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- crown levels: a horrible inve…
crown levels: a horrible invention
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today i noticed that duolingo has introduced crown levels:( a horrible invention
highly demotivating!!! you have no overview about the modules you completed
please, change back to the 'gold' system
63 Comments
I am very disappointed and discouraged by crown levels. With the first update, I lost some levels and had to through them another time. And now, again and again. For Unit 1, it means "48 times" rehearsing the same basic words "a man" for example. It looks like a bad joke. Moreover, it is not possible anymore to have an overview of the unit (very useful to learn vocabulary, or to check a word we learnt) and to skip a lesson. I really don't like this new version. I just have the impression I make no progress and that I will need a hundred years to make some. Just discouraging.
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I, for one, like the new system but I can certainly see the point of view of those of you who do not like it, especially if you happen to have a facility for learning languages. However, sadly there are those of us who are struggling and the new system forces us to not just glide over the information, but to really commit it to our memories, such as they are. I think that Duolingo should also offer the 'gold' system so that those people who prefer it can continue to benefit from the site. As Duolingo already has the program, it shouldn't be that difficult to do both, and in that way, we all can have a method that suits our level and needs.
I would like to make an addendum to my original note. After having used the new system for two days, I have to say that it is rather boring. I know, from my past experience, that behind those basic icons there are many different exercises. I don't understand why they are repeating the same extremely basic phrases over and over. As you work your way through to level 5, I believe that the phrases should be more and more difficult. I'm not learning as much as I did with the old system. Too bad.
Duolingo crown levels are very demotivating plus all my heard work has been deleted I am not happy and prefer the old system.
I am very unhappy and demotivated by this new update of duolingo. First of all, we received two major updates in 2-3 weeks where all our golden modules were cancelled. These are too close!
I appreciated the first update and tried to regain my golden modules with a great effort. And as soon as I reached my previous state, i.e., 60% of the total modules, and was ready to proceed with the new modules, the crown update came and cancelled my golden modules once again!
One wonders what new things are introduced? That's another disappointment: 1) I need to repeat even the basics 4 times more to be golden again. If only i was so stupid! I find this insulting. 2) Besides it does not reflect my correct level in French. If I am not golden in the basics, why let me climb higher? So I question the validity of Duolingo assessment. I feel lost.
When I started French, I should have taken a test first but didn't. I actually know a lot of French, so being at basic levels is way too easy and boring. How can I take a placement test?
I'm not sure if this will work (especially with the new crown system) but it's a suggestion. You can erase your progress/language and start it again, perhaps?
I AGREE!!!! It was so easy just to strengthen the topics if you were rusty and needed some revision - now you have to start all over again! Please bring back the gold/strengthening system!
'You can still do this via the "strengthen skills" button.'
I don't have 'strengthen skills' button (Web version). That's possibly because all my learning history was deleted. So unfortunately can cannot do this via 'strengthen skills' button, unless you go again through all the lessons which were deleted
Sorry, they changed the name post-Crowns change: it's now a blue button just below your daily goal window on the right: it has a barbel and "Practice" in white letters.
thanks, I might try it one day, though no rush on that as I'm still in the earlier part of the tree.
A 'tree" is the entirety of a Duolingo language course. For example: The Duolingo Irish tree starts with "Basics 1", and ends with "Business".
I know. The new system destroys everything of my progress. I had a 29 day streak, and on the day I updated it, my streak went to 0! And everything was so stupid, unusual, and dumb! PLease, revert to gold.
I support the development in general. What I meed back is the selection of lessons. I have to repead the lessons quite often to remember and this possipility is lost. I would appreciate a update.
yes! bring back the gold system, it was so much better than this new crown system.(the crown system is the worst) i have been doing duo for 2 1/2 years, i do not, i repeat, do NOT like the crown system
As you can read in the negative comments above/below, folks are trying to find strategies for working around this new system. I can't believe that is what Duolingo would want, and I certainly can't believe that repeating beginning levels of language (The chocolate cream boils.) incessantly (48 times) helps anyone learn the language.
The crown system is a clear case of programmers wanting to programme driving the interface design and thus experience of the learner. Bass-ackwards, if you ask me.
You don't HAVE to repeat anything if you don't want. Are people this dumb or does everyone on this site have OCD? You only have to get to crown 1 to move onto the next module for god sakes people.
We do want to repeat the modules for practice; but with new set of exercises, if it will be called crown 2. Repetition of more-or-less the same set of exercises is not an update in this app. Could it be that you are not enough to see this?
I was just getting to a solid gold tree, then these useless crowns came with no way out. I've just given up on Duolingo.
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As this discussion is still attracting interest of new people adding comment to this issue, I would like to point out another recently been posted an article that may interest people regarding [Our Crown Levels blog post is live!]https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/27967582).
Wishing everyone all the best with their language learning.
There was a time when I had a lot of lessons complete for French, and all gold at that. I stopped playing for a while and now, with the crown system, so many of the lessons I did are level 0, 1, and 2. I have to take 5 tests of each lesson just to get them back to crown level 5, and all the tests are super repetitive. In the past, it would not have taken this many practices to get the lessons back to the highest gold level. It's very dissatisfying to see all the lessons at such low levels, but it would take so long to get them all to level 5 and it wouldn't even be fun nor would I learn anything because I actually know a good amount of French already from outside of Duolingo.
Please either make an easier way to level up lessons or allow users to switch back to the old system.
'All that is gold does not glitter.'
There is nothing—I repeat, nothing—harmful about repetition. It will only help you improve. I am getting very tired of everyone's sour opinions of the new update. Maybe give this a read, and try not to be so hasty.
If you care more about getting your skills shiny than learning a language, I suggest you leave, or go find a program that prioritizes making things shiny to learning.
I think this a good exercise in finding other motivations to learn a language than something as useless as a golden colour, a glinting lingot, a large amount of XP, or a very high streak.
Best of luck in your language-learning endeavors! Don't let the update stop you from your language dreams.
For advanced learners, having to repeat basic material is tedious and boring. This leads to a loss of interest, not to mention the lost opportunity to review material you actually want to review. I don't know if you'd qualify that as "harmful", but it sure as hell isn't helpful.
I have an MA in linguistics specializing in 2nd language acquisition. One of the first things we learn is that the psychological needs of students is the forgotten part of the equation. I know in my experience as a language teacher, keeping people entertained and feeling secure is just as important part of instruction as any grammar methodology.
The joy of seeing all gold might seem silly to you, but it's psychologically gratifying for people drawn to gamefication (which is exactly what Duolingo is)
I concur, I am legitimately considering stopping using Duolingo, because having to wade through "I am a boy", "I am a girl", "I am a boy and you are a girl" types of sentences for the third thousandth time is both utterly useless and extremely grating on my nerves at this point, and having to do the same with ALL THE LANGUAGES I have been studying is outright infuriating; this is just supremely tedious and boring, and my enjoyment of using Duolingo is on the level of doing the dishes right now.
The best method I have found so far is Pimsleurs tapes or CDs. Instruction is TOTALLY oral until quite far into it. The advantage is when learning a language where the spelling does not resemble what an English speaker would expect (Irish is a good example) one doesn't end up reading and mispronouncing before learning the correct way to say something. Instead, you learn by ear. By the time you see the spelling, you've got the phrase so stuck in your head, you sight read it with correct pronunciation. There is also a nice balance of new with repetition, so you constantly learn new things without forgetting the old, but not so much repetition that you are bored silly.
That's a great tip, JanetCassi1. Does it (learning "by ear") eventually hurt your spelling in the new language? I'm finding that Russian words I read don't sound like I expect, even when the Cyrillic is translated (transliterated?) into the English/Roman alphabet.
Mikki, I find the biggest benefit to be that I don't see a word I never heard and therefore pronounce it in my head in a way that is completely wrong! I hear it and copy the pronunciations . There's lots of repetition seemingly times just at the point where you almost forgot the phrase, but just in time! A few weeks in to using the CDs, I read the phonics guide they give you, but also expanded to taking words I knew and using Google translate to give me the Irish for it. I could look at the word already knowing how it was pronounced, gradually learning to associate the sound with a new phonetic system. For instance, if I had seen "go raibh maith agat" (thank you) before I knew how to say it, I certainly would have messed up the pronunciation and practiced it the wrong way. But when I saw it written, I already knew it was "go rav MA'h-uh-git. I gradually learned that the bh in raibh was pronounced like V in English, so sibh (you) sounds like "sheeve", etc.
If I were learning Spanish or Italian where the orthography seems closer to what an English speaker would expect,, I don't think it would be as big a problem.
As for spelling, the new (to me) phonetic system is not second nature yet, so I find I have to sit myself down with some words and write them over and over just as I did in elementary school to learn a new word! The old method of writing and saying it aloud still works! I would think having the additional challenge of learning a whole new alphabet would mean you'd probably need to do the same, at least with some words.
"I am getting very tired of everyone's sour opinions of the new update. "
Tough, many users are seemingly tired of too many updates coming too frequently.
"I think this a good exercise in finding other motivations to learn a language than something as useless as a golden colour, a glinting lingot, a large amount of XP, or a very high streak."
Actually of all the things that you mention , I find a high streak very motivating in keeping me practising every day. Maybe I just don't meet your intellectual standards,
I was just updated to the new crown system today. Starting over isn't a problem. I finished my tree ages ago so I was getting a bit bored repeating all of those same lessons over and over. Thankfully, I discovered duolingo Stories and started doing lessons in combination with 1 new story everyday. I'm very happy they've added so many new lessons. (My worry is running out of stories)
I'm also very proud of my 265 day streak! My streak and being in a club definitely keeps me motivated to practice every single day.
So, THANK YOU to everyone at Duolingo for all the hard work you do to keep us motivated and learning!
I don't know why someone voted you down so I've cancelled it out. I'm glad you've found a balance with the new structure, ultimately that's good news.
It's just that I don't think that's going to work for me personally.
Thanks! I really hope you don't give up. You never know what the DL people will come up with next.
De zure opmerkingen zouden kunnen opgelost worden door beide aan te bieden en als iemand zelf beslist over te stappen. Als hij nieuwe woorden aankan. Bvb ik was boom 3 en 5 aan het herhalen omdat die er nog niet goed inzitten vooral boom 4 in nl-en nu hebben bepaalde woorden een aantal keer goed gehad, geraden of geluk gehad en krijg je minder dat woord volgens de statistieken. Vertrekken zou ik nu niet overwegen maar heb dit al wel genoeg gelezen. Ik hoop er dat er iets komt om de overstap minder groot te maken. Bvb alleen bij nieuwe gebruikers of na niveau 25 of aangeven van persoon.
My motivation in learning is LEARNING new things, extrapolating, and gaining a deeper understanding of what I have previously absorbed.
There is NOTHING for me to gain in having to the 356th, 357th, 358th and 359th iterations of translating "I am a boy" into French. NOTHING. It's a complete waste of time, and it is extremely tedious and mindnumbingly boring at this point.
I think the only way for me to use Duolingo from now on is to ignore at least half of it. Just completely drop doing exercises above around the halfway mark, and I am still not sure if that's gonna help. Looking into other options for language learning sure seems a lot more tempting right now.
I feel the same way about Spanish, the only language of which I had completed the tree, and which is all around us here in the US (Texas!). But, I find Russian, with its own alphabet, so extremely difficult that I was already needing to repeat and repeat and repeat the same way the new crown system forces us to. To summarize, I'm finding the change somewhat language-dependent. I don't like it much in Spanish for many of the reasons already described in this discussion, and yet it seems to match my learning needs in Russian.
I came to this conclusion too, nothing worthwhile above the halfway mark for each skill, Leave the rest for brushing up in the future. I actually pushed myself to level 5 in the first basic lessons just to see what was there, and guess what-- it's all the same. Nothing new. Nothing more complex as you reach level 3, level 4, and the GET TO level 5. Another surprise-- there are NO level 5 questions. You finish level 4 and are then AT level 5. Boom. Done. Crowns was such a terrible mistake on the part of Duolingo!
Unfortunately not everyone performs well with a repetitive learning style.
Until recently we had Babbel which suited those with a preference for repetition, and Duolingo (and Rocket) whose style was different enough to be attractive to others. Now Duolingo's style leans more towards that of Babbel, and for some of us that is a negative step.
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your response, and your attitude is very confusing to me. 'i suggest you leave'? do you actually want people to leave this site? because, let me tell you, if they did, you would be out of a job. but what's confusing is that you have lingots, exp, golden colors, etc in the first place. why even have these things if they don't matter (according to you, anyway)? of course, you won't get rid of those things because you already are aware of the benefits that they bring (as noted by several people already). so, instead of showing such a remarkable amount of disdain for those people who are helping to keep you employed, why don't you listen to those people and help them achieve the goals that they want to achieve (which is what this site is for). quit being so triggered
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'All that is gold does not glitter.'
I was going to say, shouldn't that be: "All that glitters is not gold" ?
But thinking about it, neither version literally means "not everything that shines like gold is, in fact, gold". Huh.
The correct phrase is
"All that glisters is not gold"
...but back to the rubbish crowns - and what happened to lingots for XP levelling up? It seems now i can only earn lingots for:
a) testing out (1L)
b) wager (double 5L bet)
c) Maintain a streak
Those rewards gave me a buzz and kept me going, and the phrases were more interesting. Writing "a pink bike" multiple times is depressing...at least put things in interesting sentences...then you practice sentence structure and spelling.
For me, Duolingo was superior to the other learning sites because of the lack of obvious repetition. Now it has lowered itself to that level and is boring. I echo others' comments that there should be progression through the levels in each skill...introduce vocab in level 1, simple sentences in level 2, progressively more complex sentences in levels 3, 4 & 5. This will keep all the repetition, which is important, and keep interest which is also very important in learning anything
Come on DL - expend your effort on improving language learning not appearance.
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correct phrase [...] All that glisters
Not really. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold.html
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"There is nothing—I repeat, nothing—harmful about repetition."
Rubbish. The first skill for Welsh now has me repeating the same things, "Bore da", "Prynhawn da", "Draig dw i" over and over and over just to "level up" the crown. No one - I repeat, no one - benefits from that level of repetition for something so basic. I'm doing it just to get the crown to level five so I can forget it.
I agree. The things you learned at the very beginning should gradually drop down to being seldomly repeated, replaced by the newer things you just learned,
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I disagree, I like the idea. - it is something new to do. I also like the way it tracks your progress. I used to have to keep a list, so I could find where I left off on the previous day. It used to take me 3-4 weeks to go through all the lessons.
These language lessons are free. Very difficult not to like (whatever form them are in) because they have been very helpful to me.
Why not give it a chance and see what else Duolingo comes up with in the future?
What a crowns? How do they work? What did you have before and why did you like it better?
It is not a horrible invention. It is horrible how you cry. You completed the modules with the level 1 crown. Think of it as a pass. 1st pass. Now go there and motivate yourself to go through the tree and get the 2nd pass, then 3rd etc. You people get demotivated pretty easily.
I think you're missing the point of all this. The golden leaves were to signify if you've practiced enough for the day. If a skill is not gold then practice if it is gold then you probably won't retain anything additional until it fades and you repeat it again.
Now it's a case of having a skill at level 3, does that mean it's time for me to practice it? If I get it to level 4 so it's my highest skill, that means I never have to practice it again? I log in on a fresh day, which skills out of the hundreds do I need to strengthen? I can't do one on all of them or I'd be getting 1000s of xp per day.
It's horrible how you're just blaming the user base without understanding what they're complaining about.
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There is absolutely nothing rewarding about typing "the apple" or "thank you" or "The girl eats." a hundred times over. Nor is there any benefit to one's language skills. And there is a decided lack of satisfaction about leaving skills -- especially elementary skills, which we know we've mastered -- "incomplete".
