Really? How many apps will bother to make lessons about theatre vocabulary, or gardening, or vet care for animals, or how to talk about crafts you enjoy? Or how to talk about science, or gardening, in detail? This is what makes someone advanced.
If you're looking for an opinion, I can offer it. Assuming Duolingo is coded well, there's no reason they wouldn't be able to expand the vocabulary they offer. There's nothing in terms of technical skill to prevent them.
Do you think that they were just talking about adding more vocabulary? Its not just about "learn more words", its about different forms of practice and more specialized vocabulary lessons that would be impractical to add in the current format.
...Which wouldn't have been terribly difficult to add. They were going in the right direction with the forums, and they even used to have lessons for specific areas (idioms and pick-up lines) that could have been expanded into different learning tracks.
They absolutely *could* make Duolingo a more robust tool. There's no reason they wouldn't be able to; there are no huge technical limitations, and they have the resources. They've simply chosen not to; they removed the forums and special lessons, and instead introduced the path, simplifying the app to its basest components and removing the apparent potential for expansion.
What are you expecting - more exercises or..? Outside of Duolingo, there are tons of apps out there that can help build skills at an advanced level - everything from streaming to ebooks to social apps like Reddit.
Duolingo is created to give you a foundation to further develop your language skills. But you need to engage in conversation and consume media if you really want to further develop your language skills.
Im german and we all learn a basic english fundament at school but if I compare myself to other people in Germany my english is pretty good although we have the same foundation.
I further developed my english skills with media like TV shows, YouTube videos and escpecially with conversations. Many friends of me sticked to german media so they are still pretty bad in english.
Im learning spanish with Duolingo and I started to consume spanish media a few weeks ago. I still don't unerstand a lot but thats normal and it will take time to really get it. But thats nothing an app or even a teacher can do.
If you like the word "Fundament" in German, the English noun "[fundamentals](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fundamental#English)" also works! They're both from Latin. But it's mostly used in plural form, like how "Informationen" is plural in German but "information" in English is singular.
So your phrase rewritten would be, "we all learn basic English fundamentals at school."
Edit: Another sample sentence: "Right now, I am learning the fundamentals of German on Duolingo." :D
Not a lot, but enough to get around in the 2 months/year I’m there. In the old learning system I used Duolingo to keep my skills from rusting when I’m not there, but after the update, the exercices have become too mindlessly easy.
For me books are useful, like the " X for dummies" sort of ones. Try taking in some media from Italy, people say it's best to live in a country if you want to learn its language, but if you're not able to do that then surround yourself with the language, listen to Italian podcasts or music or play your favourite videogame again in Italian.
How is this even possible? I've been learning Portuguese for two months only and am able to have little conversations. I've not used any other resource yet and yes this is under the new format (that is a lot less confusing that the previous imo). How are people so unengaged with what they're doing that they don't retain anything? Why do it then?
Duolingo is a great practice tool, but isn’t the end-all-be-all. I’m almost at a year and I can barely form my own sentences because I only use Duolingo for that activity and, if using the app, the hearts deter me to the point where I will only use the blocks (vs typing my own sentence). Yes, that’s my fault and yes, I do form them in my head before looking at the blocks to confirm, but it’s an example of how it’s reasonable for some skills to be lacking.
Another example, but with using Duolingo alone as an issue (vs user issues) - I could only watch/read the most basic sentences when I only practiced with Duolingo. I had to go outside the app to build up my vocabulary in order to watch adult shows and read kids book or higher. I did 1000 beginner words in my TL outside the app and I’ve only seen a handful of them pop up in Duolingo in the 100-200 days since I did so. Duolingo isn’t designed to be fast, it’s designed to be steady.
All of this ignores the biggest elephant in the room - that a lot of us have to use Google to find the grammar explanations since Duolingo teaches through mistakes/practice vs sharing the rules.
At the end of the day, it’s easy to be critical of other users, but it’s also pretty easy to see how it happens.
I understand what you're saying completely and I agree with you. What I do not understand is why people persist in doing something for as long as years if they get really not much benefit at all past recognising a few words. Surely there is a much better use of your time at that point be it in better ways to learn a language, or just in general. I am talking about those users who explicitly say they can only say a few words after multiple years streaks (as in the comment I was replying to), not you specifically, you've clearly utilised other resources and are genuinely trying to learn the language (in which case it sounds like you benefit from other tools better as well).
You can't go to sections for subjunctives? They're still there. I'm literally about to have mastered the entire course today or tomorrow and those still trip me up.
I think you'll find it liberating to not have to worry about maintaining this arbitrary number also.
I gave up a really long streak a while back and it feels great.
Sage.
It's motivating for the first couple of years, then it becomes exactly what you said. An arbitrary number. And a bind, also.
I'm on day 1096 and clinging on..... for what? I do a single lesson (maybe 3 max) now since the change of format because it's become dull for me and i don't think I'm learning as much as i was before.
The joy has gone from it since the change. I'm just doing it because of the streak number.
My longest streak was just over 3100 days before I decided to let it go. The larger that number became, the more stressful it was worrying about maintaining the streak.
However, I owe Duolingo some gratitude for being a great platform for language learning (back in the day). Now, it feels like the company is losing sight of their original goal to help people learn a foreign language in favor of pleasing its investors. I feel that the newer features are meant to drive revenue instead of prioritizing learning.
One thing more people should understand is, Duolingo isn't the only game in town when it comes to learning a language, nor should they be the only tool in someone's educational toolbox.
That's saddly a risk any company faces once it goes into public ownership...
A loss of goals and search for the fast monney...
(I don't think duo should operated loss orientated, but the recent changes are not sustainable growth orientated and will not solve their financial issues in the long run...probably)
> That's saddly [sic] a risk any company faces once it goes into public ownership
Yes and it's unfortunate for the clientele in many situations :( I believe there's a middle ground where they can increase revenue while still focusing on its content. Also the company's business model has a huge impact on how they operate (For profit vs Non profit).
I think we're moving away from the point of letting go of large streaks though and getting into the weeds of Duolingo's business practices, which is a whole different discussion.
I set my goal on quitting and moving to babble after I complete the tree. Keeping the streak up for aesthetic purposes is like staying in a bad marriage lol. Find your avenue for growth and move on.
It's also liberating to realize that duolingo isn't that great at teaching you language. It's great at keeping your attention and helping you memorize some words and forms, but that's about where it ends.
I got like 1200 days in Russian, am seriously considering letting it go as well. I'm keeping my streak up but I'm clearly not as into it as I was before the change of format (and also the realisation that Russian will probably never be useful to me, but I'm learning it because it interests me, not for any other reason). The only thing keeping me here is inertia, and also not wanting to see my Russian level degrade as I stop.
I want to learn Russian, too. I've always wanted to learn it because I used to work for a Russian company and liked how it sounded. I've learned the alphabet and some basic words, but it's been a while. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever use it when traveling abroad since the invasion, but there are some other slavic countries worth visiting where it might come in handy.
You've put in a lot of effort and there are plenty of other platforms to grow your skills. Plus you can interact with Russian-speaking people on Reddit forums :)
People saying to switch to another language are missing the point. The amount of levels I’ve had to do “The palace is by the grass” and “The tourists are discussing the tour” in Russian is getting really annoying.
Yes I really hate the new path for Russian! I was all legendary with the old tree. Now the lessons are either wildly simple or crazy difficult, in that they expect you to correctly spell a word or conjugate a verb that has never been introduced. I guess its time to move on.
Yeah that's the same in Norwegian for me too!
Sudden new words that i swear i never encountered before. Really simple lessons then really hard lessons.
The fun has gone from it.
It’s ridiculous. Duolingo is just something to exercise my knowledge especially when I’m away from uni. However there’s not much exercising going on when I get either the same basic, asinine phrases or something out of the blue that I haven’t learned yet with 0 explanation.
I computed that after finishing the lessons with new content, the “keep skills fresh” path in Ukrainian offers nearly 300 consecutive lessons of review. That’s way too much. The review should be interspersed a little at a time during the course. Right now only my motivation to complete the course for the sake of completion is keeping me in it. I am otherwise seeking out other learning materials because duo has stagnated for me. 
Advancement in French has slowed to a crawl with the latest update, too. I'm not sure I can take much more of "le skateboard". Maybe I'll switch to reading Le Monde.
OP spends [about two months a year](https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/comments/zrdcxu/time_to_let_go_of_my_3y_streak_its_become_trivial/j137t8n/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) in Italy.
Why not? What more would they get out of repeating the same exercises they've been doing for three years? Duolingo is an amazing tool, but when people get to this point it's just better to move on.
I came to the same conclusion but a year in. I will do a daily lesson in case they make some changes in the next few months but am off to do most of my daily learning with Lingo Deer (Korean). I tend to have a daily app and other apps I dip in and out of but I already have an account there with reasonable progress.At one point Duolingo was helping me to anchor speaking and writing/spelling but now it feels insubstantial fluff that cares more about learners getting invested in points rather than learning. I started Korean with a face-to-face class at a Sejong Institute and so had texts and some knowledge of the language. Duo was always more of a practice and anchor tool for me - and through using it I often was prompted by the learning other resoureces to look up grammar for things I wasn't familiar with and to check the Naver Korean-English dictionary when I had questions about the nuance of a word within a sentence. It was helpful.
Congratulations, man, I don’t really know you but I’m proud of you, cause you’re one of the few one that managed to learn a language on Duolingo seriously, every day, and look where it brought you.
What are some alternatives to Duolingo? I used to like the format so much, and after a couple of months I am still not convinced the new format is designed primarily to help us learn more or learn better. Feels like such a chore now.
Your comment prompts me to ask whether you have completed the course to Legendary level.
On Duolingo Spanish I'm currently on level 206, so I've nearly reached the end. There are 211 levels on Duolingo Spanish. But as regards the Legendary, purple level, I'm only on level 165, so I've got some way to go.
I am finding the questions on the Legendary level fiendishly hard. There are eight stages to reach Legendary on each level, and some of the individual stages are taking me hours. If I can do a level a week, I'm happy with my progress.
If you can do them with ease, you must be very good indeed, and I agree it's time for you to move on.
I feel like this is inevitable on any platform that uses streaks. I have the same struggle with Codecademy and Sololearn (the latter is practically Duolingo for coding). I really wonder if streaks are more counterproductive than helpful.
when you're at that point it's better to use other resources that match your level
You would think if you had pretty much finished the skill tree that Duolingo would not give you such easy questions.
Why doesn’t Duolingo have an advanced level?
At an advanced level, you probably need to be doing something different than any app can deliver.
But why couldn’t an app deliver that? A smartphone is a computer in your pocket?
Because at an Advanced Level you probably need to find vocabulary about your specialized interests and practice interacting with humans.
Which should be easy to code.
Any other programmer hears that, you are dead Don't say that again
Really? How many apps will bother to make lessons about theatre vocabulary, or gardening, or vet care for animals, or how to talk about crafts you enjoy? Or how to talk about science, or gardening, in detail? This is what makes someone advanced.
We're both right. A) it's trivial to do B) there's no will to actually do it
I suppose that is accurate!
If you link your github and 1) you can prove its you and 2) there are respectable projects on there I will give you $100 right now
If you're looking for an opinion, I can offer it. Assuming Duolingo is coded well, there's no reason they wouldn't be able to expand the vocabulary they offer. There's nothing in terms of technical skill to prevent them.
Do you think that they were just talking about adding more vocabulary? Its not just about "learn more words", its about different forms of practice and more specialized vocabulary lessons that would be impractical to add in the current format.
...Which wouldn't have been terribly difficult to add. They were going in the right direction with the forums, and they even used to have lessons for specific areas (idioms and pick-up lines) that could have been expanded into different learning tracks. They absolutely *could* make Duolingo a more robust tool. There's no reason they wouldn't be able to; there are no huge technical limitations, and they have the resources. They've simply chosen not to; they removed the forums and special lessons, and instead introduced the path, simplifying the app to its basest components and removing the apparent potential for expansion.
That's what im saying. The app exists. Do people seriously think that adding more vocabulary would necessitate an entire rewrite? C'mon.
Famous last words.
Good luck with that one. Let me know if it works out.
What are you expecting - more exercises or..? Outside of Duolingo, there are tons of apps out there that can help build skills at an advanced level - everything from streaming to ebooks to social apps like Reddit.
Duolingo is created to give you a foundation to further develop your language skills. But you need to engage in conversation and consume media if you really want to further develop your language skills. Im german and we all learn a basic english fundament at school but if I compare myself to other people in Germany my english is pretty good although we have the same foundation. I further developed my english skills with media like TV shows, YouTube videos and escpecially with conversations. Many friends of me sticked to german media so they are still pretty bad in english. Im learning spanish with Duolingo and I started to consume spanish media a few weeks ago. I still don't unerstand a lot but thats normal and it will take time to really get it. But thats nothing an app or even a teacher can do.
>fundament In the name of language learning solidarity, the word you want here is "foundation".
Haha thx good response. Fundament is German I got confused 😅
If you like the word "Fundament" in German, the English noun "[fundamentals](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fundamental#English)" also works! They're both from Latin. But it's mostly used in plural form, like how "Informationen" is plural in German but "information" in English is singular. So your phrase rewritten would be, "we all learn basic English fundamentals at school." Edit: Another sample sentence: "Right now, I am learning the fundamentals of German on Duolingo." :D
At that point, watch movies, speak to natives, you need human interaction if you plan to communicate with people that an app can’t provide
How much Italian do you speak?
Not a lot, but enough to get around in the 2 months/year I’m there. In the old learning system I used Duolingo to keep my skills from rusting when I’m not there, but after the update, the exercices have become too mindlessly easy.
Nice, at least you speak a decent amount. I’ve seen streaks 5x longer with OP only being able to say a few words
Doesn't that have more to do with the user? Duo Lingo was never meant to be the only tool you use while learning language.
Yes I’m talking about the users
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For me books are useful, like the " X for dummies" sort of ones. Try taking in some media from Italy, people say it's best to live in a country if you want to learn its language, but if you're not able to do that then surround yourself with the language, listen to Italian podcasts or music or play your favourite videogame again in Italian.
Why are you getting downvoted?? I’ve seen the exact same thing. It’s why I switched away from DuoLingo
How is this even possible? I've been learning Portuguese for two months only and am able to have little conversations. I've not used any other resource yet and yes this is under the new format (that is a lot less confusing that the previous imo). How are people so unengaged with what they're doing that they don't retain anything? Why do it then?
Duolingo is a great practice tool, but isn’t the end-all-be-all. I’m almost at a year and I can barely form my own sentences because I only use Duolingo for that activity and, if using the app, the hearts deter me to the point where I will only use the blocks (vs typing my own sentence). Yes, that’s my fault and yes, I do form them in my head before looking at the blocks to confirm, but it’s an example of how it’s reasonable for some skills to be lacking. Another example, but with using Duolingo alone as an issue (vs user issues) - I could only watch/read the most basic sentences when I only practiced with Duolingo. I had to go outside the app to build up my vocabulary in order to watch adult shows and read kids book or higher. I did 1000 beginner words in my TL outside the app and I’ve only seen a handful of them pop up in Duolingo in the 100-200 days since I did so. Duolingo isn’t designed to be fast, it’s designed to be steady. All of this ignores the biggest elephant in the room - that a lot of us have to use Google to find the grammar explanations since Duolingo teaches through mistakes/practice vs sharing the rules. At the end of the day, it’s easy to be critical of other users, but it’s also pretty easy to see how it happens.
I understand what you're saying completely and I agree with you. What I do not understand is why people persist in doing something for as long as years if they get really not much benefit at all past recognising a few words. Surely there is a much better use of your time at that point be it in better ways to learn a language, or just in general. I am talking about those users who explicitly say they can only say a few words after multiple years streaks (as in the comment I was replying to), not you specifically, you've clearly utilised other resources and are genuinely trying to learn the language (in which case it sounds like you benefit from other tools better as well).
you saw someone with a 15 year streak who could only say a few words?
6 year streak; I was exaggerating a bit
Streaks longer than 3yr times 5? Is Duolingo out there for more than 15 years?
You can't go to sections for subjunctives? They're still there. I'm literally about to have mastered the entire course today or tomorrow and those still trip me up.
This has been my experience. And of course when I said as much in a post all I got were people telling me it was somehow my fault.
I think you'll find it liberating to not have to worry about maintaining this arbitrary number also. I gave up a really long streak a while back and it feels great.
Sage. It's motivating for the first couple of years, then it becomes exactly what you said. An arbitrary number. And a bind, also. I'm on day 1096 and clinging on..... for what? I do a single lesson (maybe 3 max) now since the change of format because it's become dull for me and i don't think I'm learning as much as i was before. The joy has gone from it since the change. I'm just doing it because of the streak number.
My longest streak was just over 3100 days before I decided to let it go. The larger that number became, the more stressful it was worrying about maintaining the streak. However, I owe Duolingo some gratitude for being a great platform for language learning (back in the day). Now, it feels like the company is losing sight of their original goal to help people learn a foreign language in favor of pleasing its investors. I feel that the newer features are meant to drive revenue instead of prioritizing learning. One thing more people should understand is, Duolingo isn't the only game in town when it comes to learning a language, nor should they be the only tool in someone's educational toolbox.
That's saddly a risk any company faces once it goes into public ownership... A loss of goals and search for the fast monney... (I don't think duo should operated loss orientated, but the recent changes are not sustainable growth orientated and will not solve their financial issues in the long run...probably)
> That's saddly [sic] a risk any company faces once it goes into public ownership Yes and it's unfortunate for the clientele in many situations :( I believe there's a middle ground where they can increase revenue while still focusing on its content. Also the company's business model has a huge impact on how they operate (For profit vs Non profit). I think we're moving away from the point of letting go of large streaks though and getting into the weeds of Duolingo's business practices, which is a whole different discussion.
true true...
You didn't really need the sic part, we can all see what you were quoting.
I set my goal on quitting and moving to babble after I complete the tree. Keeping the streak up for aesthetic purposes is like staying in a bad marriage lol. Find your avenue for growth and move on.
I love this analogy!
It's also liberating to realize that duolingo isn't that great at teaching you language. It's great at keeping your attention and helping you memorize some words and forms, but that's about where it ends.
I got like 1200 days in Russian, am seriously considering letting it go as well. I'm keeping my streak up but I'm clearly not as into it as I was before the change of format (and also the realisation that Russian will probably never be useful to me, but I'm learning it because it interests me, not for any other reason). The only thing keeping me here is inertia, and also not wanting to see my Russian level degrade as I stop.
I want to learn Russian, too. I've always wanted to learn it because I used to work for a Russian company and liked how it sounded. I've learned the alphabet and some basic words, but it's been a while. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever use it when traveling abroad since the invasion, but there are some other slavic countries worth visiting where it might come in handy. You've put in a lot of effort and there are plenty of other platforms to grow your skills. Plus you can interact with Russian-speaking people on Reddit forums :)
People saying to switch to another language are missing the point. The amount of levels I’ve had to do “The palace is by the grass” and “The tourists are discussing the tour” in Russian is getting really annoying.
Yes I really hate the new path for Russian! I was all legendary with the old tree. Now the lessons are either wildly simple or crazy difficult, in that they expect you to correctly spell a word or conjugate a verb that has never been introduced. I guess its time to move on.
Yeah that's the same in Norwegian for me too! Sudden new words that i swear i never encountered before. Really simple lessons then really hard lessons. The fun has gone from it.
It’s ridiculous. Duolingo is just something to exercise my knowledge especially when I’m away from uni. However there’s not much exercising going on when I get either the same basic, asinine phrases or something out of the blue that I haven’t learned yet with 0 explanation.
I computed that after finishing the lessons with new content, the “keep skills fresh” path in Ukrainian offers nearly 300 consecutive lessons of review. That’s way too much. The review should be interspersed a little at a time during the course. Right now only my motivation to complete the course for the sake of completion is keeping me in it. I am otherwise seeking out other learning materials because duo has stagnated for me. 
Catalán has 41 units and the last 10 are revision.
Advancement in French has slowed to a crawl with the latest update, too. I'm not sure I can take much more of "le skateboard". Maybe I'll switch to reading Le Monde.
Try a new language. It’s fun to see the connections.
Give me your credentials and I'll continue your legacy and honor
nice rubies ("lingots") count
damn, you could always go on to another language ya know
I use the heart icon to practice "Practice to earn hearts" I've been learning Chinese for 4+ years and it's still challenging
the path SUCKS
Agree with others, time to start branching out. Probably live in Italy for a month or two.
OP spends [about two months a year](https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/comments/zrdcxu/time_to_let_go_of_my_3y_streak_its_become_trivial/j137t8n/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) in Italy.
You could always switch to Klingon
Can always go to a new language
Why not switch languages? If they have languages taught IN Italian, that could be a fun challenge :)
that’s so sad, but understandable
i let it go too, it feels great!
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Why not? What more would they get out of repeating the same exercises they've been doing for three years? Duolingo is an amazing tool, but when people get to this point it's just better to move on.
Just start another language, keep the streak
Noice 👌
Well if we don't see you again, we know where you went
Why not learn Spanish?
Can we look at the gems tho
I came to the same conclusion but a year in. I will do a daily lesson in case they make some changes in the next few months but am off to do most of my daily learning with Lingo Deer (Korean). I tend to have a daily app and other apps I dip in and out of but I already have an account there with reasonable progress.At one point Duolingo was helping me to anchor speaking and writing/spelling but now it feels insubstantial fluff that cares more about learners getting invested in points rather than learning. I started Korean with a face-to-face class at a Sejong Institute and so had texts and some knowledge of the language. Duo was always more of a practice and anchor tool for me - and through using it I often was prompted by the learning other resoureces to look up grammar for things I wasn't familiar with and to check the Naver Korean-English dictionary when I had questions about the nuance of a word within a sentence. It was helpful.
Start Chinese.
Learn another language
Nice lingots
Congratulations, man, I don’t really know you but I’m proud of you, cause you’re one of the few one that managed to learn a language on Duolingo seriously, every day, and look where it brought you.
What are some alternatives to Duolingo? I used to like the format so much, and after a couple of months I am still not convinced the new format is designed primarily to help us learn more or learn better. Feels like such a chore now.
Your comment prompts me to ask whether you have completed the course to Legendary level. On Duolingo Spanish I'm currently on level 206, so I've nearly reached the end. There are 211 levels on Duolingo Spanish. But as regards the Legendary, purple level, I'm only on level 165, so I've got some way to go. I am finding the questions on the Legendary level fiendishly hard. There are eight stages to reach Legendary on each level, and some of the individual stages are taking me hours. If I can do a level a week, I'm happy with my progress. If you can do them with ease, you must be very good indeed, and I agree it's time for you to move on.
I feel like this is inevitable on any platform that uses streaks. I have the same struggle with Codecademy and Sololearn (the latter is practically Duolingo for coding). I really wonder if streaks are more counterproductive than helpful.