A language learners’ forum

Duolingo has apparently already released "For Talking to Children" - I did not even know that this had been in the incubator!

https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1190844899010260993

Hello everyone!

Here is my profile: https://www.duolingo.com/profile/yalamix

Scottish Gaelic has been released, in beta. Looks pretty short (33 skill units) at present compared to most of the other languages.

I have mixed feelings about Duolingo...But I still find myself coming back.

My profile name is hestia-edwards.

I just started doing the Arabic course the other day. Is it just me or does the audio have a lot of pronunciation errors?

On the other hand, it shows that a lot of the Hebrew course's issues can be fixed. Both Hebrew and Arabic have optional vowel markings that are not used in normal life, but the Arabic course uses them completely at the beginning of the course so that you can unambiguously see how to pronounce each word. The Hebrew course doesn't use vowel markings at all so if you forget how a word is pronounced, you have to look it up.

Also, the Arabic course has full audio and Hebrew doesn't, although as I said, there seem to be a lot of pronunciation issues at the beginning of the course. It would be a huge improvement if full audio were possible for Hebrew as well.

My duolingo name is Ben-Gonzalez

Here I am BenG

I'm hoping to get better at Spanish and Japanese

But to be honest I've started most of the duolingo languages

did somebody have feedback about Duolingo, because i hesited to buy the premium version

Ganiarda wrote:did somebody have feedback about Duolingo, because i hesited to buy the premium version

I have used Duolingo for many years and I have never paid for the premium version. The phone apps have some obnoxious features that they probably added to annoy people into paying for premium, but you can bypass these features by using Duolingo in a browser which is a much better experience than the app. The only other reasons to buy premium that I could think of is if you care enough about your streaks to want to restore them when they break (I don't) or if you hate the adds so much that you want to pay to take them away.

There may be some other benefits of the premium version that I am missing because I have never used it, so maybe someone who has experience with the premium version can chime in.

From my perspective, the main advantage of taking out a Duolingo Plus membership is that of convenience.

I fully agree with Deinonysus' comment that the browser (or web-based) approach is a much better experience than the app version. The web-based version has the grammar notes ("Tips") as well as, and in my view, more importantly, a "Discussion" link under each word or sentence exercise (becomes available once you have answered, and checked your answer). Sometimes a word or sentence's Discussion link is empty or limited, but other times there is a robust discussion involving fellow learners (at all levels), course creators, moderators and occasionally native language speakers, providing answers to often the exact question I have from time to time (why is "X" wrong), links to other helpful material on particular points or from the native speakers real-world language issues (ie. while "X" is not wrong, "Y" is more common, etc).

Both the Tips and Discussion opportunities are available regardless of whether one is using the free version or a Duolingo Plus membership, provided you are using the web-based browser version.

I would also strongly suggest using a typing rather than word choice (or word tile) approach for a deeper learning experience.

I paid for the premium in 2019 I believe in hopes it would get rid of a lot of the annoying features of getting through a screen. Also, I believe in supporting the publishers of the software I use. I only ever used the Web version. Too many silly screens to go through for each sentence in order to get to the next one. Paying didn't help that at all. The only thing it did was get rid of the screens asking me to upgrade.

I got bored with duolingo for most languages. The only language I actually liked was the Latin course. I could see using it for some languages with few resources but otherwise it's not something I intend to use. Nor would I pay for it again.

I'd recommend trying it out for a few months before paying.