150 Days with Duo

Back in early July, I registered with Duolingo to keep up and improve my Spanish. My first week was fun and exciting, as is expected with something novel. Would I be able to keep motivated and stay the course? Would the game-like structure of Duo help me learn? Would I be motivated by earning lingots and advancing levels?

 

150 days later, I’ve experienced almost everything the program has to offer. I made steady progress to the Diamond league and I’ve earned 893 lingots. I haven’t missed a day; the “freeze” protection I bought to maintain my streak has not needed redeeming. I’ve enjoyed the Stories options, used the flash cards, tried listening to the podcast (too advanced for me), and I can earn quick bonus points by clicking on the barbell icon for timed practice – useful for sniping my way into a top three ranking on the last day. I’ve earned gold once, silver once, and bronze once. At my zenith, I was averaging earning 100 XP per day.

 

But the shine has worn off. My motivation levels are low and I’m down to about 40 XP per day, enough to just barely stay out of the demotion zone as long as I start my first lesson of the week late in the day. (Yes, the leagues are less competitive if you start later, as I learned spending a whole week in the demotion zone when I started too early.) Why am I still doing it? Habit, I suppose. Just like my daily set of stretching exercises. I know they’re good for my long-term health so I spend half an hour going through the routine. I can’t say it’s fun or interesting.

 

Duo’s chirps and encouragement no longer motivate me. The lessons seem like a grind. I’m still learning new things, and I suppose that’s a good thing, but now I barely crack 15 minutes a day. My accumulated lingots can’t buy anything of interest. I’m just plodding along. If I had planned a trip to the Spanish-speaking country, I’d have more motivation to keep up. In fact, I did have a planned trip for a conference that was postponed to next year because of Covid. Would I be able to keep up for another nine months? I don’t know. The built-in habit is what allows me to plod on –and I don’t want to lose my 150-day streak; it would take me another 150 days to build it back up!

 

Does gamification of learning only take you so far? I’ve spent maybe 75 hours with Duo in those 150 days. I’d peg that at half-a-semester’s worth of work in a single three-credit class for a very conscientious student. For the average student, maybe that is par for a semester-long course. Learning is still a grind. At least parts of it. I don’t have a flair for languages, but I’ve discovered I’m not terrible at it and that I’m a relatively fast learner. My time with Duo started as an experiment. Did it succeed? I don’t know yet. But I do know that motivation in lingots and league tables is not enough.