I'm Too Old For This (But Wait, I'm Only In My 20s?) - App Reviews by Eido

[eido]

Hello, everyone!

My name's Eido and I buy a lot of things. The majority of things I buy for fun are language-related. I enjoy reading reviews of products and I find them very useful. And, since I buy a lot, and am a user of a diverse product set, I thought I could contribute to helping people make informed decisions about the language products they buy.

If you have a request, just PM me and I'll see if I've purchased a membership to that site or if I'm willing to sometime in the future. I'm very open to reviewing products honestly, but my wallet cries when it doesn't have money in it. It's a bit like a toddler in that regard, and just like a toddler, I must watch and take care of it.

I'll try to keep an updated table of contents up here. Stay tuned!

1. Lingodeer vs Duolingo
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[eido]

Today's review will be of two apps, covering two major competitors in the digital world of learning languages. We have Duolingo and Lingodeer.

Duolingo has been around almost 10 years. Lingodeer is a much younger "student" of the methodologies involved in making a successful learning app. Yet, it seems to get more praise than its more experience cousin. Let's take a look at why and see if Lingodeer is really worth all the hype.

First, what are some things that people like about Lingodeer?

• Better grammar instruction for Asian languages, particularly of the Eastern variety
• Multiple different types of exercises
• Native audio
• Better interactivity

Now, it's hard to find a good Duolingo review these days. Most people who leave reviews about this app are angry at its performance and don't care to look at it in a pro/con way.

So let's get into the review, so I can share my experiences with each and provide a fair and balanced take.

What I liked about Lingodeer:

• Grammar instruction that made that grammar spelled-out. It's almost like reading a mini textbook, in digestible chunks. These little chunks are a pleasure to read since they get to the heart of the matter quickly. However, I'm more experienced at learning a language than your average bear, so sometimes where Lingodeer's explanations lack, I am able to pick up the slack and read between the lines. We'll get to that more later.
• The "conversations" feature on mobile. This allows you to read through and listen to a conversation about a given topic in natural language and go through the grammar points as you do. You're then given the opportunity to practice speaking by repeating after the different-gendered speakers and recall what you've learnt in a form of "writing" practice, by filling in blanks. I find the repetition good for the brain and it really helps solidify the different bits of grammar as well as pronunciation, as it forces active and passive waves. It works really well with my learning style, so I'm probably biased. Each "conversation" is graded according to level, which is nice of course as well.

What I didn't like so much:

• On the UX side: a lot of the drawings seemed poorly made, though they did match the particular culture discussed. They just seemed unprofessional.
• The exercises were varied indeed, but not so gamified as one would have you believe. They repetition of concepts was awkwardly done. In this particular app, losing hearts doesn't ding you and you can still earn 10 XP even if you miss a couple questions. You'll just get a recycle of previously asked data, and if you pass those... on to the next thing. It's a bit like a kid getting a participation medal. It doesn't have Duolingo's incentive feature. No competition.

OVERALL: I liked the detail put into making an app with better explanations, but it was a bit trial-by-fire. I paid for a lifetime membership just so I could have something to practice with, but in general I wouldn't recommend it except for casual learning.

*NOTE: I played French, Japanese, and Korean on this app.

What I liked about Duolingo:

• Good illustrations and matching animations. They had a wide diversity of characters that showed up along the gameplay. I don't think they try to be the same kind of culturally sensitive as Lingodeer, including only relevant cultural assets to the data set, but rather they include a whole host of different-sized, different-colored, different-specied, different-gendered, and very colorful people/animals in their representation roster and that's nice to see.
• I like the crown system. It's a bit similar to Lingodeer in that repetition is key and mastery is gained slowly, but surely.
• The trees seem more organized than Lingodeer's. More functional and graded.
• The grammar explanations are simple but in my opinion perfectly adequate for a motivated learner.

What I didn't like:

• The somewhat aggressive ad campaign.
• The non-native sounding TTS. (Though I realize why it's used.)

OVERALL: For all the flack that Duolingo gets, I think it's a good app that has stood the test of time.

*NOTE: I played Welsh and French on this app.

Where I think most people start to dislike Duolingo is with its simple way of approaching things. For anyone willing to think, you can figure out that "mange" (French) means "is eating," "am eating," etc. because of their little chart. But most people want quick results. So they leave a negative review.

I find after using Duolingo, things stick better than with Lingodeer because Duolingo's content is even more bite-sized than the former.

Have any questions for me about this review? Shoot me a PM or post here!