Peg Kerr's Journal

To my surprise and disappointment, I reached the end of Scottish Gaelic on Duolingo last week. I have not reached any kind of fluency, but I reached the end of the third unit and--whaaaaat? No more lessons?

Scottish Gaelic has been both a terror and a delight. I took a screenshot of this in one of my last lessons. I mean, LOOK at that word for 'forget.'



The sentence seemed an appropriate capstone to my study of Scottish Gaelic.

I hope that Duolingo will expand the lesson plan (they've done that to other languages before) and I'll be able to go back and learn more.

But I needed to pick another language. I picked Spanish. That's what my girls learned in school. My Dad was very proud to be able to speak Spanish. I have some extended family members who are fluent in Spanish. It's a heckuva lot more useful than Scottish Gaelic.

It's also a major language on Duolingo, rather than a minor one, meaning it has a lot more support, which is a bonus.

So, I dove in. Right off the bat, I can tell that my knowledge of French will be very helpful. It's another romance language, so I understand the grammatical structure. (Although there are irritations. Annoyingly, we're back to a gendered language, except the gender isn't a one-to-one correspondence with the other romance language I already know. Car is feminine in French (la voiture) but masculine in Spanish (el carro)).

My plan is to study it for two years (which I plan to do for each new language I pick up, unless I run out of lessons as I did with Scottish Gaelic). The eventual goal is to have seven languages, and at that point, I will rotate lessons so I study each language one day of the week.

Description: Duolingo app interface, overlaid with Duo (the app mascot) holding a Spanish flag. Text reads 'Start learning Spanish now.' Lower right corner: a woman (Peg) smiles at the viewer, wearing a cartoon sombrero.

Spanish



(Compare the collage I did last year for French.)

(What? I never did a card for Scottish Gaelic????)

Click on the links to see the 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

I've had a number of conversations over the past year with friends who are using Duolingo to learn foreign languages. I had used Duolingo before, getting all the way to the end of the French program, but I'd always used the free version before. As a result of these recent conversations, however, I decided to take the plunge and pay for a year's membership for Super Duolingo. (Friend me if you'd like: my member name is Pegbluesox4113).

The paid version has a number of tricks to get you hooked on using the app, but I don't mind, because that exactly suits my purpose. Yes, I'd like to get more fluent in French. I've used Duolingo to dabble in other languages, too (I'd particularly like to learn Scottish Gaelic, but the spelling is CRAZY). I have the most experience with French, however, and so that is what I've picked up for the time being.

Right now, I'm studying about a half hour to an hour a day. It's fun. I'm not quite at the point where I'm ready to go back to the Meetup French conversation, but perhaps within the next six months?

Lower left corner: a woman wearing a French beret (Peg) smiles at the viewer. Lower right corner: a basket of French baguettes, overlaid by the Eiffel Tower. Upper left: the words "I'm on a 75-day learning streak" overlay a red white and blue map of France. Upper right: the Duolingo logo (owl) with spread wings. Background of the collage is orange, with French words scattered throughout the center.

French



Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.

Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.

Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.

I ran across this TED talk yesterday, which I found very fascinating:

After re-purposing CAPTCHA so each human-typed response helps digitize books, Luis von Ahn wondered how else to use small contributions by many on the Internet for greater good. In this talk, he shares how his ambitious new project, Duolingo, will help millions learn a new language while translating the Web quickly and accurately -- all for free.

So Duolingo is a site where you can learn a foreign language absolutely free while helping to translate the web. I found they have a free app as well. I downloaded it last night and have spent the last day happily re-acquainting myself with French. I studied French on and off for ten years, from 5th grade through graduate school. As I've been restlessly trying to figure out what to do with my energy now that I'm not trying to write for publication or studying karate, one thing that has crossed my mind more than once is picking up French again and maybe even learning another language. Cost and convenience was always a consideration.

So what do I think of Duolingo? After using it for 24 hours, I'm sold. It's slick and easy and fun and awesome. I am going to keep going back to the site, and I think I will try more than one language. I'll work for awhile to firm up my French, but then, I think I'll try Spanish. After that, perhaps German? I have read that knowing/learning a foreign language helps as a bulwark against mind/memory deterioration as you age. My dad was still studying Spanish into his 80s, and his mind was sharp as a tack when he died. He would be absolutely thrilled to know I was learning Spanish.

Anyway, take a look at the video, which is very interesting, download Duolingo and leave a comment to let me know what you think. Right now, they offer Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian, with more languages coming.

Again: it's free. No ads. And it's fun.

Edited to add Bonus! If you sign up now, you can join the Add1Challenge, which is open from January to April.