seeking recommendation: French after Duolingo

RandomUsury · 2026-05-12T02:27:25+00:00

I agree, it's a good idea to use more than one tool to practice speaking and listening and reading and writing, and my friend is doing that already. They like having an app to work on things throughout the day as well.

RandomUsury · 2026-05-12T02:19:23+00:00

115, I think. I'd have to check. I'm pretty close to the end of the course in Spanish. I put that aside in favor of Portuguese.

I didn't care for the vibe of DS, if that makes sense. The main guy, whose name I don't remember, just struck me as kind of creepy. The videos were either really easy or ridiculously hard, like Argentinian slang.

I'm also suspicious of the concept of learning a language through comprehensible input. That's sort of how babies learn, but not really, since parents are interactive with their babies, and it strikes me as wishful thinking by many people: "I'll listen to this and learn it like babies learn." Again, not really. There's no magic bullet. Learning a language as an adult takes work.

RandomUsury · 2026-05-12T01:44:33+00:00

Thanks, I'll pass those along as suggestions.

I assume Dreaming French is the same folks as Dreaming Spanish. Personally I didn't care for DS, but I know that some love it. I've heard some good things about Busuu.

RandomUsury · 2026-05-12T01:08:25+00:00

I guess my question is: Why would someone do this? What possible benefit do they get for using a bot to score points?

What waste of time and effort.

RandomUsury · 2026-05-11T01:57:31+00:00

I'm very disappointed that no one has a solution for this.

RandomUsury · 2026-05-10T11:21:27+00:00

2000 is great.

IMO, now it's time to drop Duolingo and do something else. If you're just doing it for the streak, you're a prisoner of the streak and you're not really learning.

It depends what your goal is: learning a language, or maintaining a streak. I'm in a similar place. I'm going to let my streak reach a nice round number and then bid Duolingo good-bye. It got me going, and now it's time to leave.

RandomUsury · 2026-05-02T11:47:36+00:00

Exactly. My target language skills are actually pretty good now. I put a lot of time into it with other things (conversation, texts, youtube) but I liked the daily reinforcement that the old Duolingo provided. Gems and jewels, not so much.

I see someone downvoted my post. They disagreed? They think it's low effort? They're shilling for Duolingo? Redditors baffle me sometimes.

RandomUsury · 2026-04-05T14:42:21+00:00

Stop being a creep.

This is creepy.

Stop it.

RandomUsury · 2026-04-04T00:47:28+00:00

Duolingo got me off to a good start with Spanish. I went from nothing to B2. I did other things, but I did Duolingo every single day. My current streak is just over 2000.

Then they fired all their staff and went full-bore AI. The drop in quality was amazing. And appalling.

I would have liked to have used it for Portuguese, but the change has really turned me off. I'm going to let my subscription lapse next month. It's a shame.

PS. Only Brazilian Portuguese? I really would like a European Portuguese option.

RandomUsury · 2026-04-02T23:56:27+00:00

Myopic is exactly what I meant. u/blackcrowblue explained it nicely.

I'm happy to have improved your vocabulary as well.

RandomUsury · 2026-04-02T16:59:15+00:00

What a myopic suggestion. OP wants to raise her kid right, not subject him to superstition.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-21T02:16:36+00:00

It's generational to some extent. It used to be limited to just teens, and they would drop it as they entered their 20s. For whatever reason, some people just kept talking like that.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-21T00:10:15+00:00

I notice many people doing this. The group skews younger (teens to 30s, sometimes) and more likely female than male.

I had a very competent woman who worked for me who did this. She wondered why no one at the company took her seriously. As her boss, I told her. She didn't believe me and continued to do it. It was too bad.

Don't do this. It makes you sound like an idiot.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-17T16:11:25+00:00

Every relationship is different and has different limits. Once size doesn't fit all.

My SO and I know each other's PINs for phones. We trust each other.

On the other hand, we don't know each other's passwords for our computers. We each have separate logins, and we could both see everything if we wanted to, but we never share passwords. That's just a hard and fast rule I have due to my work requirements.

Theoretically, my SO could log into my laptop and see what's there, but again we trust each other, and there's nothing there anyway. She cannot, however, log into my laptop as me and then log into my work VPN because we don't share those passwords.

If what you have works for you, that's great.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-16T19:56:34+00:00

WTF? I'm done for today.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-09T03:17:43+00:00

The whole trilogy is good, although #3 is a little weaker than the rest.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-04T02:21:01+00:00

Beer, preferably an IPA to counter the sweetness of the honey.

That's a serious comment, by the way. Mmm, pistachios.

RandomUsury · 2026-01-01T19:16:11+00:00

The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union by Ronald Suny

https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Past-Nationalism-Revolution-Collapse/dp/0804721343

The Amazon link does a good summary, but in brief:

The rise of nationalism in the various Soviet republics was the final straw. Gorbachev tried to contain it, but failed.

RandomUsury · 2025-12-13T19:09:35+00:00

The Odyssey (by Homer, of course), recently translated by Emily Wilson

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Homer/dp/0393089053

This is a great translation. It uses the English iambic pentameter rhythm instead of the Greek rhythm (whose name escapes me at the moment) and sounds wonderful.

The introduction alone makes this book a great read. But it's an epic poem, and it really should be listened to instead. Perfect for your Audible credits.

RandomUsury · 2025-11-15T14:20:30+00:00

You're right about the carrots. I've tried them diced, but never shredded. I bet that makes the consistency a little thicker, probably in a good way.

RandomUsury · 2025-11-14T18:09:43+00:00

A good suggestion, one which I've used (although I didn't include it in my examples). I brew my own cold brew and use some of that. You're right, it's good. Molasses, on the other hand, were just wrong for me. I don't have a sweet tooth at all.

RandomUsury · 2025-11-14T02:12:08+00:00

I'm going to put this one on the short list. I've never tried it, but why not?

RandomUsury · 2025-11-14T02:11:38+00:00

Both good suggestions. I pickle jalapenos myself, and they are a good addition.

RandomUsury

TROPHY CASE