Duolingo

[md0]

I started using Duolingo after I saw this thread mentioning it has Turkish.

No review yet, because for me this game-ified learning is a new thing (I'm used to formal classrooms, or Assimil-like methods).

Doing French, Turkish and Spanish.
With French, I realise how many vocabulary categories I skipped because I found them uninteresting in school. Eg animals.
Turkish, no complains so far other than how it throws in -isa without any explanation in one of the first lessons.
For Spanish, I'm disappointed it's American Spanish. Almost all Spanish speakers I know, IRL and online, are from Spain. One of my friends who was within earshot when I was doing Duolingo Spanish immediately commented "You would say 'Encantada' in Spain", when I couldn't parse "Mucho gusto".

[dEhiN]

I started using Duolingo after I saw this thread mentioning it has Turkish.

No review yet, because for me this game-ified learning is a new thing (I'm used to formal classrooms, or Assimil-like methods).

Yeah it's interesting and different - their approach. I'm still not sure if it's helpful or not. When I was doing it regularly I found I was learning new vocab. But I also felt like I only remembered those words in the context of the Duo lessons. Maybe if I had continued the lessons and finished a tree, it would've changed. But I didn't find myself remembering what I'd learned outside, in real-world situations.

For Spanish, I'm disappointed it's American Spanish. Almost all Spanish speakers I know, IRL and online, are from Spain. One of my friends who was within earshot when I was doing Duolingo Spanish immediately commented "You would say 'Encantada' in Spain", when I couldn't parse "Mucho gusto".

Haha, I'm used to "encantado/encantada" as well! I think Duo has Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese because the creators are from the States and over here in North America LA Spanish / BP are more popular.

[Tenebrarum]

It would be interesting to see how they handle the North-South dichotomy of Vietnamese. I guess since the courses are built in collaboration with unpaid volunteers, they'll take a blind shot on the issue of dialect, and end up misleading learners quite severely.

[vijayjohn]

It would be interesting to see how they handle the North-South dichotomy of Vietnamese. I guess since the courses are built in collaboration with unpaid volunteers, they'll take a blind shot on the issue of dialect, and end up misleading learners quite severely.

I'd guess Southern Vietnamese since that's where Vietnamese immigrants in this country tend to come from IME.

I think it would be great if they accommodated more than just one dialect of each language though. I may be an American, but I prefer studying European Portuguese over Brazilian Portuguese, so it's kind of annoying that I have to always remember to use BP with Duolingo. But oh well.

[TeneReef]

De gustibus non est disputandum.
Even though I'm from EU, I can't stand British English and Castillian Spanish.
I like Continental Portuguese though, although it's not my choice.

.

I think it would be great if they accommodated more than just one dialect of each language though. I may be an American, but I prefer studying European Portuguese over Brazilian Portuguese, so it's kind of annoying that I have to always remember to use BP with Duolingo. But oh well.

Number of active users is used as an argument in the Nynorsk vs Bokmaal case,
so it can be applied to Continental Portuguese vs Brazilian Portuguese as well.

[TeneReef]

"Mucho gusto".

I prefer
Mucho gusto since it's closer to

Muito prazer.

[vijayjohn]

Your point being...?

No one is saying that people don't have their own opinions. But since they do, why not accommodate them if it's possible to do so?

[dEhiN]

"Mucho gusto".

I prefer
Mucho gusto since it's closer to

Muito prazer.

I'm used to muito prazer or prazer em conhecê-lo but that's because I've only learned BP. But for Spanish, even though I've focused primarily on LAS, I naturally go with encantado over mucho gusto. Not sure why.

Your point being...?

No one is saying that people don't have their own opinions. But since they do, why not accommodate them if it's possible to do so?

Actually now that they have the whole incubator setup, it should be possible for them to provide dialect-specific courses. The biggest issue (if they've already considered it) might be a lack of content creators. You would need enough native speakers bilingual in English who specifically know the one dialect.

Hmm...now my programming mind is thinking...another possibility is to somehow separate only the vocab/grammar that is different. Perhaps they could have 2 variations of a particular unit, or even a specific lesson within a unit, when the vocab/grammar content necessitates it. Because I would imagine creating a whole new course just for a different dialect would mean that at least half or more of the content will be the exact same.

[vijayjohn]

The biggest issue (if they've already considered it) might be a lack of content creators.

If they can find enough for Turkish and even Irish, I'm sure they can find enough for European Portuguese and Castillian and what not. I mean, sure, easier said than done, but still.

[dEhiN]

The biggest issue (if they've already considered it) might be a lack of content creators.

If they can find enough for Turkish and even Irish, I'm sure they can find enough for European Portuguese and Castillian and what not. I mean, sure, easier said than done, but still.

You're argument should be "if they can find enough for Klingon, they can definitely find enough for EP and Catillian!

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

I don't know what's so good about this whole ''duolingo''. Learning by translation?

So you are to translate : "hi, I am a student" to a foreign language, and you got "WRONG", when you use some different word, with the same meaning, like writing "hi", instead of "hello" in your foreign language. One sentence can be translated many different ways. You cannot just say that there is only one ''true'' translation.

Also, it must be really boring. There are so many more fun ways to learn a language, like following a course on a website or a book, watching video lectures etc.

Moreover they don't even teach you grammar.

They do explain grammar on the website. It's not the focus indeed, but for me that works well, because with Turkish I knew a lot of grammar but not much vocabulary, which isn't that useful

Well, the fun thing for me is also that it doesn't take much time, but can easily be done each day, and that you don't need to pay for it.

[voron]

There's Hebrew in the incubator but still no Arabic?

[Meera]

Hindi is in the incubator!!

[Earwig]

There's Hebrew in the incubator but still no Arabic?

There's Klingon in the incubator but still no [insert real language here].

I notice though that there's an English for Arabic-speakers course currently in beta, so it's quite possible that some of the people who were responsible for creating it will turn their attention to Arabic for English-speakers once it's finally deemed stable.

[md0]

Seems like that's was it for me and Duolingo. I haven't played for more than a week.
I had a feeling this model of learning doesn't work for me. But I should be starting classes in Turkish in September, and I could find other ways to immerse myself in French.

[dEhiN]

Seems like that's was it for me and Duolingo. I haven't played for more than a week.
I had a feeling this model of learning doesn't work for me. But I should be starting classes in Turkish in September, and I could find other ways to immerse myself in French.

Because “seems like” is in the present, then “that's it” has to be in the present as well.

And yeah I find the same for Duo and I. Their model of learning doesn't work for me. It's a shame because I like the idea of using the same resource for multiple languages. So part of me keeps thinking if I could make Duo work for me, then I could just use it to learn a bunch of languages.

[voron]

Their model of learning doesn't work for me.

How exactly doesn't it work? Do you feel like you're not progressing? Or do you get bored and eventually disinterested while using it?

[dEhiN]

Their model of learning doesn't work for me.

How exactly doesn't it work? Do you feel like you're not progressing? Or do you get bored and eventually disinterested while using it?

Well the game aspect I didn't like, and had to learn to ignore. Otherwise I felt pressured to keep up with my friends or at the least do a little bit every day, which I know is good, but not always realistic.

But I think the biggest thing was that I found the random sentences didn't help me retain the vocabulary. It was like I was just throwing a whole bunch of vocabulary at the wall and hoping they stuck.

[Lauren]

Ewwww. I was going to do some Irish Gaelic on Duolingo for fun but the speaker's pronunciation is horrible and I can't stand it. Nevermind.

Also I wish it had Finnish! If it did I wouldn't hesitate at all to start do it. And I hope Hungarian is opened soon.

[Earwig]

Arabic's on its way:

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9968130