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Life

I hate the new Duolingo update

What a difference eight and a bit months can make, eh? The last time I wrote about learning a new language (Danish/dansk), I was happy with how my first 500 days had gone. Much of this had taken place using the language app Duolingo but after a huge user experience update started to be rolled out over the past few months… I’m no longer happy with Duolingo. And Tuesday, 1 November 2022, sees the update I’ve been fighting with for the past month be rolled out to all users.

I hate the Duolingo update. It sucks. Here’s why.

1. I’ve lost control over how I learn within the app

While progress in Duolingo was previously only partly held back by how much progress you had made in the app, you could pick your own path through learning in the “learning trees”.

It’s not obvious from the above screenshot, but because I had completed food (for instance) I could choose which one of the next two units I focused on next. Often, I would focus only on one unit at a time and then move on to the next. Sometimes I would mix it up if I was dealing with two units that I found equally as hard or as easy.

Now, I’m forced to walk a completely linear path with revision of older lessons done by “personal learning” chosen for me by the app and set as an entire node on the path. Whereas before, I could just go back to an earlier unit quite easily and be rewarded reasonably well in gems for my time and effort. I can go back now to earlier units, but the rewards for doing so are far smaller payouts of gems.

I really don’t like this lack of choice.

2. The update messed up where I had gotten to

Because I had been learning, before the update, across several different modules, there was no way for the new Duolingo update to replicate this learning experience due to its linear nature. So, where I had made good progress with past tense but hadn’t completed it, Duolingo decided to discard all that progress I had made.

It did this just as I was getting used to signs of whether a word was being used in the past tense or not. How it then chose to throw me into learning made what I had learned already, confusing to recall and subsequently all over the place.

Also, because of how different the new setup is, I have no clear idea how I’m progressing now because it is so different.

3. Progress looks like it will take longer than before

The long wandering path of learning now sees me facing 45 units filled with ten individual modules/nodes of learning. Whereas before, the modules were split over far fewer levels.

For me, having to deal with what looks like a long singular journey of learning is more intimidating and off-putting than what was offered by the previous visualisation technique, which showed branches and shorter times to reach big milestones.

4. Where have all my writing exercises gone?

Throughout the previous version of the app, at least on the Danish course, I would be regularly asked to write various translations between English and Danish. While speaking is important in learning any language, I was trying to enjoy Danish media, so learning to read and write was also important to me.

Since the update, I only get full writing exercises during those “personal learning” segments and then it’s not very many and doesn’t switch between translating and writing.

Here are some examples of the older translation exercises I regularly did.

I was hoping to eventually read the Danish translation of Stephen King’s Carrie, but the removal of frequent translation exercises in Duolingo has me thinking that Duo isn’t the place to help me learn those skills anymore.

5. My Duo outfits are gone

Before the update, you could buy outfits for Duo, Duolingo’s mascot, to wear. And I bought every single one of the outfits available using the app’s in-app gems. They cost several tens of gems to several hundred.

Now the outfits are gone. Every single one.

This wouldn’t be so much of an issue if it were not for the fact that I didn’t have the in-app cost of those outfits refunded. Instead, the gems that the outfits cost are lost to the update… an update that has been focused on making gems scarer than they were before. Why?

6. The update is clearly about driving microtransactions, a.k.a. in-app purchases

I was already a subscribed user of Duolingo before this update. (Earlier this year, subscriptions went from being called Duolingo Plus to being called Super Duolingo. It came with a new colour scheme for subscription elements.)

So, as a subscriber who paid out £80.39 for a subscription last December, I’m not exactly keen on giving Duolingo more of my money during a subscription period.

And things were working fine. I would be getting something like several dozen gems a day, along with 30-50 XP, depending on much time I spent on the app doing lessons (usually around 15 minutes). I had a daily learning goal I set in the app. So, I would say that I wanted to get something like 50 XP a day, and I’d be given so many gems depending on much progress I’d made towards this goal.

(XP is used in the “league” Duolingo has, with Diamond being the top league. The more XP you gain per week, the higher the chance you have of progressing up the league.)

With the update, XP payouts are lower per module than they were before, and you gain fewer gems for completing learning goals that aren’t set by you but are, in fact, set by the app. That’s right, self-set learning goals are gone, so the update has taken away yet another element of user control.

But how does this all equate to driving microtransactions?

Two things:

  1. Bundles to buy gems and time for a timed exercise challenge using actual money are now featured prominently in the app when you go into the shop tab.
  2. In Duolingo’s 2022 Q2 letter to shareholders, they talked about using another feature that’s being rolled out with the update, “Side Quests”, and using it to “increase revenue by encouraging more people to buy gems.”

(Thanks to Duo_is_sad on Twitter for pointing out this bit of the shareholders’ letter.)

I don’t have access to side quests yet. This brings me to my final point.

8. Duolingo focused on finding ways to gain more money rather than improving people’s learning experiences

Duolingo is ignoring, it seems, nearly any and all criticism they receive about this update. I get trying to make more money. They have shareholders, after all.

But I hate the cheek of them acting like it’s good for users:

Duolingo has carried on like it’s business as normal since the update started to be rolled out.

And I hate that they invested time and money in this update, invested my subscription on it, on stuff that hasn’t made my learning experience better. Because ignoring the linear path crap for a moment, as a Danish learner, I have far fewer features than someone learning French.

Danish subscription learners, along with many other subscription learners learning different languages, are being charged the same subscription costs as someone learning languages that are far more fleshed out.

Features Danish doesn’t have:

  • Stories (where you walk through a conversation and type appropriate replies). Stories were added to iOS in 2019.
  • Grammar tips (tips about grammar) or lessons that call out aspects of grammar.

There might be more Danish doesn’t have but I don’t have time to go starting up a dozen different language courses in Duolingo to find out. As I summarised this on Twitter:

I have cancelled my annual Duolingo subscription

Once my subscription runs out in December, I won’t be renewing it. I’ve already set it to not renew. I’m working on moving away from such a gamified learning experience when it comes to languages.

Currently, I’m looking at Memrise and Babbel to take over as my main language-learning apps.

Ideally, I’d also take part in Danish lessons with actual Danish-speaking humans, but as I’m about to have a baby, that needs to wait. There’s nowhere in Cornwall, England, that seems to be offering in-person courses on Danish, so I’d likely have to look for online courses run by UK FE or HE institutions.

I’m not going to give up on Danish. I’ll have been learning Danish for two years later in November. It’s just clear to me that Duolingo isn’t worth my time to keep it as a daily fixture in my life, as it’d rather I bought gems than learn in a way that suits my needs.

EDIT: If you’re also peeved by the update there is a Change Petition you can sign about it.

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Films, Life, TV

What I learned from 500 days of learning Danish

On Saturday, 12 March, I hit 500 days straight of learning Danish through the language app Duolingo. But why am I learning another language? What inspired me? How am I learning? What’s the plan going forward? What have I learned beyond telling a zoo keeper that a tiger eats my future husband? (Tigeren spiser min mand!)

The Venn diagram of events that led me to me learning Danish

There’s a pretty simple explanation as to how I ended up leaning towards learning Danish over another language.

Step one: end up a Fannibal

Post GISH (the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt) 2020, I was gently nudged into a rewatch of Bryan Fuller’s version of Hannibal. Those who listen to my Nerds Assemble podcast will know how that went.

I dived deep into a fandom that is still going strong for a show that hasn’t had a new season since 2016 (and yes, I am one of those people who still hopes for a season 4). Through this dive and ongoing obsession, I well and truly became a Fannibal, who not only liked Hannibal but the filmography of the show’s two main stars.

Now, watching Hugh Dancy’s back catalogue (he’s a Brit who played Will Graham) is a lot easier for me as someone who has English as a first language. (He’s done a bit in French, but mostly sticks to English.) But for Mads Mikkelsen (who plays Hannibal) and his volume of work that goes far beyond the Hollywood titles that nearly always see him play some variation of a villain?

Some of it is in French, some German, but the majority of it is in his native dansk.

And while I don’t ever expect to be completely fluent in Danish, it’s nice not having to completely rely on subtitles (and pick on nuances that get lost in translation).

I can’t remember quite which scene, but there was one in Druk (a.k.a. the Oscar winning Another Round) where the English subtitles didn’t quite match what I was hearing in Danish and changed the emphasis a little. Anyway.

Mads has been in a lot of Danish productions, and through interactions with Fannibal Twitter I decided to get to know them alongside Hugh’s previous work.

(Did you know that Fannibals have a term for discussing the rest of Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen’s back catalogue and having all sorts of fanworks where their various characters “encounter” each other? It’s called the Hannibal Extended Universe or HEU for short.)

Step two: be in the middle of the apocalypse

C’mon, you know what I mean. Begins with C, ends in D and has devastated the globe?

Followed up by other global events of a humanitarian disaster level that are shaking up everyone’s trust in institutions, friends, family and even neighbours?

Yeah, a lot has happened since 2020. (Though 2016 was probably the point where the darkest timeline really took hold, let’s face it.)

Step three: be aware of your need to stop doom scrolling

Boy, while I do tend to keep myself on top of world events there’s only so much I can take in and stay sane.

While March to the start of October 2020 saw me doing a lot of doom scrolling, there came a point where I was feeling like there was something else I’d rather do while on my smartphone. Something healthier for my sanity and meaningful to me (feck off doing it for future employability, and so on and so forth, because not every minute of my day needs to be “productive”).

Perfect opportunity to learn Danish

It helps that I had previously learned German for about seven years between secondary school and two years on the International Baccalaureate. Not that I am fluent in German, I can read it, listen a bit, but I am crap at speaking it.

With this background and all the above events coalescing in my life, it seemed like a good time to learn Danish.

There are many language apps out there

Depending on how you learn and why you’re learning, there are a lot of ways that you learn a language like Danish. It’s not supported on all language apps out there but it is on the following:

I haven’t looked further than these three and if you have any suggestions, please do share them.

And if you’re in Cornwall and have a Cornwall library card, the card gives you access to a free app where it’s possible to learn a level of Danish suitable for a holiday. (Based elsewhere? Your local library service likely has free-language learning resources you can use too.)

What I learned from 500 days of learning Danish

Here is a list of things I learned that aren’t just random Danish words.

There are bits I like about Danish as a language

There are similarities between Danish and German which helped me not be too scared by a third language. And there are things that Danish does that I prefer over how German handles things, including:

  • “The” being part of words (it varies but I love it), while still having a separate word for “the” when you need it. So, tigeren is “the tiger” with en denoting “the”.
  • The use of English swear words (makes cursing easier) and some intriguing ones of their own.
  • How less formal than German, Danish is as a language. And it’s far more to the point in my opinion as a result.

However, I have grown more appreciative of just how much more slowly spoken German is as a language compared to Danish. And wow, can Danish get fast.

There are also some similarities between English and Danish, which I find helpful.

It’s worth learning about the culture a language comes from as well as learning it

Learning about culture as you study a language helps you understand why certain phrases exist, where the important elements of a sentence come into play. And it just makes it all far more memorable when you don’t have a native speaker to talk with and you’re not living in the country.

I went on two language exchanges when I was studying German in school and the internet hardly existed as it does now. So, opportunities to learn about German culture were limited and it definitely made it harder to learn.

Today, there are so many opportunities to learn about the culture for a language as you learn it, largely thanks to the internet. That opportunity is super important in a world where travel is not always easy.

What I’ve used to get a bit of Danish culture:

  • Mads Mikkelsen’s back catalogue of Danish films
  • Danish language TV shows like Rita, Borgen, The Chestnut Man on Netflix
  • What The Denmark podcast, which is literally a show all about understanding Danish culture
  • Books like The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell (which was recommended to me)

And if you have any recommendations, lemme know.

I’ve even got a Danish version of the Stephen King novel Carrie to read once I’m feeling more confident about reading in Danish. (I also have some dictionaries and a grammar book on hand.)

You don’t have to learn something just because it’ll lead to a new career

Learning Danish has cost me money and it’ll likely cost me more in future because some day I’d love to visit Denmark for a spell (apparently it might be possible to get there entirely by train, an idea that excites me immensely).

I’ve been asked numerous times during my 500 days if I am learning just because I want to work in Denmark or with Danish companies. These have never been my goals.

My main goal has always been to give my brain something to do and occupy my time in a non-stressful way. That helps me alleviate boredom and connect more deeply with the film career of a guy who is an amazing actor.

And then the deeper I’ve gone, the more I’ve wanted to know about a different country and its culture beyond that one man.

I like knowing and learning stuff for the sole reason it fascinates me.

But I am well aware that I also have the privilege of time and modest financial means to learn something new.

Learning something new takes time

Okay, this is more of a reminder for me, rather than something I learned. But I do swear people forget that it takes time and practice to get okay and then good at something.

I’ve encountered a fair few people in my life who give up on something because they spent an hour learning something and still can’t do it as well as someone who’s had years to hone their abilities. People who won’t learn something because they won’t be instantly good at it.

Whether it’s learning a new language, learning how to knit or learning how to decently cook… and on, and on.

Slow down. Expect to fumble words, to make holes or burn food. And then try again. You’ll get better with practice, so don’t be so hard on yourself if you don’t get something right away.

Here’s to 500 more days and beyond!

While I’ve been writing this blog post, Duolingo has popped up a reminder on my phone to remind me to take a lesson.

Later this year, for my birthday, I’m hoping to convince a few friends to have a Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen movie marathon with me. (Heads up if one of you is reading this.)

I’m slowly saving for that trip to Denmark.

So, here’s to 500 more days and beyond of learning dansk.

Skål!

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