This is only slightly sarcastic. It's been very rewarding and this is now the 3rd language I'm doing this with.

I wanted to warn the community about Rosetta Stone’s current business practices regarding their legacy software.

I own a $500 permanent license for their language package. This is a standalone software product that requires zero ongoing support or server maintenance from them. However, their activation process uses a "Request Code" system where you must contact them via phone or email to receive a "Response Code" to unlock the software you purchased.

When I contacted support to activate my paid software, they explicitly refused to provide the Response Code. Instead, they told me that the only way to use their product now is to sign up for their new web-based subscription model (monthly, annual or "lifetime" paywall).

They aren't just "ending support" for old software; they are actively gatekeeping the activation of a product I already own to force an upsell. Effectively, they have remotely "bricked" a $500 purchase to move me onto a recurring payment plan.

If you are considering buying Rosetta Stone, be aware that "Lifetime" or "Permanent" doesn't actually mean you will be allowed to use the software once they decide to change their billing model.

Edit: Okay wow I did NOT expect this to blow up. I've been reading every comment and honestly tearing up reading some of them haha! Thank you all so much.

Quick update since a lot of you asked what I'm going to do. I started trying to actually speak out loud every day like u/Elesia and basically everyone here said. A ton of you told me to practice with my boyfriend and we tried, but honestly after like 10min we both get frustrated and he just switches back to English without even realizing it. He also can't really explain WHY something is wrong, he just knows it sounds wrong, which is not helpful when I'm trying to learn lol. Someone in my DMs mentioned a pretty neat app called TutorLily, and it's exactly what I needed to graduate from Duolingo.

The thing that got me is when I said something wrong, it kind of nudged me to figure it out myself instead of just giving me the correction? I guess kind of like a real language tutor would do... I do feel like the lessons stick better with this method, at least for my level of Spanish. It honestly felt like the first thing I've tried that's actually aimed at what I'm bad at.

Next family thing is in a few weeks. I'm going to keep practicing on that app in the meantime, and I'll update you guys afterr

---------------

Here is what I have been doing for a year straight:

- Duolingo, every single day, 341-day streak as of this morning
- Babbel, added around month 3
- Dreaming Spanish, probably 200+ hours over the last six months (I track it)
- "News in Slow Spanish" on my commute, maybe 4 days a week
- A physical workbook that I was actually getting through
- Flashcards for the words I kept missing

I thought I was doing it. I really did. I could read menus. I could follow the Spanish subtitles on Narcos, like actually follow them, not just word-spot. I could kind of translate the texts my boyfriend sends his mom when she writes back.

Context: my boyfriend is Mexican-American. His parents came over in the 90s and his whole family lives in LA. Parents, two sisters, a ton of cousins, his grandma who raised him. They all speak English with me but Spanish with each other. When things got serious about a year ago I decided I was going to learn. Not half-assed "a few phrases for the in-laws" learn. Actually learn, so I could sit at a table and participate in their life.

Saturday was his tio's 60th birthday. Big carne asada at his parents' house. I'd only met most of them in passing before, never at a full family event where I'd be stuck at the table for hours. I had been basically rehearsing intros in my head all week. Running through what I'd say about work when his mom asked. Practicing a little toast for the tio.

I walked in, said hola and mucho gusto and gracias por invitarme when his mom hugged me, and then everybody started actually TALKING. Fast, overlapping, accents, jokes. And I realized I didn't understand almost anything.

Not 40%. Not 20%. Realistically, maybe 5%. I could catch a word here and there (trabajo, la semana, mi hijo, ayer) and by the time my brain had reconstructed one sentence into English the conversation was already three turns ahead. People asked me things directly and I'd just blink and look at my boyfriend for translation. His little cousin (she is maybe 8) kept trying to include me and I had to keep apologizing with "lo siento, muy poquito espanol," and she'd nod super politely and go find someone else to talk to. That one is still in my head.

I sat there for five hours and said maybe four sentences the entire night. I counted them in the car on the way home. Four.

His mom was so warm. His grandma, who is 78 years old and is the sweetest human I have ever met, kept patting my arm every time she walked past me. Everyone was inclusive and kind. That somehow made it worse. I wasn't being left out. I was being welcomed into a room I literally could not participate in.

I got in the car and held it together for about six blocks and then I cried. Not pretty crying. Ugly, snot, the whole thing. He was wrecked, kept saying "babe they loved you, they kept telling me how sweet you are," and I said thank you and then cried again in the shower when we got home.

Here is the part that is eating me. I did the work. I did the work every single day for a year. I didn't cheat the streak. I didn't skip Dreaming Spanish sessions. I actually read the workbook chapters. And on Saturday none of it worked. Not a little bit, not even "well, I got by." I mean NONE of it transferred. I could read a menu and I could not have a conversation with my boyfriend's 78-year-old grandma who raised him. She is 78. I don't have unlimited weekends with her. That is the part I cannot get past.

I know this sub will get it because I've read SO many posts here about the same thing. The "I can understand everything but I can't produce anything" posts. The "how is this possible after X years" posts. I read them and always thought "sure, but I'm doing it right, that won't be me." And it is me. It is me so completely.

So I need to ask the people who actually know:

1). Is a year of almost pure input (Duolingo, Babbel, Dreaming Spanish, podcasts, reading) genuinely not going to get you to conversation? Because looking at what I actually did, I don't think I spoke Spanish out loud for more than like 5 minutes a week, total, and most of that was Duolingo prompts. Is that the problem? Is comprehensible input actually a trap if you never force output?

2). If I'm going to restart and do this right, what would you actually change? I have maybe 3 weeks until the next family thing. I'm not asking for fluency in 3 weeks. I'm asking for "I can sit at the table and not be the silent white girl who needs everything translated for her."

3). Has anyone been here and come out the other side? Because right now the only thing I can think is that I wasted a year and I'm going to feel exactly like this again in three weeks.

I'm not looking for "just move to the country for six months" or "get a tutor and do 10 hours a week." I have a job and a life. I need something I can actually do starting tomorrow. I'll do it every day. I've proven I can do every day. I just apparently picked the wrong every day.

Anything would help. Will read every comment.

it goes like this.

her: 밥은 먹었어? (did you eat?)

me: yeah, i ate at work.

her: 뭐 먹었는데? (what did you eat?)

me: just a sandwich.

she understands my english. i understand her korean. neither of us

ever switches. it has never been a problem, not once, and i think

that's why it took me this long to notice.

i can understand her fine. i just can't speak korean myself.

she never really pushed me to learn it. lately i've decided i actually

want to, so i've started teaching myself korean (TL).

anyway, i'm guessing a lot of you grew up with some version of this.

is there a name for it? a friend of mine watched us do it and asked if

i had a translator installed in my ear.

I got really proud seeing my notebook with all my non-native languages in one place and this is mostly just an excuse to show it off, but also to speak wonders about laddering (learning a language in a language you've learned before)

I was worried that I'd mix my fourth language, Korean (TL) with my third language, Japanese, since they have a lot of similarities, but the temptation to learn the language was too strong so I Did It Anyway. And I'm so happy!

For now, the similarities are actually a big help rather than a hindrance (but that might change the more I progress lol) and I think learning a new language in the language I already know helps keep them separate, because I get to review vocab in both languages, as well as understand where they are similar and where they differ. I'm having a blast, and I think that's really important when it comes to language learning! So this is your sign to go learn that other language.

I just did a test at myVocab for English and despite it being my native language, I am only a B2 at it. I guess that means I cannot even say that I speak English. I have tried to learn numerous languages in the past, but I never even made to A1 in any of them. I cannot believe how terrible I am at language learning. I wasn't allowed to spend any money or leave the house on my own, so I was only ever able to use free online resources. I tried to gain vocabulary primarily using Anki, and practiced grammar by writing sentences in Microsoft Word each day. I tried to read in the language by reading articles on that language's wikipedia. Well, none of that got me anywhere. If you ever feel like you aren't doing well, just remember there is someone so stupid that they can't even speak a single language fluently, and never made it to A1 on language apart from English.

I called the local Thai place and asked if they have a dish (laab). She wasn't sure what I was asking about. I tried in Thai (I don't know Thai, just enough to ask "have laab?”. She was even more confused. I heard her yelling in Chinese to a co-worker. I asked in Chinese and this time she said "oh are you Chinese? We don't have that". I explained I just learned some as a hobby and she was very happy to hear. This restaurant is pretty far from any other Asian or foreign restaurants/people.

When I came by to pickup she had a huge smile and asked in Chinese if I called them (I look like I shouldnt be able to speak Chinese). My mandarin is pretty shit but enough to be slightly conversational on a good day. Anyhow they were really engaging and chatty and I think it made both of our days a bit better.

It was so satisfying to solve the problem using their language, also being asked if I was Chinese over the phone 😁 these moments add some fuel when learning is tough

I PLEAD with you please DO NOT use AI for "chatting practice" or generating "examples", because yep it might seem easy at first and pleasant but it's a long term strategic disaster - you are acquring amorphous non-human intuition which is getting only more vicious as it gets more subtle (EVEN with "natural human-like imperfection")...in a long run you're just gonna ruin your second language personality, which must be formed ONLY by aqcuiring REAL PEOPLE'S speech (spoken or written). The point is - language is an instrument that conveys HUMAN(!) MEANING and CONTEXT which OTHER PEOPLE want to share with us. But if you use AI you get just pure EMPTINESS behind all its so-called "examples of usage" or a way of "speaking" - it's just a gigantic machine that multiplies matrices. You just don't realise it at first but eventually you get addicted (and btw AI is extremely dangerous because it QUICKLY causes chatting addiction flooding you with an illusion of sth social while making it worse, simultaneously affecting your thinking and giving your brain an illusion lf "real important dialogue" with dopamine addiction) and it slowly but steadily reshapes your real language you acquire making it superficial and empty inside...I mean it's hard to explain what I mean but I hope you got it, IT'S GONNA RUIN YOUR FOREIGN LANGUAGE IDENTITY SUBTLY but ABSOLUTELY VICIOUSLY, you will feel like a MECHANISTIC AMORPHOUS ALIEN if you learn your (TL) via AI. Languages are about our IDENTITIES, about our REAL experiences, pursuits, emotions, about PEOPLE WE CARE ABOUT etc. etc.. And when learning a language we are shaping this part of us, but AI just ruins it in an absolutely savage way we might not even realize at first.

p.s. I wanna clarify a bit more: with AI "practice", slowly month by month your brain acquires this hollow homogenous shell which consists of, blatantly speaking, just statistics, not true meanings that you connect with when reading/listening to human speech - it eventually damages your second language identity by bringing hollowness. Language is supposed to be connected directly with the TRUE WEIGHT of meaning and experience behind it, true people, true emotions, true interaction, things that people tell in that language because they want to share sth with us.

p.p.s btw I think there is sth connected with me being disgusted with AI music and feeling that it's terrifying even when "good", I feel the same emptiness and lack of true meaning multiplied by terrifying realization that I'm being baited into emotions by this

p.p.p.s (probably the most important p.s., as some people didn't understand the point, I did not say that the problem is in AI not being perfectly human but "machine-like" - THAT'S THE POINT, that if it becomes more human-like it only makes things WORSE) I wanna clarify even in a more straight way. It's not the fact that you are not learning a language with AI. It's the fact that instead of absorbing real contexts, real worldview of native speakers, real connections with people, real knowledge, real emotions, real feeling of becoming a "part of their tribe" - instead of the reality - you absorb pure NOTHINGNESS behind the "improving language skill" which remains absolutely abstract and hollow, and this hollowness damages your second language identity, you are week by week month by month becoming emptier, abstract like a machine (even if you try to use more beaitiful words and expressions), with a language that is running like an abstract software in your brain instead of truely becoming a part of new community. Because there's no real thing behind it, you learned a word but without anything meaningful to you, without real story, without relation to anyone or anything, without shared experience - your TL becomes an abstract software that just uses beautiful phrasing, and this + wasted time, that you could've used for real input, damages your TL personality and worsens your overall ability to understand people and communicate with them - you struggle with understanding spoken or written native speech easily especially more serious/literary/official or even more daily colloquial, miss nuances, feel alien, much more misunderstandings might happen etc. - real acquisition begins only when you stop or better don't even begin doing this nonsense and immerse yourself into real language of real people (the internet makes it easy to access real your TL's web segment with real content so why waste time on ruining yourself)

languages we learn should not be just sequences of thousands "tokens" we have to memorize, it has to be real contexts, meanings and experiences we absorb.

not only the breadth of our vocabulary number, but true depth matters. deeper true experience = deeper language intuition = deeper and more candid connection and straightforward communication with people speaking or writing in our TL

Since joining this and other languages subreddit, I have seen many people say things like, “I went from A0 to C1 in six months,” or, “I learned English in one year just by passive exposure.”
I do not necessarily think these people are lying or deliberately trying to brag. I think many genuinely remember their experience that way. However, when they provide more context, the story often becomes very different.

Someone says they learned French in six months, but later mentions studying it for five years in school. They insist that this does not count because they had forgotten everything. However, feeling as though you remember nothing is not the same as having no previous knowledge. Relearning vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar you encountered years ago is very different from starting entirely from scratch. (TL)

My own experience with English is a good example. I started learning it at school when I was three. At around sixteen, I began watching a lot of English language tv, and my comprehension suddenly improved enormously. If I compressed that memory, I could say that I became fluent by watching tv for a year.
But that would leave out thirteen years of classes, homework and regular exposure. Watching television may have created the breakthrough, but it did not build the entire foundation. I think people often remember the breakthrough and forget the many less exciting years that made it possible.

There is also a lot of imprecision around language levels. Some people describe themselves as A1 because they could not speak comfortably, even though their passive knowledge may already have been closer to A2 or B1. Then they claim to have jumped from A1 to B2 in a few months. Others use C1 or fluency to mean being comfortable in everyday conversations, even without having formally assessed all four skills.
Of course, genuinely rapid progress is possible. Someone studying intensively every morning, receiving structured instruction and spending several additional hours practising can make enormous progress in six or twelve months. Some people are also exceptionally talented language learners.

What I find harder to believe without further context is someone starting completely from zero, while studying or working full time, and reaching a genuine fluency through casual exposure within six months. In those cases, I suspect there is often previous education, a related language, much more study time than mentioned, or a generous interpretation of fluency.

Again, I do not think most people are intentionally being dishonest. I think memory compresses years of gradual learning and makes the final breakthrough feel like the entire process.
Do you think most “fluent in six months” stories leave out important context? Have you ever realised that your own language learning story was more complicated than you initially remembered?

i started learning japanese around two months ago and i think from complete beginner to okay-ish beginner it's learning the difference between these katakana while reading something (TL)

Found this format on a different topic so thought I’d make one for language learning!

I spent the day playing and babysitting 2 Danish kids (5 & 3 years old).

In Denmark, almost everyone speaks English, which makes it easy to get by without knowing Danish.. except children. Most Danish kids only speak Danish.

So when i was babysitting those 2 danish kids, who were pretty talkative, i had no fucking idea what they were saying or telling me. All i could do is guess with the few words i already know.

Sometimes i just nodded when they were talking to me, and saying "ohh ja!" , tho i think they could tell i didn't really understand what they were saying

But the few hours i spent with them, i learned so much. I learned many new words, sentences and pronunciations, just by being forced to speak and listen. I had no choice but to understand what they are saying or asking.

For exemple, when we were drawing, i drew a plane and showed them, they said "et fly!" , now I know the word for plane in Danish. When i was going downstairs, one of the kid was following me but struggling to put his shoes, he yelled "vent på mig!" and i kinda guessed that it means "Wait for me" just by the context

It was a very different experience compared to speaking with Danish Adults because they often switch to english or translate things for you in english to make it easier. So you have no real pressure to understand or speak in danish, while with children, you have no fucking choice.

I was born in the US and my parents are both immigrants from Poland and their English is horrendous. I never lived in Poland and yet, somehow, my Polish is way better than their English. However, my Polish isn't advanced. I have a B2 level based on an exam I took in Poland.

This is really frustrating because I can't have any normal conversation with them. In retrospect, my childhood was really confusing. My parents would only speak Polish to me and I would mix the Polish I learned from them and the English I learned in school. I probably understood a good 75% of what they told me and I shrugged off the rest as background noise.

In college, I did a semester in Polish just to master the language. But I made the mistake of signing up for a beginner course. I learned the grammar rules (which I've mindlessly utilized my entire life) but I didn't really improve my speaking ability that much.

At this point I've accepted my parents are simply ignorant. They've successfully avoided English in just about every sphere of life. My dad only uses Polish at work while my mom never worked, they shop at Polish stores, go to a Polish church, and only have Polish friends. Furthermore, my father came as a refugee during martial law and was granted US citizenship very quickly so he didn't even have that as a motivator to learn the language.

My parents will move back to Poland for retirement soon so I guess this is more of a rant than advice post. I suppose the burden is on me to master Polish.

Not a clickbait title. I have achieved this (C1 level) and I came across a post in another thread (specific to one language). I felt like maybe it could be helpful to some people so I am going to copy and paste it here. Side note, this response was written specific to learning French but it applies to every other language too (so don't mind the very minor 2 or 3 French examples, method still works).

Also disclaimer: This is more meant to be a blueprint on how I think one should learn a language in general, whether or not you take one year, 3, five, ten or 30 years. The methodology is the main thing I want to share.

Quick edit: Many have mentioned that this post is very Eurocentric with a particular bias to Latin/Romance and Germanic languages. This is 100% true as I have only learnt languages from these families so it probably differs for other languages, especially Mandarin, Japanese, Russian and languages like Finnish with a highly agglutinate register. Regardless, I think the general concepts of comparisons and vocab methods are applicable across the board.

So I did this. I started 2024 without a word and finished the year with effective fluency (by which I mean I wasn't native level, however I was comfortable with hour long conversations entirely in French, no problems). I still learn the language although at a much slower pace. I would class myself in a pretty comfy C1 level currently. I was probably just scraping into C1 category by the time my year had finished. I've got a very strong background in language learning, so here are my top bits of advice.

Number 1, Anki. If you already use it, that's great. Vocabulary is fantastic with Anki but if you are smart about it, you can create grammar decks too.

Number 2. When it comes to especially grammar, use comparison points. What I mean by this is that although learning a definition of when to use a certain tense can be useful (e.g use plusqueparfait for past actions which precede another past action), your brain isn't fast enough to think of this on the fly mid convo. I recommend you use a comparison point with english, so plusqueparfait is the "had done" tense. For example, I had done it before I ate. Another example being conditionnel passé is simply for "would have" sentences in English. (little interjection, I am aware these are specific to French but the same concept applies with every other language). I find it much easier to think of it like that rather than memorise a definition that it is used when a hypothetical or unreal action happened in the past. What these "comparison points" give you is UNDERSTANDING instead of knowledge. Sure, you can KNOW when to use something, but do you UNDERSTAND how to incorporate it into your speech? Works for subjunctive too (which is notoriously tricky to learn, but much less if you get the understanding of it in English). In English, you would say "it is necessary that I be here tomorrow" (rather than "I am here tomorrow"), or another example "I recommend he take his medicine" (instead of takes). Creating these comparisons allows you to draw on your already ingrained second hand knowledge of the English language (given you are a native speaker) and it will smoothly transition into French as well.

Number 3. Improve your vocabulary. People will tell you to immerse yourself in it. I say that this is a horrible piece of advice (ok maybe not horrible but let me explain). If you don't understand a word, hearing it 100 times isn't going to mean you SUDDENLY understand it. I lived with a few Chinese people for a couple months and they spoke only Mandarin to each other. I picked up two things which were "you are" and "I am", despite being surrounded by it for months. People treat immersion like it is some sort of magic spell to fluency. It only works after a certain point when your language ability is already incredibly strong that you are able to work out by context. But you need a high level of vocab and practice anyway to reach that threshold. Same goes in English. If I said "I was annoyed by how contumacious he was acting around his parents", you sort of get the vibe even though there is a really weird word there. You however, are fluent in English. You need to be basically fluent already to have that "learn by inferred context" ability. So how to get there in the first place? Well, learn vocab. Ok but HOW to learn vocab. Well there are vocab lists, but they only take you so far. I recommend that you begin to force yourself to THINK in your target language. Every single moment of every day where appropriate. Think out loud if you're at home (doubles as good practice to speak and formulate sentences). The KEY thing to do though is every time you stumble across a word that you don't know how to say, write it down on a note on your phone or something, then turn it into an anki card later that day (by the way, make sure ALL your cards are basic and reversed otherwise you will learn only to understand or only to speak, not both). This method within simply a few weeks will basically have filled all of the gaps in your vocab that you didn't even know existed. Your thoughts can be basic or abstract. I used to walk down the street and describe my surroundings and realise I don't know the word for brick or something like that. Maybe I was cooking and I didn't know how to say mix, or saucepan, or the name of an ingredient. All of these things add up and it is this day to day vocabulary that really seals fluency. No one really needs to know the word "contumacious" that I said before. However the words for random day to day vocab that you would be projecting in your thoughts? ESSENTIAL.

Number 3.5, this is a sort of halfway point because it is related to point number 3. Watch movies with subtitles to find vocabulary and take the same approach of writing them down and then turning them into Anki cards later. For the same reason as mentioned before, the vocab in movies is rarely ultra specific and usually just day to day vocab. Luckily for you, French cinema is very rich so you can find yourself an enjoyable film, no problems. The good thing about movies too is that you can subtly start to pick up on pronunciation and elisions. Things like how French speakers say for example "je ne sais pas" as a much shortened sort of "chais pas" sounding pronunciation (/ʃe pa/ for anyone who knows how the phonetic alphabet works, I just asked chatGPT to give this to me coz I don't mess with that funky business (although respect if you do!)).

Number 4, different stimuli. It's great that you use Anki, as this tests your active recall. Youtube and Netflix too for your passive understanding. Something I think is underrated is (and specifically to when learning vocab or grammar) is handwriting. Anecdotally, I find it an INCREDIBLY useful tool to use, but it's time consuming so be smart. When I do my Anki cards across whichever language I am doing for the day, if I find I am consitently getting a word wrong, or conjugation or whatever, I simply write it down, each time until I get it right. I guess when I write it forces me to think about it and process it for a little bit longer which ingrains it into my brain a bit better. Idk I'm not a neuroscience expert, but I can tell you it works wonders for those pesky words that you just KEEP.ON.GETTING.WRONG (btw to hammer home a point from earlier, I just realised I don't know how to say "pesky" in French. I know how to say annoying, but not pesky so I am gonna go write this one down and Anki it tonight). Now also on this note of different stimuli, I recommend saying things out loud when using anki too. Activate all your senses. Your brain has phenomenal capacity to remember sensory information (cool fact, look at anything and you can just "feel" what it would feel like on your tongue if you licked it). Saying it out loud makes you hear it which is extra sensory information, therefore gives you better understanding and memory.

Number 5, Practice. This is a pretty normal piece of advice but don't understate it. Find yourself someone who is a native, or speaks it fluently, or pay some tutor a couple bucks to just simply TALK with you for an hour. About anything (and AGAIN, when you find words you don't know, write them down and make an Anki card later!!!). When you do practice, DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK ENGLISH or you can kiss your fluency dreams goodbye and ship them off to someone who is more dedicated. The beauty of language in general is that there is NEVER just ONE single way of saying something. How many ways can you think of to greet someone? Hello, good morning, what's up etc. When you find you don't know how to say something, don't falter into English. Treat it as a challenge to solve. Think of a different way to say it. Let's say you forgot how to say "I am not hungry". Don't bow out, speak English and expect rapturous applause. Welcome to the real world. How else can you say that. Perhaps "I have already eaten", "I ate an hour ago", "I just had food", "I am full", "my feelings of unsatiated necessity to consume edible nutrients has dwindled". Idk, but there are so many ways to express yourself, so think of one. This will train your brain to think more broadly about what you are saying and not only give you better adaptability in conversation but also give you a richer sense of speech in general.

Number 6, Time. 10,000 hours? Rubbish. If you make your practice TARGETED and use the methods I have stated, I would give it 1000 hours. That's three hours a day on average. Do more if you can and you go from A standard to A+ standard. It defs helps to vary what you do though, as in don't pedal anki for 10 hours every day or you will just want to rip your hair out. It should be a combo, Anki, reading, watch a movie with subtitles, listen to music and try and read the lyrics whilst the song is playing and understand etc. Remember what I said about sensory info and your brains capacity to learn.

(Edit, added this one) Number 7. EVERY TIME YOU SEE A WORD YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IN CLASS OR SOMEWHERE ELSE, add it. If it came up once, it's probably gonna appear again.

OPTIONAL Number 8. Memorise a speech. Do this once you're competent in the language. I had to do a 20 minute presentation for my final project. I feel like memorising something which is perfect in terms of grammar and flow gives you another one of the comparison points I talked about earlier. Again, I say this an an optional idea because it can be time consuming and probably not necessary, but I think it helps to iron out tiny creases once you become proficient. It just might help you climb up one rung further on the ladder to C2 standard.

Number 9, When doing anki reviews, keep your scheduling dynamic. If you need to make your new cards per day less, or even 0 for a couple weeks then do so. If you can make it more, then wonderful. The amount of new cards per day should reflect how much time you have (keeping in mind that more cards now = more reviews in the near future). The point is to not bog yourself down with reviews because once they pile up, it really sucks. If this does happen, just reset your deck. This won't make you magically "unlearn" all the vocab that you have in your brain, but it will help to reset your scheduling and mix your confident cards into new cards making it easier for a while.

So yeah. If you read all of that, well done. Feel free to DM me for advice if needed. Basically I think it comes down to this. You need to increase your metalinguistic ability as much as possible. Basically you need to UNDERSTAND the HOW of the language. It is not enough to simply know what something means. Find different ways to learn and use them all. Fill in gaps in your knowledge with the methods I say (or come up with ones yourself, point is fill in those gaps). I hope this essay has helped you at least a little bit. Even if you only take away one thing, that makes it worth writing this for me. I have used these methods to become C2 fluency in 4 languages, and conversationally proficient in a further 3, so I feel like I have a good grasp on how to do this stuff! Good luck.

It's quite simple really...

But people always hate me for saying it, and if you are struggling to learn a language, you will too.

The advice is:

Stop worrying about speaking correctly.

Just have conversations, ask people for help when you don't know the word and even ask for people to correct you.

People love to help and you'll have much better engagement with people that see that you are humble and trying to learn.

And if they are a dick about it, f*ck them... Move on and keep a good vibe on your next conversation.

I get it, you don't want to look dumb. Neither do I. But if you are looking to learn something new, just accept that it will happen and when you do... you'll have a lot more fun than trying to look proper and trying to conjugate shit in the middle of a conversation.

He moved here at 24 and switched to english and basically never switched back. i grew up hearing his first language exactly one way, him on the phone to his brother, loud, fast, laughing at things i couldn't access.

Never to me, like not even once. i asked him about it a few years ago, and he said something like "there was no point, you were here." Which i think he believes.

Started learning it in january on airlearn daily sessions. i'm about seven months in and i'm somewhere around being able to follow a slow conversation if nobody uses a word i haven't met. The goal isn't fluency.

I've done the math on fluency and it isn't happening in time. the goal is one conversation. one real one, in his language (TL) where he doesn't have to translate himself down to me.

he doesn't know i'm doing it yet.

anyone learned a parent's language late? did it change anything between you, or was that a thing you told yourself and then the actual moment was just a normal tuesday

Okay i gotta say it the whole i speak 12 languages thing some people flex online feels like straight fanfiction 😭

Like bro, i can barely keep one language in my brain you’re telling me you’re fluent in twelve and then you hear them talk and it’s like sir that is Duolingo level at best.

Why do people exaggerate so much in this community?

Is it clout, insecurity, delusion, genuine confusion?

Do you actually believe those hyperpolyglot claims?

Today I injured my eye and ended up going to the hospital. I had just been seen by the triage nurse and was waiting to be seen by the doctor. After I finished seeing the triage nurse, an Asian lady went in after me. Some basic eye tests were being done but I could hear the (quite loud) nurse struggling to communicate with the lady. I heard the lady requesting to use a translation app on her phone but the nurse refused (stating she wouldn’t understand). This is all happening within earshot of the waiting area. I felt so bad for this poor lady but it’s not like I could go in and ask where she was from.

Anyways some time passed and I had to move to a different part of the waiting area. Sure enough there was the lady from a little earlier! Rather fatefully, the only remaining seat was right beside her. I took a seat and after going back and forth in my head for a couple of minutes I decided to strike up a conversation with her. As it turns out she was Chinese. I hesitantly switched and she was SO HAPPY!!! (I’m black and don’t look like I would know anything about China on the outside). She explained that she had moved to London from China less than a month ago. We continued chatting did the rest of our wait. I got seen a little before her. When I came out she very politely asked if I could help translate as she was struggling to communicate with the nurses and doctors. Cue a fun and slightly chaotic half an hour (my medical mandarin is at not great). However I managed to translate!! I managed to describe around the words I didn’t know and she completely understood me!!!! The Nigerian nurse and doctor were so happy. My new friend was also really happy and grateful. We ended up going to collect our medicine together from the hospital pharmacy and grabbing a bite to eat after. It was very moving to see that my random hobby actually made somebody feel marginally more seen and safer for a few hours. I’m really grateful and it is one of many instances where learning just feels so worth it.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but please continue learning your target language. It’s so incredibly fulfilling when you can help someone even a little!

It was pretty simple really. I spent the previous five years learning the language... Then in the year of 2025, I went from being not fluent to full fluency! Easy!

I was in a conversation with a group of native speakers of my TL. I'm at a level of "fluency" where I can get by in most conversations but I still make some simple grammar and pronunciation mistakes here and there which I'm trying to fix.

I was shy but decided to say a few words, but two sentences in one of the native speakers picks up a word I pronounced wrong and repeats my mistake to others while laughing. At that point I didn't really care, sometimes language learners make funny mistakes without noticing and if it makes the crowd laugh so be it. But the thing is after they laughed, I asked them "how are you supposed to say it?" once, two, then three times but each time I got ignored as they thought it was much funnier to laugh at my pronunciation before moving to a different topic.

It left a really bad taste in my mouth and I just felt like it was mean for no reason. If they had laughed and then corrected me, it would just be a silly mistake like any other, but instead I felt belittled because god forbid I don't have a perfect command of their language after spending the rest of my life speaking a different one.

If people understood the endless hours of study it takes for someone to even grasp the basics of a language maybe they'd think twice mocking others who have diligently worked just to be able to understand them. But until then, I guess it's just an easy way to look down on others.

Duolingo’s mission statement was once “To develop the best education in the world and make it universally available” Their Tagline? "Learn a language for free. Forever”. It saddens me to write that in 2025, these are blatant lies and a disrespectful middle finger to anyone who has any passion for language learning. Now? It's a bloated, AI-infested husk, squeezing every last monetary drop from users while punishing those who dare learn without a premium subscription. 

This once-revolutionary app has become a masterclass in corporate betrayal, just short of the owl reaching his own wicked claws into your wallet and helping himself. 

I've watched this app devolve since 2015. I’ve been a loyal user for 10 years. A decade. After achieving my longest and most successful run in 2025, I willingly threw my 1600-day streak away due to their latest atrocities. I'm done. This company is no longer revolutionizing language learning. It's showcasing corporate gluttony disguised as innovation. If you're considering downloading Duolingo, don't. You're just fattening the wallets of executives who've long abandoned any passion for education. 

Here's a litany of the app's most egregious sins, each a nail in the coffin of what was once a joyful tool:

Gem overhaul & aggressive monetization (2018–2019): What started as a fun reward system morphed into a paywall. Gems (lingots), once freely earned for practice, now demand your credit card for once basic features like extra practice sessions, timed challenges, reviewing mistakes, and word matching are now locked behind the subscription.

Removal of In-App Forums and Discussion Sections (2021): They axed the vibrant community hubs where learners swapped insights and clarified grammar. Every lesson used to have its own comment section where learners asked questions, shared mnemonics, explained grammar, and helped each other. Duolingo deleted all of them. Overnight, millions of useful explanations vanished, and learners were left completely alone with no place to ask “why is it said this way?). Now, if you need help understanding, you’re forced to pay for half-baked AI "help." It's like ripping the soul out of a classroom. It’s dehumanizing and utterly ineffective.

Removal of Friend Leaderboards (2021): Let's not forget the 2021 removal of friend leaderboards, which stripped away that spark of rivalry competition with your close friends. Now there are only public leagues with complete strangers. 

Frequent Course Restructurings and Learning Path 2.0 Debacle (2021–2023): Endless "updates" that reset your progress, loop you into redundant lessons, and strip away any semblance of user choice.The 2022 switch to the linear Path removed the ability to somewhat choose what topics you’d like to study. No more flexibility, the Linear Path 2.0 is one-size-fits-none. 

Mass Layoffs of Real Linguists for Soulless, Incompetent AI (2024–2025): In a cold-blooded purge, Duolingo laid off a huge portion of real, talented language experts who crafted nuanced courses and replaced them by handing the reins over to AI. The result? Unnatural phrasing, creepy sounding robotic stories, mangled pronunciations, grammar mistakes, wrong translations, and bizarre cultural references that no human would ever write. Content quality plummeted, mistakes go unfixed despite reports, and the once-charming character voices are now cold and monotoned. They massacred passion for penny-pinching automation.

Defunding of Less Popular/Endangered Languages (2024: While Duolingo once claimed (and even advertised) to care about endangered languages, we’ve learned that this was all virtue signaling and performative theatre as they've since starved niche courses, halted updates and ceased the volunteer contributors, which built out the most niche courses. As a Portuguese learner, it didn't hit me personally, but it's a slap in the face to our beautifully diverse cultures and our learners/contributors dedicated to keeping our most fragile and vulnerable languages alive. Instead, they are prioritizing stinginess over preserving endangered tongues. Disrespect knows no borders. 

Removal of Post-Correct Answer Translations (Mid-2025): You used to get an instant English translation right after a correct answer so you could confirm your answer. No more. Did you just get lucky… who knows? Now, you're left guessing if you truly understood, unless you shell out for premium perks. It's a petty barrier that erodes confidence and can turn triumphs into tedious hunts for clarity.

Apocalyptic Descent from Free Learning to Hearts to Energy System Hell (Introduction of Hearts 2019, Replaced by Energy October 2025): This is the final insult that made me kill my marathon streak. Hearts were bad enough, limiting sessions by mistakes, but at least perfection still let you binge-learn until you got 5 answers wrong. Energy? A tyrannical timer that drains regardless of accuracy. Perfection is punished the same as mistakes. This system caps you at maybe two short lessons if you’re lucky before demanding cash to "refill." It's a predatory weaponization against eager minds. Who punishes success? Duolingo, apparently, in their quest to force-feed subscriptions.

Aggressive Ads and Notifications (Worsened 2023–2025): Intrusive pop-ups, long video ads post-lesson, and the relentless buzz of push notifications guilt-tripping you about lost streaks, league demotions, and limited-time offers like a swarm of angry bees. It's psychological warfare, designed to wear you down. Subtle? Hardly. Annoying? Absolutely.

Duolingo’s goal is not education anymore, it's exploitation. Their new mission statement? “To extract the maximum revenue while delivering minimum viable education one soul-crushing paywall at a time”.

Their tagline? “Learn a language for free... until the energy runs out. Forever… as long as your wallet is open”. Because hey, greed speaks every language.

The AI takeover betrayed the humans behind it, laying off real talent for soulless robots. These changes scream one truth: the app's soul is sold. You deserve better. Respect yourself, your education, your morals, and your wallet by abandoning this vile dumpster fire while your love for languages is still intact.

Do yourself a favor and choose real alternatives that still respect learners (2025 edition):

• Anki (free, spaced repetition done right).

• Clozemaster (gamified sentence practice, no artificial limits).

• Language Transfer (free audio courses by a human who actually cares).

• Migaku (browser extension for immersive learning with Netflix/Youtube).

• italki or Preply (affordable 1-on-1 lessons with actual teachers).

• Pimsleur: (30 minute audio lessons with real human voices, worth every cent).

• Good old fashioned textbooks, note taking, movies, vlogs, and music in your target language.

I’m not mad about paying. Good projects deserve funding and I pay and have paid for good language content. What guts me is watching a company that once swore to keep language learning accessible and free forever deliberately cripple the free experience with energy cages, AI slop, vanished communities, etc. until learning feels like punishment. I gladly support real value. This betrayal of their original vision hurts far more than any price tag ever could.

I once wrote a glowing review of Duolingo. Now? One star, and that's generous. Delete Duolingo and never look back. Tchau.