Duolingo can be a good stating point. I.e. if you have no clue at all about the language, Duolingo will get you started with the basics. For me it is also good for acquiring vocabulary. But as soon as you can read the language you should start with listening comprehension. Podcasts with transcriptions or TH-cam videos with subtitles etc.. Something where you hear the spoken language and can read the words along the speech. Listening and reading comprehension is the key to consume lots and lots of media in the target language, facilitating immersion und learning by being immersed.
I think it's also great to keep your interest in a language too. I used to do it when I couldn't be bothered to do anything else (before I was advanced enough to read or play video games in my TL). I'm not sure how much it helped actually learn the language, but it helped me to keep interest when I might've given up otherwise.
You're right, though I would say that a lot of experienced language learners know this but a lot of people trying to acquire their first foreign language think the longer their streak is the closer they are to fluency. I also think using online tutors, videos, reading and podcasts is objectively more enjoyable anyway 😄
@@matt_brooks-green yes, exactly, people shouldn't care about their xp points, badges or whatever the hell the app offers. But it can give you a good starting point
Duolingo is a game, nothing more. You learn a little bit from it, but most of what you learn is how to play Duolingo. I also agree that italki is the best way to learn languages, because you get to interact with people who knows that language natively. I've found language exchange sites to be basically either financial scams or romance scams. But I've never had an issue with teachers on italki. All of them have been adaptable and conversational.
I needed to learn some Spanish for trip purposes but Duolingo just wasn't working for me in that matter. Repetitive lessons where a guy eats apples or who has a passport and who doesn't. Not to mention that app itself forced me to go through lessons about school although I'm way over 30 so I don't need that for my trip at all. I lost the will to actually go into the app. The thing that frustrated me the most was because there was no proper explanation for some verbs and the grammar lessons were pretty scattered and rare. Before that I tried to study German with this app and I think it was done way better for that than for Spanish but yes lessons were repetitive quite a lot.
Who knew the Duolingo sound would make me shudder upon hearing it at the beginning of your video! Yikes. For Spanish I found Duolingo to be of no benefit to me. This could be because I have more exposure to Spanish in my day-to-day life and given the presence of cognates with English. For Finnish I’ve found that as a light, occasional supplement for vocabulary exposure during my first month of learning it is somewhat helpful between iTalki lessons. Even with that, I’ve think I’ve run my course with its utility as I’m growing weary of it. You mentioned crosstalk again in this video and I’m seriously considering that for Finnish and Dutch. Alright, enough waffling on. Thanks for another great video, Matt!
Hi James, thanks buddy. Sorry about the visceral response to the sound at the beginning 😂. Honestly, give crosstalk a go. Might have to stop preaching about it soon to stop sounding like a broken record but it really is a great method. Thanks for your support mate
Wow that is fascinating---thinking you're just learning Mandarin or Cantonese, then having such a unique view into how both your own world and your Chinese tutor's are changing day by day as the pandemic takes hold. Crazy times. And thanks for the italki reminder! I've browsed for so long but may actually book now.
I like Duolingo as an intro to a new language, especially if there isn’t a good comprehensible input resource for absolute beginners. But just as an introduction, to learn the first 100-200 words or so, after that, it’s not helpful in my opinion. If I actually want to learn the language, it’s time to move onto graded readers, lingq, comprehensible input TH-cam & podcasts, language reactor, cross talk, etc. Listening, watching, & reading! If I just want to play a game (with super annoying gems & streaks & all of that annoying noise), duolingo works for that lol. But the constant translation is at best annoying & not productive for language learning.
Hi Katie! That's fair. I had to sign up for it again to get the shots for this video and keep getting annoying emails now reminding me to get back to my streak 😅
Duolingo can be invaluable if you're starting from scratch on a minority language with limited other online resources. (So long as you accept that you're just getting a basic introduction to the language, and understand that you won't be able to speak it just because you've finished the course).
Sometimes it seems like slating Duolingo is a rite of passage for becoming a language-learning TH-camr (not accusing Matt of this at all, though). Personally, I do find Duolingo boring. Especially the new layout. It just seems like a long, boring, tedious grind. However, I would still say it is a really useful starting point when you know nothing of a language (as long as you're choosing one of their more actively-maintained courses). There comes a point when all that translation is just a hindrance - there are other ways to move forward much more quickly (and less tediously), but in the early stages, it really helps get you up and running.
The reason why people who learn languages bash Duolingo is because we've TRIED to learn a language on Duolingo and failed. I spent 2 years on Duolingo trying to learn Spanish. I learned more in 3 months talking with people from Mexico on italki than those two years of Duolingo. Nor is it because I had experience with Spanish in Duolingo that I was able to progress those 3 months in Spanish. I started learning Ukrainian this year in italki having never touched Duolingo once for Ukrainian, and have the same amount of progress after six months as I did with Spanish after six months of italki. In other words, I clearly don't need Duolingo at all to make the same gains, just using italki teachers. If it really does help someone, that's fine, but I think Duolingo makes people THINK they're learning the language when they're not.
Hi Michael - it's a right of passage! I actually made the video because a lot of beginner language learners who haven't heard about the input hypothesis etc think Duolingo is their best bet. I was surprised the number of people I knew who were trying to learn their first foreign language and had never heard of iTalki. It's a more efficient use of time in my opinion
@@matt_brooks-green Matt, I couldn't agree more. I think my comment might give the impression I think Duolingo is the be-all-and-end-all of language learning. Far from it. I think, just from personal experience, when I started a brand new language, Duolingo was a quick, relatively easy way to build some vocabulary and some basic grammar patterns. Back when Duolingo had forums, there would be posts several times a day from people asking how long it takes to "get fluent" with Duolingo, which absolutely shows how easily people think there must be a magic language-learning bullet and that Duolingo might be it. For me, I think the reason I sometimes make (relatively meagre) defenses of Duolingo is because I think it has its place for the total beginner, as long as that beginner knows that Duolingo alone isn't going to result in conversational fluency, and actually it becomes quite tedious way before you get near the end of the courses (aa bit like this comment!).
Duolingo is fine for vocab and sentence structure at a base level. The problem is that you can get obsessed with meaningless targets and “progress”. Italki is good but I have found that some of the teaching is not of the best quality. I have found one for my Turkish who personalises lessons, provides a summary of what was discussed and is super patient. 1 hour per week will not get you fluent. It is a valuable tool alongside your other learning such as reading stories dialogue and refreshing your vocab and grammar. It is good though to hear a real person talking to you in Turkish and having a real conversation, no matter how broken or disjointed that conversation can be at times. Thanks for all your new content Matt and good luck with the channel.
Hi John, thanks for your comments. Yeah, I think for getting someone started Duolingo is better than nothing but I personally don't feel it is the best return on time invested. I must have been lucky with iTalki tutors so far but do make sure I shop around before I commit to regular lessons. Thanks for checking out the video 🙏
I think Duolingo is a really good starting point. I had B1 level in German by using Duolingo. I understand your point but as an adult learning a language it's easy to have the fundamentals instead of just reading and hearing nonesense like babies. You'll have to spend so much time this way, have tutors like parents, and after a few years people may understand your message but you'll have 0 sense of correct speaking, like a baby. I think Duolingo teachs you a lot, the problem is that it's free and it's like a game. So, if you don't take it seriously then you'll just be having fun and not reaching your goal as you want. Also, speaking is not everything as you say. And you must have a intermidiate level in order to take advantage of having a speaking partner.
Thanks for sharing Kira. I don't think it is completely useless but certainly not the best investment of time IMO. I know many beginner learners who only use Duolingo thinking that is enough but, like you say, it is more of a language game in many ways rather than a complete method
Sorry to hear that. What I like about paying for the tutor's time is that we spend 100% of it in my target language. Also, the fact that I am paying them means I feel more able to say I want to do a particular thing by the very nature of it being a transaction. I check out the videos, try a few teachers and go with whoever is the most engaging
I’ve never had a significant problem. However, when I started Spanish, Duolingo was a refresher for me. I don’t know about starting a language from 0. But this app can be a good supplement, not the main course. I had a 950-day streak. The streak was more of a mental thing. Before I decided to learn Spanish, I would start something and stop quickly. As I saw the number grow higher and higher, I felt good to keep pushing. Maybe this is not the way most people use Duolingo. All that being said. I stopped at 950 because I felt like it became only a number at that point. I needed a break for a week. I was going to start a new streak from scratch. I am now on a 52-day streak. I will keep going until at least my year subscription runs out. So that’s where I was. What do you think? Is this a different kind of way to use Duolingo? It’s a good app for refreshing and supplement but don’t expect to only use the app to become fluent.
I also want to start a channel where si mostly speak in Spanish. I give tips of how I learn Spanish. Any advice where your ideas come from. I would also like to help English learners to improve there English pronunciation.
Hey Will! Use it how you want dude. I think the badges and streaks can be a distraction from genuine acquisition of the language though. Ultimately, do what you enjoy. Good luck with the channel. I just make a note of ideas when they come to me and come up with some notes to talk about when I get some spare time. That sounds like two different channels to me - the spanish learners wont care about English pronunciation and vice versa. Probably pick whichever you're more passionate about for now
@@matt_brooks-green here is the channel I started a few years back. @gringoloco4210 about 100 subscribers on there. This account I am commenting on I try to use only for Spanish videos. Maybe one day we can do a collaborative video.
Duolingo is a waste of time. Look at any polyglot they would never recommend this to learn a language. People are addicted to their phones and therefore don’t consider the likes of Assimil series. Take a look at polyglot professor Alexander Argüelles early TH-cam videos and his love of this method
I think Duolingo is the best in the market. My english C1level. And it took me 14 years to reach C1. And that experience gave me the secret of acquisition of a foreign language. Which is time and repetition. You have to dedicate thousands of hours and repeat the learned vocabulary countless times. Duolingo has both.(Only spanish and french and german perhaps.Other language courses are garbage. Too limited amount.If you want to study the language, fine, but you are never going to aquiere it.) It takes a lot of time(at least 2 years) to complete the new updated path. I think those who criticize Duolingo are the people who haven't "aquiered" a foreign language. I don't do Duolingo for fun. I am dead serious to aquiere Spanish.
Great video, but I'd like to point out a few things: 1. Websites like italki are VERY expensive for some people. I can't pay $5 to a teacher for a single lesson when I earn $3 for 12 hours of labor. 2. Talking to people can be very daunting for people like me who are very, very reserved. 3. Again, with a teacher, you do get the listening input and a bit of output too, but it takes TONS and TONS of lessons to get to some understandable level - you change the accent, the environment, and the context and content, and ...anxiety sets in.
Hahaha. I’ve spoken to lots of beginner learners recently who had no idea iTalki was a thing. Duolingo was the gateway drug to start sharing different resources for them to try
Yes, Duolingo sucks. Worse, it steals your time. I tried it for Vietnamese ("I want to become a computer.") and chose the free version. It has no explanations (these would be good for composed words and also for that little grammar Vietnamese has), it has faults like mixing up the plural marker and the Vietnamese word for "but" and lots of repetitions as its only method seems to be rote learning. You cannot enter Vietnamese letters directly via ASCII number but have to go via Word and copy from there and at the end you will have merely 2,000 words learned. I gave up after having conquered the first tower. The usage of the Hanoi accent seems to me as bad as teaching German by the Berlin accent. Now I read stories, copy them by hand and type new words into Anki (6,000 words / expressions / sentences and counting). It seems to work much faster AND is done during my commute to work as there is no more a necessity to be online. What sucks especially in Duolingo is that they treat a language like Vietnamese with a completely different cultural background as if it was Welsh for instance. So we have fixed pronouns and have American proverbs to be translated and, sure, the LGBTQ agenda gets served, too. I think at the end of your Duolingo course in Vietnamese you can say nothing about the Vietnamese landscape, their holidays, buddhism or about the different words for rice. This one-world b*llsh*t can be extremely ignorant.
That's exactly it. The biggest issue isn't the method but rather the cost of spending that time doing quizzes rather than getting perhaps more meaningful input. I do recognise though that it gets some people started on their journey and that can only be a good thing
Duolingo can be a good stating point. I.e. if you have no clue at all about the language, Duolingo will get you started with the basics. For me it is also good for acquiring vocabulary. But as soon as you can read the language you should start with listening comprehension. Podcasts with transcriptions or TH-cam videos with subtitles etc.. Something where you hear the spoken language and can read the words along the speech. Listening and reading comprehension is the key to consume lots and lots of media in the target language, facilitating immersion und learning by being immersed.
I think it's also great to keep your interest in a language too. I used to do it when I couldn't be bothered to do anything else (before I was advanced enough to read or play video games in my TL). I'm not sure how much it helped actually learn the language, but it helped me to keep interest when I might've given up otherwise.
You're right, though I would say that a lot of experienced language learners know this but a lot of people trying to acquire their first foreign language think the longer their streak is the closer they are to fluency. I also think using online tutors, videos, reading and podcasts is objectively more enjoyable anyway 😄
@@matt_brooks-green yes, exactly, people shouldn't care about their xp points, badges or whatever the hell the app offers. But it can give you a good starting point
Duolingo is a game, nothing more. You learn a little bit from it, but most of what you learn is how to play Duolingo. I also agree that italki is the best way to learn languages, because you get to interact with people who knows that language natively. I've found language exchange sites to be basically either financial scams or romance scams. But I've never had an issue with teachers on italki. All of them have been adaptable and conversational.
Hey Peter, I think that's about right. For complete beginners it might get them started but I think the hours could be better spent elsewhere
I needed to learn some Spanish for trip purposes but Duolingo just wasn't working for me in that matter. Repetitive lessons where a guy eats apples or who has a passport and who doesn't. Not to mention that app itself forced me to go through lessons about school although I'm way over 30 so I don't need that for my trip at all. I lost the will to actually go into the app. The thing that frustrated me the most was because there was no proper explanation for some verbs and the grammar lessons were pretty scattered and rare. Before that I tried to study German with this app and I think it was done way better for that than for Spanish but yes lessons were repetitive quite a lot.
Some people love it but I don’t feel it’s the best use of time
Who knew the Duolingo sound would make me shudder upon hearing it at the beginning of your video! Yikes. For Spanish I found Duolingo to be of no benefit to me. This could be because I have more exposure to Spanish in my day-to-day life and given the presence of cognates with English. For Finnish I’ve found that as a light, occasional supplement for vocabulary exposure during my first month of learning it is somewhat helpful between iTalki lessons. Even with that, I’ve think I’ve run my course with its utility as I’m growing weary of it. You mentioned crosstalk again in this video and I’m seriously considering that for Finnish and Dutch. Alright, enough waffling on. Thanks for another great video, Matt!
Hi James, thanks buddy. Sorry about the visceral response to the sound at the beginning 😂. Honestly, give crosstalk a go. Might have to stop preaching about it soon to stop sounding like a broken record but it really is a great method. Thanks for your support mate
Wow that is fascinating---thinking you're just learning Mandarin or Cantonese, then having such a unique view into how both your own world and your Chinese tutor's are changing day by day as the pandemic takes hold. Crazy times. And thanks for the italki reminder! I've browsed for so long but may actually book now.
Do it! Yeah, you can travel the world from the comfort of your living room just by getting different perspectives and cultures!
I like Duolingo as an intro to a new language, especially if there isn’t a good comprehensible input resource for absolute beginners. But just as an introduction, to learn the first 100-200 words or so, after that, it’s not helpful in my opinion. If I actually want to learn the language, it’s time to move onto graded readers, lingq, comprehensible input TH-cam & podcasts, language reactor, cross talk, etc. Listening, watching, & reading! If I just want to play a game (with super annoying gems & streaks & all of that annoying noise), duolingo works for that lol. But the constant translation is at best annoying & not productive for language learning.
Hi Katie! That's fair. I had to sign up for it again to get the shots for this video and keep getting annoying emails now reminding me to get back to my streak 😅
Duolingo can be invaluable if you're starting from scratch on a minority language with limited other online resources. (So long as you accept that you're just getting a basic introduction to the language, and understand that you won't be able to speak it just because you've finished the course).
That’s a good point. One day I will learn Irish and I haven’t seen much comprehensible input sources for it
Sometimes it seems like slating Duolingo is a rite of passage for becoming a language-learning TH-camr (not accusing Matt of this at all, though). Personally, I do find Duolingo boring. Especially the new layout. It just seems like a long, boring, tedious grind. However, I would still say it is a really useful starting point when you know nothing of a language (as long as you're choosing one of their more actively-maintained courses). There comes a point when all that translation is just a hindrance - there are other ways to move forward much more quickly (and less tediously), but in the early stages, it really helps get you up and running.
The reason why people who learn languages bash Duolingo is because we've TRIED to learn a language on Duolingo and failed. I spent 2 years on Duolingo trying to learn Spanish. I learned more in 3 months talking with people from Mexico on italki than those two years of Duolingo. Nor is it because I had experience with Spanish in Duolingo that I was able to progress those 3 months in Spanish. I started learning Ukrainian this year in italki having never touched Duolingo once for Ukrainian, and have the same amount of progress after six months as I did with Spanish after six months of italki. In other words, I clearly don't need Duolingo at all to make the same gains, just using italki teachers. If it really does help someone, that's fine, but I think Duolingo makes people THINK they're learning the language when they're not.
Hi Michael - it's a right of passage! I actually made the video because a lot of beginner language learners who haven't heard about the input hypothesis etc think Duolingo is their best bet. I was surprised the number of people I knew who were trying to learn their first foreign language and had never heard of iTalki. It's a more efficient use of time in my opinion
@@matt_brooks-green Matt, I couldn't agree more. I think my comment might give the impression I think Duolingo is the be-all-and-end-all of language learning. Far from it. I think, just from personal experience, when I started a brand new language, Duolingo was a quick, relatively easy way to build some vocabulary and some basic grammar patterns.
Back when Duolingo had forums, there would be posts several times a day from people asking how long it takes to "get fluent" with Duolingo, which absolutely shows how easily people think there must be a magic language-learning bullet and that Duolingo might be it. For me, I think the reason I sometimes make (relatively meagre) defenses of Duolingo is because I think it has its place for the total beginner, as long as that beginner knows that Duolingo alone isn't going to result in conversational fluency, and actually it becomes quite tedious way before you get near the end of the courses (aa bit like this comment!).
Duolingo is fine for vocab and sentence structure at a base level. The problem is that you can get obsessed with meaningless targets and “progress”. Italki is good but I have found that some of the teaching is not of the best quality. I have found one for my Turkish who personalises lessons, provides a summary of what was discussed and is super patient. 1 hour per week will not get you fluent. It is a valuable tool alongside your other learning such as reading stories dialogue and refreshing your vocab and grammar. It is good though to hear a real person talking to you in Turkish and having a real conversation, no matter how broken or disjointed that conversation can be at times. Thanks for all your new content Matt and good luck with the channel.
Hi John, thanks for your comments. Yeah, I think for getting someone started Duolingo is better than nothing but I personally don't feel it is the best return on time invested. I must have been lucky with iTalki tutors so far but do make sure I shop around before I commit to regular lessons. Thanks for checking out the video 🙏
I think Duolingo is a really good starting point. I had B1 level in German by using Duolingo. I understand your point but as an adult learning a language it's easy to have the fundamentals instead of just reading and hearing nonesense like babies. You'll have to spend so much time this way, have tutors like parents, and after a few years people may understand your message but you'll have 0 sense of correct speaking, like a baby. I think Duolingo teachs you a lot, the problem is that it's free and it's like a game. So, if you don't take it seriously then you'll just be having fun and not reaching your goal as you want. Also, speaking is not everything as you say. And you must have a intermidiate level in order to take advantage of having a speaking partner.
Thanks for sharing Kira. I don't think it is completely useless but certainly not the best investment of time IMO. I know many beginner learners who only use Duolingo thinking that is enough but, like you say, it is more of a language game in many ways rather than a complete method
I’ve had zero luck with iTalki. I feel like I end up paying for a conversation that I could have had for free with conversation exchange.
Sorry to hear that. What I like about paying for the tutor's time is that we spend 100% of it in my target language. Also, the fact that I am paying them means I feel more able to say I want to do a particular thing by the very nature of it being a transaction. I check out the videos, try a few teachers and go with whoever is the most engaging
I’ve never had a significant problem. However, when I started Spanish, Duolingo was a refresher for me.
I don’t know about starting a language from 0.
But this app can be a good supplement, not the main course.
I had a 950-day streak. The streak was more of a mental thing. Before I decided to learn Spanish, I would start something and stop quickly.
As I saw the number grow higher and higher, I felt good to keep pushing.
Maybe this is not the way most people use Duolingo.
All that being said. I stopped at 950 because I felt like it became only a number at that point.
I needed a break for a week. I was going to start a new streak from scratch. I am now on a 52-day streak. I will keep going until at least my year subscription runs out.
So that’s where I was.
What do you think? Is this a different kind of way to use Duolingo?
It’s a good app for refreshing and supplement but don’t expect to only use the app to become fluent.
I also want to start a channel where si mostly speak in Spanish. I give tips of how I learn Spanish. Any advice where your ideas come from.
I would also like to help English learners to improve there English pronunciation.
Hey Will! Use it how you want dude. I think the badges and streaks can be a distraction from genuine acquisition of the language though. Ultimately, do what you enjoy. Good luck with the channel. I just make a note of ideas when they come to me and come up with some notes to talk about when I get some spare time. That sounds like two different channels to me - the spanish learners wont care about English pronunciation and vice versa. Probably pick whichever you're more passionate about for now
@@matt_brooks-green here is the channel I started a few years back. @gringoloco4210 about 100 subscribers on there.
This account I am commenting on I try to use only for Spanish videos.
Maybe one day we can do a collaborative video.
Now what if your iTalki tutor is wearing a green plush owl costume? Would that be a red flag?
It would certainly be a conversation starter 🤣
Duolingo is a waste of time. Look at any polyglot they would never recommend this to learn a language. People are addicted to their phones and therefore don’t consider the likes of Assimil series. Take a look at polyglot professor Alexander Argüelles early TH-cam videos and his love of this method
Thanks Rob. I haven't used Assimil but I know a lot of their content is for French speakers. How is it different from say Pimsleur?
@@matt_brooks-green
Pimsleur is audio only whereas Assimil has audio and text. It’s a fantastic series. I hope you get the chance to do a review
@@robryan8067 cool. I’ll check it out sometime
Thanks for the reminder about iTalki. I have a credit to use and just signed up to restart my conversations with my tutor!
I didn't use my $20 for ages and I lost it! Apparently there's a time limit...so better use it soon.
Awesome! Good work Bryan!
I think Duolingo is the best in the market.
My english C1level.
And it took me 14 years to reach C1.
And that experience gave me the secret of acquisition of a foreign language.
Which is time and repetition.
You have to dedicate thousands of hours and repeat the learned vocabulary countless times.
Duolingo has both.(Only spanish and french and german perhaps.Other language courses are garbage. Too limited amount.If you want to study the language, fine, but you are never going to aquiere it.)
It takes a lot of time(at least 2 years) to complete the new updated path.
I think those who criticize Duolingo are the people who haven't "aquiered" a foreign language.
I don't do Duolingo for fun.
I am dead serious to aquiere Spanish.
Fair enough. Glad you like it
Last thing. I can’t use Italki because I can’t pay with my bank card.
Try PayPal or another method. I'm sure there's something you can work out
Great video, but I'd like to point out a few things:
1. Websites like italki are VERY expensive for some people. I can't pay $5 to a teacher for a single lesson when I earn $3 for 12 hours of labor.
2. Talking to people can be very daunting for people like me who are very, very reserved.
3. Again, with a teacher, you do get the listening input and a bit of output too, but it takes TONS and TONS of lessons to get to some understandable level - you change the accent, the environment, and the context and content, and ...anxiety sets in.
Fair play mate. Do the things you enjoy at the end of the day
@@matt_brooks-green I have a slightly off-topic question for you: how is your camera presence so good? Do you have any prior experience?
@@LangPhile A little. Plus teaching in various capacities... plus doing multiple takes and most of it being unusable 😂
I am doing Duolingo right now and I got most of the things correct and I got a lot of the answers wrong. Is it OK? You can be correct those mistakes
If you enjoy Duolingo then by all means continue. I don't feel I get a huge amount of benefit from it but we are all different!
All I see is an italki commercial but ok I guess…
Hahaha. I’ve spoken to lots of beginner learners recently who had no idea iTalki was a thing. Duolingo was the gateway drug to start sharing different resources for them to try
Yes, Duolingo sucks. Worse, it steals your time. I tried it for Vietnamese ("I want to become a computer.") and chose the free version. It has no explanations (these would be good for composed words and also for that little grammar Vietnamese has), it has faults like mixing up the plural marker and the Vietnamese word for "but" and lots of repetitions as its only method seems to be rote learning. You cannot enter Vietnamese letters directly via ASCII number but have to go via Word and copy from there and at the end you will have merely 2,000 words learned. I gave up after having conquered the first tower. The usage of the Hanoi accent seems to me as bad as teaching German by the Berlin accent. Now I read stories, copy them by hand and type new words into Anki (6,000 words / expressions / sentences and counting). It seems to work much faster AND is done during my commute to work as there is no more a necessity to be online. What sucks especially in Duolingo is that they treat a language like Vietnamese with a completely different cultural background as if it was Welsh for instance. So we have fixed pronouns and have American proverbs to be translated and, sure, the LGBTQ agenda gets served, too. I think at the end of your Duolingo course in Vietnamese you can say nothing about the Vietnamese landscape, their holidays, buddhism or about the different words for rice. This one-world b*llsh*t can be extremely ignorant.
That's exactly it. The biggest issue isn't the method but rather the cost of spending that time doing quizzes rather than getting perhaps more meaningful input. I do recognise though that it gets some people started on their journey and that can only be a good thing
Well ever since duolingo went all down hill with their latest update change. Im looking into new options to continue my japanese.
I learned english only by using duolingo 🗿🗿🗿
The fact you are watching YT videos in English means you probably got a lot of visual and listening input too 😂