The Duolingo language learning app gives you points for completing exercises, stories, and podcasts in your chosen language (or languages). I've been using it for over two years, and tried out almost every language they offer. Some are fun.
In Finnish, you learn the words for "wizard" and "shaman" right away.
In Portuguese, you learn "armadillo" before "dog."
In Swedish, you usually don't "eat" something, you "eat it up." I wonder if English used to require that construction, too.
Remember all of those Arabian Nights stories where they say "O Vizier," "O Genie," and so on? Turns out that in Arabic, you must begin direct address with "yah," so: "O Benjy, what time is it?"
Sometimes I quit right away: in Welsh the speakers sound enraged, in Italian they speak in a monotone like robots, and in Latin the female speaker sounds like she's trying to seduce you: Ego...ooh...mulier sum. How about it, baby?
Sometimes I go five or ten lessons, until things become too confusing.
Is the Arabic دوز pronounced duuz, du'iz, or duuza? Different speakers say it differently, with no explanation.
The Korean "eo" and "o" are pronounced the same, as "i," but the lessons expect you to differentiate them.
J'ai acheté des fruits must be translated as "I bought fruits," not the correct "fruit," and hűtőszekrény can only mean "fridge," not "refrigerator," even though we never say "fridge" in America.
The problem is, five mistakes and you are not allowed to use the app again for 2-4 hours. And you're competing with others to see who will accumulate the most points by the end of the week and stay on your achievement level, and who will be demoted. So you can't afford to have 2-4 hours off, and you end up doing the exercises in Spanish and French, languages that you already know, so you won't make many mistakes, and ignoring your Swedish, Czech, or Finnish.
But enough complaints. Duolingo has one quality that makes it superior to any textbook I have ever seen.
Introductory textbooks invariably teach you with dialogues about heterosexual romance. A guy visiting the country tries to pick up a girl. Later lessons show them ordering in a restaurant, visiting a museum, and so on.
On Duolingo, most of the exercises are not about romance at all, and when they are, about 20% of refer to women's wives and men's boyfriends.
Some of the languages come with 50-100 stories (brief dialogues that test reading comprehension and listening skills) Several involve gay romance:
A man is waiting for his date, but he's sick, so his friend suggests "The perfect man for you": a doctor.
A woman is introduced to her girlfriend's family: Mom has five sons but only one daughter. Well, now two. Welcome to the family!
An elderly male couple listens to a song, which is very bad, but they like it because they heard it on their first date.
An elderly man is depressed because his daughter is away studying in Australia, but his husband has arranged a surprise visit.
In Spanish, French, and German, most of the stories involve a group of people living in the same apartment complex.
1, Eddy, a fun-loving, rather dimwitted gym teacher and physical fitness buff. (They have the same names in every language.)
2. His son, eight year old Junior, who is always trying to figure out ways to avoid chores and homework and spend his time playing video games.
3. Lin, who doesn't really have a job: she rides her motorcycle and goes to rock concerts. According to Duolingo, she dates men and women, but I don't recall any stories that show her socializing with anyone but Bea (below) and her grandmother:
4. Lucy, elderly but strong, forceful, and athletic, apparently a former spy.
5. Bea, an IT professional, a lesbian. She dates a woman who complains about everything, asks a flight attendant to help her find her girlfriend, and sees someone who she thinks is an ex-girlfriend (but turns out to be someone else). She has a friendship or on-off romance with Lin.
6. Zari, a Muslim girl who is boy crazy, and her bff:
7. Lily, a Goth girl, who doesn't express any heterosexual interest and wears a suit instead of a dress to a wedding because she hates women's clothes.
8-9. Vikram and Priti, a South Asian couple. Vikram runs a pastry shop and is called in when another character has a problem in the kitchen; Priti seems to be an overworked professional
10. Oscar, an art teacher. According to the Duolingo blog, he is gay, but I don't recall any stories where he dates men. He mostly associates with Eddy. But they keep adding new stories, so maybe one will set him up on a date.
2 LGBT characters out of 10, 3 if you count Oscar, 4 if you count Lily. A lot more representation than when I studied Spanish, French, or German. Or Latin. Or Chinese. Or Russian.
I know lots of people who say "fridge," and sometimes use the word myself: "There's nothing good in the fridge." My father always used "icebox"--I doubt he had one, but his parents probably did and taught him that.
ReplyDeleteYou must be from Britain -- it's common use there. But in the U.S., I've never heard anyone use it, unless they're pretending that they're British.
DeleteHi, there. American here. I’ve heard fridge a lot, and I use it sometimes, too. It might not be used a huge amount, but it is definitely not completely unused.
DeleteI should have said "rarely," of course, but the point is that Duolingo won't accept "refrigerator," just "fridge."
DeleteIcebox is an archaism limited to the South these days.
ReplyDeleteFridge is also a verb, meaning to kill or disfigure a (usually female) character solely to advance a male protagonist's story.