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> I think what you're missing here is that some people do not have the discipline to stick to a daily exercise regimen except when it's gamified like this. It

> I think what you're missing here is that some people do not have the discipline to stick to a daily exercise regimen except when it's gamified like this. It sounds like you're the one missing the whole point. The goal of learning a language is not grinding on an app, but to have progress. Duolingo's gamification pushes grinding behavior, and not actual progress. Duolingo does not reinforce pushing forward, but does prompt you repeatedly on how to say "I drink milk" regardless whether you're on the app for two weeks or two years. You can be on Duolingo for two years grinding stuff daily and still have nothing to show for. You are prompted to keep your streak up of answering things like "I eat bread" over and over again regardless of language, and if you fail to keep your steak up you're prompted to pay for something to artificially keep it up. This is not educational. It's a waste of time.

illiac786 3y ago
Let me repeat: some people cannot learn faster than this, they need gamification. Hence my statement: Duolingo is better than nothing for these.
- simplotek 3y ago
  > Let me repeat: some people cannot learn faster than this, You missed the whole point: people do not learn with this approach, regardless of speed. The only benefit is keeping people engaged in a skinner box while watching ads, and selling them ways around keeping their track record engaged with said skinner box unbroken.
  - illiac786 3y ago
    It works for some people, clearly, as stated by some on this very thread. I hope you will not move from "Duolingo is useless for everyone on this earth" to "anyone saying Duolingo is useful for her/him is in denial"...
  - watwut 3y ago
    The issue here is that what you wrote is just not true. I did Ukrainian for a year. I started to be able to understand some of the content around a year in. I started to be able to parse Cyrillic. I did tried other apps here and there, but none of them stuck for more them two days. Overwhelming majority, like almost all of what I learned is from Duolingo. The progress was actually very real, painless and fine. I did not expected to be fluent. I improved more then would be possible without it.
watwut 3y ago
I mean, what you wrote is just not true. Even if you play for getting XP, you are forced to progress.

illiac786 3y ago

Let me repeat: some people cannot learn faster than this, they need gamification. Hence my statement: Duolingo is better than nothing for these.

simplotek 3y ago
> Let me repeat: some people cannot learn faster than this, You missed the whole point: people do not learn with this approach, regardless of speed. The only benefit is keeping people engaged in a skinner box while watching ads, and selling them ways around keeping their track record engaged with said skinner box unbroken.
- illiac786 3y ago
  It works for some people, clearly, as stated by some on this very thread. I hope you will not move from "Duolingo is useless for everyone on this earth" to "anyone saying Duolingo is useful for her/him is in denial"...
- watwut 3y ago
  The issue here is that what you wrote is just not true. I did Ukrainian for a year. I started to be able to understand some of the content around a year in. I started to be able to parse Cyrillic. I did tried other apps here and there, but none of them stuck for more them two days. Overwhelming majority, like almost all of what I learned is from Duolingo. The progress was actually very real, painless and fine. I did not expected to be fluent. I improved more then would be possible without it.

watwut 3y ago

I mean, what you wrote is just not true. Even if you play for getting XP, you are forced to progress.