An Opinionated Critique of Duolingo

Summary

During the stay-at-home grim days of 2020, I started learning Spanish on Duolingo. Having a working understanding of Spanish seemed like a sensible first step towards opening a taco truck in Mexico, in case I had to run away from my doctoral studies. This July, after about 5 years I decided to end the 1800 day streak that I managed to drag on with numerous streak freezes and minimal effort lessons. While Spanish words look less foreign, and with some focus, I am able to decipher small paragraphs of grammatically simple sentences; the effort was less than a smashing success – I certainly could not be writing this essay in Spanish. If Duolingo is known for anything, it has to be their gamification approach. There is no shortage of gamification mechanics on the platform: XP; potions to double your XP; leagues of gold, silver, and all sorts of other metals and minerals; treasure chests; quests; monthly quests; and so on. I have only ever paid little attention to these mechanics. While I still haven’t entirely rejected the idea that a good RPG could be a good scaffolding to teach a language, I do not think Duolingo is one. Games worth their salt are not created by bolting together a collection of numerical statistics. That is how you get cookie clicker. I did not have a good understanding of how the mechanics work: if I learn 10 words, how many XP do I get for my hard work? Is the Diamond League higher or lower than the Obsidian League? I could have viewed their documentation to figure it out, but there was nothing motivating me to do so. If I collect 100 XP, what does it mean for my language skills? For that matter, why do I collect extra XP when I receive a potion? Can the XP I collect be used in a way to carefully guide me towards the specific language skills I would explore next? Navigating the mechanical gameplay of Duolingo is neither rewarding for its own sake, nor is it helpful towards actually learning a language. Duolingo is not just a poor simulacrum of the me...