itt: stories of yr attempts to master tongues via DUOLINGO

Looking at some of the Duolingo FB groups as well as discord servers. Not sure how I feel about either.

Haven't seen the new home screen yet. It seems like with every change to the UI they change the owl too, and it annoys me. Muscle owl in the ads for Duolingo Xtreme (or whatever it's called now) is very disturbing.

You mean Super Duolingo?

First blush it seems that the FB groups are more useful than the Discord servers. Who knew?

Yeah, Super Duolingo

Super is getting rid of the Mastery Quiz they just said. Good riddance, I say.

So now everybody is on the new path screen, I think. Handy link to https://duome.eu/ here if needed.

If you stick your username on the end of that it will tell you some stuff about yourself, and will provide a link to the hints and vocabulary for your active languages.

No new path for me. Yet.

re. duome, it's been a while since I checked and I see I'm now very close to making the top 10,000 users for streak length. Duolingo for life.

There is a trick to switch back, at least until the end of the year.

I, like Tiresias, have switched back and forth and can report on the pros and cons of both.

Anyway, digging deeper into the Welsh right now and using some other resources.

Clozemaster 50% off Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale is on now.

The learning path change is making me unhappy and much less likely to do more than a single lesson 🥺 If there's a way to revert in the app, I haven't been able to find it.

You can revert until the end of the year. Can only be done on the web page but will affect the app as well. I can tell you how if you want.

Thank you! I'll give it a shot and let you know if I need help.

https://tatoeba.org/en/wall/show_message/32296

well, after a couple of weeks of trying the new interface, I decided to go back to the old one (I did this by finding and installing an old apk on my android phone) and I really like this a lot more. It's possibly less optimal for learning, but I really like jumping around a lot, deciding for myself whether I want to do a higher level of some basic stuff or some low level new stuff. Also sometimes I only have time for a quick story.

I feel like the last two weeks with the new interface I've only been doing the bare minimum to keep my streak going.

I may be an outlier, but I'm a long-term user who actually likes the new interface. So far it is giving me a decent level of variety just by following the path.

I’ve switched back and forth and am back in the new one again. I feel like sometimes maybe some of the old courses were well designed but I wasn’t really using them the way they might have been intended anyway because mostly the Tip and Notes were not available on the app. New layout is just simpler in lots of ways.

One thing I like about Nu-Duo right now is the option on each paving stone to do either a very easy (5XP) or a very hard (40XP) review.

Before it was only the former, and hard, Legendary review was only for the Level Owl Statues.

I like the new interface as well. The order feels logical and I like how each unit includes some new material, some practice, and a story. I could get all those from the old interface but realistically I was likely to do a lot of stories and hardly any practice. I've actually gotten back into Duolingo since it changed over, after being stalled for a long time.

What language are you studying, Lily Dale?

I really don’t like Match Madness.

Past a five year streak, which means I have been doing it even longer but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRZZC-DH7M

I got a special new fiery icon for my phone with the new upgrade thanks to my streak. Makes it all worthwhile.

Congrats on passing the five year mark! I'm a mega long termer too. Always wished they'd give free 'plus' or whatever they call it nowadays for truly mammoth streaks.

belated xp - mostly German. I've been trying to learn it off and on for years.

Just started Duolingo for the first time last week (portuguese), is there any instruction at all in this app?

I guess I'm enjoying the quizzes, but is that all it is?

Each unit comes with a little guide you can click on with some very basic grammar rules. Other than that, you just learn by working through sample sentences. It is instruction, but there's not a lot of explanation of what you're learning and why. I found it helpful to use a German textbook alongside Duolingo so I could get a better sense of the grammar.

I can provide a link to where the Portuguese tips and notes are preserved these days in a few.

But in general it’s good to use some other kind of reference or book as well.

Ok, thanks, that's kind of what I figured, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something...

JRB, would love a link to any tips!
I'm doing fine for now, but hoping to get to more complex structures soon where some grammar explanation might come in handy...

Here you go:
https://duome.eu/tips/en/pt
https://duonotes.fandom.com/wiki/Portuguese

I really like this book called Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar, by John Whitlam. There is a newer edition in recent years. Kind of expensive but there is a sale now, was 30% off now 20%, I believe. For me the caravel has probably sailed Portuguese-wise since, while I have some passive knowledge, I get too much confusion from other related Romance languages. There’s a reason people end up speaking Portuñol/Portunhol. But who knows, maybe I will watch Girls From Ipanema on Netflix and be reinspired.

Wao! Thanks so much, that's exactly what I'm after...

That book looks great, I really need a reference with all the rules in it... there's plenty of examples available just reading blogs, watching videos, listening to podcasts, etc...
Yeah, kinda pricey, but not too crazy for language textbooks I guess...

Anyway, thanks again!

I recently have been working on Esperanto (again) so I just came to say: Feliĉan Zamenhof-tagon!

Still plugging away at this, but finding Clozemaster and Drops more useful in a lot of cases.

This new Mistake Eraser has trouble keeping count.

It still amazes me how far along I can be on some trees and still not really feel I know anything.

I wish I could interest at least one of you in Scottish Gaelic.

...Started another thread and did get someone interested.

In other news, trying out a new app now, Falou.

Not sure about Falou, it keeps dissing my pronunciation, saying I said what I didn’t say.

But what I really came to post that the illustrations in Drops are getting really detailed. Some of the pictures of plant life herbs and spices approach museum piece 19th century Voyage of the Beagle level artistry, maybe even up there with Jean-JacquesJohn James Audubon himself.

Major upgrade on Clozemaster app!

https://www.engadget.com/duolingos-max-plan-offers-ai-tutoring-for-30-per-month-203625446.html

$30 a month seems pretty expensive for the functionality on offer.

Meh

On reaching a 2400 day streak, Duolingo has finally given me free Super... for three days.

If it wasn’t for certain courses like Scottish Gaelic I might finally give this up.