I mentioned aaaages ago that I was learning Korean on and off with Talk to me in Korean. Yeahhh, that didn’t go so well. I got bored around level 2 and stopped doing it. Yah… We’ll talk about that some other time. I’m still trying to get back in the saddle with that. Thanks to Memrise my retention of the little I learned is extremely good so it’s worth pursuing but…. it’s boring… Anyway, it’s a topic for another day.
After quitting-ish TTMIK I heard about both Duolingo Korean and Lingodeer. I don’t have a good experience with Duolingo for other languages, but Lingodeer got great reviews from people who tried it so I thought I would give it a go. The best part is that you can download the whole course and use it offline for free, which you can’t do with Duolingo or Memrise without paying. This came in super handy because I can learn new things while I’m on the go or waiting in the doctor’s office and stuff.
That’s the main good point about Lingodeer. I guess the other good thing is that the deer mascot is cute <3. They should sell plushies.
So I did do the whole 100% of the Lingodeer Korean course. I said “I learned nothing!” in the topic title, but it’s more accurate to say “I retained nothing!” I know in my head that I learned a lot of different grammar points and some new vocabulary, but I don’t remember most of them.
This isn’t all Lingodeer’s fault. They introduce concepts gradually and clearly and I didn’t have a hard time learning those things in the first place. But their revision system is extremely weak and boring – and completely optional too, so the info is all in one year and out another. You learn something once, revise it once and then you don’t see it again.
What they could have done is to include the revision as a mandatory part of the program. You don’t pass regular reviews, you don’t go on to the next section. Furthermore, they could have done a better job of integrating past grammar points into future sentences. Sentences should have gotten longer and more complex with time.
Anyway, the TL;DR is that Lingodeer teaches a lot of new stuff and is easy to follow so it’s a good start for low-intermediate learners. But you might want to jot things down in a notebook or a flashcard system like Anki so what you learn might actually stick. For me I think I was better off with TTMIK and Memrise and really should push myself to get back into that. If I ever do… before the apocalypse, I will tell you guys about it.
Oh yeah, I did all this Lingodeer stuff around the end of 2017 – beginning of 2018. Recently I opened the app again and noticed they had added video lessons and speaking practice. That’s a great idea, but TBH it sounds like work so I don’t know if I will go through all that. If I do… before the end of the world… I will write a followup post to this one. ¡Adiós!
Well, I find Lingodeer somewhat useful, but I have learned much more by using Memrise. However, since I am combining Memrise and Lingodeer, it’s easier for me to retain things. They say two heads are better than one. Sometimes, two apps are better than one. I’ve spent a lot of time on Memrise and have been studying using several courses on there, so studying Lingodeer is more helpful. I can’t say I am a huge fan, but it’s helpful.
I’d say Memrise makes all the difference to whatever site/app I use. I find my memory isn’t that good, and language learning is like 80% memorization, so unless I drill myself repeatedly with the constructs I’ve learned, I end up forgetting lesson 1 by the time I finish lesson 20. That’s why I’ve had more success with Talk to me in Korean and How to Study Korean, which both have full-fledged Memrise decks.
You sound like you give up on learning a language. You can’t learn a language by just sitting around doing nothing and relying on an app. You can’t just quit because “it sounds like work”. Learning a language is hard work and sometimes you get bored. It doesn’t mean you give up and get mad that you haven’t retained anything considering you don’t even practice it yourself…
You’re completely right that you can’t give up so easily. Which is why I didn’t give up and I’m still working on Korean. But sometimes a certain learning method or app or book doesn’t work for you, so you need to try other means. Lingodeer is great for some people but it doesn’t fit my learning style. I’m having more success with TTMIK and Memrise lately.
I’m trying lingodeer and although I like it I don’t know about spending the money for it when there are tons of other good apps. Though I never used memorise I think something that has helped me retain a bit of what I’m learning is pimsleur because it repeats the words and I can do it when I’m walking my dog, so far only 8 days in and I can remember a bunch.
Pimsleur is great. I’ve been using it recently to work on my Japanese pronunciation and I can feel a big difference after just 13 lessons. I used it with Cantonese years ago and still remember a lot of the vocabulary I learned.
Now about Lingodeer, I must clarify that when I wrote the post, Lingodeer was still a new app and all the lessons were offered for free. I hear they later put most of their content behind a paywall, but I don’t know how much they’re charging or how much content they have added since. IMO there’s plenty of good free content out there online, so I wouldn’t pay for an app, at least at the beginner level.