this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
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Asklemmy
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Duolingo keeps doing mass layoffs, so the bird is overworked. You can help him out by switching to a language learning app that actually helps you learn a language instead of endlessly throwing flash cards at you without teaching you anything! Win win.
I've been working on my Spanish with practice from some of my coworkers and patients. So far Duolingo's "flash cards" have actually been pretty helpful, but I grant that some of the actual "instruction"isn't there. I went from really rudimentary Spanish to being able to conduct a patient evaluation in Spanish as long as it's straight forward.
Everyone shits on Duo but I've found it to be a really helpful practice tool myself.
Anything is better than nothing. This is true. But that doesn't mean you aren't wasting your time on something that does the bare minimum.
What app do you recommend? I've seen good progress with duolingo since I upgraded to premium but I'm willing to try something different
Language Transfer has been highly recommended in the past. Iโve only gotten through two lessons so far, but it seems like a good place to start, at least. It doesnโt have anywhere near as many languages as Duolingo does, though.
Busuu is much better. It feels like it actually tries to teach you the language in an efficient way, instead of teaching you useless phrases like "my owl never paints" and waisting your time
I mean Duolingo does not teach you to memorize that phrase. It teaches you the structure of the language and words so you can start making phrases on your own
Edit: didn't mean to sound to dismissive, I'll give it a try, thanks for the recommendation
I would also recommend getting a textbook and using a flash card program like anki to memorize words. Apps like that have an incentive to keep you from ever getting good enough at the language that you might stop using the app. They can be a good tool but they won't get you where you want to be on their own, especially not in a time efficient manner.
Absolutely wild thing to say. The time it takes for someone to learn a language enough to delete an app, especially an adult is so astronomical that there's no reason for apps to try and stop you from learning the language.
I really wouldn't describe a few years as astronomical. And that's how long it takes to actually learn a language. You might delete the app a few months into it and switch to other methods if you were actually progressing quickly. The longer you stay on the app, the better chance they have of tricking you into spending money on it. I'm definitely not the first person to notice this. People have been talking about it for years.
But I like to see my streak go up๐๐๐