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My thoughts on getting to level 25
1695
So 2 days ago after 529 days and about 3 streak freezes I finally reached level 25 in German
Some random thoughts about my time spent here (not just about German):
- Duolingo gave me a chance to start/learn more languages (German and French), I will always be grateful for it, even though it became pretty lonely lately (with no way to contact other people directly)
- If you seriously want to learn a language you have to use other resources
- After getting 30,000 XP (level 25) Duolingo content feels comfortably easy (or it should)
- Level 25 feels more satisfactory than completing the tree (which is usually just the beginning of the real learning)
- Now I feel ashamed of my level 18 in French and want to get at least level 20 as soon as possible (yes, Duolingo is a "game-like" platform and I like this side of it)
- I found out that French is harder than German (for me)
- I found out that once you are over the level of complete beginner in French, it starts to make much more sense :-)
- Finished 4 trees so far (Eng > Ger, Ger > Eng, Cze > Eng, Eng > Cze)
- 4 trees to go (Eng > Fre, Fre > Eng, Ger > Fre, Fre > Ger)
- Basically I want to do all trees available between Czech, English, German and French
- I know now what it means when a course is in Beta, I am able to correctly answer all the questions on a placement test in Eng > Ger, Ger > Eng, Cze > Eng but not by far in English > Czech (the one in Beta and the one teaching my native language), I guess it needs many more "my answer should have been accepted" reports :-) (It's a good idea to try these placement tests on a different account and not to delete your own trees)
- Still didn't decide which version of Duolingo is better, so far randomly switching between browser and Android seems best
- It's crazy how level 20 is only half way of reaching level 25
- There seem to be more resources online for French than for German (which is only logical :-) )
- Currently I just can't stop myself from watching this old TV course for learning French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=celBWxbHOOk=15s
- If anyone is wondering what other resources I used to improve my German, I wrote about it here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/24437249
Thanks for reading and happy learning :-)
9 Comments
1695
Yes, I am doing French > German and German > French on the side. It's really cool when we can drop the English aspect from the whole process. I always come back to these trees after advancing a bit in English > French tree.
This is among my favorite reflection posts so far (and I've read a TON of them, because I'm always curious what people will say.) It is so organized and covers a ton of thoughts. Also, now that you've reminded me that 20 is only halfway to 25, I'm looking sideways at my goal to get to level 15 in Japanese. Maybe I should bump that number up a bit. :P
I know now what it means when a course is in Beta.
I've never read anyone point this out in their reflection, and I love that you did! Beta to full release (especially right when a course enters beta, rather than when a course is about to leave beta) is a very different experience. And for that matter, so is Tree 1.0 and Tree 3.0 etc. Knowing it has made me chill out quite a bit. :)
It's crazy how level 20 is only half way of reaching level 25
Again, whyyyyy? (j/k. ^_~ It actually a cool fact that I think is a bit obscure for anyone who hasn't gotten to level 20 and looked ahead to see when they can expect to finally arrive at 25. )
Thanks for sharing resource recommendations! :)
1695
Thanks Usagiboy, I feel honoured, I'm sure you've really read tons of these posts :-)
I really had no idea how Beta course can be different from those "tuned" courses like German and French, can't wait for Czech to get there (or closer to it) so I can recommend it to someone I know who's just learning it.
When it comes to levels, this was my experience in German:
- Level 5 (300/30000) - ridiculous
- Level 10 (2250/30000) - at least I don't look like a beginner now
- Level 15 (7500/30000) - getting somewhere
- Level 20 (15000/30000) - looks good, but wow, I am only half way there
- Level 25 (30000/30000) - that was a lot of work :-)
Good luck with your Japanese, it must be like learning French, German and Russian together :-)
1509
Thank you for you comments. Very helpful. I'm wondering how you feel about your German language skills. Could you communicate comfortably if you were traveling in Germany?
1695
Hi, since I did a lot of work out of Duolingo I would get by these days. I briefly visited Austria 3 months ago and was understood and was able to understand well (when they were talking proper German and not dialects). I still make progress every day and week so now it would be even better. I can read a book, watch a movie or listen to radio no problem. Me talking is obviously the hardest part since I don't get to practice that. But even that comes more easily after advancing in reading/listening.