Dear Duolingo,
I want to learn Arabic.
I have been living in an Arabic-speaking country for more than a year now, blissfully shielded from having to speak Arabic to anyone for any reason.
As a polyglot, I am pretty surprised I did not seek to learn Arabic sooner than now because learning a right-to-left language has been on my list of to-dos.
Is it because I was swamped with life? Is it because I am growing older? Is it because my cognitive load is already at its highest?
I don’t know.
Now that I decided to learn Arabic, I sought you out first. Duolingo is recommended by many, including my child’s academic institution. I am not sure about the criteria used for choosing you!
I started eagerly a couple of weeks back. It was all good for a few days. Learning a few letters and combinations, learning to read when they’re put together, learning their sounds and so on. I braved the ads and videos that distract me after every lesson. I opened up many chests, earned several gems and even acquired legendary status.
As my Sundays are screen-free, I mustered up the courage to ignore your appeals to continue with my streak. I sailed through with perfect lessons. No mistakes.
However, Duolingo, I find that you’ve become boring. You’re repeating the same over and again.
Yesterday, I realized that I’m not done with all the letters yet. So, why am I still holding on to the dhaw and the dhay, the duur and the ruud? Can you please go beyond the Bob and Judy and the Carrie and Rosa phrases?
Teach me words, Duolingo! Vocabulary that I can use!
Two days ago, I thought that the moment has arrived when I plodded through a lesson to learn some vocabulary with bayut (house), kabir (big) and mumtaz (amazing). That mumtaz requires a post by itself, you know!
Alas, yesterday, I was back to the dhaw, the dhay, the Bob and Carrie and the same rigmarole.
Why?
Is it because I am using you for free?
What is my motivation to pay for you if you’re teaching the same stuff over and over, again and again?
I don’t feel like I’m making progress. I’m stagnant now.
I am here to learn. I assume that you’re here to teach.
I think you can do a better job of it, knowing when a learner has mastered a concept and moving on to the next lesson. I thought you had dynamically generated lesson plans customized to a learner.
If you don’t already have that, you will never come close to a human teacher.
Now, I’ve installed a few other apps to see how they fare!
I hope you’ll understand my feedback and we can continue our journey together in future!
Till you get your act together,
Bye from
– An enthusiastic learner.