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Speaking in Spanish would last about 1 minute until we transitioned back to English because it was more effective. "You need better friends, man". Actually, w

Speaking in Spanish would last about 1 minute until we transitioned back to English because it was more effective. "You need better friends, man". Actually, what you need (for immersion to work) is friends who will meet you halfway. That is, who won't mind slowing down a bit and coaching you occasionally so that you can at least stretch 1 minute into 5 or 10. That - and one simply needs to try harder to make it through at least normal everyday interactions (at a cafe, while shopping, etc). You definitely do not learn anything significant from a purely passive approach to immersion. You need to take literally everyday as a learning opportunity - and prep accordingly. Nah, they'd be doom scrolling. Agreed, that seems to be the market DL was designed to serve. And hence, is about as useful as one would expect.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
I got good enough to read Harry Potter from Duolingo, so Duolingo seems pretty helpful to those who stick with it. I've watched plenty of friends over my time in Mexico do nothing but Duolingo until they were good enough to be entertained by Youtube videos. Just like any other prong of a language learning strategy, only a fraction of people are going to stick with it. Else language learning would be easy. I doubt people who couldn't stick to Duolingo would have stuck to the boring advice HNers have like reading grammar books and watching in-depth Youtube videos that require much more attention. > "You need better friends, man". Well, it depends on the friendship. Some if not most people want to be your friend and communicate with you, not be your error-correcting language teacher. You have to be pretty good at the language to be fun to talk to. Until you're good enough to not be a burden, I think it's far better to pay for immersion than expect it from friends. Fwiw, I am fluent in Spanish these days.
- lisasays 4y ago
  I doubt people who couldn't stick to Duolingo would have stuck to the boring advice HNers have like reading grammar books and watching in-depth Youtube videos that require much more attention. It seems that people just like ... different things. Some people actually look forward to curling up with a hot, meaty grammar book, for hours on end. And find that both apps and videos (unless done very, very well) just drain their batteries.

hombre_fatal 4y ago

I got good enough to read Harry Potter from Duolingo, so Duolingo seems pretty helpful to those who stick with it. I've watched plenty of friends over my time in Mexico do nothing but Duolingo until they were good enough to be entertained by Youtube videos. Just like any other prong of a language learning strategy, only a fraction of people are going to stick with it. Else language learning would be easy. I doubt people who couldn't stick to Duolingo would have stuck to the boring advice HNers have like reading grammar books and watching in-depth Youtube videos that require much more attention. > "You need better friends, man". Well, it depends on the friendship. Some if not most people want to be your friend and communicate with you, not be your error-correcting language teacher. You have to be pretty good at the language to be fun to talk to. Until you're good enough to not be a burden, I think it's far better to pay for immersion than expect it from friends. Fwiw, I am fluent in Spanish these days.

lisasays 4y ago
I doubt people who couldn't stick to Duolingo would have stuck to the boring advice HNers have like reading grammar books and watching in-depth Youtube videos that require much more attention. It seems that people just like ... different things. Some people actually look forward to curling up with a hot, meaty grammar book, for hours on end. And find that both apps and videos (unless done very, very well) just drain their batteries.