Learning another language (duolingo)

[Bob]

My daughter got herself on duolingo when she got her first phone this summer ahead of starting high school and she's been flying at French and really enjoying the app.

 

That's inspired my missus to pick back up on it and where she'd got to with her Spanish, so yesterday I downloaded it too and have started German, the only language I've ever learned and not spoken since high school.

 

2 days in, it's bloody addictive and what I knew is coming flooding back.

 

Anyone else made an effort to learn a new language recently?

[Bjornebye]

3 hours ago, Bob said:

My daughter got herself on duolingo when she got her first phone this summer ahead of starting high school and she's been flying at French and really enjoying the app.

 

That's inspired my missus to pick back up on it and where she'd got to with her Spanish, so yesterday I downloaded it too and have started German, the only language I've ever learned and not spoken since high school.

 

2 days in, it's bloody addictive and what I knew is coming flooding back.

 

Anyone else made an effort to learn a new language recently?

Yeah I started doing German on it a while back. The app logo goes all weird when you have a few days off it and it kept freaking me out so I deleted it. viel Glück! 

[Barrington Womble]

I did Duolingo for a bit..it got on my tits in the end with it's constant nagging to use it. It was ok and I would imagine it's more useful for someone like @Bobwho's trying to remember some old skills rather than myself learning g from scratch. I did Italian, I learnt a bit, kept it up for 9 months and I could recognise words etc, I was able to order some food while there, but I couldn't understand a word what was being said (I tried to watch some stuff on netflix). Everyone I think learns differently. For me it provides some stuff and reinforcement and I think it I was to use it again, it would be alongside other teaching as a supplement. 

[Pidge]

They just recently revamped the league system and it's gone from a motivating factor to at least stay at a decent level to "I don't give a shit" in a day. Before that they got rid of the community notes that used to explain each answer in grammatical terms and help you understand mistakes. 

 

Mad how simple changes can just steal the enjoyment and benefit out of something. 

 

It's been good, but I'll probably be looking for something else soon.

 

The music course seems interesting.

[Bruce Spanner]

57 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

I did Duolingo for a bit..it got on my tits in the end with it's constant nagging to use it. It was ok and I would imagine it's more useful for someone like @Bobwho's trying to remember some old skills rather than myself learning g from scratch. I did Italian, I learnt a bit, kept it up for 9 months and I could recognise words etc, I was able to order some food while there, but I couldn't understand a word what was being said (I tried to watch some stuff on netflix). Everyone I think learns differently. For me it provides some stuff and reinforcement and I think it I was to use it again, it would be alongside other teaching as a supplement. 

That’s the crux of it, you need to be engaging in real conversation, a thing which apps and tapes ect can’t replicate.

 

I spoke reasonable Arabic, not used it much over the past couple of years, and can get by in French though I sound like a remedial as I butcher the pronunciation.

 

For both I used Verbling.

 

Which is a great platform if you get the right teacher, but you have to search as a lot are awful.

[Jairzinho]

Do some language exchanges.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, Pidge said:

They just recently revamped the league system and it's gone from a motivating factor to at least stay at a decent level to "I don't give a shit" in a day. Before that they got rid of the community notes that used to explain each answer in grammatical terms and help you understand mistakes. 

 

Mad how simple changes can just steal the enjoyment and benefit out of something. 

 

It's been good, but I'll probably be looking for something else soon.

 

The music course seems interesting.

They have a music one? I didnt know that. That interests me too.

[DalyanPete]

Been on it for a couple of years now learning Turkish to supplement my weekly lesson with a teacher here.

It's more a point scoring game than a learning tool.

An example of interesting conversation is.

'That bear is considered to be corrupt' or 'I have two elephants in my third house'

I don't join the leaderboard until Monday so you miss the bots, watched learners scoring 100xp every 30 seconds!

Some great videos on YouTube explains how shit it is as a  learning tool.

[DalyanPete]

3 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

They have a music one? I didnt know that. That interests me too.

It's shit, trying to play piano on a phone doesn't really cut it.

 

[DalyanPete]

 

[Pidge]

2 minutes ago, DalyanPete said:

It's shit, trying to play piano on a phone doesn't really cut it.

 

Yeah I was finding that, but it apparently works with any keyboard on desktop. So seems a good excuse to dig out my lockdown purchase. Mainly interested in using it to actually learn to read music. 

[Jurgen Knows]

If you build a base using traditional methods (books, courses) and then move to Duolingo then it will help you immensely to speak more confidently. Don’t count on it to teach you the grammar.

[DalyanPete]

2 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Yeah I was finding that, but it apparently works with any keyboard on desktop. So seems a good excuse to dig out my lockdown purchase. Mainly interested in using it to actually learn to read music. 

It may take you a long time. Very basic, I've been doing for a few weeks if I've got nothing else to. 

I play saxophone so have a decent understanding of reading music. I used to have music lessons when I lived in Liverpool and the early lessons where, 'a Welsh hymn' and shit like that. I wanted soul and motown so fucked that shit off.

[DalyanPete]

3 minutes ago, Jurgen Knows said:

If you build a base using traditional methods (books, courses) and then move to Duolingo then it will help you immensely to speak more confidently. Don’t count on it to teach you the grammar.

Exactly, the grammar is duolingos biggest fault. No explanation of why you say something.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, DalyanPete said:

It's shit, trying to play piano on a phone doesn't really cut it.

 

That is true.