3 ms·

so you'll get a bunch of random things to memorize with no explanation of the concepts supporting them?

crispyambulance 8y ago
I think the key thing is that these are exercises. People learn by seeing examples and solving problems with gradually increasing difficultly. This appears to be an arena for doing just that. Concepts and theory are certainly critical, but one needs to practice in order to achieve mastery. The conceptual framework for all this stuff is covered in detail in other resources, anyway. After taking a cursory look around, Edabit seems to be filling a very specific need. I like it.
- gammateam 8y ago
  I was just trying to understand the Duolingo analogy
  - folkrav 8y ago
    Duolingo by itself isn't really enough to really learn a language either. Thanks to Duolingo, I can definitely say "the woman eats the apple" in Italian, but I don't understand the language's grammar and its verb conjugation rules enough to build complete sentences.
    - yorwba 8y ago
      "The woman eats the apple." is a complete sentence, no? Do you mean you only memorized specific sentences, but did not end up with any generalizable knowledge? I've never tried Duolingo, but I kind of expected them to not show you exactly the same exercises again, so that you wouldn't pass them with just memorization.
      - gammateam 8y ago
        Thats exactly what he was saying. But yes, Duolingo and Memrise take similar approaches at not teaching you anything.
        always_good 8y ago
        Well, you were misinformed that you could learn a language by doing any one thing. Apps like Duolingo are just a method for daily exposure on the long journey of language learning. For example, reading only grammar books isn't going to get you there, either. But doing something every day is possibly the most important part, and Duolingo can help you build a habit. I see this criticism of Duolingo all the time by people who sound like they think it failed them because they weren't fluent after finishing it. There is no roadmap that will make you fluent without serious, multifaceted effort on your own part, so it's quite weak criticism when one tool doesn't take you end-to-end.
        yorwba 8y ago
        I was hoping for an answer that explains how it is possible to pass a course on Duolingo (i.e. answer the exercises correctly) without actually learning enough of the language to apply it to new situations. If the problem is just that you can memorize the answer to each question and regurgitate it when you see the same question again, that'd be fixable by creating many more questions. But if the problem is something else, it might not be so simple.
        gammateam 8y ago
        Look, as you mentioned, you just don't know what you are talking about to extrapolate what you want explained. Use Duolingo for 5 minutes like the rest of us and get with the program.
        yorwba 8y ago
        I did that. I took the initial test for Japanese, where I answered correctly for sentences I already understood or where I was only missing a single word I could guess by elimination. Given multiple options I couldn't distinguish, I messed up as it should be. Based on the test results, I was skipped past 23 of the 40 topics I can see in the course. Considering that I've been learning for only three months, that makes the course look a bit short. When I then tried the next lesson, I did notice some questions repeating, but there was also some variety. So I don't know whether it's possible to just memorize all the sentences without learning grammar. Based on me trying Duolingo a single time now, I'd now say that the biggest problem is the small amount of topics covered in a course, which limits the vocabulary you know how to use after completing it. But that's not what the original complaint said, so maybe someone who's used Duolingo 5 minutes a day for several months is still in a better position to explain what the actual problem with Duolingo is.
- ocfx 8y ago
  There are a ton of apps already that do this. What is edabit bringing to the table that codewars or any of those other sites is not? IMO they are bringing nothing different to the table or it's too subtle to matter.

I think the key thing is that these are exercises. People learn by seeing examples and solving problems with gradually increasing difficultly. This appears to be an arena for doing just that. Concepts and theory are certainly critical, but one needs to practice in order to achieve mastery. The conceptual framework for all this stuff is covered in detail in other resources, anyway. After taking a cursory look around, Edabit seems to be filling a very specific need. I like it.

gammateam 8y ago
I was just trying to understand the Duolingo analogy
- folkrav 8y ago
  Duolingo by itself isn't really enough to really learn a language either. Thanks to Duolingo, I can definitely say "the woman eats the apple" in Italian, but I don't understand the language's grammar and its verb conjugation rules enough to build complete sentences.
  - yorwba 8y ago
    "The woman eats the apple." is a complete sentence, no? Do you mean you only memorized specific sentences, but did not end up with any generalizable knowledge? I've never tried Duolingo, but I kind of expected them to not show you exactly the same exercises again, so that you wouldn't pass them with just memorization.
    - gammateam 8y ago
      Thats exactly what he was saying. But yes, Duolingo and Memrise take similar approaches at not teaching you anything.
      - always_good 8y ago
        Well, you were misinformed that you could learn a language by doing any one thing. Apps like Duolingo are just a method for daily exposure on the long journey of language learning. For example, reading only grammar books isn't going to get you there, either. But doing something every day is possibly the most important part, and Duolingo can help you build a habit. I see this criticism of Duolingo all the time by people who sound like they think it failed them because they weren't fluent after finishing it. There is no roadmap that will make you fluent without serious, multifaceted effort on your own part, so it's quite weak criticism when one tool doesn't take you end-to-end.
      - yorwba 8y ago
        I was hoping for an answer that explains how it is possible to pass a course on Duolingo (i.e. answer the exercises correctly) without actually learning enough of the language to apply it to new situations. If the problem is just that you can memorize the answer to each question and regurgitate it when you see the same question again, that'd be fixable by creating many more questions. But if the problem is something else, it might not be so simple.
        gammateam 8y ago
        Look, as you mentioned, you just don't know what you are talking about to extrapolate what you want explained. Use Duolingo for 5 minutes like the rest of us and get with the program.
        yorwba 8y ago
        I did that. I took the initial test for Japanese, where I answered correctly for sentences I already understood or where I was only missing a single word I could guess by elimination. Given multiple options I couldn't distinguish, I messed up as it should be. Based on the test results, I was skipped past 23 of the 40 topics I can see in the course. Considering that I've been learning for only three months, that makes the course look a bit short. When I then tried the next lesson, I did notice some questions repeating, but there was also some variety. So I don't know whether it's possible to just memorize all the sentences without learning grammar. Based on me trying Duolingo a single time now, I'd now say that the biggest problem is the small amount of topics covered in a course, which limits the vocabulary you know how to use after completing it. But that's not what the original complaint said, so maybe someone who's used Duolingo 5 minutes a day for several months is still in a better position to explain what the actual problem with Duolingo is.
ocfx 8y ago
There are a ton of apps already that do this. What is edabit bringing to the table that codewars or any of those other sites is not? IMO they are bringing nothing different to the table or it's too subtle to matter.