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Nah, they definitely provide value. Have you used it before? For someone who only took a few years of a foreign language in high school, it's a great refresher.

Nah, they definitely provide value. Have you used it before? For someone who only took a few years of a foreign language in high school, it's a great refresher. If they could also structure the lessons to teach in a similar way to the classroom (e.g., actively showing different conjugations instead of just assuming you'll remember or pick up on it yourself) then they'll be golden.

jfoster 11y ago
They've found an effective solution for self-study. Anything contextually different (eg. for classrooms) might need a vastly different solution. Suppose they even managed to come up with that classroom solution for language learning. How does what they currently have help them? Teachers, schools & government education departments make the purchasing decision for classrooms, so what students use in their time outside class isn't especially helpful in driving more sales of a classroom solution. If they came up with something good for classrooms, they might as well axe or install paywalls into their existing stuff.
- therobot24 11y ago
  > How does what they currently have help them? It helps the user better understand the language, which I believe is their goal to begin with. For example, their current approach presents a conjugated word in the context of a provided sentence or phrase. When I'm refreshing a language this isn't a big deal, but if I'm starting from scratch I don't have the foreknowledge to understand exactly when and why the word appears as such. I don't really need to argue that learning the language structure is much easier than memorizing a large list of words and phrases. More simply a better tool for learning, is a better product on their end. They don't have to sell it to schools, but if teachers see that it can work in tandem with their curriculum then it will translate to more users. > If they came up with something good for classrooms, they might as well axe or install paywalls into their existing stuff. You're only looking at monetizing and forgetting about growth.
  - jfoster 11y ago
    > You're only looking at monetizing and forgetting about growth. Because of the valuation size, and because I think they've succeeded at growing quickly and becoming the most well-known language learning solution. Everything else about Duolingo looks really good, but the monetization side of things seems to be the elephant in the room. What I'm also pointing out is that the growth among language learners cannot be easily translated into growth in institutions. To grow in institutions they will still need sales teams, and their consumer userbase doesn't necessarily gain them much of an advantage in that game. All that said, in this article they hint at having plans beyond the $20 certification they've announced. To achieve the valuation they've now got, I think it's fair to say they do have a solid plan that they just haven't made public knowledge yet. It's probably something that will be a bit controversial among their userbase, like paywalls.
organsnyder 11y ago
Same here. I took two years of Spanish in high school, and two semesters in college. I never put much effort into those classes, as I knew I couldn't commit the time to becoming fluent (I was taking them to fulfill core requirements at the liberal arts college I attended). Now, I'm finding myself slowly reactivating and building on that knowledge using Duolingo, to the point that I should be able to strike up basic conversations fairly soon.

jfoster 11y ago

They've found an effective solution for self-study. Anything contextually different (eg. for classrooms) might need a vastly different solution. Suppose they even managed to come up with that classroom solution for language learning. How does what they currently have help them? Teachers, schools & government education departments make the purchasing decision for classrooms, so what students use in their time outside class isn't especially helpful in driving more sales of a classroom solution. If they came up with something good for classrooms, they might as well axe or install paywalls into their existing stuff.

therobot24 11y ago
> How does what they currently have help them? It helps the user better understand the language, which I believe is their goal to begin with. For example, their current approach presents a conjugated word in the context of a provided sentence or phrase. When I'm refreshing a language this isn't a big deal, but if I'm starting from scratch I don't have the foreknowledge to understand exactly when and why the word appears as such. I don't really need to argue that learning the language structure is much easier than memorizing a large list of words and phrases. More simply a better tool for learning, is a better product on their end. They don't have to sell it to schools, but if teachers see that it can work in tandem with their curriculum then it will translate to more users. > If they came up with something good for classrooms, they might as well axe or install paywalls into their existing stuff. You're only looking at monetizing and forgetting about growth.
- jfoster 11y ago
  > You're only looking at monetizing and forgetting about growth. Because of the valuation size, and because I think they've succeeded at growing quickly and becoming the most well-known language learning solution. Everything else about Duolingo looks really good, but the monetization side of things seems to be the elephant in the room. What I'm also pointing out is that the growth among language learners cannot be easily translated into growth in institutions. To grow in institutions they will still need sales teams, and their consumer userbase doesn't necessarily gain them much of an advantage in that game. All that said, in this article they hint at having plans beyond the $20 certification they've announced. To achieve the valuation they've now got, I think it's fair to say they do have a solid plan that they just haven't made public knowledge yet. It's probably something that will be a bit controversial among their userbase, like paywalls.

organsnyder 11y ago

Same here. I took two years of Spanish in high school, and two semesters in college. I never put much effort into those classes, as I knew I couldn't commit the time to becoming fluent (I was taking them to fulfill core requirements at the liberal arts college I attended). Now, I'm finding myself slowly reactivating and building on that knowledge using Duolingo, to the point that I should be able to strike up basic conversations fairly soon.