harpdoodles

for the freaks out there💪

"Why did they die? Answer me!"

"A storm of emotion raged in silence"

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

Transparent Language: (Languages: THE MOST! Also the one that has the widest variety of African languages! Perhaps the most diverse in ESL and learning a foreign language not in English)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Now, I turn 31 in about a week.

I sing in my car at night to the angsty mixed CDs I made as a teenager, but now with a voice that I can feel rumble in my chest precisely where that heavy feeling used to sit like a bag of concrete.

My beard tickles as it blows in the wind, and my lungs are so full because they are no longer bound.

I sing, and I drive home after kissing someone goodnight who sees every part of all that I am and all I am not and does not flinch.

I go to bed sober.

And everything is not okay. But everything is better.

And I wasn't supposed to be here anymore, after I tried putting myself back in the closet very literally and permanently that October over 10 years ago.

But sometimes belts break. Knots give way.

And now here I am.

Driving and singing, as loud as I can.

Young trans guys, it is absolutely imperative that you stay alive.

i broke down crying and had to pause the episode when Zooble said "But I had dreams and goals! This just sucks" because FUCKING SAME.

but sometimes people lose their place in the world. their dreams and goals are inaccessible. their bodies become unrecognizable. their personalities and emotions become unrecognizable. they deny reality, reject companionship. they dissociate from their lives and past selves. they lose the ability to be a part of the larger world and do the things they used to do and live the lives they always lived.

I dont think they will leave the circus and i hope they wont because i dont want a cure story.

sometimes you lose your life and you just have to figure out how to keep living afterwards.

and at least having someone else there makes it bearable. as long as you have other people, you can keep living even if your life is over.

Ten of Pentacles / Plunderland