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I use the paid duolingo, I have taken myself off the open charts thing though. Only use the streak feature currently ~1450 days).
I started on the league thing but quickly got annoyed when in the top league some users seemed to be on there 24 hours a day to get the scores they were achieving.
I also use rosetta stone, but need to reset my level as i am going over so much old stuff that i already covered.
Doubt I will ever be fluent in any of it, but am gradually topping up French, Swedish, finnish, Japanese and if i can be bothered Italian.
My french is pretty good, my spanish a bit rusty (I did a languages degree in french and spanish at bradford, albeit it's 30 years since graudation this year), I can muddle through in italian and portugese (and possibly have a stab at reading Romanian), I can get drunk and get into a fight in a couple of other languages like German.
In theory; French. I can read it, and understand it. Conversationally it all goes to shit though. I tried Duolingo (for Spanish) but the way it pesters you if you miss a day or so just winds me up.
French, a little bit of Spanish, little bit of Greek.
Oh and Russian. I lived and worked in Russia for 4 years.
Very hand for watching 70s and 80s cold war movies.....
Schoolboy French and German, some self-taught Spanish from years ago, then recently I've become obsessed with learning the language for wherever I'm going, so in recent years a bit of Greek, Turkish, Vietnamese, Arabic, and currently Dutch.
Arabic was the hardest by far, and didn't really help because almost everyone we met was a Berber. (Q: How do you tell if someone is a Berber? A: They tell you).
Vietnamese was the most rewarding.
I tend to forget almost as soon as the requirement passes.
but the way it pesters you if you miss a day or so just winds me up.
It also offers you the option to pay to repair your streak!
I’ve been using Duo since the start of COVID when I was ill in Ischgl for a few days with a mystery illness. So I started refreshing my schoolboy German.
I’m now on a 1440 day streak, which is the only gamification care about. I’ve mainly focused on Italian and Spanish which were both new languages for me. Although I’ve had to drop Italian because learning such similar languages is too confusing and Italian although lovely to speak is just way less useful than Spanish.
Last year I learned some Japanese when I visited there and found the tiny bit I learned very useful, and fascinating to tackle a language that is constructed so differently to European languages. I was particularly please to learn the word Eki one day and the next day be able to use it IRL to make sure I was on the right bus. And the Japanese are so positive about any attempt you make to use their language.
I’ve never paid for Duo, partly because of that annoying subscription advert they constantly play me, with the highly irritating American voice over. And partly because I’m mean.
Another fan of doulingo here. Doing French. Currently on a 750 day streak, Like Footflaps back up there ^ I did French to a low level (CSE Grade 2) a very long time ago and struggled due to the ****er that taught me. I always wanted to learn it and have travelled to France quite a lot when the kids were young. I also use the free version due to being tightfisted.
I know 2 different people who are learning Welsh. One of them has a caravan there and is on 1500 days of Duo. Neither of them are confident enough to actually use it in conversation. What's that all about??
I’m too dim and/or old to understand the game aspect - xp, hearts, gems - what’s that about? No - don’t tell me 😂
I’m too dim and/or old to understand the game aspect – xp, hearts, gems – what’s that about? No – don’t tell me 😂
Well, I'm gonna anyway. 🙂 You're placed in a weekly league with 29 random other folks and you get points for completing lessons - there are challenges that score more points, you can get 15- and 30-minute double point bonuses, and there's a 5 point bonus for an hour every Saturday morning. You're ranked by points earned with everyone else in the league and each Sunday night that week's league ends and you're either promoted, relegated or maintain your position in the same league. There's absolutely no prize or consequence beyond the messages in the app, you don't have to even look at the leagues/your pounts if you don't want to, but maintaining my streak and competing in the leagues keeps me motivated to practice and learn on a regular basis. 🙂
Gems - other than a safety net to "pay" with to keep your streak if you miss a day, I see no purpose to 'em.
You also get a weekly "friends quest" if you have followed and been followed by others on Duolingo. These are allocated on a Tuesday afternoon and finish on a Saturday evening and both your lessons contribute to completing them. They're challenges like "do 50 lessons" or "earn 1000 XP" and so on. It then also tracks a friends quest streak which resets if you don't finish a friends quest.
And there are also daily quests. Today mine are "Earn 10 XP", "Do 1 practice hub session", and "Score 90% or higher in 4 lessons". There's a monthly badge that you earn for completing enough of these daily quests. Completing a friends quest counts for five daily quests. I have done 16 of 50 so far this month to earn the "Bea's Jazz Jam" badge.
It's all silly stuff that provides achievable but meaningless short-term goals. However, learn French would be a rubbish daily motivation, and I would have to invent these kinds of personal challenges to stick at a daily routine to reach the longer-term goal.
Some Germans are irritating because they insist on continuing in English even when it’s really obvious your German is better than their English.
Did German at Uni. Gave up pursuing any serious use of it as even German bus drivers speak English to a good enough standard that I don't need to use German. Its fun on holidays but I'm not sure that's why my Dad funded me through Uni.
I speak Spanish all day to my wife, friends and colleagues - there are often days when the only English I've used was talking to the dog 🙂
I'm up to 62 days on Duolingo, learning German. It's quite entertaining, although the americanness of it can get irritating at times. I like the streak part, but couldn't care less about the rest of the gamification. And I haven't paid for it, either.
I enjoy duolingo and Netflix for Spanish,I tend to watch in the native language with English.
I live spain and unfortunately work in English all day but give it a few months and it’ll be beach and fiesta weather so I’ll be having plenty of random conversations and reading Spanish manga whilst soaking up the rays on the weekend.
I like duo as it does teach you reading and writing.
I can get by in French as long as no-one cares about my grammar. It's generally well received but I do mangel it somewhat.
I did two terms of Italian at night class in 2019/20 - needless to say I didn't use that in the end!
We spent a week in Germany last summer and I can honestly say I remembervery little except Ausfarht, which I thought was a massive place until I realised the signs on the autobahn meant Exit!
I had an over 1000 day streak on Duolingo for Welsh but dropped it after realising I had no confidence to use it and felt I wasn't progressing. My Taid was Welsh as a first language and could speak English, Urdu, Ghurkali and a smattering of various European languages. I still wish he'd taught me Welsh.
I've just taken it back up and am on 56 days, but still find it really hard and would have no real confidence speaking it even though my accent is pretty good.
Oh, and I'm level 2 in BSL from 25 years ago. I can remember some, and it's a language I love, but need way more practice.
I love languages and my Superhero power would be to understand and speak every language in the world fluently.