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Comment by chris_j | Hacker News Reader

What results do you find you get from using Duolingo every day for 959 days? Do you find that it's working for you, in terms of gaining better language proficiency?

I ask because I personally became disillusioned with Duolingo's streaks and leaderboards. I found that I was forcing myself to use it every day but I lost the love of learning the language. Ultimately, I stopped using it because I had a lot of extrinsic motivation to hit targets in the app but little intrinsic motivation to keep learning.

It sounds like your experiences were different from mine and I'm curious to learn what made them so.

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I've tried learning Spanish theee different times - a course at university, a course at an employer and now with Duolingo.

The results I've got from Duolingo have been by far the best - a little very day works way better for me than a larger commitment of time in shorter bursts.

I can now read tweets from Spanish language Twitter accounts and understand them 90% of the time (CNN and BBC News in Spanish are great).

I took some in-person lessons via video chat to practice conversational Spanish which was also useful, and I'm hoping to spend a few months fully embedded in a Spanish speaking country some time in the future - but I don't feel the need to rush things. I'll be happy getting incrementally more vocabulary and grammar in 10-15 minutes a day for a long time to come.

Duolingo is great, because learning a language (and many other skills) is a matter of doing it consistently. If you have a 4 hour class once a week but don't study or read anything in Spanish outside of the class, you will forget things before the next class.

Of course, Duolingo is not magical, but it gives you enough vocabulary and understanding that you can start following people on twitter/instagram and know what's happening. Then you start trying to reply and interact, and then at some point try a book, then a TV show..

Also, many people plan on starting something (like learning a language) later on, when they have more time. Many people I know that wanted to learn English (Im Brazilian) didn't start years ago because they `didn't have time`, so now, after a few years, they still need to start from 0

Hey I made leerly.io for people exactly like you! Check it out and see if you get any utility out of it. We are in the early days so your feedback would mean a lot; you're our target demographic :)

That's really fantastic - good work. I'm glad to hear that my experiences with Duolingo aren't the only ones possible.

I'm currently on 890 day streak learning Spanish, i can read tweets getting ~90% and understand slow Spanish speech.

I think i can have a basic conversation with a Spanish speaker and understand him, if he'll make some effort for us to understand each other.

Duolingo gamification stopped working around day 150..200 but by that time spending 10-15 minutes per day with it became a habit. If I have to wait for someone or I'm drinking tea in an idle mood, i just pop up Duolingo and do a lesson.

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