I guess like lots of people who no longer have a day job, I have developed lots of different habits and ways of not only keeping myself occupied, but keeping my old noodle (as PC Danny Butterman in “Hot Fuzz” would say) active. I have a substitute day job of writing – here on my blog, my novels, my short stories and my self-set writing challenges, and once a month something for the writing group. I do other things too – I try to exercise every day on the Wii, husband and I try to go out for walks (somewhat reluctantly and easily discouraged because we both dislike walking) several times a week, and then of course is the dreaded housework! One other thing I have done is to try to learn another language, a language new to me – as well as brushing up my French.
The language I decided to learn, and I’ve no idea why, was Danish, and I started off with Duolingo – having tried other apps which I didn’t like or get on with. Well, I loved it! Not only that, there was a forum so you could “meet” other people and “chat” about Danish, language learning and other things too. There was also an area – a sort of self-help space where you could post difficulties and confusions and then others who were more advanced could comment and help with suggestions, explanations, and sometimes extra stuff which was very useful to the new learner. I really felt I was leaning, and could not only read simple texts, but understand the gist of spoken passages too.
Suddenly, BAM!!! it was all changed – it became rigid and infantalised, the standard of English was dubious (how ridiculous was that!) and at times plain wrong, the examples were ludicrous and random, the forum and the contact area disappeared (luckily several of us were friends on social media) it became rigid and the contexts were at the best ridiculous and at the worst just wrong.
I have continued to soldier on for various reasons, continually “reporting” errors and the use of forms and structures which are not correct English (even allowing for the fact that it is now completely Americanised and USA-focussed) but there is never any response so I’m guessing it’s just a dummy button. I have come to the sad decision to end my association with Duolingo – I am on day 2188 so I will soldier on until I reach 2200 and then quit. I have messaged them several times before, but have never ever had a reply so I can’t even have the satisfaction of writing a letter of resignation, signed yours, disgusted of Uphill/ med venlig hilsen, en frastødt borger fra Uphill.
PS I’m not giving up Danish, I just need to find another place to learn which suits my style of learning. I probably will never go to Denmark, and if I did I’d probably be too shy to try to speak the language, but I do love it and want to continue in my own little way.
Lois Elsden 