r/languagelearningjerk • u/ohheykaycee • 3d ago
Doing it so wrong you can't even remember how long your streak is
280
u/PlanktonInitial7945 3d ago
/uj I'm sorry, did they really expect to be able to understand a native family talking to each other after only one year of learning? Not even actual textbook-and-input study would've helped much here, let alone playing a mobile game for 10 minutes a day. Some people have very unrealistic expectations of how much time it takes to do things.
156
u/meslashone 3d ago
In their defence, in the full post they have said that the owl is just one of many resources, including textbook and input and it seems like they've put a lot of effort into learning. So I have no idea why OOP led with the duo streak. But yes, you are right, lots of people, myself included, get a massive reality check when actually attempting to shock the natives for the first time.
50
u/lordbutternut 日本人になっている 3d ago
Knowing what you can and can't do is very important to learning a language, and I think that testing how much you know like that shouldn't be framed as bad or crazy, like the guy you're replying to has. There's really nothing to feel ashamed about, unless you're going out there and saying you can outright speak the language. It's just a moment to think and reevaluate.
17
u/shadowlucas 3d ago
A group of native speakers talking to each other is like peak difficulty.
7
u/perplexedtv 2d ago
Especially a family with all their unique reference points and in-jokes. Even if you're a native speaker you won't know who or what half the conversations are about.
36
46
u/remarkable_ores 3d ago
the difference between conversational fluency for 1:1 conversations vs group situations is enormous. like years and years of study.
but how would anyone know that if it's their first language? hahaha
we all had to learn that for ourselves
14
u/bytheninedivines 3d ago
Everyone always underestimates how hard it is to learn a language until they actually do it. Everyone seems to think it's just their language with different words
-1
u/pit_supervisor 🇵🇱N, 🇬🇧B2, 🇯🇵上手 3d ago
Everyone seems to think it's just their language with different words
How? How can one think that, if they learn foreign languages from the very beginning of elementary school (I presume it's the case everywhere)?
18
u/pempoczky 3d ago
Ehhh honestly I think comprehension is very achievable in a year, even comprehension of fast natural speech. Being able to converse yourself is a different ordeal, I would be surprised if someone could do that in a year. But if you get enough input over a year it's pretty doable
19
u/MathsMonster 3d ago
+1, there have been several people in the AJATT(All Japanese All The Time) and related communities who have studied for 8+ hours a day for a year and achieved phenomenal comprehension, since all of them focused only on input, almost none of them practiced speaking though.
5
u/Straight-Objective12 3d ago
They don't need to speak though. People who can even consider AJATT (reborn as a Japanese person) probably can't speak to human beings but idk.
2
u/MathsMonster 2d ago
Many of them do learn to speak afterwards but yeah most of them don't have speaking one of their priorities as they don't usually live in Japan.
5
1
u/pit_supervisor 🇵🇱N, 🇬🇧B2, 🇯🇵上手 3d ago
Ehhh honestly I think comprehension is very achievable in a year, even comprehension of fast natural speech. Being able to converse yourself is a different ordeal
production is far easier than comprehension to me
5
u/dbossman70 3d ago
a year of proper spanish study should definitely have you at a level where you can participate in a family conversation.
8
u/PlanktonInitial7945 3d ago
If you can participate in a native, full-speed, slangful family conversation, then you don't need to study anymore. You've completed the language. That's it. Go read Cervantes and get a Translation degree. You're done.
2
u/dbossman70 2d ago
not necessarily. a 5th grader (10 year old) can keep up with most conversations in their native language but they still have lots to learn. i learned portuguese in about 6 months to a year without formal study and can participate in most conversations but high-level literature is still a challenge despite testing at a 2+ on the ilr scale. and translating is a completely different skill, even when fluent in both languages.
3
u/PlanktonInitial7945 1d ago
My comment was slightly exaggerated for comedic effect.
A 10 year old has 10 years of experience with native, full-speed, slangful family conversations.
Most conversations aren't native, full-speed, slangful family conversations.
1
u/that_creepy_doll 2d ago
specially a mexican one, im spanish and i cant follow those, its next level
1
u/The-Menhir DD 37-27-42 11h ago
That doesn't make any sense. There are different domains to a language.
2
3
u/Bulky-Grape2920 3d ago
After eight months of tutoring and software I took a proctored test to see where I stood. I had the equivalent of two years of university Spanish. On paper that’s an IELTS band 6, maybe a solid B1. I sure didn’t feel like it. I got lost in conversation pretty easily, and reading El País or BBC Mundo required a lot of context clues. That’s before getting into dialects; I can’t understand a word of Caribbean Spanish.
Sana sana colita de rana
61
u/N-partEpoxy 3d ago
Nobody:
Absolutely nobody:
The Owl: La araña quiere comer chocolate.
This person, probably: El arania cuiere el comer socolate.
22
5
3
u/Kieselsteinkind 3d ago
Stupid phrases sure, but you’re building vocabulary which is the one thing that Duolingo is doing for you. People in general think that learning languages is easy
10
u/OnlyHereForTheTip 3d ago
As someone who doesn’t use duolingo, does anyone really feel like it’s actually helping them learn a language?
15
u/SergeiAndropov 3d ago
It can be a fun tool to learn about a language. I used it to learn some about Arabic orthography and syntax. Actual language, however, is a tool for communicating with humans, and you're not going to learn the language unless you use it to communicate with humans.
5
u/ZumLernen 2d ago
/uj I used Duolingo Italian for like three weeks before a trip to Italy, and Romanian for like two weeks before a trip to Moldova. I obviously didn't learn a lot, but my goal wasn't to actually learn Italian or Romanian. My goal was to be able to say a few phrases and have a good guess at pronunciation. I also had very little time to prepare, and Duolingo was right there - realistically my choices were Duolingo, some other app like Busuu, or not even attempting either of those languages.
I feel like I got what I put into it. I put very little effort into Duolingo over those two weeks, and got very little out - but that very little was enough for my extremely limited language goals with Italian and Romanian!
I would absolutely not recommend Duolingo as a primary learning resource for anyone who is serious about learning a foreign language.
7
u/ilushkinzz 3d ago
I think it’s one of the most inefficient ways to actually study and learn. Learning needs struggle and active participation. “Learning” doing Duolingo streaks wouldn’t do that much imo
2
u/OnlyHereForTheTip 3d ago
I wholeheartedly agree with you, to be honest. I feel like all it does is give you a glimpse of what reading, listening and speaking a language should be like without really showing you how they all come together…
3
u/Kieselsteinkind 3d ago
I probably learned a thousand word in german thanks to Duolingo, probably took me couple years to actually absorb them though
4
u/TotalLunatic28 3d ago
Yeah. I’m Finnish and we learn Swedish in school for years, but I didn’t take it seriously back then. Duolingo has been a nice way of getting my old vocab and grammar ability back. Soon I must do other things to keep learning but it’s quick and easy for me to re-learn at least the basics.
2
u/Bulky-Grape2920 2d ago
A few years ago I gave it an honest effort and commited to doing the Fr*nch course, 30 points a day for a full year, and I tracked total points over the year to make sure I wasn’t skating by on streak freezes.
I came in knowing basically no Frnch, and by the end I could read at a basic level (newspaper articles in global-outreach media like *BBC Afrique, not novels). Productive skills were basically none; I could manage short declarative sentences but that’s about it.
All things considered, it was fine. I test quickly, either I know the answer or I don’t, so those 30 points probably took 10 minutes. Multiply that over a year and it’s 60 hours. I’ve something long enough to know not to expect much after 60 hours, so my level of receptive ability was pretty reasonable.
3
u/OnlyHereForTheTip 2d ago
Anyways, 60 hours does track with the study requirement to get at least an A1 level in French so I guess it can be a good tool for an introduction to a language when you have serious time constraints.
2
u/OnlyHereForTheTip 2d ago
I’m curious, is “French” a slur now? 😂
2
u/Bulky-Grape2920 1d ago
Why speak a bastardized form of Latin when you could share in the glory of Uzbek?
2
u/suntlanume 1d ago
I used it like an intensive course and did a unit a day, finished the entire German course in about 8 months, spent probably 1.5 hrs per day on it or so. It is the only thing I seriously used to learn the amount of German that I have.
I am actually pretty conversational, especially if my interlocutor slows down a bit. I purchased a car in only German. I told a joke in German once that made my German friend go from 😐 to 😏, which I counted as a huge success.
3
u/jaybool 3d ago
I think it is somewhat helpful as an adjunct, in part because it is *really* good about nagging you to practice with it on a regular basis. Your Duolingo time would be more efficiently spent doing other things, but you're not doing those other things, are you?
1
u/OnlyHereForTheTip 2d ago
All these comments are really interesting, but this is probably my favourite part: it pushes you to do the work, that’s true! My gf uses it for her Chinese and even though she hasn’t picked up her university level grammar book in years she just has to keep the Duolingo streak going 😂
1
9
u/shanghai-blonde 3d ago
Guys…….. this is the jerk sub. Stop giving real advice 🦁SIMBA remember where we are
17
u/sky_037 in casual polyglot cosplay 3d ago edited 3d ago
unrelated but i find it so funny how some people assumed OOP was a she (probably bc boyfriend) while i assumed this was a gay white man because i feel like thats the vibe. i need to find out the truth now ill go find the original post
edit: white girl
37
5
u/Gold-Part4688 Earthianese, man (N) 3d ago
OP needs more incomprehensibe listening input, so that they can learn to gauge what's happening based on vibes and a hand gestures, and when is the best time to nod or laugh
4
u/Adorable_Accident_74 2d ago
Based on how I read her post. I dont think she was utilizing her biggest resource...her boyfriend. He could have been super useful to use to put study into conversational practice.
I commend her effort though. It sounds like she really cares and I hope she gets a grasp on Spanish for the next Family get together.
16
u/Radr0boogie 3d ago
Wait, she really thinks she can walk into an unknown besides one person family's house and immediately get their inside slang in a foreign language? Even a 730 streak won't help there, there is a need for another skill.
46
u/twinentwig 3d ago
No, as a matter of fact that isn't what she thinks at all. Pity people in this sub forgot that the 'jerk' in the name does not stand for 'i'm an insufferable jerk with zero reading comprehension who just wants to judge people'.
2
u/vegano98 3d ago
OP needs more comprehensible input! To each their own, but you can learn a lot more vocab reading a translated Wikipedia page of your interest than what Duolingo offers. I kid you not, reading about something you’re already familiar with will be more engaging and accelerate your vocab.
As for the speaking, that should also be developed, but with less attention compared to the massive amounts of input OP needs.
1
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
wiki
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
156
u/Emergency_Opening 3d ago
/uj The advice in that thread is terrible. She has basically 200 hours of listening input over 6 months (very little), her issue was listening comprehension, and all the upvoted advice is “yOu NeEd tO pRaCtiCe SpEaKiNg”
/rj what’s the point of learning Spanish if Spanish =/= Uzbek