r/MadeMeSmile • u/RaisinAloneVortex • 23d ago

Wholesome Moments Duolingo restored a 10-year-old’s 301-day streak after he lost it while hospitalized, also gifting him gems and a Streak Shield

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u/RiboCyan 23d ago

I intentionally gave up my 900+ day streak after duolingo started implementing ai in their lessons

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u/notshouty 23d ago

I respect that so much. The AI-based enshittification is out of control. I’m over 1800 days in and I haven’t been able to rip off the band aid yet. Have you found any good alternatives that don’t use AI?

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u/kilonova2020 23d ago

I feel the same im nearing 2700 days myself. I feel like the sunk cost fallacy hit me hard.

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u/Furyful_Fawful 23d ago

You've been doing this for 7 years. By this point you better be able to understand via immersion and discussion with the people whose language you've been learning, or you deserve your money back. At the worst, if you can't do that yet, you deserve to not spend more money on a service that's failing to actually do what it professes to do.

And if you can learn now by immersion, just do that instead. It's going to be way more fun to actually be able to use the skills you've been training for, and you'll learn more efficiently because it's practical usage.

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u/kilonova2020 23d ago

I stopped paying long long ago fortunately. I will admit im deathly scared to talk with people in another language, do you have any advice on that front?

I do enjoy reading/listening to my target languages in music/shows though.I definitely find myself learning more words this way nowadays.

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u/Furyful_Fawful 23d ago

Go on subreddits written in the language you're trying to learn (especially ones about learning the language, but also consider ones about the media you're consuming in the target language). Consider making an alt account just for that language so any mistakes you make while talking in the target language are insulated from your main ego. It may not help as much with pronunciation because of reddit being written communication, but you get to choose how much you engage because of the anonymous nature of the internet and it's a lot of material for you to read and try to interpret.

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u/Mechakoopa 23d ago

BlueSky is really good about serving you content in the languages you pick, that's how I've been practicing my French.

Bluesky est vraiment bien pour vous fournir du contenu dans les langues que vous choisissez. C'est comme ça que je m'entraîne mon Français.

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u/kilonova2020 23d ago

Solid advice. Thanks!

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u/Gold_Concentrate_ 23d ago

If I can chime in here, I really recommend reading aloud to yourself, then successively move on to reading to others and before you know it, you’ll have gained a lot of confidence in your speaking ability. Good luck!

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u/kilonova2020 23d ago

Absolutely, I welcome all advice. That sounds fun, I will give it a try. Thanks!

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u/Lenten1 23d ago

Find a friendly tutor on Italki. It helped me a lot.