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Nine Months into My Year-Long Duolingo Challenge

Duolingo AppI’ve always wanted to be able to speak more than just English. In high school, I studied Spanish for three years and in college, I took the equivalent of three years of coursework. And where did that get me?

Earlier this year I discovered a fun (and free!) app called duolingo, which turns learning a second language into a game.

Nine months ago I challenged myself to take at least one lesson every day for a year. That’s 365 days, in a row, of learning Spanish. That was exactly nine months ago today. Yay me, right?

So, nine months in, how am I doing? What have I learned? It turns out, I’ve learned quite a bit. According to duolingo.com, I’ve learned 1,023 words and I’m almost halfway to Level 15 (there are a max of 25 levels and you need more and more XPs, duolingo’s term for points, to advance levels):

Duolingo9mos_03

My Spanish progress after nine months using Duolingo.

I’ve earned tons of lingots, mostly via 10-day streaks and by completing the double-or-nothing challenges.

Duolingo9mos_02

Over 500 lingots after three quarters of a year of duolingo.

I’ve used the lingots to “purchase” timed practices and a couple progress quizzes. As you can see, my proficiency has waned in the last three months:


Duolingo9mos_01

A slight dip in my proficiency from three months ago.

In my six-month update, I expressed concern that I wouldn’t have time while on a Western Mediterranean cruise to do a lesson every day. I’m quite disappointed to report that my streak was broken while on the cruise. The internet on the ship was slow at its best and very spotty. While I diligently did at least one lesson each morning, on two separate days, the iPad app didn’t communicate with duolingo.com that I had completed one or more lessons. As a result, my streak was broken.

I’ve submitted a ticket request to duolingo to see if there was some faulty problem with the iPad app. Unfortunately, the customer support from duolingo has been non-existent. They have a support feature on duolingo.com in which I have submitted a support ticket, however, I have not received a response.

Message submitted on duolingo.com

Duolingo has a support feature, but I’m not sure why if they don’t ever respond.

So, nine months in, I’m still sticking with it. I’m determined to complete my goal in March 2015. Although my duolingo app doesn’t recognize that I’ve completed a course everyday, I know I have.

Do you duolingo? What is the longest duolingo streak you’ve been on?

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