Duolingo really is speedrunning dystopia rn.

  • Balaquina@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    2 months ago

    I had a streak of over 1200 days, and after years of reduction in quality and them constantly making the ad based version harder and harder to use, I finally left. AI was the last straw.

    I have my eyes on Lingonaut, an app still in beta, and being created by volunteers for free to recreate the early days of Duolingo.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      2 months ago

      In my opinion duolingo type apps should never beeused more than about 90 days. Those first few months when you know nothing they are a good way to get something but as time goes on your time is better spent in native content.

      • Elvith Ma'for@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        2 months ago

        Depends on how intense you use it in those 90 days, burning general yes - it helps you with the first steps, but then you’ll learn much more by e.g. watching videos, reading, joining a discord community in that language for a game you play,… in the language

        • bluGill@fedia.io
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          2 months ago

          If you are not studying very intensely then you will never learn a language so quit trying to fool yourself.

      • Balaquina@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        2 months ago

        I think it depends on your learning style. Duolingo was fantastic for me and taught me enough that for the first time in my life I was able to dip my toe in native content and actually understand what was going on.

      • Hoimo@ani.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        2 months ago

        I paid for Lingodeer Lifetime, which was $120 at the time. I thought that was pretty hefty already, but it was like 8 months of monthly subscription, and I figured I would need that much time to get through the course anyway. “Regular” price for lifetime is apparently $300, but they constantly run sales that take it down to more reasonable amounts.

        On the other hand, I have to admit that the quality of the course is worth the $300 and I too learned more from a few months of Lingodeer than 2 years of Duolingo. They’re also honest in that they teach you all the grammar fairly quickly with a minimal vocabulary and then just end the course with the advice to start reading books. They’re not trapping you in language purgatory like Duolingo does.

    • teft@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      1200 days of language learning? Different languages or the same one? If it’s the same one you probably don’t need an app anymore. Try talking to natives in your chosen second language. You might be surprised how much you know. I used duo for about a year when i moved to a different language country. After that year i found it was holding me back more than helping.

      • Balaquina@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        2 months ago

        The same language, but I only did about 15 minutes a day. I am more the “pick away at it a little bit” than an “immerse your entire life in it” kind of learner. I learned a lot, and can have basic conversations at this point, but I still have a long way to go and will continue using some kind of language app going forward. I watch media too which helps. Apps are just one tool of many.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Do you just force yourself into their day and start talking at them? And you don’t feel guilty for forcing them to talk to you?

        Extroverts are wild lol

        • teft@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          I live in colombia so it’d be pretty difficult to find someone who doesn’t speak spanish. Why would i feel guilty for talking to someone? I don’t force anyone to talk i just talk to them normally. I find a lot of times if they know a little english they like to practice that as much as i like to practice spanish.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            I don’t force anyone to talk i just talk to them normally.

            That’s the same thing - you interrupt their day and insert yourself into it by barging in to talk at them, forcing them to have an interaction with you.

            Why would i feel guilty for talking to someone?

            The fact that you’re asking this is amazing to me. You can’t even imagine it!

            • teft@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              Dude you got issues if you can’t talk to people. How do you accomplish any task without interacting with people? And why learn a second language if you arent going to talk to others in said language?

                • Sarcasmo220@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Everyone has different comfort levels when interacting with people. Try and find situations where you feel it would be less of a bother. For example, if Spanish is a language you are learning, you can go to a Spanish or Latin American restaurant, and mention you want to practice. It is worth asking if the server speaks the language, so as not to assume.

              • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                2 months ago

                To, what? Convince me that being talked at by a stranger when I have my own stuff going on isn’t rude and annoying? I certainly don’t like it when people do that to me!

                There are some spaces where being talked to by strangers is acceptable, but just doing it to everyone wherever in another country is alien behavior to me. I honestly don’t get it.

                Like, do they just sit next to strangers on the bus and talk at them? I think I’d die!

        • newfie@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          2 months ago

          Posts like this are a psy op to keep English language speakers (especially in North America) lonely and atomized. There are numerous state and nonstate actors who benefit from this

          If you are in public, you should expect to be spoken to. Conversations between strangers are an inherent part of existing in public in human society. Doing away with this causes loneliness on the level of a public health crisis

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            2 months ago

            You’re getting base and superstructure reversed.

            This feeling of the rudeness of interrupting other people in public spaces arises from our material conditions. There are limited hours in a day and we have to give up at least eight (or more) of those hours for wages/commuting. Then the other eight (or fewer) hours cram in as many chores, hobbies, chores, entertainment, and chores as we can before we have to sleep and go back to work.

            This produces hyper-alienated hyper-individuals that don’t talk to anyone and only work. It’s unhealthy and lonely.

            But you aren’t going to fix this by just forcing your way into other people’s lives and making them talk to you! That doesn’t change the material base. You’re just wasting whatever limited time they have between shifts and probably just ruining their day.

            Doing away with this requires restructuring society and production, not brute forcing the issue by talking at people.