"Duolingo is not a language-learning app but a subscription salesman hawking a sense of false accomplishment..." Totally brilliant insight which made me realize, years after the fact, why I stopped doing Duolingo. Great essay all around.
Yeah, as someone who started German on Duolingo and had to quit because I actually wanted to learn the language (the app keeps you doing exercises at a level that is much too low for you, and the only way to progress is either to pay them or to spend literally hours a day doing stupid exercises on easy stuff you already know), I can confirm that Sarah’s take is correct.
Duolingo is useful on the most beginner level, I think. Emily got a lot out of the German program (and I think it’s a pretty good beginner track overall) and while I don’t believe it’ll make me fluent in Spanish, it’s more Spanish practice than I ever did while I was thinking “Boy, I should learn Spanish” on and off for five years. It has its uses but that doesn’t change its fundamental purpose!
Wow, Sarah, this was...something else. Awesome in the sense of "awesome" that's meant when there's actually awe. It's not lost on me, either, that I have to make that qualification, because even words are somehow hollow stand-ins for themselves anymore. Nor could I shake loose the ever-present awareness that I was, reading this, absolutely glued to the screen of my phone, though with a truly rapt attention that I haven't felt about anything in this box for an age. I don't know how to convey the experience. Hence, "something else".
I'm going to be chewing on this one for some time. Well done.
Excellent! Mari the Happy Wanderer is spot on - I was over 40 when smartphones came to town so my experience of the whole thing is different than yours. While I was reading it my wife sat across the room scrolling on her phone & laptop, randomly calling out disjointed items of interest she was seeing. Made it hard to focus on your intricate and poignant prose, but also really drove home the point.
This was really beautiful and so thought-provoking. Like Ty, I will be thinking about your essay a lot in the days to come. One fascinating aspect for me is that your essay felt almost as though it came from a different culture. I was already middle-aged when I got my first iPhone, and so it never became part of my consciousness in the way it has for most younger people. It’s like there was a critical-language period for phones, and we older folks missed it. Thank God.
"Duolingo is not a language-learning app but a subscription salesman hawking a sense of false accomplishment..." Totally brilliant insight which made me realize, years after the fact, why I stopped doing Duolingo. Great essay all around.
Yeah, as someone who started German on Duolingo and had to quit because I actually wanted to learn the language (the app keeps you doing exercises at a level that is much too low for you, and the only way to progress is either to pay them or to spend literally hours a day doing stupid exercises on easy stuff you already know), I can confirm that Sarah’s take is correct.
This is where I admit I never broke my streak!
Duolingo is useful on the most beginner level, I think. Emily got a lot out of the German program (and I think it’s a pretty good beginner track overall) and while I don’t believe it’ll make me fluent in Spanish, it’s more Spanish practice than I ever did while I was thinking “Boy, I should learn Spanish” on and off for five years. It has its uses but that doesn’t change its fundamental purpose!
Wow, Sarah, this was...something else. Awesome in the sense of "awesome" that's meant when there's actually awe. It's not lost on me, either, that I have to make that qualification, because even words are somehow hollow stand-ins for themselves anymore. Nor could I shake loose the ever-present awareness that I was, reading this, absolutely glued to the screen of my phone, though with a truly rapt attention that I haven't felt about anything in this box for an age. I don't know how to convey the experience. Hence, "something else".
I'm going to be chewing on this one for some time. Well done.
Excellent! Mari the Happy Wanderer is spot on - I was over 40 when smartphones came to town so my experience of the whole thing is different than yours. While I was reading it my wife sat across the room scrolling on her phone & laptop, randomly calling out disjointed items of interest she was seeing. Made it hard to focus on your intricate and poignant prose, but also really drove home the point.
Good luck
This was really beautiful and so thought-provoking. Like Ty, I will be thinking about your essay a lot in the days to come. One fascinating aspect for me is that your essay felt almost as though it came from a different culture. I was already middle-aged when I got my first iPhone, and so it never became part of my consciousness in the way it has for most younger people. It’s like there was a critical-language period for phones, and we older folks missed it. Thank God.
Can't wait to read the book. And to see you soon (outside of D&D) with our phones in another room.
You can borrow my copy!
YAY
This was great. Thank you for answering my long held wish that someone would actually write about the second half of that book!
I’m so glad you liked it! I think the fact it’s so hard to write about is a mark of its success in doing what it was trying to do.