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One of the main disappointments with Duolingo's recent path for me has been the removal of the forum. It was so useful whenever I was confused by a certain phra

One of the main disappointments with Duolingo's recent path for me has been the removal of the forum. It was so useful whenever I was confused by a certain phrase or new concept to just hop directly into the discussion forum page for that exercise and see others asking the same questions and getting well-written intuitive answers to them. Just boosted my understanding so much plus added a sense of community, that we're all going through this learning journey together and thinking about and getting confused by the same things :P Now I'm relegated to Googling the text of the exercise to find similar info online, just far less useful :(

ted_bunny 3y ago
Those forums were mainly a band-aid for DL's complete refusal to actually explain any of the grammar.
- hbn 3y ago
  There's an overview for each unit section that has some pretty important explanations, and nothing really directs you towards it. Still, in terms of forums, a lot of the time Googling will lead you to various subreddits that have some good conversations and explanations.
  - ted_bunny 3y ago
    I'm in Unit 6 of Italian, 11 in Russian, and there have been zero of those. I know which section you're talking about, I check it every time I reach a new unit. Shouldn't have to google. They made the space for it and created the expectation. They're charging a steep price for flashcards and little else.
- trey-jones 3y ago
  Crowd-sourcing is a valid form of support.
  - ted_bunny 3y ago
    If that were even implied to be how the site works, that would be acceptable. They also removed all that. That's garbage "support."
wt__ 3y ago
As I think I’ve posted previously, they’re one of those companies that have gone to great lengths to made themselves impossible to contact. Try finding a way to get in touch with them. I’ll wait. Except for billing queries, you won’t. Granted, some of the queries will be language questions you might not have the resources to answer, but that’s a consequence of being a language learning site. Anyway, to me, it’s a big red flag. (For the record I did use Duolingo for over a year as a paid member with a 365 day streak. At which point I stopped.)
groggo 3y ago
I've found ChatGPT great for this. It's way better than a translator at giving you context for grammar and phrases. My stack is Duolingo + Podcasts + Instagram + ChatGPT: Duolingo - daily consistency, grammar Podcasts - "comprehensible input" from intermediate french podcasts (InnerFrench, French with Panache) Instagram - Just follow a ton of french accounts. They often have subtitles. Listen to native speakers talk at a normal pace about stuff you're interested in. ChatGPT - answer basic questions about grammar or phrases. I've even started using this for conversation practice too.
- hbn 3y ago
  How did you find the Instagram accounts? I made a Spanish twitter account but had no idea where to even start for following Spanish accounts that interest me. I'd probably be more willing to engage if they talked about things I liked
  - groggo 3y ago
    I think I just searched for some translated terms. Once you find some accounts, you can see who follows them, and then see what other accounts they follow, etc.

ted_bunny 3y ago

Those forums were mainly a band-aid for DL's complete refusal to actually explain any of the grammar.

hbn 3y ago
There's an overview for each unit section that has some pretty important explanations, and nothing really directs you towards it. Still, in terms of forums, a lot of the time Googling will lead you to various subreddits that have some good conversations and explanations.
- ted_bunny 3y ago
  I'm in Unit 6 of Italian, 11 in Russian, and there have been zero of those. I know which section you're talking about, I check it every time I reach a new unit. Shouldn't have to google. They made the space for it and created the expectation. They're charging a steep price for flashcards and little else.
trey-jones 3y ago
Crowd-sourcing is a valid form of support.
- ted_bunny 3y ago
  If that were even implied to be how the site works, that would be acceptable. They also removed all that. That's garbage "support."

wt__ 3y ago

As I think I’ve posted previously, they’re one of those companies that have gone to great lengths to made themselves impossible to contact. Try finding a way to get in touch with them. I’ll wait. Except for billing queries, you won’t. Granted, some of the queries will be language questions you might not have the resources to answer, but that’s a consequence of being a language learning site. Anyway, to me, it’s a big red flag. (For the record I did use Duolingo for over a year as a paid member with a 365 day streak. At which point I stopped.)

groggo 3y ago

I've found ChatGPT great for this. It's way better than a translator at giving you context for grammar and phrases. My stack is Duolingo + Podcasts + Instagram + ChatGPT: Duolingo - daily consistency, grammar Podcasts - "comprehensible input" from intermediate french podcasts (InnerFrench, French with Panache) Instagram - Just follow a ton of french accounts. They often have subtitles. Listen to native speakers talk at a normal pace about stuff you're interested in. ChatGPT - answer basic questions about grammar or phrases. I've even started using this for conversation practice too.

hbn 3y ago
How did you find the Instagram accounts? I made a Spanish twitter account but had no idea where to even start for following Spanish accounts that interest me. I'd probably be more willing to engage if they talked about things I liked
- groggo 3y ago
  I think I just searched for some translated terms. Once you find some accounts, you can see who follows them, and then see what other accounts they follow, etc.