Duolingo: Brushing up on my Norwegian

[wintermom]

I've been "testing" out Duolingo for my ds by using it to refresh my Norwegian (I was fluent while living in Norway 20 years ago). Duolingo is driving my batty with all the typing and stupid sentences, like "The elephant does not eat the mouse."  And there is a weird fixation about Vegetarians in every third sentence. With the focus being completely on grammar and not on realistic and useful sentences. Plus I want more conversations to listen to. Any ideas on free on-line resources? 

Edited March 17, 2016 by tmoan

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Both the German and French equivalents of public broadcast channels have free language learning resources on their websites.  Might be worth looking into for Norwegian.  

[wintermom]

Both the German and French equivalents of public broadcast channels have free language learning resources on their websites.  Might be worth looking into for Norwegian.  

 

Did managed to find any on the NRK TV or Radio websites, but I've been watching an interesting Norwegian TV show called, "'What's wrong with you?" where doctors compete against ordinary people using tablets and internet to diagnose illnesses. The episode I watched the ordinary people actually won. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Did managed to find any on the NRK TV or Radio websites, but I've been watching an interesting Norwegian TV show called, "'What's wrong with you?" where doctors compete against ordinary people using tablets and internet to diagnose illnesses. The episode I watched the ordinary people actually won. 

 

That's awesome!  Realty tv at its finest!  Really, I think reading and watching tv are going to be your best options for coming back up to speed!

[wintermom]

Bummer. I'm limited in what TV shows they'll let people watch outside of Norway. I can't watch anymore "What's wrong with you."  :crying:

[freesia]

(you do get through the vegetarians in Duolingo if you stick with it. . .)

[wintermom]

(you do get through the vegetarians in Duolingo if you stick with it. . .)

 

I quit and won't use it with my ds either. Glad I tried it out, though, but I don't like it at all. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I understand your reasoning, but just wanted to add in another two cents...

 

We are doing duolingo German, the app version.  The app has a lot less typing, making it ideal for younger kids.  In addition, my kids find the silly sentences hilarious.  

"The elephant does not eat the mouse!  HAHAHA" and it is very motivating to them at their ages to discover a bit of silliness in each lesson.  

 

Duolingo is not pretending to be a very very serious language program.  The spoken portion is a known weakness.  But I can still remember learning "I am a pineapple!" along with a whole song to go with it in my high school French class, so I think it's sort of par for the course of lower level language learning.  

 

I love duolingo for a few reasons.  One, I just say, "Go do your duolingo." and it gets done.  LOL.  It is relatively self-motivating, between the streak counting, XP leader board with their friends, and the silliness.  Supposedly research shows it to be more effective than normal classroom learning (first year college or two year high school) and WAY more effective than Rosetta Stone in general.

 

But I do get that you don't like it, so I'm not trying to be pushy or anything!  Just pointing out that some of that ridiculousness is motivating to certain kids.  :-D

[wintermom]

Thanks for the info, Monica. It's good to know the app is better. Plus, I didn't have a microphone, so had to skip the audio portions, which might make a difference in the typing as well.