In 2015, ahead of my first vacation to Italy, I wanted to learn some Italian. It’s polite to know at least some basic words and phrases when visiting a foreign country, right? Enough to get by, anyway. With about three months to learn, I landed on Duolingo—and instantly fell in love with the way it teaches a language through implicit learning and gamification.
As someone who’s never been particularly academic, I still remember those days with a special fondness because I’d never had so much fun while learning something new. A lot of that had to do with the fact I could see (and feel) how much progress I was making.
Duolingo has been part of my life for a decade now, but I’m falling out of love with it. What was once my favorite app has turned into something I dread, and the fun I once had is no longer there. What happened?
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I was using the free version of Duolingo, but liked it enough to start paying
That first Italian vacation I mentioned above went pretty well and I was able to enjoy basic conversations in Italian with the locals. Duolingo actually helped, and since then I’ve used the app to learn the basics of several other languages when visiting other countries. For a long time, it was the most exciting app on my phone.
Dave Parrack / Foundry
And in fact I liked Duolingo enough that I started paying for the privilege of using it. It was so useful that I felt the developers deserved some compensation, and more than that it was actually entertaining. So, why not? I rarely pay for premium subscriptions, but I gladly handed over my hard-earned money for a 12-month Super Duolingo plan.
Things went well for a couple of years, and I didn’t mind seeing my Super Duolingo subscription automatically renew every year… but then some frustrations started creeping in.
The negative quirks of Super Duolingo
For one, I became more concerned about maintaining my Duolingo streak and gaining XP—whether to make the top 3 in my current league, to get promoted to a higher league, or to avoid demotion to a lower league—instead of actually learning the languages. I found myself just doing the personalized practice session every day to earn a quick 20 XP. (For those unfamiliar, practices only review mistakes and weak areas.)
With Duolingo, I could earn more total XP by completing actual language lessons where I’m learning new words and phrases, but doing so takes a lot more time and effort. In order not to break my streak, I felt compelled to take the easy way out with easy XP sources. This meant I was making zero progress towards learning new languages.
Dave Parrack / Foundry
The gamification was great for building my streak—but once that streak was built, the gamification started backfiring.
There’s also the fact that Super Duolingo gives unlimited hearts, and that robs the whole gamified learning process of its stakes. With limited hearts, I’m encouraged to apply myself and do my best so I don’t lose any of them. With unlimited hearts, I can half-ass my way through lessons, knowing I can just try again if I mess up. I end up going through the motions without taking anything in or testing myself.
Recently, Duolingo has switched from its hearts system to an energy system, where every lesson costs a bit of energy. Energy slowly refills over time or instantly refills by watching a rewarded ad. You also get bonus energy for a perfect lesson. Is this better for learning? The jury’s still out.
I canceled Super Duolingo when I realized it was preventing me from learning
A couple of years later, when I realized the quirks of Super Duolingo—personalized practice being the easiest source of XP and unlimited hearts making it easy to coast through lessons—were holding back my learning, I decided to cancel my premium subscription.
Now I’m back to using the free version of Duolingo… and I’m actually enjoying it again. I’m actively learning new languages again, having returned to completing 1 or 2 lessons most days. With limited hearts (or now energy), I have to pay attention and do well. Consequences are a great tool for focusing the mind and putting in effort.
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Unfortunately, the free version of Duolingo has its own annoyances to deal with, like paywalled features and advertisements.
Don’t get me wrong. Both of those things make sense for any freemium app. I understand that Duolingo isn’t a charity, that they need to earn revenue to keep the lights on and the app active developed. But it is an annoyance, nonetheless, and it’s kind of ironic that it keeps prodding me to try Super Duolingo for free. I’ve already tried it! And it’s no good.
I’m adapting to using the free version again, despite its many flaws
I still have Duolingo installed on my phone and I still use it most days. However, I’m now doing it on my own terms, tackling lessons when it suits me. I’m no longer subject to Duo’s passive-aggressive reminders to start a lesson so as not to lose my streak.
Ultimately, I’ve realized that maintaining a streak isn’t important. My streak was greater than 1,200 days at the time I canceled Super Duolingo, and losing it was the best thing that could’ve happened. It was freeing. I can now miss a day and not care less. Back to zero? Oh well. The world keeps turning and I can keep learning another day.
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Ultimately, I think Duolingo has got the balance wrong. The paid version encourages you to focus on the wrong stuff and takes away the good pressures that matter. You care more about keeping streaks and reaching new leagues instead of completing courses and passing actual learning milestones with real meaning behind them. As for the free version, it feels set up to annoy you enough to subscribe to the paid version.
I still think Duolingo has a lot of value and can be used to learn new languages in a fun and accessible way. However, right now, it’s hard to recommend it to anyone not already using it.