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It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

leejo.github.io

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Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#171

Post by jammu »

bombcar wrote: post #155
jammu wrote: post #153

I love that Duo streak is hard to lose, unlike other apps where if you miss a day streak is gone. The goal of app is to help you keep learning. In life things are bound to happen because of which you might miss couple of days or more, it make no sense to penalize you for that. I have been trying to maintain streak in other apps but I when I miss a day, I am not motivated enough to go back and start again. Also, strea…

Dailies are great for getting you to come back, but losing a streak can be enough to make you reconsider your life and never come back; especially when you were doing it out of habit and not really "into" it anymore. Cf: World of Warcraft

That makes sense, I think that's more of a reason for not enforcing the streak so strictly. Giving levay days helps you not obsessed over it. Also, for a user who lost his streak and is devastated over it, I do think Duo support helps them restore it. I do think they realize it's just a number and there is not need to traumatized people over losing it.

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#172

Post by whiplash451 »

ben_w wrote: post #151
fullstackchris wrote: post #81

Yes, but this is certainly a key to their success. They bring people back even after 2, 3, days, or even a month! Duolingo doesn't care _when_ you come back, as long as you _do_ come back. I was an earlier adopter of duolingo, and it's amazing to see how huge they've become. Overall I think it's an awesome platform; they've done very well with the entire design and clean UI of the site / app.

Also an early adopter. For me, the current UI is the absolute worst part. I don’t want animated cartoons emoting — often incongruously with the sentences, but even when the emotion suits they are grossly exaggerated — in response to correct answers. I don’t want the “motivational” messages that remain even after disabling motivational messages. I definitely don’t want the “motivational messages” toggle to randomly re…

But hey, you need to keep those PMs busy!

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#173

Post by xanaxagoras »

rendall wrote: post #163
hermannj314 wrote: post #48

What I noticed from the sobriety community (specifically alcohol), it is important to make promises to yourself 'one day at a a time'. There is a presumed danger to tying too much of your ego to the duration of your sobriety. I am not sure if it is scientifically proven, but if you relapse the assumption is you would rather have a psychology built around making the right choice today and not one built on pride of a l…

I've always wondered, if someone has a drink the week before getting, for example, their 10 year pin, do they not get the pin, or is there some kind of duolingo take-back?

You would not celebrate your 10 year anniversary, which would connote 10 years of "continuous sobriety" or 3650 days in a row without a drink.

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#174

Post by jonahx »

jeremyjh wrote: post #162
jammu wrote: post #153

I love that Duo streak is hard to lose, unlike other apps where if you miss a day streak is gone. The goal of app is to help you keep learning. In life things are bound to happen because of which you might miss couple of days or more, it make no sense to penalize you for that. I have been trying to maintain streak in other apps but I when I miss a day, I am not motivated enough to go back and start again. Also, strea…

But how does the streak motivate you if you know that it is meaningless - and not even really a streak?

You can abuse it the point of meaningless, but I'd guess most people don't. If you are committed to practicing every day, it's a motivator, and the streak freezes are nothing more than a bit of leniency for cases where something unforeseen happened. I have a long streak and have only occasionally used them. The streak actually represents sustained, long-term effort.

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#175

Post by throwawayduo2 »

moron4hire wrote: post #27

I work for a foreign language instruction services company. We mostly serve government and military, but we do accept private students. All of our linguists are extremely skeptical of apps like Duolingo. And before anyone replies something like "your company has a vested interest in propping up instructor-led language training", if apps like Duolingo actually worked, the government--especially the military--would sto…

No post body was provided.

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#176

Post by bluGill »

lupire wrote: post #133
bluGill wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is progress is slow and hard to measure. Streaks are something you can measure and consistent study makes a different after many hours of work. That said, if you want to learn a language you need to study a lot. Complete everything Duolingo can in a few months and then find better courses of study to learn after that. You should never in my opinion have more than a 6 month streak.

How is "used app every day" better than "did X exercises per week" or per month?

Better for who, you or Duolingo? If you want to learn a language you need to run out of Duolingo exercises in a couple months and quit that app for other study.

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#177

Post by dom111 »

adastra22 wrote: post #168
rmbyrro wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that's impressive. Non-avid reader before to almost a year of avid reading, then all lost because of a hook metric. This stuff is a real deal.

It can be demotivating. I use other language learning apps (not Duolingo, which is garbage), and I try to maintain a streak not because I care about it, but because I want the daily habit. Nevertheless, the number goes up… and help but get attached to it. I mean I don’t care about the number per se, but it was a reminder of my good study habit, which as someone with ADHD is an accomplishment itself. Then, like GP, I…

Out of interest, what other language learning apps are you using? I'm going to Portugal nest year and learning Portuguese through Duolingo at the moment. It's ok and some stuff is sticking, but I can't help but feel some of the why is missing and I'm just learning how to interpret their questions, rather than learning the language (I guess that's your problem with it?)

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#178

Post by david_allison »

dwighttk wrote: post #123

duolingo (back when I used it years ago) also made it pretty difficult to even get questions wrong. They seemed to shy away from questions where I had to type in the answer (ie come up with the translation out of my own head) when I was out near the edge of my knowledge in favor of multiple-choice (ie they give you the translation but you pick it out of a couple wrong answers)

Typing in the answer is difficult from a UX perspective (on Android at least):

Barring Gboard, all Android keyboards that I've tested do not support automatic switching of languages[1].

Even with Gboard, you need to explain to the user how to install the language for the keyboard. This is not trivial.

You then may have to deal with another input method, and recommending one to use (for example: do you want Pinyin/Cangjie/Zhuyin). This is different for each language.

You'll probably need to deal with Android manufacturers doing ridiculous things to lock down their devices. I would not be surprised if some restrict you from changing the default keyboard.

And if you make your own virtual keyboard, you've got a lot of accessibility to think through.

[1] https://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextV...

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#179

Post by Tainnor »

Apps like Duolingo IMHO try to sell the illusion of learning.

Far more people like the illusion of learning than actual learning, so it makes sense from a business POV, but if you're really dedicated, textbooks + flashcards + immersion will get you farther ahead.

Re: It's quite hard to lose a Duolingo streak

#180

Post by emursebrian »

iratewizard wrote: post #55
needle0 wrote: post #40

Losing a Sojourner medal streak in Ingress (due to being busy due to my own wedding!) made me quit playing the game regularly. Streaks can be effective in keeping the user returning, but once it's broken it can be a perfect moment for the user to churn. Hence, I can understand how the Duolingo devs made the streak less fragile than it would initially appear, but doing so (and having the cover blown) also makes return…

I've used Duolingo for about a year and they definitely have a lot of stuff like that built into the gamification. Often times, though, playing the game they designed is counterproductive. I've broken 100+ day streaks twice now because I realized I was only putting in the minimum for the sake of the game. I've found it better to take a month off here and there so that I can come back and focus on my actual goals. The…

For me Duolingo's gamification is better than nothing but it's really not that fun. It wasn't a motivating factor to keep learning.

Spaced repletion algorithms can be really helpful, but they can also be a hindrance. Duolingo treats the user like they don't know better than the algorithm. The language learner needs to be the one in the driver's seat with the algorithms and course material being there to support the learner.

Gamification is great, but it should only be there to help the user stay motivated meeting their goals. Like you mentioned, if you've already mastered something having it presented in your study session is actively working against meeting your goals because you're spending time studying something you don't need to.

I don't see studying everyday as an end-goal, though studying every day can be helpful for retention. You should feel rewarded but not punished when you "loose your streak".

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