#lingvist

now yes. duolingo has used ai in the past. in 2024, the Duolingo Guides page reported that their AI uses user data to improve models. however, this did not literally replace human beings in the process.

according to their CEO, they believe this is going to be an example of how "generative AI can directly benefit our learners". despite the fact this doesn't benefit the human contractors you're replacing in place of robots.

here's why supporting AI is problematic: not only does it take away from human beings, but it also is bad for the environment. studies have shown that particularly during the training of complex models, the infrastructure needed to do this training results in high energy consumption.

this also leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions and puts a strain on water resources that are used for cooling data censors. as well, studies show that the manufacturing and disposal of AI hardware contribute to electronic waste and resource depletion.

so, below the cut, there's a list below of language learning apps that do what duolingo does but aren't driven by robots! (and no, you do not have to stop using duolingo. these other apps are simply ones that provide the same services while taking care of both the environment and - as far as i know - human employees.)

LAU (Language Acquisition Update)

In the past I made two enthusiastic videos about Duolingo; a lot has changed in the past year though. Here I talk about Lingvist, a website I discovered more recently, and I compare the two sites.

I think Duolingo has declined a lot, and I talk about how Duolingo has broken a lot of core features of the site, including their spaced repetition system.

Lingvist, I think has a far superior spaced repetition system. It is a simpler site overall, but I think it leads to a better and more efficient way to learn a language. Lingvist also teaches words in order of frequency of occurence in typical use. This has huge benefits in terms of focusing your effort on the words most likely to be useful, and that you are likely to get natural practice with whenever you are exposed to the language.

Like Duolingo, Lingvist also teaches words in context and leads to a more immersive learning experience. More so than Duolingo, I think Lingvist gets you to think in the language.

There are 26 letters in the French language, all the same as English.

The pronunciation of these letters depends on:

Whether theres a diacritic (acute ´, grave `, circumflex ˆ, umlaut ¨) 

The letter combination

Whether the syllable is open (ending in a vowel) or closed (ending in a consonant)

The origin of the word