Language Learning- My experience with learning languages on DuoLingo

Ever since I learned that learning a new language would help in our cognitive abilities as we age and reduce the risk of diseases like Alzheimers' and Dementia, I wanted to do it. I think the use of mobile phones has spoiled us a bit. When everything is at our fingertips and we do not need to store a lot of information, especially for non-students, hardly any effort goes into memorizing things. Everything can be looked up easily over and over again, we can set reminders for tasks and also there is no longer a need to memorize phone numbers any more. I was no different, and a was/am a good candidate for memory loss. I decided to learn a language and then another one. 

Slightly over a year ago, I decided to learn French using Duolingo. Why French- well, I have a lot of French speaking colleagues at work, made it a logical choice. When I started, DuoLingo was a free app where you can make any number of mistakes but gradually, it moved to a paid model. Ads started popping up and also, you cannot make more than 5 mistakes per day. I didn't mind this to be honest, mainly because I do not spend more than 5 mins a day on learning.

The biggest positive for me with Duolingo is the gamification of our learning. No one likes to be on a losing streak and as long as you complete a lesson, you can keep extending your streak on a daily basis. For someone as competitive as me, I like this very much and it has surely helped me stay consistent. 

Apart from this, the other positive is the possibility to learn multiple languages simultaneously on the app. A few months ago, due to my love for Chinese dramas, I took up learning Mandarin Chinese on the app. 

Also, there is a spaced repetition concept built into the app, so it is quite unlikely that you will forget most of what you have learnt in a couple of weeks.

The biggest negative for me is the lack of real conversations. Though there are several speaking exercises, I personally did not find it as effective as having a real conversation in the language I am learning. If someone directly speaks to me in French or Mandarin, I am unable to understand them well or if I have understood, respond appropriately. Basically, there is a lack of confidence in having good conversations.

The other negative is the lack of basics being taught. For French, it was still okay as the script is similar to English. However, there are several accents and there was no priming on how these could be used. For Mandarin, it was way too difficult as the script is something unfamiliar. The pinyin is not always pronounced the way it is written. So, for someone from India, it is really difficult. There are no basics on how we are supposed to read and understand the characters. There are some written exercises for Mandarin characters, but I do not remember any of it because it is just some random words and characters.

My verdict- Use Duolingo to get into language learning and practice some common words, phrases and sentences but use it as a supplemental tool, rather than as a primary tool for learning languages.

2024- Last 100 Days Plan

2024 is the first year in several years where I did not start the year with any goals. At the beginning of the year or even in late 2023, I could not think of anything specific that I wanted to achieve in 2024. I invested in a fancy planner but it did not help me gain the clarity I needed. Recently, I was listening to a podcast where Ankara Warikoo was being interviewed and what he said stuck with me. He recommended that people set input based goals rather than outcome based goals. Outcome based goals are not always in our control but input based goals are always in our control. 

What exactly is the difference in the two? Input based goals are those where we state what work we would put in- Example: Read a page everyday or work out everyday etc. Outcome based goals are those where expect a pre-defined outcome- Example: 10k followers on Instagram, or , lose 45kgs this year. Even if we put in the work, we may not achieve the desired outcome. However, we would be still be making progress if we use input based goals- may be we will have 8k followers or maybe we will lose 30kg instead of 45- the work has gone in and we have made progress.

This podcast helped me with a mindset shift. Last year when I thought of what I would like to achieve next year- I was thinking in terms of outcome. After listening to the podcast, I asked myself, what am I willing to do or where would I like to focus my energy on for whatever time we still have left this year.

The other mindset shift I made was in terms of what is my purpose in life? Many people have amazing level of clarity to this deep question. Not me. I do not have a bigger purpose in life. I decided that until I find the bigger "What"/ "Why",  I will work on self-improvement and personal development. So I put together a to-do list to work consistently for the rest of the year. 

Here's a glimpse of my to-do list (not exhaustive as some are quite private) for the rest of the year:

- Read: for 2 mins everyday

- Write 1 line in my journal everyday

- Meditate for 1 min everyday

- 30 mins of walk everyday

- 30 mins of workout everyday

- Go to bed before midnight everyday

- Write a blog post daily (not necessarily publish it)

- No sugar except on festivals and birthdays

Currently I am in the pre-100 days plan period and I am testing it out to see how easy or difficult it is for me to keep to my to-do list. I would be refining in as needed to keep it as realistic as possible.

In case you are a bit all over the place like me, and do not have concrete goals in place, I suggest to give this approach a shot. I hope it will give you a plan to work towards.