Duolingo

[redbird]

I am studying French using Duolingo, as of yesterday. I'm starting at the very beginning, because part of what I need is to listen to them pronouncing the language.

Right now, the gamification feels a bit silly. But I started last night with the smallest possible daily goal, and did a lot more than that today (for values of "a lot" that took maybe 20 minutes), and the software is designed to congratulate the user for things like having a one-day streak of doing something every day.

I decided I wanted to do this at the end of last year, but deliberately waited until after I finished the freelance indexing project.

Comments

[otter]

I've gone back and forth between German and Spanish on duolingo. It's kind of silly/corny in places, but there is also a bit of clever snark snuck in here and there. One thing that frustrates me is that the German I learned 30-40 years ago isn't the same as the usage is now. But, that's what's happened with English, I've just had the exposure to adjust as it happened.

[carbonel]

I've been doing Duolingo Hebrew for about three years; I have a 1,010-day streak. I have no talent for languages, but I persist.

[otter]

I'm impressed by your persistence!

[st_aurafina]

I am doing quite well with the Italian version - the reminder email is very helpful to me. I only do two units a night, which suits me fine because it's every night.

[rafiwinters]

Yay for French (says the French major)! What's the motivation for studying it?

[redbird]

I have a partner in Montreal. I visit them a few times a year, and would like to understand subway announcements and all of the signs I pass. I manage some written French based on Spanish cognates, and have picked up a little from context--arrêt, poussez, tirez, a louer. But that's useless for pronunciation: vowel sounds and which consonants are silent when.

[rafiwinters]

Sounds like a good reason. My own French has rather deteriorated in the 30 years since college graduation--vocabulary, the more complicated grammar and so forth--but I've retained the pronunciation.

[minnehaha]

As someone who has language-learning skills (and I believe you do also), I found Duolingo impossibly slow.

K.

[redbird]

I used to have language-learning skills, but they're at best rusty.

At the moment, I am deliberately starting slowly, because much of what I need is to hear the words pronounced often enough to remember correct French pronunciation rather than what the pronunciation "looks like" it should be based on English or Spanish.