itt: stories of yr attempts to master tongues via DUOLINGO

About the Finnish course: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/39838113

I recommend the Norwegian Folktales (eventyr) by Asbjørnsen and Moe.

A little more about the Finnish: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/39846411

I'm happy that they removed the gradual decay of competence in the nodes

did they? where the skill declines and the icon cracks back open and the gold ring slides down? i just got a course update the other day, with as yet unknown effects, but i have been having skills decline and iirc still declining after the update.

Oh really? I’ve only been back for a bit more than a month, maybe not long enough for decay?

What? Since the old system was replaced with the Crown system, I don’t see them decay, unless maybe you maxed out at level 5, which I haven’t done too often.

I took basics 1 to 4 today, that’s the only one I have above 3. Not worth going that high ime

I tend to agree and I have observed that it makes me feel weird when I do so.

Course updates a different story, completed lessons will become undone, yes.

There are a forest of forum posts on this topic, here is the original crown announcement, I think: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/26739837/Crowns-FAQ

yes, it's only level five skills that i see decay. but i've been getting all my skills to that level, so the decaying is obvious. sometimes it's idiotic how they decay, too, like you can make sure they're all practiced and then two days later one will slip again. or, maybe like that link indicates—uncertain—the rate of decay depends on how often words in a skill are seen anywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4HLHuS3hkw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XcKBmdfpWs

I only started Duolingo in 2016, but I feel like I remember the stock photos in the Spanish course. Do you know when they phased them out?

Not sure, think they fully disappeared in the last two or three years.

Maybe I really do remember them then. Heading for my fourth anniversary in August.

I found some screenshots from May 2018 which have them.

Now that I backed away from the XP madness and am practicing my regular way again, I might share a few things that have helped me if you like.

It's okay, I don't really have any kind of system, mostly, just keep running though and trying things to see what sticks.

My rival seems to be slacking off today. Hasn’t even cracked a thousand XPs today.

i think i'll just be content to coast by this week

I have been going slow for the past few days which has been beneficial but I just found another possible way to rack up points quickly if needed.

oh????????????

Hm. Maybe not. But another way to practice.

Just click on the checkpoint castle.

There’s no speed or accuracy bonuses but the sentences seem less difficult or tedious and there are sometimes less of them.

i forget, what's the payout?

10 XP. So not a big payout, but seems like you can turn them around quickly if needed.

More like a simple, no-frills way to practice.

Like I just did the first castle checkpoint in one language and it only asked me two questions.

Hm. The next time it asked me seven questions

Then I switched languages, did the same. First time it asked me eight easy questions. Then the second time exactly one.

Then three questions.

Just now looking at the others on my leaderboard and see that everyone in the top five had at least one 1000 XP day.

Lots of people right above the demotion line- and a few right below - have about 440 XPs

Just checked and my buddy has one day each of 2K, 3K and 4K, two 1K days and two other days that average to 1K each. Sheesh!

Spoke too soon. He's headed for another 2K day.

Rounding third and he's headed for home

huh suddenly i got the option to do 'hard practice' (double the points) or 'regular practice' on my competed levels. seems the stories page has changed somewhat too, shows the points possible for the stories (which it didn't before). maybe the language update i accepted finally kicked in.

Hm, that's sounds interesting. What language?

franch

i don't know that the practice is much harder but it does seem to run through some more combinatorial stuff, which is an appreciated change of pace

When do you see that option?

when i tap on a skill, where you would normally see the option to read the tips or take a lesson/practice

Don't see it. Must be in A/B testing.

Or maybe it’s only for a Gold lesson, which I don’t usually bother with as stated earlier.

I have some on Dutch but don't see that option.

But I just read about it somewhere else.

it's only an option on un-stale skills. on the ones that are maxxed out but slipping, i can only practice (for 10 xp) to refresh.

I guess for me I haven’t cared for keeping the tree gold in several years or even red. I’d rather find either a lesson where I am interested in the grammar or vocabulary and can reinforce that lesson by non-Duo means, or find where the sweet spot of difficulty for me is located in the tree and do lessons there.

For some languages I shouldn’t really be doing Duolingo at all, unless maybe for laddering, like Euler is doing learning Italian from French. For others I should be using the hints way less often.