Author Topic: Duolingo  (Read 7084 times)

Fletch

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Duolingo
« on: June 12, 2013, 07:53:28 PM »
I know a few people on here have mentioned Duolingo before (it is a free language learning website).

Is anyone interested in a little point/level gaining competition? I'm currently level 6, 544 points on Spanish, looking to get to the next unlock/test-out break by the end of June, which is 5 squares/unknown number of lessons away.

Donovan

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2013, 08:23:57 PM »
Ooh, I had forgotten about this. Thanks for reminding me :) I remember hearing about this site a while back, at which point it did not support my language of choice (Italian).  Now that it does, I'll be sure to try it out as a sort of refresher course this summer.

I currently have...10 points :p

arebelspy

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2013, 10:31:51 PM »
I've been doing a half hour a day for the last 14 days (which it just reminded me of, as I haven't done it yet today, doh, had a very busy day, so now I have to do it before I go to bed.)

Love the app.

For websites, I prefer memrise, but Duolingo's app is so good that it's basically all I'm using now.

Also on Spanish, and after 7 hours (30 min/day x 14 days) I am just a little ways into level 8, at 1185 skill points, 430 words.

Also just FYI, cause it took me a bit to figure out and everyone I mention it to doesn't seem to use it - swipe right (or click the menu in the upper left) and click "practice" - it'll practice everything you've learned so far.

I normally start my half hour session with 1-2 practice rounds, then do 25 min or so of learning new material, then end with a practice round.
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rugorak

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2013, 01:47:57 PM »
I have been using both Memrise and Duolingo as well. I'm working on German though. Currently level 10 and 2714 points and a 10 day streak. I'm probably averaging about 30 minutes a day total as well. Probably should do more but I am trying to study for the VCP 5 exam so trying to put more time into that, even though it is far less fun that German.

Donovan

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2013, 02:50:23 PM »
I'm glad I've started with this. Italian is coming back very quickly.  I've spent maybe a solid hour in 3 days and I'm at 98 points.  Here's to learning more! :)

Fletch

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2013, 03:42:37 PM »
Ah! I'm being shamed at my own gauntlet!
I've only made it through one or two practice rounds/new lessons per day since I posted this, so I'm on a 14 day streak but not making much progress.  I know what I'm doing with my evening now. Thanks for the memrise recommendation.

My plan was to work through all the duolingo lessons and then try to slowly convert a portion of my regular reading/entertainment into Spanish sources to expand and maintain. I took German in high school but never really kept up with it and don't remember a thing now, so I'm curious if anyone has any input on how to keep non-primary languages fresh in your mind after the official "lessons" stop.

rugorak

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2013, 05:26:27 PM »
I love this blog - http://www.fluentin3months.com/
Really great information. He keeps 11 languages to "fluency" and has learned many more over his years. He even had a recent "mini mission" where he renewed an old and forgotten language. But he talks about how he keeps his languages maintained in some posts from a while back. Also check out this recent post where he links to 40 free resources- http://www.fluentin3months.com/free-links/

If it makes you feel better most of my duolingo points are from last year. I was doing really good with it for a while, then some things came along and I slowly let it slide away and then stopped all together. So most of my stuff right now is refreshing what I did learn.

arebelspy

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2013, 05:46:34 PM »
I love this blog - http://www.fluentin3months.com/

That blog was brought to my attention a few weeks ago by a friend.

I particularly enjoyed this recent post: http://www.fluentin3months.com/strange-habits/

This was also a good one: http://www.fluentin3months.com/humanist/
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

dharmon

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2013, 06:23:13 PM »
Duolingo is pretty good, and gotten much better over the past year.

After going to Guatemala for 6 weeks last year, the one thing I was missing in my Spanish was lightning fast verb conjugation. There weren't any apps or websites that drilled the way I wanted to practice, so I wrote one myself.

So far, it's just been me and a few friends using it, but maybe somebody else will get some use out of it:

http://spanish.dharmon.org

I added some basic instructions. It gives a pronoun / verb / tense combination and you have to conjugate it (don't forget accents!). It progresses with new verbs / tenses in a natural order, and you can control how fast new verbs are added. I've been practicing about 5 minutes a day for the past half a year, and it has significantly improved my recall.

Anyway, I hope some other mustachians find it useful.

Buena suerte!

4alpacas

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2013, 12:59:38 PM »
I started the Spanish version a few months ago.  I need to force myself to do at least one lesson/day.  I have an iPad, so I could just do it during a commercial break :)

basd

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2013, 11:47:04 PM »
I'm on there as well, studying Italian. Though I must say I use it as an addition to my Italian classes rather than as a study method in itself. Nothing beats classes for me.

RootofGood

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Re: Duolingo
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2013, 04:16:09 PM »
I love duolingo and have forgotten about it the last few days.  French lvl 2 and Spanish lvl 6.  Tested into the Spanish at that level and used to speak relatively fluently 10 years ago. 

Pretty fun site, and makes learning easy and fun. 

My kids used it and were quizzing me on the Portuguese they picked up. 

Thanks for the reminder I've been slack lately.  Got to get back to it. 

 

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