Do you like Duolingo?

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Cavesa
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby Cavesa » Mon Nov 19, 2018 5:47 pm

garyb wrote:Things I dislike:
- Gamification. The streak feature does motivate me to use it every day, but everything else (lingots, total XP, achievement badges, etc.) feels like pointless clutter.

I'd agree. I'm afraid Duolingo is an example of a product focusing more on the gamification than the content. The gamification needs to serve the purpose, and Kwiziq is a good example of that. Duolingo is in some way just empty gamification.

I love the crowns system, and I like the leaderboards on duome.eu. But I dislike the Lingots (they have completely emptied their meaning), the achievement badges (another half baked idea), the exp levels and "challenges" (50 points a day as the most serious challenge really pushes down people's expectations of what it means to be really working hard on a language, and the exp levels are good for nothing even after removal of the "fluency score"). The streak feature is very useful to many people, even though it demotivates me (like "what's the point of retrying, if I lose the streak after a few days anyways).
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby Mista » Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:50 pm

garyb wrote:In the past I found it much more pleasant to use on a computer than on a phone, but now I'd say the opposite, because the majority exercises are now based on clicking and drag-and-drop which are easier motions on a phone screen than with a mouse. The typing ones are obviously easier on a computer, but they're the minority.


FYI: The drag-and-drop can be turned off, so that you always get typing instead. On the clicking exercises, you can always use the numbers on the keyboard instead.

I used to prefer the app, but that was before they started offering me to watch a commercial for extra lingots (I have over 8000 of them now...) every time I finished a lesson. Now I use the computer version only, which I found a much "cleaner" learning experience once I figured out how to get the best out of it, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby fcoulter » Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:42 pm

I've just updated the Duolingo article in the Wiki - Hey! Did you know that language-learners.org and How To Learn Any Language have a Wiki at https://learnanylanguage.wikia.com/ - and would love for people with more experience to add their thoughts to the article.

I like Duolingo. Why? Because it's great for sitting on the couch in the evening, while watching television.

No, it's not the only tool I use. I'm working through Pimsleur while driving to work, and I'm going to slog through Métaquine, Tome 1 : Indications with dictionary in hand as soon as it arrives from France. Basically, I'm triangulating on knowledge, with an audio based course, a gamification/visual based course, and a original source text. We'll see what happens.
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby Serpent » Sat Dec 01, 2018 2:49 am

Cèid Donn wrote:I'm new here and I don't know how this community feels about necro-posting
We're fine with it :P
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby CarlyD » Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:44 pm

Just saw a post that was shared on Facebook. The person was talking about the recent changes to Duolingo. I know they changed the "look" with the crowns and such, but I also felt that the German course was just harder, and more confusing than it used to be. I thought it was just me.

This person said that several courses were changed to varying degrees, but the German course was changed the most, and for the worst.

I know that I used to fly through the practices, and repeat them often. Now it's all I can do to do one (XP) before I want to do something else. I get that learning should be hard. But Duolingo seems to make it depressing too.

Just my opinion.
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby mrap » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:05 pm

I like it for vocab drills, and as a starter for some languages, as someone already mentioned it here. One could say it's a free chance for someone to check whether he/she is okay with continuing studying the language on a more serious level with textbooks etc. I think this helps eliminate the "bought a textbook, never opened it" type of situation.

As for the overall UX - I liked it when it had the levels and the "fluency" percentage, helped a lot in the tracking how much I have accomplished etc. The new thing with crowns etc seems a bit off for me. My personal idiosyncrasy is tracking my progress in various areas by burn-down charts, percentages of completion etc, therefore Duolingo has lost to some degree my interest in it, because the levels seems like never ending and I can't seem to grasp at which level even I am now.
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby zenmonkey » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:29 pm

Duolingo German got harder? I'll need to go back and check it out.
I liked it enough to complete the tree. I use it every once in a while and think it can have a role in learning activity.
But if it is the only thing you use ... you'll know as much as Jon Snow. ;)
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby CarlyD » Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:56 pm

Morgana wrote:
Morgana wrote: Allegedly after crown level 2, Duolingo starts giving you more challenging material.


I've done the German thru all 5 crowns in a number of areas. Exact same sentences all the way through. The only difference is that in the early levels, you can use the Word Bank and just click on what word you want. The higher levels are typing only.
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Cavesa
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby Cavesa » Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:20 am

Morgana wrote:
CarlyD wrote:
Morgana wrote: Allegedly after crown level 2, Duolingo starts giving you more challenging material.


I've done the German thru all 5 crowns in a number of areas. Exact same sentences all the way through. The only difference is that in the early levels, you can use the Word Bank and just click on what word you want. The higher levels are typing only.
That must be what they mean. I was quoting the app there - after getting a skill in Romanian to crown level 2, the app informed me I'd get more challenging material.


Well, you can turn the word bank off right away.

Also, you don't need to get to a high level before going on to the next skill, and you can test out of a level now. So, I think the crown system works really well (whether or not it is the best system possible, I can't tell, but now it makes sense and works as well as it can)
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Re: Do you like Duolingo?

Postby CarlyD » Sun Dec 09, 2018 4:13 am

If it's something I understand, I generally test out of each level so I get my 5 crowns. If it's something I don't--subordinating conjunctions and datives--I plug through.

But the more I do Duolingo, the more I realize that their explanations--or lack of--are making the subject harder. I'm in a Memrise course that swept me into and out of Datives and I remember thinking--that's easy. Then I hit Datives on Duolingo and wanted to cry.
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