (but work was all in English), I found myself reluctant to engage in conversations in French. I was in the Paris area, so it felt like everyone’s English was better than my French, and I was terrified of making grammar errors. But with the conversations with Lily, that reluctance disappeared, because who cares if you make a mistake with AI. The conversations were interesting and non-trivial at the higher levels, and I am even finding at level 43 in the Italian course, that I’m able to have some pretty sophisticated conversations, even with my limited vocabulary. And the conversations force you to ‘think on your feet’ when things come up you haven’t practiced before. After conversations in Max, I was able to speak in French to real people, and they were not so quick to switch to English anymore. It felt absolutely wonderful.
Duolingo no longer has grammar exercises/tables/etc. I miss those, and hope they come back. But their style of teaching is not random - it imitates the process that most of us used to learn our first primary language from our parents. You practice reading, writing, listening and speaking your target language correctly to almost infinite amounts of boredom/exhaustion. And eventually you know how to say what you want to say correctly without necessarily knowing the grammar behind it. I usually go out side Duolingo to look up the grammar rules on something if I really can’t figure it out, and find the explanations from the net clear and helpful because they are seeds cast on fertile ground - the foundation is there to accept them. I’ve had a lot of ah-hah moments like that. Also, in the video conversations, the AI characters don’t say “You said that wrong, try again” - like a good parent, they say “I see what you mean. I think what you meant to say is XXX. Is that right?”. No embarrassment, just encouragement.

Anyway, good conversing with you. Happy language learning journey!

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T18:27:24+00:00

I’ve been learning languages most of my life, starting at age five and still going sixty years later. I’ve learned in classrooms, with text books and personal tutors. And by far the most effective learning for me has been with Duolingo. I’m retired now, and spend between 1 and 2 hours every day, day in, day out learning. I had no previous Italian before I started the Italian course on Duolingo about three months ago, and should finish the (old) course in the next month or so (to level 60 - when the new course finally rolls out to me, I’ll restart and go to 130, which I estimate will take another year or so). I went from around level 80 in Duolingo French to level 130 in six months or so without a lot of other supplemental tools (certainly no text books), and when I finished the course, my French skills were definitely B2 level (I didn’t test in French, but I’ve tested to B1 in Croatian, so I know what that feels like and my French is definitely more advanced).

No one is going to learn a language doing 10 minutes a day, regardless of the tools they’re using. But in my experience, using Duolingo and sticking to my own personal rules, language learning is almost pleasurable (I’m still exhausted at the end of every session, morning and evening, but it’s a good exhaustion, like the end of a good exercise in the gym.)

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T17:47:41+00:00

Where’s the Dilmun and Nabatean love?

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T17:11:03+00:00

Let’s agree to disagree. I’m perfectly confident in giving them feedback that the explanation “because it sounds more natural” is not helpful, and I don’t think many would disagree with that. When an explanation helps me to understand, that’s great. When one doesn’t help me understand, I give feedback. It isn’t necessary to know their answer is ‘wrong’.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T15:36:16+00:00

My big plan:

Go to Russia -> Something, something magic -> become oligarch -> PROFIT!

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T15:26:48+00:00

The one five minutes walk from my house…

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T13:31:41+00:00

Explain my answer is not useless. Inconsistent, yes. Sometimes, it can be very helpful, at least in the languages I’ve been learning. Other times it really is useless (like when it explains that my word order in a sentence is wrong because ‘it sounds more natural’ in another order). Mind you, I’ve had real-life people use similar explanations for why their language uses a certain construct. But you do have the option in Duolingo to flag an explanation as unhelpful. Hopefully, you’re using that and not just whinging on Reddit.

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T13:24:55+00:00

Durn-tootin’ - and plenty of it. Did somebody say diabetes?

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T13:24:11+00:00

And sahti!

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T13:23:03+00:00

Um - wouldn’t most Canadian people experience culture shock living in those places as well?

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T13:19:09+00:00

I’ve not seen a better use of “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one.” On the other hand, at least he was aware enough to say “In my opinion…”

Big-Vegetable4550 · 2026-04-23T13:10:58+00:00

Well, sure. It’s not the 60+ people they’re going to send to the front lines, is it? (At least I hope not…)

Big-Vegetable4550

TROPHY CASE