After 811 days of using Duolingo continuously, I decided to quit it. I think I can count on one hand the times I forgot to use Duolingo. I kept almost a perfect streak.
I started using Duolingo way back in 2014 to practice English. After a while, I stopped as it was of no use to me. A couple of years ago, a South African pen pal started learning German using it. She encouraged me to join her. I downloaded it and began to practice Spanish.
It was a good way to keep in contact with Spanish daily, especially when I was too lazy to make an effort with it. However, I didn't like the sense of competition within it, which made me do a lot of quizzes every day for the sake of not dropping off the league I was in. As a person, I like to do activities at my own pace.
Repetition of new words was a good feature, but without using them in context, I hardly made any progress, remembering them later.
In addition, most exercises sounded like the product of AI, which I detest. Reading about the link between AI and extracting cobalt in Congo was a big turnoff. I came across a post that explained how corporates get richer from AI while Congolese children risk their lives, mining cobalt for $3 a day.
As I live with German speakers, it was suggested to me to learn German. At some point, I started German on Duolingo but definitely later, I quit. Now I know German is neither a language I like nor one I'm interested in. Actually, it provokes bad memories that I'm trying to forget.
With my hearing loss, over and above depression, it'd be quite challenging to start learning a new language. I think if I ever start learning a fourth language, it would be French. I had French for two years in high school, and it wasn't a favorite subject at all. Nevertheless, I like some French songs of Cheb Khaled, Stromae and others. For instance: Aicha, Laila, Pappaoutai, Formidable, Ne me quitte pas etc. I have the basics of French, so it would be much easier to resume it than start a completely new language.
What am I going to do regarding Spanish after deleting Duolingo? I'm back to my old routine. I used to do 5-10 minutes of Spanish every day, working on writing, reading, and listening. As for speaking, it is the only skill I don't know how to improve. I read Spanish articles out loud sometimes while recording myself, but I wasn't persistent. I feel I'd benefit from having conversations with a Spanish language partner.
I believe if I keep following my routine for a long time, I'll improve. In the end, this was how my English leveled up. It should work with Spanish or any other language I want.
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Thanks for sharing . . . you have invested a lot of time in learning many languages.
I'd studied German for two years as my third language at my university, but I had zero experience to use it. So, I completely forgot it. I learned that if we want to keep the level, we have to keep using it. This is really hard, but good luck on your target languages!
Thanks for your kind and encouraging comments, @T-Newfields and @yumiyumayume!
DZ, the Congo has been exploited for a long time, even before the advent of the internet. I'd go as far as to say it's the most exploited country in history. The Belgians committed unspeakable atrocities there. Still, the French, the Brits, the Russians, the Dutch, the American, the Chinese, they're all responsible for what's going on in Congo.
Anyway, I'm glad you ditched Duolingo. To keep improving your Spanish, I suggest you check out the Dreaming Spanish website. They produce such good content that I wish there were something like it for every language.
I'm aware of it! And there's almost no African (or maybe any international) conflict without countries (especially European and the US) involving in and benefiting from.
Yes, I quit Duolingo too. Someone said that the thing that you learn is how to click buttons. :( I've used Lingq for a while and Busuu was good but they all create the pressure to do new stuff and don't allow that we may need to repeat it more slowly. Actually I feel like I need pressure to use the language at the level that I've got to. But I don't know where to find that .
Yeah, I agree about pressure. I think being with people who speak only Spanish would be the ideal solution for me to make noticeable progress in Spanish. I wish I could live in Latin America for a while to improve it!
I remember watching a video some time ago about the 10 things polyglots (people who speak many languages) do differently. One was having clear goals and another was to make sure that what they do is enjoyable. If you could find Spanish friends online who agreed to speak only Spanish and you could have an ongoing Spanish conversation, this might be the "pressure" you need without the cost of the airfare.:)
Although most Spanish speakers I contacted were friendly and kind enough to let me talk and learn from my mistakes, the communication with them stopped at some point.
I don't give up. I keep looking for others!
Great!