A year of Duolingo. Good for the mind

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When we were planning our trip to Canada last year I thought it might be useful to relearn French as they speak it where we went. I did it at school, but just never got to grips with other languages. I failed at German too, but then I lived there for a couple of years and I still speak it fairly well. I think a major factor in learning is your attitude. If you want to learn something or need to learn it then you may do better. Just having to do it with no real goal is not inspiring.

Today I achieved a 365 day streak. That is actually not technically a year as we had an extra day in February, but I will take it. My cousin has a streak of over 1300 days!

365!

I find the Duolingo app convenient. I often do some lessons whilst sitting with our foster cat, although she tends to climb all over me. I feel I am learning a fair bit, but might not feel that confident speaking it for real. I probably need some situation where I have to make conversation. I at least feel that I have learnt a lot of words and have some idea about how the language works. English, French and German have some things in common, but they each use different sentence structures.

I have yet to pay for Duolingo, so I have to put up with the ads apart from when they give me a few free days in the premium mode. I do not worry too much about their leagues as they serve no real purpose.

Part of the reason I am doing this is as a mental exercise. We need to use our brains to stay sharp. Mind you, my work is all about solving problems, so that might be enough. I still do some extra tasks such as Wordle, Connections and Framed. Connections is like the Wall on Only Connect. This is a very early edition of that when they used Greek letters rather than Egyptian hieroglyphs. We do like that show. It is tough and so very rewarding when you get an answer.

Making music is a different sort of mental exercise. I find drumming challenging as it means coordinating my limbs in various ways. You have to train them.

What is your preferred mental exercise?

education duolingo language learning thinking exercise improvement proofofbrain
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19 comments
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Hey, congrats on a great streak! How many frozen days did you have? None, I guess !LOLZ

I still think Duolingo is more a game than a learning tool. Yet I am using it for 95 days now. Mostly German and some Romanian.

You might have a new follower ... if your name is the same as here :)

@tipu curate

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I have used a few freezes as sometimes I just forget to do it or don't have time. It is a game, but some of the knowledge sticks.

I don't have this username on there, so maybe you followed someone else :)

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My main Language is Urdu, but I can understand English more than any other after Urdu, there is no option for English in both fields, can you please help me with that?

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I'm not sure what you mean.

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Is Duolingo designed as a teacher, where Can we learn different languages?

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They will offer limited combinations. I expect English speakers have more options, but that's down to demand. There may be other tools that do what you need.

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That is cool. Did you end up using a lot of it while you were there? My inlaws just got back from a trip to Montreal to visit and old friend.

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We didn't need much French as everyone spoke English. I think it's polite to try.

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My missus has a ridiculous streak going on. She has won the diamond league a few times. It's fair to say she is obsessed!

It is good to keep active, I like trying to figure out the theory behind the music. It keeps the brain alive for defo!

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The gamification does keep you coming back. I try not to obsess too much about it.

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Nice @steevc!! 💫🌷 I’m on 212 days, pushing through. Duolingo needs time to take effect, but the repetition and fun excises make for avid learning. 365 days with no paid Duo is no mean feat though… (the ads!!) Guess all those passive comments worked their magic… haha.

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es una excelente aplicación lo poco que se de inglés lo aprendí por allí..

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Going on 365 days streak means that you’re really dedicated
Keep it up

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It's just making a game of it. The apps try to get us addicted.

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Congrats! That's a great app. I used it to get an understanding of Spanish. I need to get back to it. It does make it really convenient and fun though.

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