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by vram22 3607 days ago
>Duolingo is good, but I'm not sure it's a great measure of understanding the language.

On further thought, I agree. When I wrote what I wrote above, it was in the back of my mind, to also add that I don't think the rate of progress that Duolingo shows for me, can be even near correct. E.g. after these few months (which also had gaps of a few days now and then during which I did not use the app), it now tells me I am 14 or 15% fluent in German - which I don't think can be the case at all, even without knowing much about the structure of the language, the number and kinds of grammar rules, tenses, the number of words in the German vocabulary, etc.

(I'm probably much lower, maybe 1 or 2% is my guess, if such a thing can even be measured.)

Also, some of my school friends who said German was hard to learn - for others, were Germans (who also spoke good English), so they likely knew what they were saying.

>and while I can read German reasonably well now, I would still struggle to write or speak fluently in German.

Interesting. Will have to see what my experience is as time goes by.

>Thinking of what you want to say quickly is a skill that Duolingo doesn't really teach

Will check that as time goes by. Maybe immersion is more useful for that skill.

1 comments

The 15% fluency could be accurate - another way to interpret that number is that you struggle to understand 85% of the language. (Even after completing the German lessons, Duolingo says I'm only 49% fluent.) Duolingo is still great though, because it keeps you practicing every day. I'm amazed at how much more I understand now compared to when I started. It's worth persevering!
> (Even after completing the German lessons, Duolingo says I'm only 49% fluent.)

Interesting. A sort of logarithmic scale maybe.

>Duolingo is still great though, because it keeps you practicing every day.

Agreed.

>I'm amazed at how much more I understand now compared to when I started. It's worth persevering!

Definitely worth. I'm enjoying it. Thanks for the info.