Duolingo

Started by Fleur-de-Lys, February 16, 2020, 02:23:36 PM

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Fleur-de-Lys

Does anyone else here use Duolingo?

I don't rely on it for serious study, but it is entertaining.

I started the Vietnamese course just so I can read the menu at my favorite restaurant.

aquinas138

I play around with it in a few languages. After studying languages in graduate school, the glacial pace of Duolingo is maddening, but it is entertaining.
What shall we call you, O full of grace? * Heaven? for you have shone forth the Sun of Righteousness. * Paradise? for you have brought forth the Flower of immortality. * Virgin? for you have remained incorrupt. * Pure Mother? for you have held in your holy embrace your Son, the God of all. * Entreat Him to save our souls.

Prayerful

I use the French and Latin, but not the Irish, I think some of the translations there are just not right, Anglicisms to beat the band.
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

Heinrich

Certainly know of it, but I am not familiar with its approach. Fleur, as a linguist, would you mind giving a condensed pros and cons critique of Duolingo's modus?
Schaff Recht mir Gott und führe meine Sache gegen ein unheiliges Volk . . .   .                          
Lex Orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
"Die Welt sucht nach Ehre, Ansehen, Reichtum, Vergnügen; die Heiligen aber suchen Demütigung, Verachtung, Armut, Abtötung und Buße." --Ausschnitt von der Geschichte des Lebens St. Bennos.

Fleur-de-Lys

#4
Quote from: Heinrich on February 16, 2020, 04:15:39 PM
Certainly know of it, but I am not familiar with its approach. Fleur, as a linguist, would you mind giving a condensed pros and cons critique of Duolingo's modus?

Well, I'm not a linguist, Heinrich, but based on my own experience, I would say that the biggest weaknesses are the use of translation, which keeps you tied to your first language and inhibits the second language system from developing, and the lack of opportunities to use the language creatively. In order to internalize a language, you really need to use it in ways that are personally meaningful.

Despite that, I find that I am able to learn using the program. Duolingo's approach uses implicit input and spaced repetition. Though you can access explicit grammar explanations, the idea is to present you with a series of sentences from which, over time, you can pick up the patterns. The amount of repetition needed to internalize the grammar this way does become tedious, as aquinas mentioned, but it is effective.

Over all I don't think that Duolingo alone is a very effective way to learn a language. But combined with other sources of input, such as videos and readings in the target language, and a concerted effort to use the language creatively, by speaking and writing it in real-life contexts, it can be a useful tool.

Michael Wilson

F.D.L.
Is there any language learning system that you would recommend? I would be interested in improving my French and learning eye-talian.
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

Fleur-de-Lys

Quote from: Michael Wilson on February 16, 2020, 05:07:12 PM
F.D.L.
Is there any language learning system that you would recommend? I would be interested in improving my French and learning eye-talian.

I still believe the most effective method is classroom instruction. As for independent study, I think a good book combined with audio and video materials works best. That said, I admit that I find myself spending more time using less effective online programs such as Duolingo simply because it is easy and entertaining. And at the end of the day, I think the most important factor is your motivation to learn and your enjoyment of the process. That wins out over the relative effectiveness of any method in my experience.

Vetus Ordo

#7
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on February 16, 2020, 02:23:36 PM
I started the Vietnamese course just so I can read the menu at my favorite restaurant.

Like this one?

DISPOSE OUR DAYS IN THY PEACE, AND COMMAND US TO BE DELIVERED FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND TO BE NUMBERED IN THE FLOCK OF THINE ELECT.

Fleur-de-Lys

Quote from: Vetus Ordo on February 16, 2020, 05:33:44 PM
Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on February 16, 2020, 02:23:36 PM
I started the Vietnamese course just so I can read the menu at my favorite restaurant.

Like this one?



No, they don't have any of my favorite dishes. :(

Lynne

One of their French lessons (or was it Latin?) was a woman has a wife...

>:(
In conclusion, I can leave you with no better advice than that given after every sermon by Msgr Vincent Giammarino, who was pastor of St Michael's Church in Atlantic City in the 1950s:

    "My dear good people: Do what you have to do, When you're supposed to do it, The best way you can do it,   For the Love of God. Amen"

Fleur-de-Lys

Quote from: Lynne on February 16, 2020, 06:05:08 PM
One of their French lessons (or was it Latin?) was a woman has a wife...

>:(

Yes. They also have male speakers reading sentences in the feminine and vice versa, which seriously undermines the learner's ability to learn gendered forms.

Heinrich

Quote from: Fleur-de-Lys on February 16, 2020, 04:57:47 PM
Quote from: Heinrich on February 16, 2020, 04:15:39 PM
Certainly know of it, but I am not familiar with its approach. Fleur, as a linguist, would you mind giving a condensed pros and cons critique of Duolingo's modus?

Well, I'm not a linguist, Heinrich, but based on my own experience, I would say that the biggest weaknesses are the use of translation, which keeps you tied to your first language and inhibits the second language system from developing, and the lack of opportunities to use the language creatively. In order to internalize a language, you really need to use it in ways that are personally meaningful.

Despite that, I find that I am able to learn using the program. Duolingo's approach uses implicit input and spaced repetition. Though you can access explicit grammar explanations, the idea is to present you with a series of sentences from which, over time, you can pick up the patterns. The amount of repetition needed to internalize the grammar this way does become tedious, as aquinas mentioned, but it is effective.

Over all I don't think that Duolingo alone is a very effective way to learn a language. But combined with other sources of input, such as videos and readings in the target language, and a concerted effort to use the language creatively, by speaking and writing it in real-life contexts, it can be a useful tool.

You teach French at the university level, know all the Romance languages along with German and Turkish, and we could bore the crap out of the forum with a deep structure syntactical symposium on relative pronouns, but your not a linguist? Vous êtes si humble.
Schaff Recht mir Gott und führe meine Sache gegen ein unheiliges Volk . . .   .                          
Lex Orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
"Die Welt sucht nach Ehre, Ansehen, Reichtum, Vergnügen; die Heiligen aber suchen Demütigung, Verachtung, Armut, Abtötung und Buße." --Ausschnitt von der Geschichte des Lebens St. Bennos.

Gardener

Why not just order in French? :)
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

Vetus Ordo

DISPOSE OUR DAYS IN THY PEACE, AND COMMAND US TO BE DELIVERED FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND TO BE NUMBERED IN THE FLOCK OF THINE ELECT.

Fleur-de-Lys

Quote from: Heinrich on February 16, 2020, 07:01:15 PM
You teach French at the university level, know all the Romance languages along with German and Turkish, and we could bore the crap out of the forum with a deep structure syntactical symposium on relative pronouns, but your not a linguist? Vous êtes si humble.

I'm afraid you've exaggerated my accomplishments, Heinrich. I don't deserve such high praise, but thank you.