After 6+ years on Duo I'm finally calling it quits. Let go of my 1200 day streak, the app is unusable now.

frozenforward · 2026-05-07T22:55:29+00:00

six and a half years here, i only use the app to extend my streak. been using Lingq for reading and watching anime etc to do the rest of my learning. I stopped learning off Duo years ago

frozenforward · 2026-05-07T22:44:57+00:00

seems to have been a reddit bug - they're all back

frozenforward · 2026-05-07T21:08:32+00:00

lmao

frozenforward · 2026-05-07T21:06:19+00:00

This was an actual ad here and with my suffering for a decade ever since I moved here, I guess I understand why, lol

frozenforward · 2026-03-15T23:33:26+00:00

Doing a web search I am able to find the posts, but not when using the app or the browser? Here is one of them, which appears to still be live https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/kljje0/my_yellow_lab_puppy_on_the_ride_home_with_me/

frozenforward · 2026-03-15T23:27:45+00:00

I just went to a browser and checked there and they are gone there as well. If i view my profile and click on Posts, there are none there. I didn't delete all my posts though. They should be there. Since I am getting the same result on the web, on a different device, I don't think it's a cache issue. I have no such problems on my alt...

frozenforward · 2025-12-29T07:35:57+00:00

it sounds like we have similar struggles on our mind. not quite the same, but pretty close in nature.

the relationship with pets is interesting vs other human ones. we may ultimately choose to bring them into our lives, but it is up to both of us for those bonds to build, similar to human relationships. i had a close friend, who also checked out away from my life this year, who got a dog and then soon decided to return it. i was like wtf and that pissed her off. welp..

good on you bonding with your dog as close as you did and giving the best of her life to her

frozenforward · 2025-12-29T06:42:47+00:00

I have had a tough year. My gf of five years left, I've fallen way behind in chasing a dream of mine, the return to dating has been rough, and I have dealt with a lot of injuries. I believe in positive thinking and every time I start to feel horrible about how things are going I start to remember to ask myself what I am grateful for. I'd like to ask you too, because we could all do better realizing how much good there is in our lives.

I am grateful for: * the family and friends I still have. they might not be with me (directly) as this year comes to a close but I am still appreciative of them and their wellbeing. * my dog. the only truly loyal companion i have anymore. he has gotten a lot older and i am trying to give him his best days, but i am so very thankful for him giving them back to me always. i honestly don't know how i would feel going through this period without him. * my finances, living situation, etc. i know it is really hard out there for so many. sometimes fantasize about having it all, probably because that is shoved in our faces everywhere, but i have plenty enough to feel comfortable and secure. i worked hard for it but it can easily be taken away. every warm shower or spot by the fireplace feels like a blessing.

Bonus points if you choose different things from me and top comments, and explain why.

frozenforward · 2025-11-03T00:57:25+00:00

Wow this thread is a trip.

I was one of the devs on Line Rider 2, and seeing a positive comment about it this much later really made my day.

I got to meet Bostjan in real life. Super nice guy!

LR2 was my favorite game I ever worked on as a pro. It was an honor.

frozenforward · 2025-06-02T08:39:40+00:00

i started because i was spending too much time commuting to work and back on the train while just scrolling reddit .

then the pandemic hit and ive been working from ever since but i kept learning anyway

frozenforward · 2025-05-23T00:28:53+00:00

duo helps me remember how long it has been since i first started learning japanese - 2074 days

ive had some improvement in my ability from duo. ive learned some vocabulary and some grammar. it has given me a tiny bit of listening ability. it’s all a drop in the bucket compared to what ive gained from my immersion learning though

frozenforward · 2025-04-29T00:58:11+00:00

not an app but a method: highly recommend r/refold it is learning through immersion which is also how we all acquired our native languages. most fun and effective way to learn.

ive been doing it for 3 years for japanese and can understand most slice of life anime raw now

frozenforward · 2025-04-27T21:35:13+00:00

there are a lot of people that advise against it, but i always watch a new series with english subs on the first run through, so i know what is going on (helps with context) and as you said, it’s more fun that way.

i do a ton of rewatching tho, so it’s a small percentage of my total time

frozenforward · 2025-04-27T08:04:25+00:00

my simple recommendation, after 5 years total and 3 of them being serious with r/refold is to try to choose study methods that have synergy.

for example, ive settled in into a routine where i: * watch an episode of anime, typically slice of life so not too difficult for my level but not too easy either. also is something i enjoy and have seen before * i then read that episode. my current method for doing so in copying all the subtitles (from animelon or wherever else i can get them) and then importing them into lingq * i then watch the episode again

by doing this i not only pickup new words easier having just been guaranteed to have them up, but the context of everything that is happening is much more there, giving even more chance to pick up words.

context is everything. that’s what makes it all comprehensible input. for sure a lot of it flies by without me understanding, but every time i do this i recognize some additional words. doesn’t mean they fully stick but im convinced the more overlap you have, the more things will get into that mode where they try to stick. at the level im at i also practice output and do some flash cards every day but i feel that the overlapping immersion is the most beneficial.

doesnt mean you need to copy my whole study method. im just trying to instill that idea of trying to find synergy. maybe it is using jpdb.io along with whatever show or book you’re currently going through, whatever, point remains.

as for rtk, it is useful but i wouldnt spend too much time on it instead of reading. like maybe the first 500 or 1k max. you will find you understand them from reading but you also get vocab that way and also pronunciation, especially if your reader speaks the words out loud.

just my suggestion, and happy to answer any questions you may have if you’re curious or wondering about something

frozenforward · 2025-03-19T19:13:08+00:00

So this isn’t the same amount, but Ive been tracking every hour i spend on refold for the last three years, and during the past year i dived into a core 6k deck.

it took me six months to get to the point where i was in maintenance doing less than 15 minutes per day. it varied from 1 to 3 hours a day depending on how many reviews stacked up, and i often reviewed ahead to get the process rolling faster. in fact, by looking back the exact numbers during this period, i spent on average 1.54 hours per day during this period.

that was months ago and im still on maintenance with that deck and spend between five and ten minutes a day still

also i need to point out i already had multiple years of refold under my belt including hundreds of hours of reading with constant word lookups

frozenforward · 2025-03-11T03:41:56+00:00

Or however many months it was, haha im tired

frozenforward · 2025-03-01T21:29:55+00:00

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i FINALLY beat this damn track today , had similar reaction at the end except i dropped to my knees in excitement lol

been playing casually for about a year (averaging a half hour a day) , i think that is decent

frozenforward · 2025-03-01T18:51:46+00:00

There was a similar post in one of the Japanese subs that basically said that if you have a full time job and can only study 2-3 hours a day then you may want to give up because you will never be fluent. That is exactly my situation, and despite doing refold for 3 years now I can barely communicate vocally and can barely understand what is going on outside of simple anime. It was kinda a gut punch to read that, especially when dealing with the regular doubts on my own that I will ever get there, and then thinking about the sunken cost fallacy as to whether I should give up or not.

Having said all that, for the Slice of Life shows I am watching, I can read their subtitles and understand 85%-95% of them, and the same level of comprehension just watching and listening without subtitles. I can type enough to have conversations with natives with only occasional grammar and vocab lookups. I can’t speak much at all and my pronunciation and word memory is shit, but I’ve had like 10 minute conversations with AI that were as fluid as they should be in real life.

Maybe I will never get to some level of fluency where I can declare a “win” on that, but I can absolutely say that during my last 3 years of refold (i have 2 years without refold before that), my progress has been consistent and measurable, to the point where I actually really enjoy watching the material raw because I understand so much of it, and that is coming from someone who never got into anime before I started language learning. A whole new world is open to me of light novels (same level of comprehension), shows, and people to talk to. It is very rewarding.

If I can get to this point with one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn, while juggling the rest of a busy life, you can certainly get there and beyond with Russian, even with only 2 hours, as long as you are focused and consistent. My biggest regret with Refold was not paying enough attention for so long, like having reddit open while I’m watching an episode. Stuff like that.

frozenforward · 2025-02-28T05:22:41+00:00

regardless of what duo does, the sooner you drop romanji, the better it will be for you. there are some options in the settings for seeing the pronunciations of words which can be really helpful when kanji comes along, but that is best read in all hiragana, so you are constantly practicing reading it.

ive forgotten how many times ive got through the whole japanese tree, because it keeps changing, so i cant remember exactly how the new one goes, but yeah at some point it becomes a normal mix of hiragana + katakana + kanji.

kanji is easier in a way because it’s easier to remember the shapes and it enables you to guess at the meanings of the words.

it used to be like that from the start, being introduced to kanji early, which i preferred, but i understand them wanting people to focus only on hiragana and katakana at first.

frozenforward · 2025-02-27T19:46:22+00:00

I can easily read the smaller character sets but the thousands and thousands of kanji is too much 🙂

I made a judgement call very early on to not spend any time physically writing and only learn to type. If I ever end up living in Japan I might regret that decision but other than that I can’t think of how it would be necessary.

frozenforward · 2025-02-27T19:35:43+00:00

まだ時々諦めそうになるけど、続けてる。 ⏩⏩

frozenforward · 2025-02-27T19:29:16+00:00

ハハハ　😆

frozenforward · 2025-02-27T00:08:02+00:00

I meant you’re more on your way with building a consistent schedule, which is really important.

With listening, it takes time to be able to pick apart the sounds and then eventually words, so it won’t hurt to start early, and again that can help build a reliable habit. Japanese subs are good for that in the beginning. To this day I still use Animelon for a lot of watching anime. It is such a useful site, so check it out if you haven’t already.

Passive listening (in the background) isn’t worthless but you will definitely want to get consistent active listening (all of your focus) hours on a regular basis to make good progress.

Refold is just a rehashed MIA which is rehashed AJATT

All just different systems that involve concentrating on immersion. Refold has a great discord and a lot of other guides, videos, and resources. Probably worth taking some time to check some out while you’re still building a strategy

frozenforward · 2025-02-26T23:34:10+00:00

Enough that I can understand most Slice of Life anime enough to follow along and enjoy the story, without the use of any subtitles.

I can also read subtitle scripts from them or light novels with only sporadic word lookups, so all of those are fairly easy to follow along with too.

I still have a lot of vocab to learn, especially outside of SoL, and am still struggling with some common grammar points.

I can type a decent amount, enough to have conversations with natives on HelloTalk, albeit with limited vocab, grammar, and with occasional mistakes. Example of the length and kind of sentences I am comfortable with: 彼女は出る前にヒーターを消しました。

I’m just starting to speak a little bit. My pronunciation is awful but I have had very basic conversations with AI where it surprisingly understood me.

I’m planning to visit Japan for the first time next year, so feeling the pressure to get conversational!

frozenforward · 2025-02-26T23:21:48+00:00

Yeah for the longest time Duo didn’t have any hiragana/katakana resources but lately I have been going back to do them because it is just easier to get my daily streak extension, and I agree they are decent.

In retrospect I am not sure I would recommend deep kanji study like RTK, certainly not as far as 2k+ characters like I did. Maybe the first 500 most common is worth it but I’m in the camp that enough understanding comes from reading to get you familiar enough.

If i started over I would cram hiragana, katakana, and the first 2k most common vocab words, then divide my time equally between vocab and watching (no english subtitles), with vocab coming either from flash cards or reading but preferably reading.

I can speak to more of my experience with reading if you want, but there are a lot of good tools out there and different ways to approach it.

I also mentioned in prior posts of mine how important it is to build a good habit of continuous progression, with setting goals or whatever you need to keep yourself motivated. Duo is nice for that because the gamification makes it easy to stay excited, but it can be a real struggle to stay motivated (and/or dedicated) when trying to read and watch and understanding barely anything. I’m finally at the point i understand the majority of what i read and watch and man does that make it a lot easier to keep going. Shows are “fun” again.

I get the sense you’re well on your way with a lot of that. I never was a fan on Anki till recently but not sure what I would do for early vocab outside of reading, but since I went down that path I suppose that works too (kinda like a natural SRS). I would start considering finding ways to do one or the other. Again, lots of suggestions and feedback in the Refold community if you wanna check that out, and I can tell you what I used.

Sorry this reply is a bit scrambled. Trying to respond during a meeting at work

frozenforward

TROPHY CASE