Three thousand, seven hundred and eighty eight days is approaching ten and a half years. This is how long my streak has been on Duolingo, an American language learning platform. That’s a long time, every day sitting down to study a language that I am increasingly less likely to use in what remains of my life. When I say every day, I mean every day, Xmas day, New Year’s day, in sickness and in health. Every day.
When I say learning a language I mean dabbling with many languages. My two main ones have been Spanish and Dutch, yet I have also toyed with, in decreasing order French, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Welsh, Italian, German, Catalan, Esperanto and Hindi. I have even had a look at its maths and Klingon courses.
Can I converse in any of these languages? A bit, perhaps. I think I could get by in Spanish, Dutch and French though what I miss most of all is the opportunity to practice. You can never truly learn a language unless you speak it day in and day out. Duolingo never really gives you this.
So what was the point? Why did I continue using the app? In a word – obsession!
Using Duolingo became a habit, an addiction even. What started out as an attempt to learn something turned into something that I had to do everyday, to protect my streak, to move up the league tables, to compete in challenges against unknown friends and to try to achieve the impossible task of ever finishing anything. The software would always win.
Yes, I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation. Languages have always fascinated me and I have learned a lot, especially around the relationship between the different languages across Europe. At times though, the Americanisms have driven me mad, with bad grammar and sentences that simply don’t make sense. The use of nouns as adjectives was a particular bugbear.
I have made the decision therefore to give it up – well not to completely give it up but to stop obsessing about it. No longer wil it be the first thing I think oof in the day. No longer will I worry that I will lose my place in the hierarchy. No longer will I pay its subscription.
I may not have given up on Durlingo in its entirety but I have let go of the obsession. No doubt I will find something else to fill the vacant slot!
Tot ziens, adios, au revoir Duolingo.
Thoughts from a Retired Guerrilla Worker 