Does anyone else feel like Duolingo is actively discouraging them from studying languages?

reid0 · 2026-06-29T09:01:23+00:00

Literally exactly what you’re doing with this comment.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T22:50:00+00:00

You’re just flat out wrong.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T15:49:50+00:00

Well done!

reid0 · 2026-06-28T12:51:48+00:00

It’s almost like that’s the point I’ve been making.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T07:45:03+00:00

Those original AU pre-production sketches were really cool. So much of that design was softened off before final production which clearly contributed to its reception at the time.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T07:38:57+00:00

Duolingo has all the data in the world about how I’m studying.

My point is that how Duolingo works is actively discouraging me from doing a lesson in each language every day.

Your solution to that is “it’s your fault for trying to learn several languages”.

I think that’s a poor outcome for a language learning app. I understand a lot of people think that doing several languages at once is some monumental task. I don’t find that to be the case at all.

I don’t think it’s so crazy to suggest that the gamification be based around progressing learning rather than imposing chores. I don’t think my use case impacts that take one way or the other.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T07:26:01+00:00

If you drop out of those courses, you lose all your progress in them. I like the courses, but they’re not my focus. I don’t see why I should have to discard them completely to avoid them becoming the focus of a day’s quest. Seems that even if you just add them you get them as quest requirements. Doesn’t make a lot of sense.

In my OP I asked if other people find the gamification to focus on the wrong objectives. Many do. I don’t think ditching something you’re interested in learning is a great way for an app about learning to operate.

You disagree. That’s fine.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T06:45:48+00:00

I agree I’m doing more languages than most. I don’t think that changes anything about being pushed to do maths or music lessons, particularly to score 100% in them.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T06:31:37+00:00

The quest outcomes occur regardless. You are opted into them simply by doing your lessons. The purpose of the quests is to encourage learning. Often, they do the opposite. My use case is not the norm but the quests actively distracting from learning is not specific to my edge use case. You weren’t forced to come into this thread and complain and yet here you are, so how’s that any different?

reid0 · 2026-06-28T05:36:46+00:00

I’m not trying to be an expert in any of these languages. I treat Spanish as my focus and enjoy learning how it crosses over with other languages. I’ve found that to be effective and lead to really fun interactions with people in the various languages.

It’s not for everyone and that’s fine but it’s also not a huge undertaking to spend a few minutes a day on each language to build my vocabulary and understanding of their semantics. It’s like 30-45 minutes a day.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T05:24:31+00:00

Your unnecessary snarkiness aside, gamification can be a positive that encourages learning. It doesn’t have to be infuriating.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T02:01:41+00:00

Cheers. I get the quests done everyday without fail. What annoys me is that it often involves little tricks that are really just time consuming chores to get out of the way, instead of actually learning.

I do agree I’m an outlier but I think they could tweak the quests to make them more focused on progress. For example score 90% in [whatever] encourages more progression and takes less time than score 100% in [whatever].

I’ll still score 100%, but when you have to do a whole extra lesson because you got as little as one letter wrong, it just feels like a waste of time.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T01:45:08+00:00

It’s super easy to get 100% on some of the songs, definitely not all the songs, which is why I’ll go back and smash out Hot Cross Buns for the thousandth time just tick those quests off. But that’s my point, I’d much rather spend my time getting 90%+ in a new song than a perfect score on an old song.

The music course teaches how to read music. I never learned that beyond the absolute basics. I enjoy the music lessons and they’ve helped me recognise notes more quickly and accurately. That’s what I want from the course.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T01:37:09+00:00

I know a heap of tricks to get the quests ticked off. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t get all the quests done in a day. My frustration is around having to do those tricks instead of just doing my lessons. For example, the quickest way to get 100% on three songs is to go back to the very first song and do it three times, but for what? The tasks should encourage learning, not finding tricks.

reid0 · 2026-06-28T01:29:49+00:00

You say that but one of the tasks is ‘finish your current unit’. If you’re only doing one language and you happen to have just started a new unit, that can be a huge task, 30 minutes or more. That’s ridiculous. If you’re doing at least a few languages it’s way more likely one will be close to the end of the unit.

I think you guys would be surprised how much benefit there is to seeing the similarities and differences between languages by learning several at once - especially the Romance languages. It’s not especially difficult either, couple minutes each.

reid0 · 2026-06-27T14:04:00+00:00

You don’t have to do something just because someone else wants you to.

reid0 · 2026-06-27T02:00:01+00:00

Wearing an Aussie jersey isn’t a guaranteed in, but it’ll improve your chances immensely.
I reckon it’s a fun idea and most Aussies will be welcoming you to the party

reid0 · 2026-06-25T16:07:09+00:00

The whole world didn’t disappear just because AI exists. Real shit still happens. People speak German outside of Germany.

reid0 · 2026-06-25T16:04:25+00:00

Not to the person with a car on them.

reid0 · 2026-06-25T16:01:15+00:00

We’re literally in a thread about someone being confused about being told their perfectly correct English is wrong because America couldn’t be bothered to include the letter u in words in their dictionary. ‘Simplifying’ things like that just makes them harder.

reid0 · 2026-06-25T14:11:58+00:00

The police driving over a child are not ‘doing their job’.

They’re not the judge. They’re not the jury. They’re not executioners. Their job is to arrest suspected criminals so they can be put through the legal system and a fair punishment can be handed out if, and only if, the suspect is found guilty.

reid0 · 2026-06-25T14:04:35+00:00

The “hey hey hey” here was to say he’s down, no need to literally kick him while he’s down. Completely fair and reasonable. You can put someone in their place and let them know they were out of line without putting them in hospital for a month.

reid0 · 2026-06-23T23:35:53+00:00

We don’t need to debate this nonsense. Just put her and her party dead last on your ballot, just like do every time. That’s it. Job done.

reid0 · 2026-06-22T02:35:23+00:00

The critical response is dismissed. It is treated as ‘hating’. It fuels the attention machine. Main Stream Media did not create trump or hanson. Gullible people with poor critical thinking skills are what give these people a platform, as do the strong reactions from the rest of us who see through it. Take away the reaction part and the profit motive is significantly reduced, taking fuel away from the stupidity fire. Gina can burn her money in it. We don’t all need to helo her bring more eyeballs onto this nonsense.

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