Duolingo Day 151 - Features and Tanking Motivation
Learning Italian has really slowed down for me. On Duolingo, I've hit day 151, but my motivation to learn more is tanking and I am moving at a glacial pace.
Since it's colder, I find less opportunities to chat with my neighbors outside. Most of them usually just switch to English right away, since it's easier to communicate. Not sure how I want to proceed with this language learning, if I don't get a chance to use it or I don't see the benefits!
One thing about Duolingo is the streak system. Even though I don't really feel like learning any languages, I feel obligated to keep my streak alive. They have little quests and pledges that you take, to keep your streak alive - to reach day 150, 175, 200 etc. I remember when I used to have snapchat, I kept streaks with friends by sending pictures back and forth of nothing. It seems silly now to do all that just to keep a number getting bigger, but it really works to keep users on the app.
Duolingo has a couple of mechanism that keeps the app sticky (e.g., making you come back to the app):
- Its streak system
- Friend system (compare with friends and go on quests)
- Leaderboard/league (groups you with users to compete on XP)
- Novelty features (World Cup, Holiday themes, misc costumes)
To me, these are interesting and fun, but fun features do not necessarily help with learning a language. I do a lesson everyday and nudge my friends, but at the same time I am pseudo learning.
Despite my criticisms, I still think Duolingo is a good place to start. There are some features I am rather impressed with (I have the Super subscription with a group of people). You can now speak to a character to practice your language of choice. They respond based on your input and at times try to correct you. I use this feature occasionally now to practice what I learn, and it's one of my favorite parts when I catch myself speaking in Italian.
Additionally, you can use their built-in chatbot to practice weak concepts and chat about specific topics. E.g., 'how do I talk about baking bread with my neighbours?' The chatbot will even create practice questions based on what you ask it.
My initial goal is to get to a level where I can have a basic conversation with my neighbors. I can do that now with some basic greetings - I can ask questions like 'what does that mean', or 'how do I say...'. There's no plans to go deeper for now, so maybe I'll take a break eventually. I think I’d also like to master talking about a few topics. Maybe something about food, because I love Italian food.