It’s already day four of the nomad fest.
I’m learning a lot.
Meeting a lot of interesting people.
And having a great time.
This morning’s lecture was on language learning.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone was there.
The reason why, I heard, was that there was a big party the night before.
The person who told me this was a mother of three.
“I’m too old to party until 3 am in the forest,” she said.
That was her excuse.
What was my excuse?
Well, I wanted to wake up early and be fresh so I could bring you the last language learning secrets, of course.
Or maybe I’m too old, too…
A NOT-SO SECRET SECRET
The presenter was a German polyglot living in Taiwan.
(If you don’t know, a polyglot is someone who speaks many languages.)
He told us his secrets: spaced repetition, learning new words in sentences, comprehensible input, echoing, etc. (Techniques Vig Village members will already be familiar with.)
Then a woman from the audience asked him, “What do you think about Duolingo?”
“I don’t use it,” was his reply.
The woman didn’t argue with him.
“I’m in the top 1% of users,” she confessed, “but I still can’t speak Hungarian.”
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Have you used Duolingo?
What about other popular apps?
What did you like? Not like?
And did they work?
Share your experience in the comments.
And tomorrow, I’ll tell you my opinion.
Cheers,
Mr. Vig
P.S.
Go here to listen to today’s Atomic Homework.
Not yet a member?
In my opinion that kind of apps are a waste of time if you use them separated from the real learning Maybe as a complement to learn vocabulary.
Yes, I used that app a few years ago, but unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. I’m not sure why, but it just wasn’t a good options for me.
I used Duolingo for some time and I only remember a few things. For example that give someone a ride is “Dar un aventón” in Latin Spanish…
I like apps like this, but I actually know they don’t work for me. I remember words best in context, not as individual words.
I am not using dualingo, Have I to use it?
My experience with Deutsche Sprache dates from an year and a half. I was absolutely begginer. I am practicing about half an hour a day. Not enough, but as an everyday routine not so bad. The result is lack of fear from this challenge, but at the same time fear of knowing how much I’m prepared for free conversation. I think that to make faster progress, you need to practice the language additionally, out of Duolingo every day.
I subscribed to Duolingo just before I discovered and joined the Vig Village community, so I used it for about a year.
At first, I found it quite appealing and fun, and I have to admit that I learned a lot from it. It definitely improved my vocabulary and my reading comprehension.
However, it soon became a rather repetitive routine. There was a lot of translation practice, but in the end, not many opportunities to remember and actively use what I had learned.
In my opinion, it’s an excellent way to start learning a language and to overcome the hesitation and anxiety that many people feel when they begin. But quite quickly—or at least in my case—it wasn’t enough to keep making progress over the long term.
Personally, I would recommend this app to beginners or to anyone who wants to brush up on the basics.
Duolingo?
Nice app,I use it for fun, 10-15 minutes a day.
I like topics, immages, exercises, expressions…everything
The problem is that I tend to be relaxed or distracted and don’t remember too much at least I think so..
So time to time I
need to say ” wake up”!
For fun….brain free, automatically
I have not been using Duolingo and am not familiar with it, but I am aware that it is a popular way for someone trying to study a foreign language. I don’t know about other popular apps, and I don’t consider looking for them because I am pretty satisfied with studying, improving, and maintaining my English language progress with Mr. Vig`s method, in a friendly and relaxing environment where one can communicate and get good mood daily in an easy and flexible way together with fellow students from all over the world and native English speakers from the USA, England, Canada.
Duolingo, this cute, green owl can become your wonderful pet, that doesn’t require much attention, but can help you create a useful habit. However, if you want to learn understanding his language, you must continue to develop this habit.
Otherwise, it can be good company while you wait for hours in front of the doctor’s office and other times it’s even more interesting and useful than the political news, for example.
I tested it, Duolingo, in a short time, and I stopped quickly, not because it don’t work but i have an idea about learn new things, our mind is like a white paper, if you write or try to wrote or paint something, when you want to do the work in the right way, the paper is not clear. I don’t want to make my brain full of things that I need to remove, I think it is better follow at the start one way, what will be later I don’t know, I will try
I have used free Duolingo version about one year before I found Mr. Vig’s advertise. It helped me to start. And maybe I am now better in spelling different words as I was before. Maybe. But it was boring. Just one stupid mistake didn’t let me go forward and I had the same example sentences again and again. Mr. Vig’s ad alone was more interesting and lively.
I am more than satisfied being a part of the friendly and real community of Vig Village with real people.
I will have a 1000-day series next Thuesday. I guess, Duolingo is an excellent supplemental practicing tool, not a method to learn everything. It is a game, cheerful and cute. It is not a subtitute for real human interaction.
👍
I know Duolingo. It seems very mechanical application. I was never interested in joining its community. Much better application is AARON AND DUN. But it is also far behind Vig Village. Here we have combinations of learning methods. I also appreciate some kind of pressure on learning. I must do something every day. From time to time, I am not so successful in learning, but I am not perfect.
I’m in my 2nd year in Duolingo, learning German. It was the first languague application I knew about, and it was a part of my “activity plan” when I retired, and I’ve used it as a “brain jogging”, not to let my brain go lazy. I haven’t found the version using my first language, so I’ve decided to start English-German version, which is great combination for learning German vocabulary and refresh an English one (I’ve started English almost 30 y ago ) . The best thing about Duolingo for me is the pushing effect, which doesn’t allow you just not to do anything some day. It asks you to do just 5 minutes of it, and reminds itself to you repeatedly, so at the end you give up and start these 5 min….and then you’re surprised by yourself doing 30, or even 60 min ! I realize not everyone needs that pushing and I envy it a bit, but for me it works and that is great. I do it mostly in the morning when I’m not really keen to do anything difficult. Then in the evening I do English for about an hour, and when I do both, I’m satisfied. So – to everyone it’s own…