this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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[–] [email protected] 123 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I was so upset last year when they got rid of the comment section. There were often helpful explanations for WHY you conjugate the word that way, or how native speakers might use a different word.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't know how good this feature was on Duolingo, but there's a site/app called HiNative that does a really good job at this sort of thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

that looks cool. Thank you for pointing it out!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Never used it but that sounds like such a neat concept.

Does anyone know of any free language learning apps that have a comment section? (And a user base that utilizes the comment section, of course.)

[–] [email protected] 95 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Yeah, the comment section was amazing...and then they came out with "max", where you get "explain my answer" for a premium, powered by a [notoriously fallible] LLM. This is the definition of enshitification.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm pretty frustrated they removed dark mode as well, made it very hard to do a lesson before bed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Duolingo? Mine still has dark mode. Maybe just for subscriptions?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Literally canceled because of that change. Fuck them.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

This "AI first" thing was the last straw for me, but ever since I noticed that the comment section was gone there's been a bad taste in my mouth. I wonder how many of us there are.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 days ago (2 children)

One of the languages I am learning is an endangered native language, and it was super helpful to see knowledgeable people in the comments.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

i encountered some people that spoke some MAYAN. would like to learn it, because thier pictographs are interesting.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

That's cool as heck.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

That's honestly enraging!? Such data can be greatly valuable for learners, and the native speakers' community, and linguistics.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Yeah but fuck learning, there's money to be made, amirite?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

It was an amazing resource. For them just to nuke it completely was very frustrating.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Don’t worry, you can upgrade to Duolingo Max for even more money and have the AI explain it. (Seriously.)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Yeah, I saw that. I have the family plan (some people in the house go through a lot of hearts (mistakes)) and still have to see ads for Max.