Gamification of Learning
Alright! My Japanese learning is 2 weeks deep now. I am using a variety of tools but currently liking Duolingo a lot, mostly because of its gamification nature. I have purchased a paid family plan and my kids in it too. I am noticing my younger is more heavily into it. To her, this is just like candy crush or bottle pop! So, be it! It is certainly better than playing games on her phone or ipad, or watching movies or YouTube over the weekend.
As per my performance, I can say that I haven't given up yet! That is saying something! In fact, I can demonstrate that I practice some every single day. I think without Duolingo that alone would have been hard for me. Since the app is phone based and individual lessons are only 3-min long. I can do one quickly between things, on a break during workday, during lunch, during lounging after work, even just before bed and right after waking up. I have done all of them on multiple days. That alone is worth the subscription.
| Plan | Target User | Key Features | Price (Approximate Annual USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duolingo (Free) | Individual | Full access to lessons, basic language courses. | $0 |
| Super Duolingo | Individual | All Free features, plus: Ad-free learning, Unlimited Hearts, Mistake Review/Personalized Practice, Unlimited Legendary attempts, Offline Access. | ~$59.99 - $84.00/year |
| Super Duolingo Family Plan | Up to 6 Users | All Super Duolingo features for up to six individuals. | ~$119.88 - $119.99/year |
| Duolingo Max | Individual | All Super Duolingo features, plus AI-powered features like: Explain My Answer, Roleplay, and sometimes Video Call with Lily (availability depends on course/platform). | ~$168.00/year |
| Duolingo Max Family Plan | Up to 6 Users | All Duolingo Max features for up to six individuals. (If Max AI features are not supported for a user's course, they still get all Super Duolingo benefits). | ~$200.00 - $240.00/year |
I currently have the Family plan for $120/yr. For a four member family, that is $30/yr each. There is a very popular and effective free version that 80% of the learners are using. So if anyone wants to try, that is a very good option to test out. The free version is ad-supported, but it has full access to all lessons.
They also send a weekly report, which is helpful, because this is the only place you can see the time you spend on the app actively working. This is important because XP is not directly proportional to minutes. Clearly, my second week was better, but I don't have high hopes that the third will be better than the second. Doing this more than 30 min/day, everyday is a steep ask.
What Else?
As a supplement to Duolingo, I have now settled on the NHK podcast. It is available on Apple podcast, which I use a lot. There are 48 episodes, and I am at Lesson 5.
I have gone through these 5 lessons many times. I sometimes just listen. While other times, I listen and follow along the text, which I find very useful.
When I can sit down in front of a computer and have free time. I typically listen and follow along the text from the website. The text me easily readable on the phone screen as well, and I have done that too.
In addition to that, I am also practicing Hiragana on paper at the moment. I can only say that I am confident with the vowels so far. I have filled up many practice sheets, but retention is low at the moment. The important item from my point of view is the quality of resources that are available today. I tried learning Spanish about 20 years back as an adult. I wish I had this many resources available then, I think I would have made more progress. Will see, how this one goes.
I'm closing in on a 900-day streak on Duolingo all through the freeplay mode. I started with Spanish for a few years to help me in my classroom and with the potential move abroad to Costa Rica. But ever since visiting Saridinia last summer, I've switched over to Italian because it seems my partner would really like to move to the Italian beach destination.
It is definitely the chase of the streak that gets me back for at least one lesson every day. I used to chase leaderboards and trophies. I was in the highest diamond league and using my gems to buy more opportunities to earn XP through trials. After the first year, the novelty of the leaderboard wore off, but the chase of the learning streak continues.
If I can continue to even half that I will feel fortunate! :)
I'm curious to see how far you get into the language and which basics you choose to focus on. Typically, it starts with ordering breakfast, telling your name, and where you're from. Then some stuff about travel, taxi, hotel, airplane, luggage, restaurant, and reservation!
I like the new chess function on Duolingo. Besides that, it's not my favorite - I usually learn a lot through grammar, and it's hard for me to derive the grammar out of the solely speaking approach that Duolingo offers. I could of course find that on the side, but I'm not thaaaaaat motivated, either.
Yes, grammar is not its strength. Nonetheless, there are other better tools out there for grammar.
https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/category/grammar-guide/basic-grammar/
Duolingo is for people who otherwise would have done nothing, with it they are at least doing something.
Also kids love it around here.
I love Duolingo too. I have been studying German for almost 300 days. I think you will fare better because you will be interacting with native speakers through daily conversation. I also tried Japanese maybe 20 years ago. I can still speak some and can read Katakana but not Hiragana and Kanji. Enjoy!
I don't know how long I will able to do it. My language learning efforts in the past haven't been very successful. So I am a skeptic. That said, this time it seems like it is going better so far.