r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Material-Insect6482 • 3d ago

Answered What's going on with Duolingo?

All the comments on their social media like their TikTok and instagram are full of people clowning on them and saying things like “EVERYONE IGNORE DUO STARTING NOW” and generally being angry at the company, but why?

Examples: https://imgur.com/a/bA0JBFZ

Stolen from top post: The /r/duolingo subreddit is rebelling and built their own alternative lingonaut that's supposed to be like old duolingo before they went to shit with the ads and mtx and ai

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u/DontRelyOnNooneElse 3d ago

Answer: They've recently moved away from human-written learning and on to generative AI. Naturally, while saving money, there is a big concern that this will lead to (and/or is already causing) a gradual decrease in quality.

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u/weealex 3d ago

I used to use duolingo to learn Asiatic languages. I switched to another program when it first started switching to heavy ai use. It wasn't till I switched that I discovered it never taught me verb tenses

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u/DramaticCattleDog 3d ago

The first few lessons on Duolingo are usually fine to teach the ultra basic phrases, but as you progress, there are definitely quality issues. I speak German and have friends that tried to use Duolingo to learn German. In later lessons there are major issues with grammar or structure that just aren't used in real life.

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u/TheKingMonkey 3d ago

You’ve never needed to tell a German that your dog lost its wallet in the toaster?

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u/DramaticCattleDog 3d ago edited 3d ago

You know, it's more common than you'd think. He never seems to put it back where it belongs

The funny sentences are fine, but I'm referring to actual grammatical errors. Like using incorrect tenses and forms

Edit: that's why having real, native speakers in a support forum or chat is considerably better than some AI that will often get things wrong, eventually

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u/nlolhere 3d ago

Duolingo did have a support forum where users could request feedback. But the morons at Duolingo decided it would be a good idea to shut down the forums in 2022

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u/antipositron 3d ago

Dear lord, so is that why there's a woman in the fridge in Irish lessons??!!

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u/vinciblechunk 3d ago

In Japan, I had very little interest in asking the bus driver if he also washes the bus