[cptwunderlich]

I don't think there is anything comparable OSS wise. Creating such an alternative wouldn't only be very difficutl tech-wise, but someone would also have to create the content.

Anyway, I've been using Duolingo since ca. 2014 and it didn't shutdown... Plus, it's free - what do you have to lose? Your progress on some language learning app? You won't lose the knowledge gained.

[angry_octet]

It isn't free -- you have to watch ads, which detracts severely from the learning and enjoyment.

[oska]

Plus being a betrayal of their user-base which is heavily weighted towards young and impressionable learners. And, by the way, a betrayal of their initial promise, that they would never do advertising (expressly stated in the first promo video they released, which is still on YouTube).

[Fnoord]

What you have to lose is your time spend. At least you'll lose time due to the gamification and the ads.

Anki is useful for spaced repetition, but setting up a deck is going to take effort and requires knowledge (building a deck is useful by itself though).

[yorwba]

https://tatoeba.org/eng/ is a partial solution to the problem that someone has to create the content.

[kddavis]

You ever hear of a thing called opportunity cost? Some people interested in learning a foreign language actually have a compelling desire to learn said language.

[plapetomain]

> Creating such an alternative wouldn't only be very difficutl tech-wise

I am quite curious how you figure this. Other than analytics and tracking, Duolingo doesn’t even require a backend.