this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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Feeling real immersed, Duolingo

Would it kill them to better represent other cultures and countries or do they just have the one set of Corporate Memphis art assets and they're too stingy to create more

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[–] dannoffs@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No personal experience as I am not a weeb (please do not check my comment history) but I've heard Duolingo is generally a bad choice for learning Japanese.

[–] Mannivu@feddit.it 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Duolingo is a bad app if you want to learn a language, any language. Some years ago they thought grammar and explained things, now it's good only if you already know the language but don't want to forget it.

[–] Mastersmacks@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Unpopular take on Lemmy but I feel like I've actually really improved on my French in the last year using Duolingo

[–] dannoffs@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago

We're talking about real languages, not "Fr*nch"

[–] Mannivu@feddit.it 3 points 1 year ago

I trust you. But when I used it, it looked more similar to those "Dictionaries" with some fixed sentences the sold back in the 80s/90s, not really an app to learn.

[–] oregoncom@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

I bet you're the type of guy to speak gibberish French in Paris and get mad when the locals reply in English.

[–] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago

Oh yes, I'm just using it as a vaguely educational time killer to refresh stuff I've learned on actual lessons

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Japan sees our big yellow busses and be like "damn you live like this?"

[–] wtypstanaccount04@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Japan basically the kids just walk to school or take the train

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds nice. I can't knock yellow school buses either, it's public transportation for the kids. When I was in high school though taking the bus rather than driving was for nerds, years later I long for the bus, fuck cars.

[–] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago

In Finland students who live far away from their schools receive a free travel card (only valid on week days though), but they do have school bus service in rural areas where the population density is roughly equivalent to the average distribution of atoms in interstellar space.

Also, disabled and special needs students in urban areas get their own mini buses for obvious reasons

[–] Kumikommunism@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's a preschool/after school van, which is what almost every daycare in the US uses too.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

Oh that would explain the cute stuff on it then.

[–] Babs@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does Duolingo still do the stupid cartoony voices? That (probably fortunately) really burned me on the app. It became impossible to understand what they were saying, what tones, etc.

[–] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They're pretty anime-y with the Japanese track, especially on the younger characters. I've heard people say it really fucks them up with languages like Chinese

[–] Babs@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's really bad for Chinese in general (hey here's a character with no context with an ambiguous computer-generated voice! No, we won't tell you the pinyin so you can figure out wtf we're saying) but the cartoon voices killed it completely.

[–] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

At least with Japanese you can toggle between romaji, furigana and off, though I guess I wouldn't be surprised if their Chinese "course" was even less developed

[–] Balefirex@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] oregoncom@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

3/4 nouns in that sentence are loanwords lmao. Anglos are so averse to learning other languages that they'll just insert random English words into Japanese sentences reverse weeab style. There's no way "schoolbus" is a common loanword.

[–] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

I assume you'd only hear it in translated American media. All the other stories in Duolingo feel like American skits translated into Japanese too but this was especially egregious. I wonder if other languages in Duolingo have the same problem. Do they just translate the same stories into every language?