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Comment by leejo | Hacker News Reader

That is a fair point. I went back through my history in the app to figure out the real numbers:

    First day of use: 11th Dec 2014
    First missed day: 19th Jun 2017 (921 days later)
    First freeze use: 20th Oct 2020 (2,140 days after first day of use)

The missed days were down to (IIRC) time zone crossing and patchy internet, I can't recall if Duolingo let you off here or if there was leeway in the streak calculation. Those could also be Duolingo being down for maintenance.

I think when I started using the freezes was when the value of the app had dropped for me. 2,140 days is a pretty good run.

FWIW: living in a French speaking country has provided the most value. Duo helped initially with vocab building. I find/found the lack of colloquialisms one of the biggest problems with it.

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> I find/found the lack of colloquialisms one of the biggest problems with it.

This is actually a big problem with how people perceive language in general. It's hard to understand if you only speak one language, but the idea of a language as a discrete unit is a myth. Here in Québec there is Québécois French, which in and of itself is a generalization, as many regions have different accents and expressions.

In France there are many kinds of French. Some people say they "can't even understand" people from a certain other region... That's pretty much where a dialect crosses the line into a language!

In general people will learn what we call "international French", which is spoken by no one but understood by all. But good luck navigating the subtleties of a French-speaking society without being familiar to their regional dialect.

I think you're vastly overstating the differences that exist in French. It's mostly accents with a few distinct words/expressions. The grammar, spelling, syntax and everything else is the same.

Sure, someone with a strong uncommon accent can take some effort to understand ("can't even understand" is a clear exaggeration except in the more egregious cases), but the language underneath is the same.

French is very standardised, and "international French" is spoken by everyone. That description would fit something like German much better.

> "international French" is spoken by everyone

You sound clueless. The majority of people don't speak "international French". Do you even speak french ?

Wow, two and a half years without missing a day is impressive. Kudos to you for having that rigor, and to Duolingo for whatever about their design allowed you to engage so consistently.

Do you have a sense of what kept you going? And what about Duolingo helped?

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