Lingots for everybody!
A couple of weeks ago, we announced we were testing a new virtual currency called Lingots that lets you get fun items from the new virtual "store": http://www.duolingo.com/comment/766899
Well, I'm happy to say that the test was successful, so today we're giving Lingots to everybody.
We will soon be adding them to our mobile apps, and we will also add more fun items to the store :)
Enjoy!
220 Comments
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Repeating a suggestion I made elsewhere for another way to earn a lingot:
Accent Adept - get through a lesson with every accent (diacritic) on all words entered correctly.
(This would of course be harder in some languages than others. And not available to english learners, who have it easy in this area.)
I don't know about that. Not seeing the read text warning me about accents is good incentive to me. Maybe I'm just extra nerdy that way haha.
It would be cool to get some kind of bonus for a streak though.
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If that's the case then I'm extra nerdy too :)
And bonus for streaks are a great idea!! I'd love to see that!
As did I. This, in my opinion, is the only reason to have lingots: so you can get more lingots.
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Luis, this might not be the right place for this comment, but there you go: I feel that a very good type of exercise that is missing in Duolingo is translating sentences not by writing them down but by speaking them up. As far as I have seen, you are either asked to repeat a sentence back in the mike (good for pronunciation, I guess) or to translate a sentence writing it down in either language. I think that translating and speaking back in the foreign language you are trying to learn is a skill in itself.
... next step would be answering questions in that same foreign language, I guess!
Anyway, great software. Thanks!
I read the list of ways to acquire them and wondered: are there plans to make it possible to get these by working on article translations?
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yeah, like if you complete all sentences, as well as 10 coins you get a lingot? would probably increase translation rates:P
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that would require translations other than those uploaded by just about any user account.
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First I was like, whoat? Where did all my coins go and what are these lingots? But now I'm so excited!
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Oh, I didn't even notice my coins were gone, haha. Actually, now I'm kind of confused. Did all the coins go towards purchase of the lingots? Or do we still have them, just not visible from the home page? How many coins to purchase one lingot?
Well your level is still measured in coins, no?
edit: it seems that the number of lingots you got is based on some of the same things that get you coins, but can't be just a direct conversion, because of the numbers people are reporting don't support that
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BTW if anybody's interested, you can still see your coin count by clicking on your profile:)
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I have a suggestion, can we earn a lingot for suggesting a new translation for sentences. I've suggested many alternate translations that have been accepted and while I get a nice congratulatory email, it usually comes after losing life (a heart) on that question. Sometimes I've even died on the last question due to a correct translation not being accepted. A Lingot for the effort would be a nice compensation for the service provided.
I like this idea, but it might end up giving Duolingo a lot more unwanted suggestions to sift through.
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Well they should give us something. Anytime I get a wrong answer that I think should be right, I clear it with my Portuguese wife before suggesting it be accepted.
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How does the double or nothing wager work if you have multiple streaks going? Does it apply to all your streaks? If I continue my Spanish streak for another 7 days but lose my French during that time, will I still win the wager? Does it apply only to the highest maybe?
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I could only place one wager.
I think that they changed something in the streaks and that you now have only one streak for all languages. I am not brave enough to let one language slide though. Maybe I should start a new language to try it out.
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The streak is definitely applied over all your languages.
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I had the lingots since the beginning and I tried this during the last weeks. I usually keep my French streak but only do Italian from time to time. When I lost a short Italian streak nothing happened to the wager. I don't know what would have happened if I continued the Italian one and stopped the French one.
I also tried it in combination with the new Streak Freeze, when I was away for a day. They works perfectly well together. Also if you discontinue one streak, this will not eat up your Streak Freeze. Only if you discontinue your "whole" streak.
My guess is that it takes only the streak information into consideration that you see on your profile. And this one displays always your longest streak, doesn't it? I'm not sure what happens in this display if you "change" the streaking language, never tried it.
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Longest streak? or just how many days you've been actively using duolingo for? i.e. if i did french one day italian the next then another day of french, would one get 3 days?
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This I don't know. I never tried it. But I would like to know it myself!
I just made a topic about it because I really want to find out: http://www.duolingo.com/comment/820652
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Edit: it was changed, I think
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No, I just do it every day. I'd like to be good someday, but I do make a lot of mistakes.
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Great! At last I also have them (as well as everyone). The only question is: what can be done with 167 lingots if I already finished the German tree? :)
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Oh, don't worry about that. A person always want to learn more and more languages ;)
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Can't argue with this :) I hope to learn several languages more in the future.
There should be a new tab called "store" on your home page next to your stream and skill tree tabs.
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I have to say 'Thanks' because i had the same problem :)) Thanks for showing us where the store is.
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I bought a streak freeze. I can't see it anywhere so I am just assuming it activates if I miss a day. Am I right?
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In the store, it should now say 'equipped' under that item. That means, yes, it's ready to activate if you miss a day.
Right now, I see an "84" next to your flame. Things sometimes drift in and out in DL; I lost my Canadian flag for a while and I was bummed, but it came back. :-)
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I am very happy that this has returned, although slightly confused that my Italian streak seems to match my German one (it should currently be four). Sometimes it is so difficult to understand what is going on with this piece of software.
I've heard others comment on the same issue. (I'm only working on one language.) Overall, I think DL is awesome, but, like any software, there are occasional glitches.
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I really like this update, but I wish that there were more ways to earn Lingots for people who have finished the skill tree and reached max level (though I guess starting a new language would solve that...).
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Let me make sure i have this straight.....I can spend 5 Lingots on a Wager, and if i keep a 7-day streak after that, i gain a total of 5 extra Lingots?
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Yes. You spend 5 lingots, and if you maintain your 7-day streak you are given 10 lingots (with a notification about it), giving you a net gain of 5 lingots.
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+Luis now when the experiment is over, can you please share some numbers that convinced you to launch the Lingots feature? I am really curios how you guys measure success of your changes.
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I second the motion for Duolingo shirts. You could customize the design depending on the language (i.e. a german-themed shirt for german students, a french shirt for french students, etc)....
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I think it would be great if there was also a big reward (say, 50 lingots or more) for finishing the skill tree and for reaching the 25th level.
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go on a lesson and !TEST OUT THE LESSON! then turn off the internet and !WHEN YOUR AT THE LAST ONE DONT CLICK THE CONTINUE BUTTON JUST YET WHAT U DO IS TURN BACK AND THE INTERNET THEN CLICK CONTINUE!
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As soon as the Lingots were introduced, my streak dropped from 19 to 16. Nothing really important, but still an issue.
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I would do literally anything to be able to buy duolingo shirt with lingots, I don't care how long I have to save up!
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I hope duolingo will never give away t-shirts or anything "real" for Lingots, because then many people will cheat and exploit this reward system even more; Even now you can see people rushing languages with shortcuts using google translators and such, resetting languages just to do the last shortcut again, and so on. If Lingots would be worth anything but the personal satisfaction, then cheating would become overwhelming. For now only a handful of people exploit the system and you can see them on the top of this list http://i.imgur.com/bmKp2Ye.png. I hope that duoling in due time will make cheating harder, but at this moment that's not the priority, cause most of the people are really honest and helpful. The community is really awesome here. You guys (and gals) rock. Thank you all.
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Instead of buying T-shirts and stuff with lingots, why not have a store with merchandise for real money?
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Yep, kinda defeats the purpose of being here- enjoy the 10 lingots, it's really hard to keep up with new comments
:3
A gift well received is a gift worth giving, so you're very welcome.
oh my god thank you, it's so nice to have someone giving you something.you are awesome :D
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I also think that giving real things for lingots isn't a very good idea. But if you think that all the people, who receive high scores, are cheaters, I don't agree. A lot of points can be earned with timed practice and translating new articles (and you just can only practice and translate, when your tree is finished).
I AGREE. Instead of Lingots counting only towards virtual things, why not give away T-shirts for Lingots? Maybe Duolingo could charge a few hundred per shirt, so they won't run out too quickly.
Even better: each time somebody buys the shirt, he/she will be advertising. That's definitely worth something. It would be to Duolingo's advantage to give away shirts.
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I would happily buy a Duolingo shirt with actual money, don't they deserve it?
Maybe something like this. I designed this myself, using Custom Ink and Google Images. Sure, I can't sell it (legally), but it's the idea.
http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/844/5ejo.jpg
Onto other more important things, I sure love DuoLingo! I'm gonna learn Italian. Pretty close to Spanish, so I'll start there!
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That's a cool design! :) It definitely follows after Duolingo's colors and such!
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I love this new feature! And a very good idea to give away t-shirts. I want one!
You should see this design I made myself! http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/844/5ejo.jpg
You should see this design I made myself! http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/844/5ejo.jpg
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What would be cool is if they could offer cross-promotions for other websites etc. For example, companies could advertise on duolingo, people could use lingots to redeem on other websites, e.g. for an iTunes download, a coupon on Amazon, a discount off some other product etc etc
Lingots are a fake currency. Heart refills and streak extenders etc are fake products. A tshirt is a real product. Selling real products for fake currency does not seem like a good business practice.
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Any currency is as "real" or as "fake" as the participants agree. US dollars are "real" only because we agree they have value.
I love the idea of a DuoLingo T or mug or pen, but I do not think the virtual currency should become real. I have only been using DuoLingo for 1 week, but one of the things that impresses me the MOST is that it is a quality product, that I am learning some Spanish for the first time despite living in SoCal my whole life, and that it truly is FREE to me. I don't want the people at DuoLingo to incur any added costs because I am using their product.
I would buy products with the logo with my own, real money though.
You should see this design I made myself! http://imageshack.com/scaled/large/844/5ejo.jpg
Idea for solving the t-shirt problem: charge $10 plus ingots. Bus duolingo doesn't lose any money on the shirts (by selling them for "virtual" money, but the only people who can buy them have earned the privilege of doing so. Just a thought.
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Yes please Duolingo!!! I would love a Duo t-shirt! You could do them in tons of colours with Duo the Owl on them and Duolingo written underneath! :)
Guys, stop bashing him. Even though it isn't completely logical, it's a fun idea and could be cool if not for cheating :(
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Thank you so much!! I was just practicing with Duo and then, when I was finishing my lesson, Duo gave me 2 lingots. And I was like "What?...". Inmediately I went to "Home" and there they were: 164 Lingots!! :)
Shouldn't i have more Lingots? as i am on a 160 Day streak but only have 45.
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So, are there going to be anything other than the 4 items currently for sale? I'm not sure if I should save up or not.
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Hi! It's very nice that everyone has Lingots now but my 50+ day streaks in German and Spanish have both changed to 16. Can you fix it please?
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I have 40 day streaks in Spanish and 26 in German. It is shown together as 17. Why 17?
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Perhaps it should be a way to give Lingots to other members, I don’t feel I really need them for my learning (except of getting a t-shirt :))
Lingots are nice, but my 108 day streak got chopped down to 16 days...
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To everyone, who has problems with their day streaks: look into this thread http://www.duolingo.com/comment/818718
I believe that these new Lingots will be a huge motivation to students, both to complete more skills and to pay closer attention while they do them. I can't wait until new store items will be released!
Thank you Duolingo team!
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Could someone explain how er get these lingots? I accidentally added German a few weeks ago, but am not doing it. I have a pretty good Spanish streak, but not that many lingots. I don't remember this being mentioned when I joined and I can't find it on my settings. Where would I find this information? Thanks. Also, I know this may be a stupid question, but where is the store? Thanks.
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if a new translation for an item is accepted, we should get at least one lingot. I usually lose a heart & sometimes a whole lesson if i use a translation that turns out later to be ok. Make that 2 lingots, seeing as we need 4 lingots to get one heart.
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As long as we suggested the new translation, I agree, give us a lingot.
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Look at your home side, there you see a tab with your "skill tree", another one with your "stream" and next to it the virtual "store".
i like using duolingo on the computer because the is more i can do like talking in a discussion. i think i would love duolingo alot more if i everything i can do on the computer i can do in the app. because somtimes i want to start a discussion but im on the bus to school. please pleace please please add more to the app. it could like facebook has its app. I promise to keep telling everyone i know about duolingo.
ps I would love to see more of Duo he is so cute!
oh oh oh please add more languages and the option to learn french from spanish etc some of my friends are like that please and thank you. I love duolingo.
Hey Luis. This is a great idea, but I don't like the idea of adding them to mobile apps. A lot of mobile apps have a digital currency, like the Lingots you have here. And if you don't have enough digital currency in these apps, you will either be forced to do a boring task or pay for it with real money. This is why I am worried. The Lingots could easily turn out like the digital currency in mobile apps.
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Just missed out on a lingot bonus by getting market wrong for using "Tu precisas" instead of "Voce precisa", informed Duolingo that my answer should be correct. I really wish they'd give a Lingot for finding and correcting these problems.
Hello. Suggestion - we could spend lingots for a new interesting lesson, with some special vocabulary.
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Could we maybe use lingots to buy locked lessons? For example, right now I'm learning French in school and we're learning the simple future and conditional forms. I'd like to practice these forms on duolingo now but I have many more lessons to do to get to them. Spending a couple lingots to unlock certain units would be pretty handy yo.
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Read this: What is a lingot?
A lingot [ling-guht] is the Duolingo virtual currency. The more you learn on Duolingo, the more lingots you'll receive and be able to use in the store! They can be earned through: Leveling up Earn 1 lingot (multiplied by level reached)Finishing a skill Earn 2 lingots for finishing a new skillFull hearts Earn 1 lingot for finishing a lesson with full hearts10 day streaks Earn 1 lingot for every 10 days on a streak (1 for 10, 2 for 20, etc)Inviting friends Invite a friend to Duolingo and, if your friend accepts, you both will receive 1 lingot Note: Lingots are not awarded for leveling up or finishing skills while using a tree shortcut.
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It looks like a lot of people have joined from when I last looked but not a lot of questions.
what is the point of earning lingot's I don't get it, they should give you the stuff in the lingot store for free
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What happened to the Other ones like the learning 'it's raining cats and dogs' one?
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I'd totally buy lingots, Can i have some for free instead?
I've only been here for a week now, and I've only earned 19 lingots- but I'm learning German, and then I'll learn Spanish, and then I'll learn French.
I used to berate myself as being stupid for not knowing another language besides English. I'm going to get smarter at typing/reading!
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Thank you very much, your generosity credits to your personality a kindness uncommon to most.
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my pleasure, and that's a very sweet compliment, thank you!
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You're very welcome, you seem to have learned a great many languages. I hope I will do the same.
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Give away your lingots- It cannot be undone and you might regret it.
But lingots for everybody! (one lingot each though, and I've already gotten mine)
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unless you're in the test group where they don't give out lingots for every ten days of your streak, you can get lingots just by doing it every day. Please don't worry, I'm not going to regret giving them away- with my streak, I've got more than I can use!
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Most of the comments are old, but I gave the newer ones a lingot just for being here.
also, you're getting 78 lingots a day?
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You get heard by Fluffychickens. XD Nah I'm kidding, it's hard, the best way I've found is to reset your entire skill tree and start anew, learning all the words over again.
Hey guys. I am a huge harry Potter fan and I am a part of the Duolingo crew! We are starting a new program. One Lingot Donated Is 10¢! We are trying to get as many as we can. All the Money is going to Saint Judes Hospital! Donate Now guys!
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Why not real merchandise that costs real money (for profit), but you can only purchase them by trading in lingots as well as money
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Each person who gives me a lingot will be automatically entered into a competition. One random winner will be selected. The more lingots you give, the higher chance you will get to win. Competition ends April 15th
