Ciao ๐
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how do you know when you've gone as far as you can with Duolingo? ๐ค
back in the day, it was obvious:
you'd reach the end of your course and you'd get a shiny golden owl ((basically a swanky little trophy)) ๐
but nowadays it's not so clear...
because even if you've finished your course, owly doesn't want to let you go
he wants to hold onto you forever and ever
even if he's taught you everything he can...
how does he do this?
with guilt trips, threatening behaviour, and a little something called Daily Refresh...
what is Daily Refresh? ๐ค
Daily Refresh is the final section of the learning path...
unlike the main sections, Daily Refresh doesn't come with any new content
it updates every day with 6 levels pulled from the earlier sections of your course
you'll notice it follows a circular path rather than the more linear one of the main sections...
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if you're learning one of the popular languages, you'll get a mix of personalised practice and stories ๐
if you're learning one of the less popular languages, you'll just get a bunch of personalised practice levels ๐๏ธ
each day ends with a challenge, which is supposed to contain harder exercises. once you've completed it you'll unlock an XP Boost ...
a typical refresh ๐
how does a typical refresh play out then?
well, I completed the Italian course a lonnnnng time ago so I've been on the Daily Refresh section for quite a while
each refresh usually lasts me about 10-15 minutes, but it could last longer depending on where you're at with your language or if you want to compete each level to legendary
most of the time the levels aren't that challenging and you'll probably be able to breeze through them without losing too many ((if any)) hearts
this might be a little different in the more popular courses like French and Spanish, but in the courses that only go up to A2 ((like Italian)) everything's very basic...
the personalised practices come with the usual mix of exercise types that target reading, listening, pronunciation and typing
each level is worth about 10 XP and the final challenge is a bit more
the XP Boost you unlock on the final challenge activates automatically so you'll have to use it there and then if you don't want to waste it
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groundhog day... ๐ฐ๏ธ
I like the idea behind daily refresh... i just don't think it works very well
giving users something to do after they've finished their courses obviously makes sense, especially if they've paid for one of the premium subscriptions
it also makes sense for Duolingo to want to keep you showing up every day
and of course, it's important to review previous material to ensure it's fresh and firing in your active memory...
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but I don't think Daily Refresh does a good job of making that happen.
going over the same material over and over again does more harm than good over time
it encourages stagnation rather than progress
most of Duolingo's courses only go up to A2 on the CEFR, so going over the same beginner material repeatedly is just gonna hold you back
it also doesn't help that there seems to be a glitch that means you're going over the exact same vocabulary every. single. day.
it's been like this since it launched and the guys at Duolingo don't seem to have done anything to fix it
it's more re-peat than re-fresh ๐
like i've been learning Italian for 8 years -- I really don't need to be reminded of how to say "Television" every bloody lesson ๐
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what the users think... ๐ญ
i threw this out on X and it seems a lot of users feel the same...
there's also a lot of chatter about Daily Refresh over in the Subreddit
seems a lot of users are having the same issue getting the same content over and over again...
what next? ๐ค
if you've reached Daily Refresh, then you've completed your course
that's the main takeaway here.
there's nothing more for you to learn on Duolingo
you can come back every day and review what you've learned
but to make further progress in your language you'll have to explore other resources alongside.
Daily Refresh just isn't that effective right now
it just feels like a bit of an afterthought
we'll have to see if Duolingo has any plans to 1) fix it and 2) improve it to provide more of a challenge moving forward
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