BS: Anybody using Duolingo?

Subject: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 09:46 PM

I'm a National Public Radio addict, and I heard a program segment on Marketplace the other day about Duolingo, a phone app that helps you learn languages by faking you into thinking you're playing computer games. Well, I had to try it.

So far, it's lots of fun. I'm taking Spanish, and it has an accent that seems rather strange to me. Can anybody identify the Spanish accent used in Duolingo?

But besides that, is anybody using Duolingo, and do you have comments about it?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 09:50 PM

It never faked me into anything. I don't know how effective it is, across the board. I can read some stuff in Hindi, and I can understand some stuff, but they I don't have the opportunity to speak or write. It's free though, and it's fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 10:27 PM

My wife had it installed on her phone for a while.
Over the last 15 years or more, her gang of 3 South Welsh ex-pat valleys girls
[if the Bristol Channel counts as overseas..]
have had occasional fits of enthusiasm to try to learn their native language..

Last time they tried Duolingo for a while until the novelty faded.
She reckoned it was a fun app, but when it was necessary to update
something about it seemed a bit off,
so we uninstalled it.
If I remember, it demanded for too many intrusive permissions...???

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 10:30 PM

Downloaded it a couple of years ago but haven't used it! It must've been free at the time...

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 11:15 PM

I’ve got it installed on my phone and have tried Welsh with it. Like Jeri, I don’t see that it fakes you in to anything.

As for usage, I find the adverts irritating. I suppose they are reasonable for a free set up but the only paid way out of that seems to be a $9.99 per month subscription. There is also something, I think about getting “Lingots”, that bugged me.

Overall though, I guess it could work for someone committed to practice (and I believe you can lose progress, or is it streak?, if you don’t keep up with the lessons – unless you buy your way out of that). I’m afraid that’s not me. I’ve found the (simple levels - I might have thought differently had I got further) exercises where for example you drag and drop words tedious and drawn out, lack the patience to do much typing on the phone (even though I’d really need that for spelling for starters) and only managed a week (rattling through a few of the “tedious” exercises in on session) before letting things slip…

One thing I noticed is that it’s a bit different to the way we were taught in school (I did have the later part of primary and 1st two years of secondary in N Wales). I’d for example use “rydw i’n hoffi coffi” (I like coffee) and they use “dw i’n hoffi coffi”). There seems to be a bit on that one here

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Mar 19 - 04:40 AM

oui et nine

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 19 - 06:19 AM

It doesn't fake people into anything? Well, it did me. When I use it, I do feel kinda like I'm playing a game, and it does have some of the addictive aspects of computer games. So, it teaches by deceiving people into thinking they're playing.
I suppose one could say it other ways, but I felt pretty good about being faked into learning.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Jos
Date: 18 Mar 19 - 07:05 AM

I have hated my few experiences of computer games - not my idea of 'fun' - so suspect that the Duolingo way of learning languages is not for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Thompson
Date: 19 Mar 19 - 01:16 PM

I used it for a while for a couple of languages, then it brought in a punitive method called… I forget what, but it punished you for making too many mistakes. I uninstalled it immediately. I suspect they lost a lot of users that time - there was a storm of rage on the site's forums.

It was pretty good; it taught a fairly slangy, hip-with-the-kids version of the languages. (If you want to know the kind of Spanish, there are two ways to find out: 1) doeth it lithp on the esses (Spanish rather than South American) and 2) ask on the Duolingo Spanish forum. Or search; someone else has probably asked already.

What I do use and like is a site known as The Mixxer, or language-exchanges.org - using this, you put up a profile about yourself (as informative or otherwise as you like) and include what language(s) you speak as a native and what you'd like to learn. Then people who want your language and can offer the one(s) you want will contact you through the site.

I've spoken to lots of different people in my chosen language, using Skype; I'm currently down to speaking once a week to the same person, who's become a friend, and who's brought me or been brought by me out for meals on my visits to the country.

The great thing about this is that you get attuned to using language, and people using The Mixxer are generally fans of language in general, so people offer each other useful tips like "Don't watch a film using English subs, use same-language subtitles".

Subject: RE: BS: Anybody using Duolingo?
From: Monique
Date: 20 Mar 19 - 02:25 AM

You have many samples of Spanish accents on the "Centro Virtual Cervantes" site (all in Spanish). The lenguistic characteristics are mentioned below with a transcription.
On Goethe-Verlag.com you can start 50 different languages. There are 2 Spanish speakers, I don't know about the man but the woman speaks Spain Spanish.