Is there anything better? I’m using it daily and it seems to help, but I’m worried it’s not going to be a solid foundation, as it seems to be hella scattered.
It probably depends on which language you’re learning and whether there’s a good deck available but I’ve moved onto flashcards with Anki.
The main problem with Duo (before all of its current problems) used to be that it didn’t really give much context unless you were on the full website and clicked through to read the grammar rules, but the card deck I’m using for basic Spanish has all of that built in and visible from the start so it’s been a good foundation on the language.
I’ve also heard excellent things about something called the “pimsleur” method but that seems expensive to access through official means. I’m sure there are other ways to try it out, of course…
“The streak” made learning French so much harder in the beginning.
Having a decent grasp of Spanish (Castellano), I thought French would be in the ballpark of difficulty. Well, it’s not. It’s way more nuanced in vowel sounds, and constantly cutting off the ends of words and then cramming the remains together in to sentences. Such a PITA.
In the beginning I badly needed rest and repetition days, but chasing a streak just made the whole thing so frustrating that I gave up for months at a time. Finally I’m able to keep up a streak, but it’s really just a side-effect of how I learn now.
Method: start up a lesson and do a single step. If in the mood, keep going. If not, put the phone down or use another app. Later, if the mood hits you, do another DuoLingo step. Repeat. Result? Somehow my streak keeps rolling on, and I’m actually completing more lessons per day now.
Another tip…you can do a practice lesson where you regain hearts, but I use it just as a stand in for keeping my streak on days I don’t want to do lessons. Which is most days tbh. I need a Spanish speaking buddy to practice with 🥲
¡Claro que si! Lo mismo aqui.
IMO the practice lessons are underrated and awesome. I mean, while yeah they nominally replenish your hearts, they also re-drill earlier stuff that might otherwise start to drift out of su cabeza.
So much of locking in a language is about immersion & repetition, and it seems to me that stuff like Duo’s practice lessons genuinely help replicate immersion.
Anyway, good luck on finding a practice buddy!
One thing I’ve learned is to not try to hop between Spanish & French, since it’s a great way to get it all jumbled up. :S
I do a single lesson a day. Slow…but I give me the time to learn. Additionally I added other sources and apps like memrize, that use video with native speakers and don’t fuck up the pronounciation like duo’s bots. Also Junior’s voice. Fix Junior voice it feels like I’m high by just listening to that.
don’t fuck up the pronounciation like duo’s bots. Also Junior’s voice. Fix Junior voice it feels like I’m high by just listening to that.
Which language are you talking about?
With French, there are indeed some differences in the bots, but I figured that was a feature, not a problem. I took it to represent regional differences, of which there certainly are differences in French.
Dumb tip: you can totally cheat a missed streak by setting your device’s clock back a day and doing a lesson. You can even go back several months and do it. You can also just continue your streak after months of inactivity by doing a single long-ish lesson, so streaks are generally pretty damn pointless.
Ngl that damn streak took over my life at one point, I was over 1000 days and climbing. Decided one day to just…let it go on purpose. To no longer be caged by the tyranny of the owl.
Highly recommend it, the sense of freedom is unreal.
I’m on day 744 and my streak is just an alternating pattern of fire and ice. I hate it but I think I hate the idea of dropping all that progress more. Did you stop using Duolingo altogether or just switch to practicing when you want to?
Kept it going for a while, making sure to take a day off once a month to avoid building another stressful streak. But I kinda got to the end of its usefulness and wandered off to other things.
Just started learning Spanish and I thought about firing it up again but the app is such a mess these days I actually can’t face it.
Edit: Remember getting rid of the streak doesn’t actually lose your “progress” in learning the language, which is presumably the important part. It’s just a meaningless number. You can do it!
I’m at nearly 1500 days. I’m not really dedicated to it anymore and usually just do a single lesson a day, but I keep doing it so that I don’t forget I want to learn French.
Someday I’ll actually enroll in a French class so that family reunions wouldn’t be so awkward…
Back when I was learning languages, I got obsessed with the streak thingie. Then I found myself without internet for a few days and started to get really stressed and upset about losing the streak.
I then realised that my reaction to it was unhealthy and decided that these streak things are just toxic to me. So now I don’t really care about them.
The only streak that’s EVER benefitted me was the one for my diary app (highly recommend Daylio) though I think if you didn’t buy it before it’s on a subscription model now… Like everything else. Don’t pay a subscription for your diary!
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