Today, I opened my Duolingo app for the first time in two weeks. I was having so much fun travelling in Japan that I didn’t realise my Swahili streak freeze had been exhausted. In the blink of an eye, my progress spanning nearly three years had been wiped off!
I thought about emailing Duo, begging the bird to give me one more chance to keep my streak. You see, it had become a thing of pride for me to commit to a single task for this long.
The task was to learn Swahili – not necessarily to fluency, but enough to hold a decent conversation with friends, colleagues, my hairdresser, or the Uber drivers I occasionally chat with.
But as I kept thinking about reinstating my lost streak, I reflected on the fact that I have lived in Kenya for nearly five years, most of which I’ve spent doing at least one Duolingo lesson daily (after already completing the entire course once) – yet my conversation skills remain next to zero.
Sure, I can say hello, yes, no, please, and thank you. I can introduce myself and respond to taxi drivers when they ask where I am or where I’m going. But I would never claim I can actually speak Swahili, despite agreeing with most people that it’s one of the easiest languages to learn.
The Reality Check
I tell myself that I don’t get enough exposure to practice, that I don’t get out much, working from home doesn’t help – but the truth is I never applied myself. I spoke more Swahili in Lagos, Nigeria (while preparing to move to Nairobi) than I do now, having lived here for a few years. And sadly, the daily classes I kept up with on Duolingo did not yield much result.
As I mentioned in my previous language update post, my learning plateaued after the first 100 days. I had run through the entire Swahili course and earned the golden owl. I restarted the course two more times after this, and now, I have come to my wit’s end.
I don’t think I will ever attain fluency in the language. Sometimes, I even wonder if the effort is worth it. I know life in Kenya would be immensely better if I could speak Swahili, but it isn’t bad now. So there isn’t much motivation to continue.
Giving Up My Streak
I’ve always known that apps like Duolingo are fantastic for building habits and getting you started, but they’re terrible for actual fluency. They gamify learning in a way that makes you feel productive while keeping you in a comfortable bubble of recognition exercises. Real language learning is messy, embarrassing, and requires you to fail publicly – a lot.
My 1000-day streak was more about maintaining the streak than actually learning Swahili.
The Temptation of Shiny New Languages
It’s hard to admit defeat, and a part of me wants to give it one last go, but I want to be realistic. I also feel drawn to learning other languages. Korean (seems feasible), Japanese (who am I kidding??), French (probably the best option since Mark speaks fluently), and Spanish (I see many benefits to learning this).
I also consider learning a Nigerian language to fluency, but I worry that there are no resources available to help me achieve this goal. Again, one of the reasons I loved Duolingo was the fact that they maintained several African languages.
So, where do I go from here?
Moving Forward
I’m taking a break from formal language learning for now. If I ever decide to seriously learn a language again, I’ll focus on immersion from day one. I’ll find conversation partners, consume media in that language, and make peace with the fact that I’ll sound like a toddler for longer than I’d like.
Maybe I’ll return to Swahili someday with a better strategy. Maybe I’ll tackle French with Mark as my built-in conversation partner. Or maybe I’ll accept that some goals, no matter how worthy, aren’t worth pursuing if they don’t align with how I actually live my life.
The 1000-day streak is gone, and honestly? I’m relieved. It was becoming a burden rather than a joy, a obligation rather than an adventure. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is admit when something isn’t working and have the courage to stop.
Asante sana, Duolingo. It’s been… educational.
What’s your experience with language learning apps? Have you ever maintained a long streak that didn’t translate to real skills? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Found your blog because I was looking for other people who had completed the course to read their thoughts and experiences. I just finished 2 of the 3 units, having moved to Nairobi about 45 days ago. I am able to hold basic conversations with people – the person who cleans my house and my partner. Am working to incorporate more complex sentences and ideas in my speaking. I can understand most conversations around me. TV and radio are still hard because of the speed and accents but I’m picking up more and more. I have to say, Duo alone is not good for speaking Swahili. The course is the least developed on the app. I spent about 2-3 hours each of these 45 days on Duo and another 2-3 on independent study. Eventually I developed a sort of quick language tool for getting conversational in 30 days. Having said that, I do think it is a great place to start and I find that I use a good chunk of the Duo material and ideas in my daily speaking. Don’t give up! If you pair it with other resources, you’ll find Duo can be a great learning tool. Beautiful blog!
Hi Tumi, thank you for your comment, it’s very insightful and welcome to Nairobi! I’m happy reading that you are making great progress in learning Swahili – it’s *almost* inspiring me to pick it up again, haha! I certainly agree that Duolingo helps with the basics. After my first 100 days, I was feeling very confident but then I moved here and just never spoke as much before giving it up altogether.
1000 days is so impressive, well done! But I understand, its one thing to have a streak, and its another thing entirely to speak the language and consistently put yourself in a position to speak the language.
It also takes some courage to walk away and say okay, i’m done! Well done!
Thank you, Dee. It took me a while to accept this reality but I think it’s what I needed to do to forge ahead.
This is probably one of the reasons why my French is non existent despite an almost 2k streak score on Duolingo.
I agree, one needs to go out and interact to actually learn the language.
A 2K streak is a wonderful feat! Well done! I always loved Duolingo for the introduction to languages – especially when travelling to a different country. Their Swahili course in particular is so well structured. I might give it another go and combine it with other learning resources but for now, a break seems more fitting.