For me duolingo began to turn bad in 2018-2019 when they put the leaderboards. The pressure to be competitive in a "learning" app is counterproductive and I hated that I couldn't opt out.

@4kach24

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, Duolingo has failed it's users by implementing this system

@brandonhemoi3853

3 ай бұрын

Yes! Been saying this.

@kristenmoonrise

3 ай бұрын

I think you have to make your profile private to opt out of the leaderboard. But I get your point!

@CompasVC

3 ай бұрын

@@kristenmoonrise No, making your profile private doesn't prevent you from being on leaderboards. But I believe that simply ignoring the leaderboards on Duolingo probably wouldn't harm your account.

@kristenmoonrise

3 ай бұрын

@@CompasVC ignoring is good too but I literally privated my account at least a year ago and I don't see the leaderboards anywhere anymore. But I had to do it via web browser, not the app. You can't add friends anymore to it either when on private.

I started doing Japanese on Duolingo and it was dreadfully boring. It quizzes you on the same 4 words over and over again for about 20 lessons.

@curepinkie1637

3 ай бұрын

ever since they changed the pathways, the Japanese course absolutely sucks now. i can say two curry meals please and this temple is really pretty and im on the second page (??) 😐

@Acro_YT

3 ай бұрын

@@curepinkie1637 Hello, I could give you tons of Japanese resources. I can't drop links on YT so if you have Instagram or Discord, I can send you the links there.

@DroppedBass

3 ай бұрын

@@curepinkie1637what did you expect to say if you are in the second page?

@Eszter135

3 ай бұрын

That is exactly my problem with duolingo. The past few years I tried to get back into it again to supplement my lg learning but it was just so boring and not engaging with the constant and unnecessary repeating that I never lasted more than two days in a row

@curepinkie1637

3 ай бұрын

@@DroppedBass more than three sentences considering i have a 340 day streak.

I was just thinking about this after getting back on Duo, and I realized that they never taught the basics of the language

@NicrophorusVesp

3 ай бұрын

Absolutely; a ramble ahead here. I've been learning Chinese (Mandarin) and at this point I just use it to keep track of how long I've been learning for. Their introduction to tones isn't particularly good and there's no proper introduction construction of characters which are two of the incredibly important things to understand for Chinese. It also ignores cultural context, some of my work books will tell me it's 'correct' to do one thing but culturally it might be ignored if it's not necessary (e.g. 的 can be dropped sometimes as context will already provide the needed information). It also has an awful habit of just introducing concepts without explaining them and then deducting points even though it never even gave you an option (e.g. Depending on context 2 can be 二 or 两, Duolingo never explains this and constantly loses you points unless you do your own research as to the differences). With the loss of the community discussion section unless my learning streak wasn't what it was I would probably just drop it all together.

@Eosinophyllis

3 ай бұрын

Duolingo is only useful for vocab memorization, but nothing more

@aubrey_animations9880

3 ай бұрын

Yeah i remember trying to do the lessons and not completing them because i couldn't get the grammar right even though i didn't know German grammar, i figured out the der die das thing okay but i didn't know that all plurals were die and i didn't understand how den worked when they started showing it to me, and i also remember getting mad with it because i thought i got it right but i didn't get verb conjugation right something that i was easily taught in a real German class and even learned the e st t en t en shortcut and stem changers and the alphabet and stuff that duo didn't even bother with, i learned vocab really well but i just can't recommend it without other resources which i don't think a good language learning app should skip importance things that would damage learning

@choufreakyc

3 ай бұрын

​@@NicrophorusVespI also learned Mandarin on my own as well as studied in Taiwan, and am fairly fluent. I tried DuoLingo recently just to brush up on vocabulary and I thought it sucked a lot. It doesn't cover grammar, tones or basic things (same for Japanese as I also gained some fluency through traditional studies). I view DuoLingo as a supplemental tool, but definitely not a good way to learn a language. They sure did a great job marketing themselves as a good way to learn a language.

@kittykittybangbang9367

3 ай бұрын

As someone who is trying to learn Spanish, I don't get why duolingo doesn't teach you the alphabet of said language you're trying to learn. I find myself trying (and failing) to pronounce new Spanish words. Like alphabets are the basic of all languages, so why not teach us that?

When I stopped using Duolingo my friends all acted like I was giving up on a dream. I felt more like I was stopping myself from continuing to do something that was completely ineffective.

@HolahkuTaigiTWFormosanDiplomat

3 ай бұрын

True and true, something better must replace them...

@ron4202

3 ай бұрын

Bad friends. People learn in different ways and Duolingo isnt for you

@miclovesart

3 ай бұрын

@@ron4202 yeah, I don’t hang out with those people anymore. They were really judgmental and treated me like I was not as good as them. Now I have better friends who are way more supportive!

@demihau

3 ай бұрын

don’t seek validation in other people, do what you feel is right, it’s your life, not their

@liliao.2826

3 ай бұрын

I feel the same way about Babbel.

I quit after that stupid leader board. I got Duolingo to learn, not to compete with others. I don't have the time to sit and complete repetitive lessons just so I don't demoted from an imaginary competition that will mount to nothing

@jacobstevens7046

3 ай бұрын

Then why did it impact you at all? I just don't pay attention to it.

@callmecrimsonpls

2 ай бұрын

you can turn off in settings

@english.gordeeva

2 ай бұрын

@@jacobstevens7046 same. Duolingo isn’t the best way to learn but it’s better than nothing

@tygerk2372

2 ай бұрын

@@jacobstevens7046 Thank you for saying it for me. Jeezus Christ, OP, you saw through The Matrix, but somehow still decided that you needed to participate in it? SMH OP, sorry to come off so negative, I really DO hope you that are making progress in your language goals; I hope you are able to see the learning potential available with even the free version of this Duolingo app.

@yuenmienyu

2 ай бұрын

thank you. it feels so overwhelming, and I'm not going to rush a language I'm genuinely learning over some stupid competition. I want to take this to heart and take my time

Fluency takes many years even in a formal instructional environment. How much you learn on Duo depends on many factors: your previous knowledge of the language or similar languages, how much time you devote to the app, how many different types of lessons you do, if you supplement with outside resources, etc. Personally, I think it’s a great low-cost resource for basic vocabulary and grammar.

@BrendonLee

3 ай бұрын

Duolingo is good for reading, comprehension and vocabulary. I've been at it for more 3 years and I can now follow the spanish subtitles while watching english language shows on netflix. What it fails at is developing conversational and listening skills because unfortunately nothing can replace good old fashion human interaction and immersion. I wouldn't pay for it though because honestly very few of us have time to spend hours on it daily to make it worth it. 15 min sessions in the morning and evening is enough to keep it fresh in your head. But you still need to supplement it with other activities if you want to be fluent.

@AdaireKrickets

3 ай бұрын

​I can read first grade level Spanish literature okay-ishly after a year with the app. Speaking and hearing? Totally do not understand, at all. But I think there is only so much an app can do.

@lauracgc

3 ай бұрын

We all want easy fixes to everything- money, weight loss, learning new skills. Duo lingo is a great tool which has helped me out tremendously, but I’m also committed to spending an hour on it most days, and I supplement with learning the language in movies music and on social media. This video just feels like a way to validate a lazy quick fix mentality. One I have been victim too most of my life but finally able to manage with adhd meds and prioritising my time better lol

@elliotlewis9333

3 ай бұрын

It also depends on the course. If you try the Latin course for example, you will find that you are like a machine learning algorithm, in that you can recognise patterns, and get it right some of the time, but you fundamentally have no idea what is going on. You will get more use out of spending the same amount of time reading a textbook than using duolingo. If you are doing it just for fun than duolingo is fine, but if you actually want to learn a language you have to go back to good old fashioned, reading textbooks, and watching TV in a different language.

@beyondobscure

3 ай бұрын

Exactly. I love it, but it's important to, as with everything else, never trust blindly.

My favorite duolingo sentance it had me read was "ich habe keine tochter aber ich habe einen fisch". "Oh nein, er liebt deine freundin" was a runner up.

@n900video

3 ай бұрын

Tochter, Fisch and Freundin should be capitalized in German so Duolingo seems not to be all that great after all 😉

@daringcuteseal

3 ай бұрын

@@n900video nah, they do capitalize those words in their lessons. they don't force you to do that though in questions requiring manual keyboard input.

@elle-says

3 ай бұрын

​@@n900video and also i'm lazy so idk what to tell you 🤷🏼‍♀️

@alexspata

3 ай бұрын

how about the classic "Die Katze spielt nie Klavier" 😂 fucking duolingo AI

@tzootzoo802

2 ай бұрын

a couple years ago i tried learning polish and it gave me a sentence along the lines of "The crab is eating the cookie."

Duolingo does not care about learning languages anymore and really only care about users using it for long periods of times and getting Super Duolingo so they can get more money. I still remember using Duolingo years back and it wasn’t perfect but there were forums where users helped each other and mini lesson things that introduced the grammar and a brief overview of where you’d use certain phrases. Now I learn languages from official resources and textbooks, it’s nowhere near perfect but at least nowadays I understand grammar in-depth which Duolingo doesn’t offer (which is a nightmare for highly inflected languages because Duolingo tells you nothing about the different cases, it’s so annoying)

@EroticInferno

3 ай бұрын

Yeah… I tried it for Korean and I was like, “no one who isn’t already basically fluent could learn it this way??” It would be okay for me as a refresher tool, but no one who didn’t know Korean could learn that language in any meaningful way.

@HypeBeast764

3 ай бұрын

They only care about making money. They’re literally a capitalist corporation

@lili-cl1zx

3 ай бұрын

@@EroticInfernosame! they don't they you that hangeul is an alphabet so i was stuck trying to memorise whole syllables for a week before i realised that myself, with proper instruction it takes you like a day to learn hangeul

@MatthewTheWanderer

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, the lack of reference pages that explain grammar and spelling rules is the main reason I no longer use DuoLingo. I also hate their lack of vocabulary lists. Plus, their artstyle is hideous and there are a lot of other annoying things about them.

@milenazrzr

2 ай бұрын

Imagine, they only care about their money and not you 😀 since you dont pay for the app, dont expect miracles … I know many people including me who improved their grammar and vocab by doing it daily. Every langauge learning takes a lot of time, years if not longer

You're right! Duolingo shouldn't advertise itself as an all in one language learning program. I think of Duolingo as a supplemental tool, an introduction to a word, the context in which it is used, and establishing rules. Everything learned there has to be reinforces by outside resources like practice books, language immersion like movies, etc. There's no one place to learn anything completely.

I went to a nursery where I was taught French and I remember nothing from it, apart from the fact that the nursery was split in two one for the ones learning french and the others who's parents had just payed for a nursery. I can still remember staring out of the window at the kids playing while I was learning what is french for car, I can't even remember it, only the image on the card of a french car, which was for some reason a baby blue Reliant Robin.

@kellyriddell5014

3 ай бұрын

Une voiture :)

@neoqwerty

3 ай бұрын

@@kellyriddell5014 depending on the dialect "une auto" or "une automobile" also works. Quebecois is the easiest though it's only "un char".

@Heyu7her3

3 ай бұрын

​@@neoqwerty you can't use that outside of Quebec

@vulpixelful

3 ай бұрын

I thought I forgot my French too until I recalled the French days of the week and it came rushing back 😊 You may recognize some things subconsciously, or you think "everyone knows this" (they don't)

@OriginalContent89

3 ай бұрын

Use it or lose it just like most others things in school. This is why adults aren't "smarter than a 5th grader"

I like learning languages, and am currently using duolingo for arabic. The fact that it doesn't teach grammar, expecting the user to intuit the frammar from working examples is utterly absurd. Grammar is to language learning what going to the gym is to physical labour: Something initially difficult that gets easier over time, that peoole often haven't time for (speaking as a labourer that doesnt go to the gym), but that renders everything much easier in the long run

@loutrotte2383

3 ай бұрын

Tbh I can some interest in trying to infer the grammar from the context (it makes the learners think about sentence structure, etc.); some language learning books do it too. But they usually immediately follow it by a lesson/explanation of the rule, which Duo doesn’t really do Also agree with you on Arabic: I took the classes to derust my Arabic, but almost no grammar

@oosmanbeekawoo

3 ай бұрын

Please don't judge Duo just on the Arabic. It does a bad job for Arabic but that's because the Duo system is a poor match for such a language. You can learn Spanish or Japanese where it's much betterly optimised.

@ineedausername9617

3 ай бұрын

I'm only using it to learn the Arabic characters NGL. After I have the characters down I'll switch to something else to learn structure, grammar, and vocabulary. I'm also doing Spanish on there and it's laughable how little it's taught me. I plan to switch to a different method soon..... I remember in 2021-2022 when Duolingo seemed to care a bit about your learning

@layelee

2 ай бұрын

"Grammar is to language learning what going to the gym is to physical labour" False. Most people who grew up speaking English don't remember any of the grammar lessons they learned in school lol. Or worse, they were asleep in class or skipped out entirely. Half of people who grew up speaking English don't even know what a pronoun is and now we have an era where people who don't know what pronouns are get super mad about them, but them being stupid doesn't stop them from speaking English. Grammar lessons are actually not that important when it comes to communicating with real people, and most of you out there learning Japanese or French or whatever aren't learning the language to write university level essays in it. Duolingo is actually more on par with how humans naturally acquire language. Textbooks and all that rarely even teach you how actual every day people communicate in that language. It just teaches you what academic white men in suits think the language is used.

ACTUAL language learning tips (some I think are more original, but would be intermediate - advanced. I've tried to arrange them.): ---Beginner--- - Do it in a way you enjoy, that way you keep doing it. I have solid Korean from some book learning and 10 years of being into K-Pop and watching the variety content - Expose yourself to the language as much as possible (That you can tolerate, really). Learn like a baby or a foreign exchange student. Book learning can wait a bit. It's fairly rare that toddlers can read before they can speak. - Sing along to songs. No need to get fancy, just get used to pronouncing the words. - Learn a bit about Linguistics if you want, it genuinely helps me. Phonics (a sub-field) can also be helpful. - For practical use of a language: know the power of rephrasing in your head! You don't really have to one-to-one translate things in real life. You can rephrase your way around words you don't know and still get around. Sometimes it's awkward (if you're avoiding a noun), but avoiding a grammatical structure would probably go unnoticed. - When I'm bored, I try to create sentences in the other language in my head. Something to do AND good practice. Use your translation app if you're just missing a word, or if you need a step in the right (depends on the language) direction. - Learn a 1-2 clip of some form of media and really focus on it. Learn how to say it out loud, naturally. - Learn about "dictionary form" of words and how to adapt them to practical use (conjugation) ---Intermediate - Advanced--- - Try to break down translations literally if you can. Not every word has an exact, one-word translation in every language. - Don't completely avoid translation apps, use them as a resource! You can use them as a dictionary you don't have to flip through. However, there still may be errors. Double-check your sentences by translating it back into English to see if it's at least comprehensible. Also, know which direction the translation is stronger in. In my experience, Korean➡English is better because so much is lost when English is translated into Korean. Giving it additional context is good, too. Like "to box" will give you a different result than "box". You can add more context if you're about intermediate, and pick out the word you're looking for. "Check" in English can have many possible translations, for example. - Noting cultural differences can clear things up sometimes. There is technically a formal "you" in Korean. However, if you are talking to someone formally in conversation, you are supposed to address them by name + honorific or simply title + honorific. There's my dump of advice. I hope someone finds this helpful. A few of these I've figured out myself over time.

@user-is7xs1mr9y

2 ай бұрын

This is pretty much how I learned English. I've never paid for a single course.

Duolingo fumbled the bag so bad, I was a devotee back in 2016 and it’s been all downhill since. I switched to Mango and have learned so much more.

@alcyonae

3 ай бұрын

Mango is AMAZING. I can’t rave enough about its effectiveness. It has lukewarm reviews from people who don’t realize pleasure and learning don’t always go hand in hand (even though they do for me in this case)

@Gr95dc

3 ай бұрын

I just downloaded mango, you should have mentioned is needed to have a paid subscription to be used (unless you can access as part of a partner org, I'm not from the US so not options available for me). It's more expensive than the yearly duolingo subscription if I'm not mistaken

@LunaSkye64

3 ай бұрын

@@Gr95dcyup. If all these language learning apps have to paywall you for even attempting to try and learn a new language then what’s the point? I’d rather spend my already limited income on actual Spanish lessons.

@auctionguy5

3 ай бұрын

I recommend Mango Languages too. When I went to Quebec, the French I learned from Mango Languages really came in handy.

@CompasVC

3 ай бұрын

Oh I gotta try that

I’d never recommend using Duolingo to learn a new language from scratch but I found it really useful for reigniting my passion for the languages I learned in my youth. When I had trips to Germany and Belgium planned I realised how little confidence I had in my one-sharp French and German skills after two decades of barely using them. A while with the app got my brain back into the groove of thinking in those languages like it used to. Years ago, probably before the AI thing I really enjoyed finding the weirdest phrases it came up with. The German course on religion was full of references to The Holy Potato and those who worship it.

Duolingo, from what I’ve seen, only goes up to B1. Fluency goes from A1, B1, C1, and C2-C2 being entirely fluent.

@tovarishcheleonora8542

2 ай бұрын

Actually there are A2 and B2 as well.

@A.H._

2 ай бұрын

so, technically a B2 is fluent enough. C1 and C2 require the highest knowledge of how the language works, not only fluency when speaking/writing it. C1 may be the most ideal, but C2 is much more than what is needed. and if duoling really goes up to B1, it’s not bad at all. i’m more inclined to believe it’s a A2 tops, tho. at least, generally.

@tovarishcheleonora8542

2 ай бұрын

@@A.H._ You won't be even close to finish an A1 level if you only use duolingo. Duolingo is only good for a practice side-tool that you sometimes use while following an actual study plan.

@badvibesonly3526

2 ай бұрын

​@A.H._ I've been on it very casually for 2 years and it has come in handy a few times in my community that has a lot of people who speak less English than I speak Spanish. I'm at least glad that sometimes I don't have to rely on Google to convey simple messages to others.

@tesznye6992

2 ай бұрын

I've always found this grading scale super dumb. It's kinda like the IQ test. Okay, it's not as bad and useless as the IQ test, but in my experience it's not a good indicator of a person's real life language proficiency.

Remember when people said Ai generation models wouldn’t replace workers.

I accidentally bought a year of super duo (i wanted a month to try) and im still mad about it. Textbook learning has been way better for me.

@vewoee

3 ай бұрын

same thing happened to me. AND YOU CANT EVEN GET A REFUND

@pungetello

3 ай бұрын

they let me get a refund when I forgot to cancel my free month :( rip

@Acro_YT

3 ай бұрын

You should try comprehensible input in conjunction, trust.

@justthatblueguy

2 ай бұрын

Happened the same to me, and I m happy I did it, I bought it two years ago and if I hadnt get hooked I wouldnt have finished my french course. I really considered it has helped me a lot to be honest, maybe because its similar to my native language but I would totally say it has helped me a lot

For me, the game part actually helps me because it forced me to do it every day to keep up my streak and reach the challenges.

@BooksAndShitButNotLiterally

3 ай бұрын

But is it actually helping you learn..?

@Cenlalowell

3 ай бұрын

​@@BooksAndShitButNotLiterallyhell yeah you're learning no doubt about it. You will have to incorporate other methods of language learning to become fluent though. Language transfer and dreaming Spanish are a great combination

@AndreaMartinez-ip2vu

3 ай бұрын

Same. I think non-neurotypical folks especially may be helped by gamification, although I know gamification can be used nefariously if that is the intention. Just my experience as someone with documented executive functioning and other issues. I still do additional language study outside of Duolingo, of course.

@FrankBrennosTheGreatest

3 ай бұрын

@@BooksAndShitButNotLiterally It definitely is. Not as much as they claim but 15 minutes a day does add up over time to quite a lot of vocab. It's not useless.

@BooksAndShitButNotLiterally

3 ай бұрын

@@FrankBrennosTheGreatest I find parallel text books a quintillion times more efficient, and more fun because the phrases actually mean something.

You dont have to wait for the hearts to fill up again: You can do really easy lections to fill up hearts again, without having to pay. You have to click on the hearts in the corner and down there you can Start that Kind of lection. I learned french in School for five years and about 10 years later I started using duolingo for french and I really started remembering things I learned. It works for me to refresh a language. I Highly doubt that you can really learn a language from the ground up in duolingo .

Credit where it's due, their social media is admittedly brilliant and hilarious.

@ez5993

3 ай бұрын

thats how they get ya!

@cutebloons

2 ай бұрын

I find it insufferable honestly

@alexk9642

2 ай бұрын

@@cutebloons i think it was funny until they went to making shorts

@tabitharust304

2 ай бұрын

It was arguably funny up until a certain point and for me I'd say it was the owl bird thing at the barbie premiere

It's a nice supplement to my language class to remind me to practice every day, even when I don't have class, and pick up a few new words here and there- but still nothing compared to more formal classes.

@WillowBero

2 ай бұрын

I used to use Duolingo for my Spanish class in 8th grade (it was also for extra credit) and I can say I learned far more from my Spanish class than I did duolingo. I didn’t like that they would reintroduce concepts that I already learned and never give tips on grammar

DougDoug(a big streamer and youtuber) said that duolingo did not work for for him, and that reading, translating, and examining comments under Spanish youtube channels is way more fun and is way better for actually learning. Haven't done it myself but maybe try it out if you want to slowly learn a language online. Plus don't cost any money

@FrankBrennosTheGreatest

3 ай бұрын

"reading, translating, and examining comments under Spanish youtube channels is way more fun" I can't think of a more boring way to learn a language. To each their own I guess...

@Acro_YT

2 ай бұрын

@@FrankBrennosTheGreatest taking input is 1000x better than Duo

@FrankBrennosTheGreatest

2 ай бұрын

@@Acro_YT Not the point. I didn't say it was inefficient, I said it was boring. That being said, if you wanna argue watching youtube videos or movies in your target language is better, sure, but reading comments? That's definitely boring. Let's not even mention the fact they're probably full of mistakes...

@GumSkyloard

2 ай бұрын

@@FrankBrennosTheGreatest Don't forget Slang. Slang changes from country to country to region. Puerto Rican slang won't be the same as slang from Peru, or from Spain.

It was a great tool for me. I live abroad part-time, and when I am at home, I never get to speak my second language. So you doulingo allows me to practice every day and helps expand my vocabulary. I only use the free version, though.

Duolingo alone got me to halfway through the Welsh course, but a couple of years later, I remember basically nothing despite a year of daily practice. Nowadays I use it to supplement my Mandarin learning (in person lessons and self-study), and it's genuinely helpful for new vocabulary my classes don't cover and practising grammar patterns. But the fact that it doesn’t explicitly teach grammar, only shows it to you in sentences, really makes me aware of the fact that it’s not really a good learning tool (alone) at all. I genuinely like Duolingo, but I think it’s a practice or boosting tool, not a learning tool

I’ve done French on duo every day for months now and I’ve never felt more confident in my accent, vocab and grammar. I like this set up much better than 10 years ago when I first tried duo. It really comes down to commitment imho. I’ll do an hour most days, or 15 minutes occasionally on busier days. this “issue” feels like people complaining that they can’t learn a language while doing the bare minimum lol it’s a tool. Watch movies in that language. Listen to music. Read articles. Change the language of your phone. It’s a tool, not everything. 🤷🏼‍♀️

@maya.4367

2 ай бұрын

thank you! duo lingo has been such a good basic tool but i never expected to become fluent by only using it. i watch french tiktoks, listen to songs & learn the lyrics, watch shows in french but duo lingo is helping me understand everything on a basic level which is why i love it

@Ginnfyoknd

2 ай бұрын

This. Although even without the extras Duo took me to B1 in Spanish (confirmed by a tutor i hired recently because i moved to Spain and want to learn faster)

You can gain more hearts by completing an extra lesson, which is pushing you to practice more… I definitely can’t see it leading to actual fluency, but I’ve been finding the gamification super helpful for my ADHD and great for learning enough language to travel! I don’t think (or at least, hope) that anyone goes into Duolingo thinking they genuinely will become fluent

Yet it created this illusion that learning a language can be easy and effortless. As a teacher I have to justify myself regularly as to why language classes are hard and progress is slow. Because that's just how it is. You have to put in the work

I did the app for 2 months as a security guard, so I did a lot of the Japanese lessons. It was just learning patterns over and over. I'm fluent in Spanish and tried it for fun. It was not great either.

@vulpixelful

3 ай бұрын

"Learning patterns" is what language learning is...

@MrNightpwner

3 ай бұрын

@@vulpixelful obviously not cus then this video wouldn't exist.

@DroppedBass

3 ай бұрын

@@MrNightpwner This video is wrong in a lot of things.

@vulpixelful

3 ай бұрын

@@MrNightpwner This is just one person's experience. But that's how you learned English or any language. You don't think about every word, you think in chunks, based on patterns

@wolfgangd3653

3 ай бұрын

Maybe because learning patterns actually teaches you language... I also did 2 (almost 3) months of Japanese Duolingo, started from 0 knowledge, and now I can say a lot of things like explain what I'm doing most of the time, what I'm gonna do, plan things and explain what is happening around. I can also understand context in simple Japanese podcasts. I think when I was learning English at school it took me about 5 years to reach that level in a language. I don't know what you did wrong, but it's weird you learned nothing, maybe you weren't paying attention.

Jokes on you, at least I now know how to say 'apple' in Russian!

@mariahshae9654

2 ай бұрын

и я сказать я ем молоко и хлеб ииииии…. wait im proud of this one bc im vegetarian я не ем мясо

I have a 2232 day streak I can’t let go. I havent done more than 20xp a day in at least 2 years now.

Oh damn i am the opposite. Duolingo helped me immensely more than years of classes... i practice outside of the app with movies and media etc in the languages i want to learn... you don’t have to wait for hearts you can just earn them through free practice rounds. I love it still❤

@edwardqueen1559

3 ай бұрын

Good point! Agreed!

@ewwitsantonio

3 ай бұрын

Can you say that again but in the language you are learning please?

This is why, you as the student, needs multiple vignettes to study. NOT just one. IMO, DL, does provide a basic communication style, however they do need to upgrade their platform with more a conversational method.

Do not kiss the spider sounds like it was written by Husk.

Finally someone said it. I'm (kinda) fluent in English (not my first language) and for our English class our teacher made us download it as part of our grade. Everyone was saying they were learning but to me it was just soooo boring and made no sense. I'm so glad it wasn't just me

I've been using Duolingo for 3 months now. I did have some basic knowledge of the language and this is giving me more. I can ask some basic questions besides " where's the bathroom ". You get 5 hearts per exercise and if you make mistakes you run out of hearts and like this young man mentioned you can purchase hearts. I myself have never purchased hearts. There are practice exercises that you can do to earn hearts and not pay anything. That's what I do. By that I have retained some of what I have learned . I myself will stay with Duolingo for now.

@vffncl0

3 ай бұрын

I haven't used Duolingo in a long time. But back when I did, you could have unlimited hearts if you joined a classroom... which you can just make yourself.

@pixality7902

2 ай бұрын

Hearing about hearts blew my mind. Id been considering picking it up again as I found it fun at least but I guess not if there are hearts. I didnt make tons of mistakes so I probably wouldn't run out but even having that looming over me makes me second guess myself.

I hate duolingo!!! (I have it on my phone)

@hayloftii

2 ай бұрын

god you’re so real for this

I'm *this* close to getting a 365 day streak. I'm just gonna get that to feed my inner perfectionist, then watch with joy as my streak freezes run out.

@CorrieV

3 ай бұрын

Haha I'm on my longest streak ever at 257 days

@ewwitsantonio

3 ай бұрын

Can you tell us about your experience with duolingo in the language you are learning?

@TheAayize

2 ай бұрын

Omg thats diabolical 😂

i don’t know why people would even think they can learn at least 20% of a language in mobile apps???…

Watching this while doing my duolingo

I think it really depends. I remember stuff from duolingo pretty nicely in Italian, but it's true that I speak fairly okay French and Spanish so that helps. But I also learned a bit of German (which has similar logic to my native languuage) , but I can't imagine to only learn through the app once I need to do some grammar and stuff. For me the most annoying thing is that you can only make 3 mistakes per day, and the ads. My friend also learned whole language by doing just duo. I am glad it exists and it's free (but the ads are really annoying)..

clock that tea

yes they expect us to speak mandarin without even teaching the pinyin (Chinese's pronunciation system)

Desktop Duolingo from like 10 years ago was decent and fun. It feels like a money grab now, increasingly so since 2019.

I know so many people who tell me they’re learning a language on duolingo but if I try to speak to them in that language they admit they have no idea how to have a conversation.

Personal anecdote, I've been on it to learn French for about a month and I now know a few French words that I did not know a month ago. Something is better than what I had before, nothing. Net gain.

I find Duolingo when adding other methods help me learn languages pretty well. I'm constantly learning new words although I will admit you have to dive deeper to learn things like grammar and sentence structure

I learned nothing from it. It was confusing

@Darth_Bateman

3 ай бұрын

Did you actually try to do more than JUST duolingo ? Like, did you actually think about the words being used? Did you learn how grammar works? Did you try materials outside duolingo? Did you read the documents in duolingo listing the key phrases? Did you even try thinking in Spanish or whatever language you were trying to learn for a few minutes a day? Or did you just do your dailies and expect to learn Spanish by the end of the year?

@PastelOddity

3 ай бұрын

@@Darth_Bateman That last one. That's what Duolingo advertises, that it's a language learning app. For $80/mo., you shouldn't have to research basic grammar on your own outside the app.

@Twistedsleep

3 ай бұрын

@@Darth_Bateman “did you do all these things that duolingo doesn’t let you do in app? Oh wow you did what the app told you to do and only that? Imagine!!! I’m very intelligent”

@SemiIocon

3 ай бұрын

@@Twistedsleep I mean, it's pretty normal if you are interested in learning a language, that you'd learn about it outside of only one app. This seems more a case of buying the advertising that you'd learn a whole language only using one app, that is obviously marketing bs.

@vulpixelful

3 ай бұрын

@@Twistedsleep Well when you commit to learning a language, why not use all the free resources out there on the internet? Why does a company have to tell you to do that?

Guys I don't think the duo bird is randomly gonna appear in these comments

@ewwitsantonio

3 ай бұрын

haha for real. they would hate for this type of content to get more traction. the company's main fear is public perception (and especially public perception of their tracking and processing of personal data)

I use duolingo and have a 267 day streak today. I never really liked duolingo, but the reason I got back into it was because I wanted to learn Russian. My boyfriend at the time had parents who didn’t speak a lot of English, so I wanted to learn it so I could talk to them even in simple sentences. I was very into it, and I did learn quite a bit (my bf helped me with pronunciation). After we broke up, i no longer had the motivation to learn that language. I went to spanish because it was easy and I wanted something to do when I was bored. I still keep up with it since my Duo widget on my phone and the incessant notifications make me feel unaccomplished if I don’t do my lesson, but honestly I have been speedrunning them and don’t spend more than 2 minutes a day on duolingo

So, after doing some research (less than 2 hours with google), you can find out how the language fluency system works as well as the courses in duolingo that will place you in certain tiers if that system. Spanish and French are currently the only ones worth anything at the moment as they will bring your fluency levels to b2 (can find a job speaking that language). Other courses have wierd rules and stipulations. For example, Chinese on iOS will only bring you to tier a1, which is the most basic of the most basic level. In addition, android is about a few months behind this course, and the desktop app/web-gui is the most behind. Also, the chinese course only offers mandarin (will not tell you on the app) and not Cantonese because their website says Cantonese is too difficult to teach. That being said, duolingo is great to see and stew in the way the sounds are supposed to be made and the words are supposed to be made, as long as you also take one of the many free courses (not duolingo) that are available online.

What's your opinion on Babble? Is it better, worse, or about the same?

@coolbrotherf127

Ай бұрын

Don't use these kinds of for profit services for language learning. Free tools like Anki to learn words and just watching a lot of movies, TV, and KZread in the language you want to learn is better for actually becoming fluent.

Pour one out for Robert Tolppi. The brave man willing to cross the Duolingo Owl.

Even as far back as 2016, I remember Dulling had all these nonsense sentences like "I have 40 blue ducks" and the AI thing makes so much sense now

if you live in the US, some public libraries have online language learning resources and if you have a library card, which is free, you can reap the benefits. my library has mango languages and it actually teaches you how to respond and understand information in a foreign language. i know i sound like an advertisement, but please!!!!! get a library card! see if your library has language learning available! it’s free, and the library has so many other resources you probably don’t know about

@hayloftii

2 ай бұрын

how does that work? do you have to go to the library and use their computers in order to use mango?

With doulingo I also find their courses for non-European languages frustrating. I happy there’s some access but a lot of them lack the same features that the European languages have.

so true robert tolppi

I'm from the USA, and my native language is English. I've learned two languages on Duolingo (Spanish and Italian) to conversational levels. I later went to live in countries where people speak those languages (Argentina and Italy) and now I'm perfectly fluent in both. Duolingo is not going to get you to a level where you will be confused for a native, but it can get you to a level where you can then immerse yourself in the language enough to gain fluency. That has been my experience. Ultimately, it's exactly like everything else in life... you get out what you put in. If you just do a single lesson every day to keep your streak going, or just do the practice lessons because that's the fastest way to get on the leader boards, you're not really putting in the effort that it will take to get the results you want from it.

I can't help but agree and disagree at the same time. I've used duolingo as my primary language learning tool for French and was able to learn enough to pass two semesters worth of courses at my college. I think that while there are plenty of issues with it, it is certainly possible to learn a language using it. Maybe you'll only learn to A2 or B1 level, but at least with courses like French and Spanish you can learn enough to start reading books or watching tv/movies in the other language, or having basic conversations with natives, and that can help you develop more advanced skills and fluency. Though I do think that my main issue with Duolingo is that it doesn't focus enough on learning the grammar and tries to get you to learn it naturally, but there's been plenty of times where I've seen a really simple graphic explaining a grammatical concept that I was supposed to learn from duolingo months ago and thinking, oh, that's how that works. But tl;dr: the only thing that can teach you a language is yourself. Use whatever works for you, dedicate yourself to studying the language, and above all else find ways to apply that knowledge daily.

It makes it difficult to find the more comprehensive explanations and it doesn’t naturally tell you the information before you do the exercises like how a teacher would. It’s good for refreshing if you’ve already taken a course but not as the only teacher.

I have a friend that condemned me when I said I use Duo. She advised me to use Mango languages, and I'm happy I listened to her.

very timely video, since i hit one year streak on duolingo today💀😂. i studied english and french in uni, but at duo i took spanish just because i was interested in it. i’d say that knowing french helped me a lot with learning spanish and duolingo actually helped me a lot with studying vocabulary. as for grammar, i just had to guess based on similarities between the languages i have previously learned. soo, duolingo definitely isn’t made for you to achieve fluency, but i still find it very useful in learning the basics

I'd be curious if someone's review of Rosetta Stone programs. I was always interested in trying them out.

Unrelated to the video but I hope you've been doing well, Robert!

I use it as a tool. I combine traditional learning with it. Duolingo is good for me because I can practice the language while at work. I can practice the Japanese characters and there are no hearts so you can screw up as much as you want!

When I use Duolingo I learn how to play Duolingo. Others may be different but I do not learn the language. I learn from other apps and books.

I deleted the app once they announced they were going to use AI. I knew Duolingo was already money hungry, but the use of AI was finally what I needed to get myself to quit that app.

@Acro_YT

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, that move is truly scummy.

@evea.4358

3 ай бұрын

The AI not only creates trash sentences but I had to more than once put a complaint in for flagging my sentence as incorrect even tho it 100% was, I had just used synonyms.

@DroppedBass

3 ай бұрын

They have always used "A.I.", they just decided to announce they were doing it because the term is trendy nowadays.

@tzarg

3 ай бұрын

@@DroppedBass how do you know?

@DroppedBass

3 ай бұрын

@@tzarg When they announced in September 2022 that "At Duolingo, humans and AI work together to create a high-quality learning experience," they were describing what they had been doing for years, as described in the December 2016 article "How we learn how you learn," but describing all of the computer-assisted parts as "AI."

Duolingo is good for absolute beginners, but not great for those serious about getting proficient. The Japanese course was helpful for me to learn the Hiragana, Katakana and some basic vocab. However, as others said, it's pretty bad at teaching grammar. It barely covers particles, word forms and sentence structures, which are very important for one's language foundation. I grinded the app for about 3 months then started taking actual online beginner Japanese classes to learn more. Now I just do 1 lesson a day to keep my streak

great video! i recently picked up using duolingo again after many years because i was desperate to get some basic vocabulary, grammar, and sentences i can repeat to ger used to speaking french again. i grew up bilingually speaking french but haven't spoken it since i was a tween about a decade ago, so i have advantages like already having the accent and being able to discern whether or not something sounds natural with pretty decent accuracy. but i'm determined not to fall prey to duolingo's tactics; i'm not maintaining a streak because i don't want to study 7 days a week, i'm not spending any money on them, i'm not going out of my way to get xp to top leaderboards. and when i do study, i do it for an hour at a time, sometimes two hours, because i don't think that ~few minutes a day~ model is beneficial for anything other than maintaining a language you already know. and once i finish all the sections (which probably won't take too long at my pace) i'll likely not use it again and instead maintain and continue to learn the language through conversations with actual people. duolingo really gives me the creeps, especially after hearing how many employees they laid off in favor of ai. yuck.

I saw a duolingo sentence before in Japanese saying "Excuse me, i am apple".

I learned a lot from it. I got way more comfortable speaking Spanish because of it (having started from nothing), and was able to communicate with students (who had ZERO English), my husband (bilingual, and another resource for my Spanish), and his family (especially a cousin who, again, spoke no English). I learned a lot from the stories because they were conversational. The lessons were also good, but the stories put things into context and I was able to pick up whole phrases, and then break apart those phrases for other needs. Maybe things have gone down hill, but I'm not for the extreme DL hate. If anything, it's a free way to dip your toes in a language and see if it's worth pursuing further.

oh my god!! another robert with a great video

The nonsense is real. Some courses seem to be mostly generated by ia or some random generator. Some native japonese youtubers have noted that the language seem robot, unrealistic and probably made by ia. The narration *is* (they asserted) synthetic, not real speakers.

Relying on any one app or program to learn any language is unrealistic. The only way to gain fluency in any language is the same way you learned your own language. Over time. Bit by bit. By listening, reading, writing, watching, speaking. By living it. If you sit down with any program and think "by the end of this I will speak this language" you're already setting yourself up for disappointment. Use all the apps. Watch tv. Read stuff and look stuff up. Speak to people. Also most of what you learn on apps is academic language, like learning English in class, the lessons taught most people here probably forgot. A lot of them don't actually prepare you for real conversations with real people, except maybe italki. People get so hung up on grammar specifics even though most people who speak english to each other don't even know what a pronoun is and still manage to speak.

I love the phrase "enshittification arc"

funny story, my account glitched for some reason and the first 3-day super duolingo bonus with a day 7 streak lasted forever, and it thinks i have super duolingo lmaooo

You just remembered me to start my daily class. Duo rocks! The only problem is that you have to add another way of learning, not only Duo. And sincerely, did you finish all Duo Spanish course? I doubt it.

I learned more Japanese in 2 weeks of language school than 2 years of duolingo streaks. The only exception is memorizing hiragana and katakana. So use the app for that, and use everything else for everything else.

I feel strongly about this. I grew up using different kinds of language learning apps to learn my mom’s language and I learned nothing! I couldn’t memorise anything with the apps’ mini games and the words I was practicing was basically useless (things like ocean and parrot instead of more common words in sentences 🙄). What I do now instead is taking a text (in my case fanfictions) and pasting it into Google translate so that the text is in the language I’m learning. Then I take the words I don’t know in the text and create a set on Quizlet. Since I’ve chosen my own words from fanfictions, I get to learn more common words like “instead” or “maybe” or “until”. Words that connect things in a sentence and words from common topics. Quizlet works much better for my memory. Quizlet test you on the words by letting you write them from memory, and if you spelled the word wrong because you didn’t remember it, it test you on it again until you won’t make mistakes. For the grammar I try to look at the translated sentences and figure out what patterns there are, but I’m sure you can also search up the grammar on the internet to see if someone has explained it.

Oof, deleting. The AI part got me. So, they got rid of 10% of the real people who have gone their entire lives speaking real conversations for a computer? 👎🏻 I was just thinking about trying to learn Spanish again. Forget it. I was never going to finish the course anyway, lol.

!Yo tengo el gato, los pantalones! - duolingo werked fir me!

@u-1372

3 ай бұрын

😂😂

@layelee

2 ай бұрын

The fact that I know what that actually says tells me that duolingo actually did work for me lol

I remember one time my dad (Italian) was listening to the Duolingo exercise, and got really confused because the sentence wouldn’t be used in everyday conversation.

Thank god ur back on my recommended omg

I've been studying Spanish on Duolingo for years and I've learned so much! It works if you apply yourself.

Been using duolingo for the past month to enrich my learning of Spanish (a language I've been learning for almost a decade and am semi-fluent in.) Overall it's helped me structure my sentences which as a person who sucks at grammer has helped greatly and combined with my daily 90 min class on the language it's pretty good. The worst part is getting started, I got all of their placement questions right but they only put me in A2 even though I'm a B1, meaning I had to skip over a section to get to the right place. My plan is to use all of the grammer stuff and then skip all the way to higher levels for a real challedge. Great vid!

Bro is "🤓😩😣" through the whole video

Well, yeah. As long as you've learned vocabulary, it has done its job. Unrealistic expectations are the problem here.

one thing i wasn't really a fan of on duolingo was the prioritising of being able to perfectly reproduce sentences rather than understand why you were saying things in a certain way, for example i tried to start learning korean on there but was frustrated because even though i could translate all their sentences, the lack of information about grammar rules/sentence structures essential to have even the most basic ability to create sentences meant i basically had no practical skills in the language. it wasn't until i went and took courses to learn the basics myself that i found duolingo useful, putting into practice things i had already learned. i will say however that the super repetitive nature of the vocab games were quite effective in getting me to remember the words it taught. did duolingo make me fluent? absolutely not, but at least i'll never forget the words it made me repeat 200 times over.

@dplj4428

3 ай бұрын

I prefer Talk to Me for korean.

9:06 I like Busuu. You can take a placement test, you can get your exercises corrected by other users who know the same language, and their premium isn’t necessary just worth it for all the extra stuff you get. And they ask you what your native language is too.

Man, this video was absolutely fantastic. I was about to write about how it reminds me of lumosity right when you brought it up. The framing of it as an illusion and calling it out as a game... I don't think I've agreed with a video essay this much ever before.

As someone who just finished the Swedish Skill Tree as of a week ago after 4 and a half years, if you just click your not going to get much out of it. So, I make notes, write, and speak. Also, doing bi-weekly reviews. Sure it takes longer but you get more out of it. However, no App alone or resource will get anyone to fluency. Note: I learn more than one language.

Your timing with this video is perfect, I just started looking into learning Malayalam. Honestly was considering taking traditional classes

Can't wait for the CoolMathsGames to push the microtransactions and dark patterns update. Kids in IT class have never learnt maths as fast.

hey bro, just found ur youtube! huge fan from tiktok!!! deff subscribed, keep going!!!

Glad to see your teeth are doing good, thanks for the new video!

I used Duolingo for a year, didn't spend a dime, and now I can read The Stranger in French. You get out of it what you put into it.

Also, this "Khan academy" thing proudly presents "AI tutoring" on their website now, a website that barely even loaded, so I am not that optimistic about those (I don't know anything about them, though).

@ewwitsantonio

3 ай бұрын

Khan loads for me *immediately*. What operating system and browser are you using?

I've been using Duolingo for a few years. But I've also learnt Duolingo every day. But no way could I ever speak a language after using this. But it does help with speaking.

@AlistairKiwi

3 ай бұрын

By speaking I just mean speaking the language when you read it - not actually how to speak it.

@TT-ee1vv

3 ай бұрын

​@@AlistairKiwi Then that means it works. No app or even language school would make you speak fluently. They help you build the basics and interest in a language. They help you have a starting point. To learn a language you must practice with native speakers. The issue is not Duolingo.

I took French as a kid and in college so already had a basic vocabulary and understanding of the language when I started Duolingo in 2015-16ish. I'd made it far enough in the original tree to unlock extra modules, like the goofy flirting that didn't feel accurate but was fun. Then they redid the whole system I think twice since then and knocked my progress back to the beginning and testing forward throws in enough words I can't pass the test. I've got a 400+ day streak, zooming through a lesson a day, barely putting in effort to get to anything remotely challenging

Keeping my streak was so stressful. I got to about 210 days and had to quit the app because I felt like I wasn’t learning enough yet being forced to use it

I don't know, I agree with a lot here, but there are some major flaws. The only way to become fluent in a language is regular use. Instructors teaching you are going to help expedite you learning, but you are never going to become fluent by just taking a course. You need real life and continuous experience with a skill like language. I took French for 13 years, and while I could definitely say and read a lot, I didn't become fluent until I connected with people who only spoke French. Then I had to learn how to actually converse in the language instead of structured phrases from class or from books. Duolingo did a solid job of teaching me the basics of language. I have used the free version for both Dutch and Japanese, and while I would never say I am fluent in them, I could absolutely find my way around Japan and Curacao. Would I be able to have extensive conversation, meet new people, and ultimately have new experiences as a result? Nope. But I also only spent about a year on each course and if/when my career takes me out that way, I won't be lost and I'll be able to ask for most of the things I need to without a translator app or book. I can call that a win.