4 ms·

Just an anecdote. My son was taking an extra language at school and wasn't doing too well. Duolingo every day for 6 months with one rest day and he went from a

by cheez 7y ago

Just an anecdote. My son was taking an extra language at school and wasn't doing too well. Duolingo every day for 6 months with one rest day and he went from a C to an A. I believe it gives people basic, basic competency like you would get if you were a Chinese person who never learned English formally but watched English movies all the time.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
> My son was taking an extra language at school and wasn't doing too well. Duolingo every day for 6 months with one rest day and he went from a C to an A. School language classes are notorious for leaving their students unable to function in the language that was supposedly "taught". I don't think that's the fault of the school or the classes, but I also don't think an improved grade in such a class is evidence of much additional competency. > I believe it gives people basic, basic competency like you would get if you were a Chinese person who never learned English formally but watched English movies all the time. Without some instruction at some point, the level of English competency you'll get by watching English movies all the time is zero, exactly the same as if you never watch anything.
- cheez 7y ago
  Yes, school is terrible and we should all not go.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    Well, what's your goal in going to school? If it's to learn a foreign language, this is a perfectly reasonable viewpoint.
tooMuchCensor 7y ago
For a class, I can see it helping. For speaking it seems useless. Memorizing nouns is what Duolingo does best
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  Nothing is useless when learning a language. Any consistent exposure is useful. To get any good at a language, you need more than one magic bullet, anyways. I don't really understand these posts from people who have allegedly learned a language yet lambast Duolingo for not making them fluent. There is literally no magic bullet for fluency. You need to be running the whole gamut (books, shows, interaction, podcast, whatever) every day to get good. So it's hard for me to take the critique seriously. "Duolingo won't make you fluent" sounds like the critique of a beginner who is just now, after a month, discovering that there isn't a magic app that can take you from 0 to 100. But Duolingo is a great tool for daily exposure as part of your repertoire.
  - cheez 7y ago
    Yep, exactly.

by cheez 7y ago

thaumasiotes 7y ago

> My son was taking an extra language at school and wasn't doing too well. Duolingo every day for 6 months with one rest day and he went from a C to an A. School language classes are notorious for leaving their students unable to function in the language that was supposedly "taught". I don't think that's the fault of the school or the classes, but I also don't think an improved grade in such a class is evidence of much additional competency. > I believe it gives people basic, basic competency like you would get if you were a Chinese person who never learned English formally but watched English movies all the time. Without some instruction at some point, the level of English competency you'll get by watching English movies all the time is zero, exactly the same as if you never watch anything.

cheez 7y ago
Yes, school is terrible and we should all not go.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  Well, what's your goal in going to school? If it's to learn a foreign language, this is a perfectly reasonable viewpoint.

tooMuchCensor 7y ago

For a class, I can see it helping. For speaking it seems useless. Memorizing nouns is what Duolingo does best

hombre_fatal 7y ago
Nothing is useless when learning a language. Any consistent exposure is useful. To get any good at a language, you need more than one magic bullet, anyways. I don't really understand these posts from people who have allegedly learned a language yet lambast Duolingo for not making them fluent. There is literally no magic bullet for fluency. You need to be running the whole gamut (books, shows, interaction, podcast, whatever) every day to get good. So it's hard for me to take the critique seriously. "Duolingo won't make you fluent" sounds like the critique of a beginner who is just now, after a month, discovering that there isn't a magic app that can take you from 0 to 100. But Duolingo is a great tool for daily exposure as part of your repertoire.
- cheez 7y ago
  Yep, exactly.