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The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

businessinsider.com

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Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#11

Post by Majestic121 »

watwut wrote: post #4
Sakos wrote: post #2

The whole purpose of Duolingo is emotional and psychological manipulation to get us to override our tendencies to procrastinate, forget, etc. Otherwise we'd just pick up a foreign language book. I don't really get the framing of this article.

You cant learn foreign language from a book. Or, very very few people ever succeeded to learn basics of reading and write in foreign language from a book. And you can not possibly learn listening and talking.

You can't learn a foreign language from Duolingo alone either, so the original sentence stands.

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#12

Post by arghwhat »

mikeodds wrote: post #6

I realised the gamification had missed its purpose when I caught myself memorising the bigrams and trigrams of answers without reading the full text so I could click through and retain my streak each day. My learning had stalled at this point but my streak looked great.

It does have its issues, in particular for those relatively good at games to begin with...

There's quite a big difference between their language classes though, but I do prefer alternative apps that target a specific language with laser focus. They tend to have better organic content for the purpose of practice.

You also need to realize that you will only truly be good at the language if you get to practice using it with other speakers. Something needs to click in your head in the right way.

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#13

Post by troyvit »

arghwhat wrote: post #12
mikeodds wrote: post #6

I realised the gamification had missed its purpose when I caught myself memorising the bigrams and trigrams of answers without reading the full text so I could click through and retain my streak each day. My learning had stalled at this point but my streak looked great.

It does have its issues, in particular for those relatively good at games to begin with... There's quite a big difference between their language classes though, but I do prefer alternative apps that target a specific language with laser focus. They tend to have better organic content for the purpose of practice. You also need to realize that you will only truly be good at the language if you get to practice using it…

What apps would you recommend?

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#14

Post by ryukoposting »

aswerty wrote: post #8

If the features of Duolingo are available in another app (i.e. their various memorization techniques, vocabulary building, various interactive learning, etc.) that doesn't gamify or nag. Let me know since I really detest these aspects of Duolingo. I succumbed to paying for the app since it is virtually unusable with the frequency of ads on the freemium model. They are a very dislikable brand.

I like Duolingo for the exact reasons you don't. I want to learn a language, and I will need to know the basics to be able to talk to people on my honeymoon next year. What you see as "nagging" I see as "holding me accountable to a goal I've set for myself."

I can definitely see why you'd want to be able to dial back the notifications, though.

On principle, I'd usually be on your side in this kind of situation. But again, for me, in this particular case, the nagging is a feature, not a nuisance. Besides, of all the things an app can nag you about, learning a language is pretty innocuous.

Fun fact: if you have a pi-hole, the only ad you'll ever get is their own ad promoting Super Duolingo. I'm assuming it's a video embedded in the app somewhere.

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#15

Post by pajko »

aswerty wrote: post #8

If the features of Duolingo are available in another app (i.e. their various memorization techniques, vocabulary building, various interactive learning, etc.) that doesn't gamify or nag. Let me know since I really detest these aspects of Duolingo. I succumbed to paying for the app since it is virtually unusable with the frequency of ads on the freemium model. They are a very dislikable brand.

Not tried this yet but looks interesting: https://www.50languages.com/apps

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#16

Post by ryukoposting »

aswerty wrote: post #10
mikeodds wrote: post #6

I realised the gamification had missed its purpose when I caught myself memorising the bigrams and trigrams of answers without reading the full text so I could click through and retain my streak each day. My learning had stalled at this point but my streak looked great.

I do this myself. But is the memorization not a feature as opposed to a bug? Essentially embedding certain sentences/phrases in your brain to the point where you already know what you need to type/say without having to fully engage with the prompt.

I was thinking the same thing. I don't process English one word at a time. I consider it a sign of progress that I don't process certain bits and pieces of German one word at a time.

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#17

Post by lkgbgjjugfffffg »

aswerty wrote: post #8

If the features of Duolingo are available in another app (i.e. their various memorization techniques, vocabulary building, various interactive learning, etc.) that doesn't gamify or nag. Let me know since I really detest these aspects of Duolingo. I succumbed to paying for the app since it is virtually unusable with the frequency of ads on the freemium model. They are a very dislikable brand.

I have unlimited hearts and I don't pay for subscription. I don't know if there is a glitch with my account or maybe my streak is so long (>1500 days) they have just given up on trying to monetise me.

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#18

Post by djaouen »

aswerty wrote: post #8

If the features of Duolingo are available in another app (i.e. their various memorization techniques, vocabulary building, various interactive learning, etc.) that doesn't gamify or nag. Let me know since I really detest these aspects of Duolingo. I succumbed to paying for the app since it is virtually unusable with the frequency of ads on the freemium model. They are a very dislikable brand.

Babbel or Rosetta Stone

Re: The meanest app: Duolingo subjects its users to "emotional blackmail"

#19

Post by gwervc »

ryukoposting wrote: post #14
aswerty wrote: post #8

If the features of Duolingo are available in another app (i.e. their various memorization techniques, vocabulary building, various interactive learning, etc.) that doesn't gamify or nag. Let me know since I really detest these aspects of Duolingo. I succumbed to paying for the app since it is virtually unusable with the frequency of ads on the freemium model. They are a very dislikable brand.

I like Duolingo for the exact reasons you don't. I want to learn a language, and I will need to know the basics to be able to talk to people on my honeymoon next year. What you see as "nagging" I see as "holding me accountable to a goal I've set for myself." I can definitely see why you'd want to be able to dial back the notifications, though. On principle, I'd usually be on your side in this kind of situation. But a…

> I want to learn a language

Then why are you using Duolingo in the first place?

That app has to be the worst method, because people think they are progressing while they in fact don't. From personal experience it's the worst method I tired to learn a language, and the content present for languages I know isn't good either.

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