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

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

#21

Post by BlanketLogic »

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.

FWIW, I found Busuu great.

After a year on busuu and 1000 days on duolingo, I find the former way better for language acquisition.

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

#22

Post by DicIfTEx »

lkgbgjjugfffffg wrote: post #17
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.

I'm the same, I just figured I'd been grandfathered into something. Although I don't use the app any more since they redesigned all the courses last year or so; it's worthless now.

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

#23

Post by maeil »

lkgbgjjugfffffg wrote: post #17
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.

Be careful, there's guaranteed to be employees reading along here :)

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

#24

Post by arghwhat »

troyvit wrote: post #13
arghwhat wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Depends on your language of choice. For Mandarin, I like Hello Chinese better than Duolingo. It still has a gamification aspect, but the content is much more varied and includes things like practicing reading comprehension and mock conversations, not to mention stroke order practice.

I would expect something similar to exist for other popular languages - I know that is the case for Japanese at least.

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

#26

Post by djeastm »

I'm a former military linguist who was trained to learn Arabic.

I've always disliked and distrusted Duolingo (and before that, Rosetta Stone), for providing people the basics (which they do just fine) but making it seem like fluency is always just one more upgrade or lesson around the corner while not-so-subtly implying that it's your fault that you're not there yet.

Even for the most talented learners of languages it takes many, many more hours and types of exposure that these apps cannot achieve. For Arabic, for instance, the military gave us 88 weeks of full-day instruction with native speakers, in addition to homework. And that's all just to achieve basic reading/listening fluency. And many of the people who start the program (and have passed an aptitude test even to start the program) do not complete it.

Like I said, it's as good as anything to start, but it's the marketing of it as the complete package that irks me.

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

#27

Post by thaumasiotes »

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.

> Otherwise we'd just pick up a foreign language book.

The problem with this approach is that it takes several hours to get through a couple of sentences.

All of the effort is frontloaded; if you stick with it, your pace will rapidly improve. But starting is a challenge.

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

#28

Post by datavirtue »

bubblyworld wrote: post #3
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.

Yeah, I was about to say the same - this is exactly why my partner uses it, for instance. Whether it's the most efficient or healthy method is another question entirely (I suspect not, personally, but I'm also not a fan of telling people how to live their life).

I had no idea Doulingo was a Tiger parent.

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

#30

Post by carstenhag »

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 Lingvist for vocabulary building, but it's also not perfect.
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