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Thoughts on Duolingo from a Non-Beginner

de NJ Esperantist, 10 aprilie 2016

Contribuții/Mesaje: 16

Limbă: English

NJ Esperantist (Arată profil) 10 aprilie 2016, 22:37:51

Recently the Esperanto course on Duolingo graduated from Beta. I wanted to wait until the course was termed 'stable' before trying it out. Well, now it is.

I tested out of almost every skill on the first try. My goofs were mostly from inattentiveness of the required verb tenses and a few major typos.

So I'm on Level 10, getting close to 11. I've been able to sign on every day and use the general 'strengthen skills' function. Currently I'm trying to keep up with the individual skills that need strengthening.

While I pretty much easily tested out of the skills and leveled up quickly, I'm finding that Duolingo is very good for keeping me generally sharp in my language use. It's interactive, so I get instant feed back as to how my translations are. Some might say the sentences aren't that challenging or useful, but for me, it is helping me remember the proper use of the prepositions and every English speakers bugaboo, the accusative. It also reinforces my vocabulary which is one of my weak points.

If I had to point out a lack, it's that I haven't had any speaking required. Maybe this is because I'm running XP or because of my browser, I don't know. I've taken to reading aloud on my own from one of the 'Ĉu...' novels by Johan Balano to help train my mouth muscles in pronunciation and my mind for dialog. I've also never been good at spontaneous conversation, but that's my problem in English as well.

FoxtrotUniform (Arată profil) 11 aprilie 2016, 01:45:57

NJ Esperantist:
Some might say the sentences aren't that challenging or useful, but for me, it is helping me remember the proper use of the prepositions and every English speakers bugaboo, the accusative. It also reinforces my vocabulary which is one of my weak points.
I started the Duolingo course from scratch, when I was plowing through Spanish to help me with a college-level Spanish course. SO I started it back on Christmas break. Trying to do an entire unit a day.

I loved the language, but I thought the sentences were trying too hard to be funny.

La bovinoj ne mangxas la infanojn.

This seems to be the way it is with Duolingo. I remember having to translate from Spanish to English, from English to Spanish, and type dictation the sentence "I have no life." That and the duck eating bread, and milk, and cheese, and... and... and.... That duck must weigh 900 lbs. at this point.

I did the Ana Rekontas course here after that (I'm on my last lesson and I need to knock it out.)

So anyway, I like the Duolingo course. It got me hooked on Esperanto.

Alkanadi (Arată profil) 11 aprilie 2016, 07:50:10

FoxtrotUniform:La bovinoj ne mangxas la infanojn.
They are helping you learn Science in addition to another language. It is like killing two birds with one stone.

I am going through the Duolingo tree for the 3rd time. I usually just spend about 10 minutes a day on it.

Maybe one day there will be a lot of language learning programs to learn Esperanto.

eriksangel15 (Arată profil) 11 aprilie 2016, 11:57:51

FoxtrotUniform:

I loved the language, but I thought the sentences were trying too hard to be funny.

La bovinoj ne mangxas la infanojn.
The Duolingo Esperanto track was my first intro to the language and I think is pretty good. Esperanto is my "third language", if you count the Spanish I took in high school and college 10-15+ years ago.

I think so far, my favorite "weird sentence" is the one about the ugly bsby dancing rapidly. It reminds me of that dancing baby that was on Alley McNeal.

NJ Esperantist (Arată profil) 11 aprilie 2016, 13:16:39

The oddest sentence that I've noticed was about the owl that would cry. It took me a bit to realize they were referring to the owl in the logo.

I just took the 25 lingot progress quiz and got a 5/5! Even so, I know I lack vocabulary so I'll keep strengthening my skills to drill words into my head. Away from the computer I need to read some fiction and work on my conversation skills.

erinja (Arată profil) 11 aprilie 2016, 14:11:25

My husband has been going through Duolingo. He already did a couple complete beginner courses from other sources. He is finding it pretty boring. He wants to get through it just to review a little and increase his vocabulary a bit (and just to say he did it) but he finds it a hard slog to get through - and arbitrary with some word choices.

NJ Esperantist (Arată profil) 11 aprilie 2016, 17:07:15

erinja:My husband has been going through Duolingo. He already did a couple complete beginner courses from other sources. He is finding it pretty boring. He wants to get through it just to review a little and increase his vocabulary a bit (and just to say he did it) but he finds it a hard slog to get through - and arbitrary with some word choices.
It may be a case of different strokes for different folks. Even though I know I can think in Esperanto, I enjoy the translating back and forth. I agree that a few of the word choices are limited. There's one phrase that won't accept the way I was brought up saying it in English.

jdawdy (Arată profil) 12 aprilie 2016, 05:10:52

Is there any (self-study) language learning system/course that isn't pretty boring? It's just not an activity that is conducive to "fun". Personally, I find that the best to hope for is that whatever I am studying with isn't too painful. Duolingo generally meets that goal, but like any language study, it still requires some measure of just forcing yourself to do it.

erinja:My husband has been going through Duolingo. He already did a couple complete beginner courses from other sources. He is finding it pretty boring. He wants to get through it just to review a little and increase his vocabulary a bit (and just to say he did it) but he finds it a hard slog to get through - and arbitrary with some word choices.

Alkanadi (Arată profil) 12 aprilie 2016, 06:39:17

jdawdy:Is there any (self-study) language learning system/course that isn't pretty boring? It's just not an activity that is conducive to "fun". Personally, I find that the best to hope for is that whatever I am studying with isn't too painful. Duolingo generally meets that goal, but like any language study, it still requires some measure of just forcing yourself to do it.
I tried Rosetta Stone. I liked it. It was a headache at first because they don't have any grammar notes or translation. But after a while, it was enjoyable. I didn't have to force myself.

If something is too difficult then it will be frustrating. If something is too easy then it will be boring. Entertainment is found in the middle of the two. Also, the information being acquired must be perceived as useful otherwise there will be a lack of interest.

Vestitor (Arată profil) 12 aprilie 2016, 10:28:02

I rather liked the duolingo course. In some ways it is better than standard language courses, in other ways not. There are irritating bits, like having valid sentences rejected, but the team there worked hard to iron out problems.

The spoken Esperanto dialogue is one of the best out of the courses at Duolingo. Some courses well out of beta, like the French and German, still have dodgy audio in places.

For a short course, it's also quite comprehensive and gives a good basis. It also has the benefit that you don't feel like you're pursuing something in isolation; there are many other people actively using and learning along with you at the same time which is great benefit. After doing the Duolingo I imagine that people will find other more traditional courses like TY Esperanto or the old Radio course Jen Nia Mondo, much more accessible and rewarding.

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