pinky.
Tucker TeagueDo you use #Duolingo to learn #languages ?? If so, what language(s)?
Or, do you use something else? If so, what do you use?
Yes
No
Other
Poll ended at .
virtual void meow()@tuckerteague I use Drops for Finnish, but I admit that it only works for vocabulary boost, and I need to learn the grammar myself in some other way.
@archydragon Yes, I think Duolingo might be best for refreshing one's previous learning or supplementing one's other means of studying.
Quester 🌤️🌈
@tuckerteague Yes, Spanish mainly. Intending to get back on German as well. And I am learning Spanish with Duolingo in English. My mother tongue is Finnish.
Sarah Fackrell@tuckerteague Yes, I use it (along with Pimsleur and Netflix) to learn Spanish and Swedish as well as to unearth my long-unused French.
@design_law I'm trying to re-learn/re-fresh my French too. Many years in high school and college classrooms studying French and little to show for it. 😩
Prentiss Riddle 🎛@tuckerteague I'm learning European Portuguese and Duolingo only has Brazilian Portuguese - the dialects are quite different and for most learners it's best to focus, so no Duolingo for me.
I tried Drops, which does offer pt-pt, but it's organized in vocabulary silos (all vegetables, all vehicles, etc.) and has virtually no gamification so I wasn't getting much out of it.
Honestly my favorite language app is YouTube! Lots of great resources for pt-pt learners there.
@pzriddle YouTube is rather amazing when it comes to exploring and learning languages.
@tuckerteague Agreed! Not all of the linguatubers are equally good, of course, but the best are awesome.
@tuckerteague By the way, if any pt-br learners stumble into this thread, UT Austin has an AMAZING trilingual podcast for English+Spanish speakers studying Brazilian Portuguese. They systematically go through the phonology and grammar, comparing and contrasting the three languages as they go, in a relaxed and engaging style. Truly a model for how it should be done.
Phelomena | 30 | GMT+1 | Esperantistino@tuckerteague Mi lernas esperanto kun Duolingo.
handmade ghost@tuckerteague I've been using the French in Action series to regain my lost French. The videos are free online, and the books can still usually be found.
@handmade_ghost Yes, I'm familiar with French in Action and have also started using them again (maybe this time I'll get through them). I think they're great but I also need to supplement them with other methods.
M 🇵🇸@tuckerteague i use it for french, czech and esperanto. it's nowhere near as good as it used to be, but it's still useful enough to be worth 15-30 minutes of my time
mik0e1@mik0e1 I had not heard of Anki. I'll have to check it out. Thanks.
@tuckerteague Anki has gained popularity because it is open-source and free for Windows, Mac and Linux, and mostly among medical students because they commonly use flashcards to learn something. But be careful there are several apps that calling Anki, I'm talking about that one https://apps.ankiweb.net/
@mik0e1 thanks!
thinkStory@tuckerteague @design_law French, Italian, Hindi, Hebrew, German. The app is vastly more sophisticated for F, I, and G than for the Hs. For example, there's no slowing down of the spoken questions in the Hs. Lots of issues like that made learning those much harder, so I didn't get very far.
@thinkStory @design_law It does seem as well to me that the app best supports those languages common to American high school students who want to refresh their "lost" language studies - esp F, I, G, and Spanish.
@tuckerteague @design_law I wonder what Japanese and Mandarin are like. Haven't tried those yet.
Maria@tuckerteague @Cohnina I use it for Scottish Gaelic #Gàidhlig and Greek (and considering to go back to Italian as well) 🙋♀️
Patrick O'Beirne@tuckerteague
Thanks, I had been wondering about whether to do #French #language with #Duolingo. I got up to level B2 with #Frantastique and stopped after repeating the #lessons.
Thanks, I had been wondering about whether to do #French #language with #Duolingo. I got up to level B2 with #Frantastique and stopped after repeating the #lessons.
EineKleine@tuckerteague Pimsleur. 100% audio, no pictures, no reading. I’ve used Pimsleur to learn adequate-for-the-purpose conversation skills in advance of tourist visits over the years. Czech, Greek, Portuguese, Turkish, Thai and others (tried and failed with Japanese and Norwegian). Six months’ learning, a few weeks using, and almost all soon forgotten.
Jonathan Hill@tuckerteague I finished the Duolingo Latin course, but I’m not convinced it was really very helpful, and it’s pretty basic (only present tense!). I’ve used the Orberg course since, which everyone raves about and which does seem very good, but I’m still held back by my basic inability to learn languages.
@JonathanCR I have a terrible ability to learn languages. It's always been a struggle for me. I figured out a long time ago that I'll probably have to live in a country to learn that language - something I would actually love to do.
scottpack@tuckerteague I'm using DuoLingo to learn Scottish Gaelic.
ERAT@tuckerteague
Voted & boosted. Yes, use #Duolingo for #French, #Spanish, and #Welsh. It doesn't feel like language learning so much as doing puzzles, like math puzzles, but it's better than nothing. French is more like review, as I took it in college. Welsh is hard, but I haven't given up yet -- gave up on Italian and two other languages that use different alphabets.
Would love to find a language learning app that was more geared to literature than conversation/tourism.
Voted & boosted. Yes, use #Duolingo for #French, #Spanish, and #Welsh. It doesn't feel like language learning so much as doing puzzles, like math puzzles, but it's better than nothing. French is more like review, as I took it in college. Welsh is hard, but I haven't given up yet -- gave up on Italian and two other languages that use different alphabets.
Would love to find a language learning app that was more geared to literature than conversation/tourism.
AllyD@lizziewriter That's a good point about literature Vs conversation/tourism. I guess, rather than an app it needs a suitable bridge authors for each #language? For French, I used Simenon, nicely straightforward, confidence-giving,... Then on to Proust.
Currently trying to cross that bridge with a first "proper" Chinese book. Which is extremely hard going!
Currently trying to cross that bridge with a first "proper" Chinese book. Which is extremely hard going!
@lizziewriter Yes, Duolingo is definitely based on the "gamification" approach to learning, which makes it fun but is also limiting.
Israel@tuckerteague I've been learning Welsh for no real good reason other than my dad's side of the family (who I've never really known) is supposedly from there.
@iethatis A decent enough reason to give it a go imho. I'm also part Welsh (from what I've been told) but also English, German, Swedish, and I don't know what else.
Kimi@tuckerteague I use it to learn most of the languages available, though recently I've been focusing more on #Finnish, #Turkish, and #Russian.
I also use #LingoDeer occasionally. I actually like it better than #Duolingo, but it's not completely free like Duolingo.
@karinakimi Thanks, I'll check it out.
Jens Jäger@tuckerteague I use #Duolingo for Portuguese and French (and sometimes #Klingon too, because why not). The app is really only good to learn the basics and a bit of vocab. Improving listening and speaking skills doesn’t work at all — you really need proper training (and/or exposure) for that.
Matthias Rex 🦣@JensJot @tuckerteague It's one of the only resources available for Celtic languages, which is us the only reasons I use it. Duolingo's refusal to hire linguists to improve their less popular courses is a huge weakness.
@Meowthias @tuckerteague Yes, I imagine it’s just not a good investment. #Duolingo is a company, not a not-for-profit or anything like that.
At the same time, not even their (probably popular) PT & FR courses are particularly varied - I have the feeling of writing/translating the same 10 sentences over and over again. Not sure how this goes with their claim of using AI & teaching experts to develop their courses. 😂
At the same time, not even their (probably popular) PT & FR courses are particularly varied - I have the feeling of writing/translating the same 10 sentences over and over again. Not sure how this goes with their claim of using AI & teaching experts to develop their courses. 😂
@JensJot @tuckerteague Duolingo may be a business, but in their early days their courses were created by volunteers. Even if you believe that offering courses in endangered languages (and helping to save them from extinction) isn't sufficiently profitable, languages like Romanian and Swedish that have millions of speakers deserve to at least have better quality audio than they do. Duolingo has the resources to hire linguists and build a recording studio.
@Meowthias @tuckerteague I don’t make the rules, please don’t shoot the messenger… All I’m saying is: Duolingo has zero incentive to “hire linguists and build [or just use!] a recording studio” for languages with so few learners.
I imagine there are free courses for those languages somewhere on the internet, but I don’t expect a company to offer a high-quality one if nobody pays for it (or subsidizes it).
I imagine there are free courses for those languages somewhere on the internet, but I don’t expect a company to offer a high-quality one if nobody pays for it (or subsidizes it).
@JensJot Yes, I find Duolingo a decent supplement to an overall program.
Jan K.@tuckerteague English, French and Italian, but mostly French, because English is more or less already fluent and Italian is some variety if I don't like to learn the other sometimes
cultured nyc 🇺🇦
Greg Watson
Neverfadingwood 🇺🇦@tuckerteague Finished the Duolingo Ukrainian and Finnish courses, but they don't go anywhere near far enough.
Barbara Monaco@tuckerteague During the pandemic I discovered Duolingo and started to learn Spanish. Shortly thereafter decided to refresh my French. I study both daily.
ricardo vacapinta@tuckerteague I learned languages with the old boring Classes/Texts/Native Speakers. I don't believe that anyone can actually learn a new language with only DuoLingo but I'm willing to be proven wrong.
Bleyddyn@tuckerteague I used to use Duolingo, but its gamification started to bother me.
I'm currently using Mastodon itself (by following French posters), plus reading books in French (Harry Potter, atm), plus Anki for spaced repetition vocabulary memorization. I still have to figure out what to do about learning spoken French.
tapafon@tuckerteague Quizlet. But it's getting worse lastly.