For me I hate how forced and linear the learning is now. I loved to just jump around and see what I felt like doing that day, sometimes doing higher levels and sometimes starting a fresh lesson. And mostly I LOVED stories, it is the thing that thing on the app that felt the most natural in terms of usage of the language...

personally the fact that they took away the stories has really been the downside for me. yes, they integrated the stories into the roadmap thingy, but in reality, story based learning has been proven to be highly affective. It's also more enjoyable to learn when you have more context to your vocabulary other than sentences. Also, based on my map, I am now repeating a lot of stories I have already read! This is extremely demotivating to me... the stories were honestly my bread and butter. They were what I did when I didn't want to work on 30 lessons to complete a circle. EDIT: new stories are NOT under review. You can only review stories you have previously worked on. You cannot jump ahead in stories. Maybe if you have plus? I don't have plus. I can only access stories I have already previously read.. and I have ZERO interest in doing that

Being a teacher and using the “schools” option has been a nightmare. I can’t assign topics anymore and it only allows to assign XP. Then the students are on different levels and could be missing the phrases and grammar I need them to get. I wanted them to learn superlatives yesterday and now the kids are all over the place and a lot of them are not far enough along the path. (Mine just updated!) ugh.

You forgot the most annoying part of the update. The Guidebook is totally awful, just having these key phrases that feel like somebody rolled the dice to figure out which ones to include. Gone away are the beautiful guides how to conjugate verbs or whatever you were on. This helped so much figuring out patterns in why this language was built like that. Also i liked those little icons and the representation of progress they had before.

The one thing I miss is lack of choices. It's all completely linear now. I liked having the choice between 3 topics :(

They decided to focus more on the competition instead of helping people learn a language. My German friend said he has no “hints.” So you’re penalized for making mistakes because they rules were not explained. I use Babbel now. I’m understanding the language more and can start building sentences. I like duolingo’s pronunciation.

Weirdly, i feel like the new system is way more overwhelming for me. With the old tree, it didn't feel like I was on a long winding path that will never end. Being able to clearly see everything I had left to do made me feel like I was actually making progress with every lesson I completed, this new system just makes me anxious

Here's my problem: I have adhd and one of the crucial benefits for me was that i could choose what to practice. I don't mean I just did the easy lessons and ignored everything else. With the old tree and the branches I usually had four lessons unlocked at various difficulty levels which allowed me to choose what i wanted to do depending on how well I could focus and sustain concentration that day. I would easily do 1 hour sessions every day and now all that flexibility is gone. I lost my streak bc doing even one lesson that is completely random, and without being able to gage the energy it requires, gives me a headache. I can't choose an easier level for that day or go back and repeat one to ease my brain into study mode. I hate this update, it made the app completely unusable for me. I'm sure they did tons of research but, as is not uncommon in teaching, failed to acknowledge the needs of neurodivergent people.

Somehow not a single one of my problems with the new update made it into this video, which is fascinating! these are not at all in priority order i just have a lot (a LOT) of issues: 1) the amount of XP you get for completing lessons now is terrible; going back and practicing topics you've forgotten only gets you 5XP where it used to get you maybe 4x that much, sometimes more if you got the early bird or night owl bonus at the right time 2) you can lose lives for going back and refreshing yourself, meaning there's no point actually practicing specific topics ( i know you can do this with the 'practice to regain lives' thing but sometimes i want to go back and refresh a specific topic and now if i want to do that it might lose me lives??) 3) i liked having the stories separate, it meant i could split my learning between grammar and context more effectively for my learning style rather than being told when i should be completing them...also i just don't really like doing stories some days and the fact that i have to do them when i'm not in the mood really sucks 4) getting the legendary or whatever it's called for a section used to take 4 tries but now it takes you 8 and it still costs 100 gems per try even though you have to do twice as many 5) scrolling back to anything on the mobile app is dreadful - they've added a quick-scroll to the most recent thing but nothing for if you want to go back up for any reason 6) none of the individual topics are labelled clearly anymore; they're only named if you click on them, and even then it's just things like 'my bad day', which doesn't tell me anything about the grammar that's in it! whatever happened to 'birthday' and 'health'? 7) it's not just put me somewhere that i /think/ i shouldn't be, i definitely shouldn't be where it's started me off because I HAVEN'T DONE PAST TENSE YET, it's just dropped me in the middle of using the past tense with exactly zero experience and i can't 'refresh' the earlier topics in this section so i'm just blindly guessing how past tense works in German 8) i've lost all of my 'legendaries' i was saving up for, i liked having that long line of golden icons that turned purple when you mastered them, i know you can do that now with the separate sections but it doesn't feel the same to me 9) i hate the way it goes back and forth across the screen in the 'path', i much preferred the nicely organised grid system we had before which was just more aesthetically pleasing to me 10) AFAICT there's no more 'restoring' lessons, which makes it really difficult to know what topics i should probably refresh myself on; i found that really helpful to know when i was forgetting things maybe without even realising it and now i can't really do that 11) maybe it's the ADHD in me but i HATE being stuck on one path doing one thing at a time, i made so much more progress on the older system where i could just jump back and forth from 'groceries' to 'weather' to 'family' instead of the order someone else thinks i should be learning them in where i'm stuck doing the same exact vocab for six straight lessons - where did the idea of learning at your own pace go?? 12) this was also a problem with the old system, not just the new update (which is why it's at the end) but i feel like duo never actually explains anything? how am i supposed to know the difference between 'ihre' and 'ihrer' or 'sein', 'seinen' and 'seinem' when it's never actually been explained to me in any kind of helpful way? i assume it's something to do with what comes after it but i don't actually know that because there's no lessons on that!

I feel like this video focused on the silliest complaints while ignoring the more substantial ones. In short, Duolingo used to be a flexible learning app, now it is very linear. Rather than making language learning fun and game like, it becomes a repetitive grind. That's not superficial, like changing a color from purple to gold. It cuts to the core of what made Duolingo work so well.

Linguist here. I specialize in second-language acquisition and one of the most motivating factors about learning a second language is said to be the power of choice. In other words, your ability to choose what topics and words or patterns you learn is a key factor in keeping you interested in the language you’re working on. The old Duolingo tree had this to a small degree, but now it’s gone completely. This is the biggest headache for me as someone who genuinely cares about language learning and instruction. Duolingo, in my opinion, had something good going, and then decided to take it away and substitute it for something terrible. A huge step back in my professional opinion. I also heard somewhere on Reddit that the company is trying to emulate their kids-marketed UI since it seemed to be doing well. I think this is a horrible choice to force onto adults. At least give us the option of working in one tree or another! So angry about all of this…

The layout is so frustrating because I like jumping around to learn different things. And it's so important to practice older stuff.

I found that I really miss the discussion forums where people could ask questions or make comments about specific examples. They locked all of the discussions, and you can still read the previous posts, but I liked being able to interact with other users (and moderators, who I think they got rid of!) to answer questions I might have about a particular sentence structure or phrase. And I liked being able to reward other users for having helpful responses--another use for lingots!

For context, I've been learning/ speaking Japanese for over a decade and even teach Japanese-- the thing I hate about duo lingo is how specific your answers have to be in order to be considered 'right'-- especially when there can be multiple 'correct' answers, or when certain phrases just do not translate at all. It's really frustrating how most of it feels like I have to guess the correct English the way that Duo wants me to word, rather than understanding the content. -- it's like taking a backwards English test in riddles. So instead of learning anything, I end up infuriated that I was 'wrong' because I worded my English sentence differently. You can report a question to have more than one correct answer, but you still get marked wrong regardless which is annoying as hell.

The thing that bothers me a bit about the snake style tree is that it took the illusion of choosing what to tackle. Sometimes, I got a bit stuck on one lesson, and with the dual-tier tree, I could focus on a different topic for a bit, until my brain had re-set. And yeah, I miss the stories, too. I often did them a few times, weeks apart, to see my progress in understanding the language.

I don't care about the gems side of things at all, it's the inaccessibility of the new update. They've removed the icons that made it easy to know which lesson were on what topic, and the occasional labels are now inaccurate/don't match what the lessons are actually on (I'm learning Mandarin for reference). It's so much harder to go and revise past lessons which I found incredibly helpful before. After months of trying to get it to work for me, I've actually uninstalled the app and have pulled out my textbooks instead.

My biggest gripe with the new update is mostly how much more impractical it has become. The endless scrolling. The fact that the lessons don't have their little symbol showing what they are, so it's really hard to find stuff if you're looking for something specific. The (for some languages) removal of tips and tricks on grammar, I always need to brush up on verb forms - overall it feels like the entire tips section has become worse. I'm also a long time user (currently 2120 days) and I recently finally got my dad to start using Duolingo. Now he has to stop. Can't do it anymore. He's hard of hearing and because of the stories built in, he can't progress, because he hasn't found a way to not have to do the stories when they require listening. Personally, I also hate the fact that there's only one single way of going forward now! I really liked mixing waterfall method with a deep dive into a specific topic that was useful for me at the moment. It's good that they're trying to optimise the learning for the more casual learners, but I hate not having options! Sometimes you just got to trust that people can pick the best way to things for themselves. I have been starting to look into other options to duo, just in case I get too frustrated with this update. I would be sad to lose my streak, but I would still have the knowledge. I think that I'll stay, but I will spend way less time on the app and less time learning with duolingo

I think the worst is not being able to go back. It's always necessary to go back and refresh the memory, in any field.

What I’m upset about is that they took away the audio stories/lessons, at least the ones that were available in my French course. I had found myself using so much of what I learned there and now they’ve disappeared.

I can't stand the new layout, I like jumping around, and I like doing things my own way. I also feel like I've been pushed back many lessons, it's not just demotivating It seems like they're actively pushing me away from the app.

I mean my reason for hating this tree is that for years Duolingo has been about learning your own way at your own pace. I'm sure this may be a better way to learn for some people but for me it just feels like school, which really did not work for me at times. It also doesn't help that my autism doesn't do well with changes that I didn't choose or want so it's extremely hard to have something that I'd gotten and liked being stripped and being told its for my sake. Like no.

I was one of the unfortunate individuals who got the Beta test months ago and at this point I've turned 'hating the Duolingo update' into one of my personality traits. I like learning on my rules. If I want to do one verb lesson, one revision on gendered nouns, one how to order at a restaurant, one directions, and then one more complex sentences then I used to be able to. On this one? I'm re-learning the same 6 words over and over and over again for an hour and slowly wanting to die. Also, they took my stories, and I was 1 story away from completing it! Angry. For me this update just seems like it was designed for kids and as a 35 year old who is using the app to keep up on a language I already speak but can never use at home because no one around me speaks it, I HATE this.

Duolingo has ALWAYS been focused mostly on trying to get peoples subscriptions rather than teach you. Their lessons are focused on giving you very tiny steps that give you the illusion of progress when really you're only 0.0001% closer to learning the language.

I have ADHD and my biggest issue with the new user interface is that I find that it's overwhelming to look at and I can't visualize my progress. As someone who was tracking my progress through the duolingo Norwegian course for the last 3 years, suddenly I have no idea where I am in the course and when I try to figure it out, I find myself endlessly scrolling along a path where the sections are not visually distinct or clearly labeled. The endless scrolling makes the course I was halfway through now seem interminable and unconquerable which is extremely demotivating. On top of this, I recieved this update without warning or explanation. I never got the cute little video. Imagine you're reading a book and it's entire layout and format changes and suddenly you have no idea what chapter or page you're on. Wouldn't you feel like giving up? That's how I felt. My second biggest issue is the lack of autonomy. Instead of being able to choose between a cluster of topics or being able to easily go back and practice completed sections, I'm forced to follow one rigid path. Sure, I can choose to skip ahead by taking a test but I have no idea what I'm skipping to or skipping past. Because I have ADHD, I can't focus on learning when I get bored and the unique level of autonomy Duolingo provided kept me from getting bored. Duolingo says they changed their app because this is what's best for the average learner but what about people like myself who are not average learners? It seems like they don't care about us at all. Also, because you can't go back and practice, there's nothing to do once you complete the path. Language learning doesn't end once you've completed the path. My plan when I finished my original Duolingo tree was to continue go back and practice old lessons everyday to keep my Norwegian fresh. Now I can't do this. And I'm not usually one to complain about app updates. I understand apps have to change and adapt to some extent. But this truly feels like a completely different app to me and it seems to go against the original ethos of Duolingo. I am not upset that Duolingo is trying to find more ways to monetize the app. They have to make money somehow. I expect them to do this. Anyone who is complaining about that aspect is being silly. All that said, the new update made me cancel my subscription. I honestly don't expect them to revert to the old layout when they've invested so much in this new one but I do expect them to at least consider customer concerns and unless they make a statement about how specifically they're going to improve the app for neurodivergent learners and those with disabilities in general, I'm not interested in paying for their product. I just feel like their attitude regarding this change has been very ableist. Sure, I doubt it's intentionally ableist but that's not a good excuse in 2022.

I’m learning Korean via Duolingo, so I don’t know if this is exclusive to Korean or if this happened with other languages, but what was most frustrating to me is that when the change happened, units that I had already learned & gotten legendary status on were now a couple units away, uncompleted, because they had restructured where those units were placed. So units I had already learned were locked for me to learn again in the future, and now, where I was at, there were new words and phrases that I hadn’t learned, that had been placed earlier in the tree with the restructuring. It was incredibly jarring and demotivating.

As a neurodivergent person (autism and ADHD), the sudden change with no option to turn it back has made my motivation take a massive hit. The whole layout is different, the helpful lesson descriptors/icons are gone, and I can't choose what topics I want to learn or refresh. Also, when I was put on the new course my progress got all out of shape. It was trying to teach me things I'd already learned and do stories I'd already done. I had to skip at least three units because the lessons were too understimulating for me and it was also dulling my motivation.

The thing I hate the most about the update is that it literally set back my progress by miles. I'm suddenly doing extremely basic lessons in languages where I was previously almost completely done with all the units available wtf...

For me, the lack of options has made this much harder for me to stay motivated. Some days I come home from work exhausted, and I don't have the mental strength to push through new material or take that one category to legendary. I used to go back and review just to maintain the habit on those days, but that's not really in the cards. Some days I felt like doing a story, some days I had zero interest in stories, but that's out of my control now. At this point, I do a lesson a day to maintain my streak and I'm looking for other options.

As someone who sometimes does Duolingo when they're drunk, the no going back rule is extremely detrimental to my learning and I can't see myself actually learning the language properly just because I like to practice French when I'm drunk lol

I have more than 1400 days streak and I'm one of the furious users. I hate how it looks and the way they force me to learn through the "best way". Language learning should be FLEXIBLE: what works for one person doesn't necessarily works for other people. Also, if the learning process is no longer fun, it doesn't matter how effective said learning path is. So, I said thank you to Duolingo for the past few years, and I changed my study method. I still use Duolingo, but only a minimum amount.

My biggest issue with this update is that It happened when I had circles left to complete Welsh. As I was moving on, there have been words and phrases that I legitimately had not learned at all. I scrolled back up and discovered that there are topics that Duolingo thinks I learned that I have not, like spirituality and religion. I have no clue about either of those topics, but I am now one day away from completing the entire course.

The one thing I am missing is: previously if I was really tired mentally I would do some level 1 or 2 lessons. Now even if I don't feel like I can muster as much focus (after studying for uni etc) I still have to do hard exercises

I was a super early adopter of Duolingo, starting a day or two after they launched. And I was also a paid subscriber. They made me a beta tester of the new tree system, which I got months ago. I gave it a couple months, there were a lot of bugs I reported, but I really tried to give it a fair shake. But they made so many rapid changes, and all of them basically took away stuff that I had found fun. Making the timed challenges impossible was the last straw. I abandoned my lengthy streak and cancelled my subscription. I guess it’s working for them but I’m done with them.

One word I keep hearing over and over from people who dislike the update is "demotivational." For new language learners, it's really hard to exactly pinpoint what exactly is demotivating, you just know that it IS demotivating. You no longer feel motivated. In fact, you feel DEmotivated. It's hard to quantify or qualify, but clearly a lot of people are experiencing this with the new update. I feel like motivation is a huge part of learning a new language, so in my opinion, this update really missed the mark hard core.

I haven't seen anyone complaining about what annoys me the most in this update, so I will bring up the subject to know if another person felt the same or no. I really liked the increase in the difficulty of the lessons, making you write more in the language you are learning. The problem is, they didn't make the lessons shorter. So, more difficulty and the same amount of exercises make the time spent on each lesson way longer. It used to take me 5 to 8 minutes to complete a lesson, now it takes me about 13 for languages with the same alphabet as mine and up to 18 minutes in lessons with a different writing system. Since I am not that familiar with the writing systems I am way slower at typing. This is really frustrating because my progress feels way slower than before and after I finish one lesson, I don't want to do another one. I used to do like 5 lessons per day, now I don't feel like doing more than one. It also doesn't help that your whole answer is wrong if you get one tiny mistake. Like, I just typed a whole sentence correctly in another language, what if i messed up the pronoun? it is not such a big deal. I'm just really frustrated lately because of this. For example, I used to never commit more than one or two mistakes, now I keep loosing hearts until I can't keep learning.

I have two problems with the update: 1. the new tree system does not really work for the way I was using Duolingo to learn languages (it is German funnily enough), which is work through every lesson section to the max before moving onto the next unit, now I am somewhere completely different to where I was with the old learning tree. I think a compromise they could do is let you choose the tree design that would work for you and go from there. 2. the new tree and push for more gem use is way to close to games, especially mobile games, that are purposely designed to suck money from you through, "subtly," forced microtransactions to have any reasonable progression without having to be on for many, many hours of the day.

I really liked how in the old version I could work on different lessons (circles?) in rotation. I do better if I take a break from a circle for a couple of days and then go back to it. So, not so happy that I'm forced to stay in one topic and then move on away from it instead of being able to circle back to it.

The linear learning is frustrating. I'm learning Japanese, so it's an extra step more difficult due to kanji learning on top of sound and meaning. Which means I really appreciated going back into the same lesson as I knew I needed to practice that one thing. But I did feel like I was getting to a point of not being able to progress, so I think I will get used to this, as long as it's not my only source of learning (and it's not). However, something I wish they'd fix is when introducing new kanji and sounds, they'd also tell you what it means when you answer, because I'll go through one or three new words and have no idea what they mean until maybe the last half of the lesson. Which seems a bit wasteful and could be better for learning more concrete info when that kanji is front and center.

The new tree is meant to be less repetitive but in my experience it's much more. Maybe it's just the Arabic course specifically, but I've skipped units 1-6 after only doing a third of the unit. Also the legendary status is twice as expensive now which is infuriating to me.

I find the layout frustrating as scrolling is now more of a hassle on the mobile app. It takes so long to go all the way back up if I want to repractice something. Also felt that I was way farther ahead with the old layout because now I suddenly have 64 chapters to work through instead of the previous 6...

The trouble i immediately see with removing the three strikes system is, it means the database of accepted answers needs to be perfect. I've been doing the Welsh course since it was in beta, and still there are occasions when it doesn't recognise perfectly acceptable northern dialect as correct, and I've lost lives through this before. If the "one wrong and you're out" mentality is going to work, these kinks need to be ironed out, across all the languages.

I'm really enjoying the new update, I've been moving forward onto new lessons so much faster rather than just farming old levels to win leauges

I'm glad this video popped up on my recommendation and I accidentally clicked it because if not I wouldn't have known there was an update. Already completed a couple of lessons and I feel much better about my ability to learn from the app. Thanks for the great video!

Really the only thing I hate about the update is that they took took the audio lessons away. These are the interactive lessons in Spanish with Carlos and Alejandra. I would listen to these while driving to and from work and these improved my conversational Spanish more than anything else. The interesting thing is that these were still there after my app updated to the new version but then disappeared a week or so later.

biggest downside for me: the complete lack of choice and control i now have. i pretty much always do one full bubble of lessons (idk what the technical term is, hope you know what i mean) and it was nice to be able to choose from the like, five that were available to me. some days i wouldn't have that much time so i could pick one of those grammar ones with a lightbulb which tended to be shorter. sometimes i was already feeling anxious and the bubble all about 'health' didn't look particularly inviting so i picked the one next to it. or, instead of doing lessons i'd do four stories. there were ways to personalise your strategy, even within the constraints of what they think is optimal, and i liked having that little bit of wriggle room. now i'm always forced to do what they want me to do, i can't pick a story bc they're baked into the path and i can't postpone a certain lesson even by a day, i have to always do what they want me to do, and i'm not a fan.

I barely used Duolingo until recently, so overall I don’t mind this new update. It somehow helps me to set goals for the future, like ‘I’m going to get that far today’.

I agree with most of the comments here. I don’t care about superficial changes (like colour schemes) but I do feel it is more linear, like many people have said, and I’m less keen on it. I also agree about choice, like being able to choose between completing a lesson or doing a couple of stories. For me the worst aspect is, as mentioned, not being able to go back and refresh older units AND losing the grammar hints. As a grammar nerd those were massively helpful for me! I’m not *angry* about this like a lot of people seem to be, and I’ll still keep using Duolingo, and I guess we’ll all get used to it with time - but rn I am struggling to make friends with it. I hope Duolingo will take some of this feedback on board and perhaps reintroduce some of the features people are talking about here. *just to add I’m glad you made this video, as I thought perhaps it was just me struggling - so thank you* 🙏😊

The thing I've found infuriating with this new update is (as you mentioned) you can't go back and practice old skills. I started Duolingo in March 2020 to learn Polish, and completed my tree like a year ago maybe? Now I mainly use Duolingo for those vocabulary refreshes and learn Polish through trail-and-error/Polish people I'm friends with helping me, so information really needs to stay in my brain. But with this new tree - I can't do that. I'm moving to Poland next summer so I really don't want to forget things, but there aren't many apps to learn Polish that are free/cheap (I'm a uni student) since it's such a niche language to learn. If anyone has any recommendations I'd be happy to hear some!

I've been waiting for your reaction to this POS update lmao. I much prefer the old tree. Sadly i got back into Duolingo 2 months before the update. The thing is you can go back at least on desktop however the individual topics are not obviously labeled anymore so that makes it more difficult to find specific lessons you want to refresh. Also with this new tree you can't access stories in a separate tab anymore which is unfortunate.

Repeating lessons for points in the league was what got me to a point where I tried speaking Chinese with other people in public. Also, the timed challenges forced me to retain the information by having to comprehend much faster. Since the new tree, I've not been able to complete any timed challenges, I've fallen out of the diamond league, and I've had trouble maintaining my streak. I feel completely discouraged about being able to retain any new lessons.

This was incredibly helpful, thank you!

One thing you didn’t cover (though I’m wondering if it’s just because I’m learning a “less popular” language) is that they’ve removed the vocabulary lists of each section from the desktop website. They have “guidebooks” that show MAYBE half the vocab/grammar but in the first 20 units, there are only 2 guidebooks. I got put in where they were asking questions on vocab that I had not learned yet and had no where to look at to learn it. I really enjoyed looking at the study guides they used to have, it was very interesting learning the etymology of some of the words and just fun facts about different phrases that made it seem more real world than tapping my phone screen.

My major issue is that all choice was taken away. I get that is the point; they've found "the best" path and put me on it. The problem I have with that is that it is not how I learn; I get distracted too easily. If I can't "distract" myself by doing a lesson on food, then on questions, then on transport, then on word order, then back to food, then on family etc. I'll distract myself by switching to Reddit or KZfaq. Boom, instead of doing 8-12 lessons a day covering 6 + topics, I'm only doing 2-3 lessons a day on one or two topics.

I think the best solution would be to have an option menu where you could choose which path style you want. I like the new change since it pushes learning forward more for me than before, but there should definitely be more customization!

I love how good the colors are in your video. The camera and lighting really makes everything pop!

The new path is so boring as well. It's a chore to sit through an entire circle that's literally the exact same thing for an entire 15 minutes. So then you finally get it over with, but then there's a practice circle that's LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING. It makes me want to drill my head in and scream. I want to be able to hop back so I don't get bored.

I haven't opened the app since the change, the thing with doulingo was that it was always fun and they've taken the fun out, no more going back to your favorite lesson, no more checkpoints (that was my favorite part), no more stories, now it's just do lesson, complete lesson, do next lesson, etc. it's just classroom learning, which is probably an effective method for most, but classroom style is what turned me away from language learning in the first place, it didn't work for me edit: I've seem to miss understand the story bit, they're there, but as part of the lesson, which is worse honestly, they aren't fun things to do in my down time anymore, they're lessons I have to do, that would kill my want to read them

They spent more time for marketing than actually making this app easy to use 💀

I swear Duolingo has just stopped having me practice speaking. I had to check in my settings because I knew at one point there was a setting to say you couldn't speak right then, but everything was on. This is such a vital part of language learning to me

I'm quite liking the new tree as it is forcing me to move forward with the learning rather than constantly having to dash back to refresh to 'repair' a stage. My app does allow me to go over old lessons for 5xp but to be honest I haven't really used it much and seem to be pushing forward more than I was before

I miss the maintenance of my tree, the repetition really helped me learn and the "practice" option was never as thorough as revisiting the lesson to keep it golden. Apart from the most basic lessons, I purposely never made them "legendary" specifically so it would make me do this. I'm one of those who has the option to go back on the path but it's suuuuper long and all the units look the same, I have no idea what they cover or how much my skill has degraded. I have no qualms about the in-app purchases, as Evan says you can still use all the essential parts for free and I always love a quality app that does that, i don't even mind making a purchase every once in a while. There are so many apps that are total trash but also trying to suck you dry!

On a positive note I like how the stories are now integrated into the main path. It reminds me of Classic Mode in Smash Bros. Also they chopped up the 5 levels into individual levels. It feels much more motivating to get one level down and move on, than to doing the same routine of exercises 5 times in a row.

I got an ad for Duolingo for this video. The owl is threatening me.

I have been using Duolingo daily for 8+ years and I kinda love this new update. For a while, I have been using it just because of the habit, going over older lessons, just because, but over the last week of the new trees, I have felt a lot more motivated again, learning new things. We shall see what I think about it over the next few months, but right now, I'm fine with the changes.

I’ve been using the app for close to 250 days now and this my first update. I miss being able to access stories whenever I want and the conversations with the two people in which you had speaking parts. Those last didn’t seem to coincide with the lessons at all, but they were quite practical common speaking situations: asking for the bathrooms, ordering a coffee, buying produce. I really liked hearing those two and the bits of conversation they presented. I wish they hadn’t done away with that.

Been waiting for this!

I’m in the group apparently where you can go back and redo previous lessons for minimal XP. This works for me because I like to do an old, easy lesson first to maintain my streak, then I go on to do the new lessons without fear of losing all my hearts in one fell swoop on a bad day…

i'm able to go back and review old lessons - but only for 5xp, which has forced me to go forward in my tree. i like the new structure, cutting it up into units feels good, but with limited hearts in practice now, i'm now worrying about getting my streak before running out of hearts. thats the only thing i hate about this update. i want to be able to throw myself into something new and still finish the lesson and get my streak! (you know how a slip up in grammar can often cost a heart) started duolingo after watching one of ur videos back in 2020 btw, and thought wow, 1000 days is insane. today is day 1017 for me :)

I'm on a 250+ day streak now with Korean, and the update has definitely thrown me off as to exactly where I am. One thing I've noticed is lessons I've apparently passed in the new tree contain vocab I don't recall learning beforehand. Which isn't so bad on the regular lessons where you can just tap the word to get the definition, but throws you through a loop on the tests where you can't check the meanings in the sentence, and that is frustrating. That and what you said about going back to practice previous lessons and units being difficult, partially because I don't know exactly where anything is anymore but also because the topics aren't as clearly labelled as they used to be. Now it's just the "Move Forward!!!" structure. Not because the system is inherently worse, but just it means completely mentally adjusting how I use the app, which is frustrating now, though I guess I may eventually get used to it. Also for people that are trying to build a lot of XP, regular lessons only being worth 5XP each might be a bit annoying too. Korean didn't have stories yet anyway so no loss there (the app still feels way more optimised for European languages over East Asian ones tbh) I feel like if you haven't already gotten that far into it, this update probably won't throw you off too much, but if you were already super deep into your tree then it might be more disorientating. Hopefully I'll find my bearings quickly enough that I don't feel like abandoning the app entirely, but I am already using a couple of other apps and resources in concert with Duolingo, cos I don't want to just be relying on only one learning source anyway.

In my version I can go back to any lesson I want. When I lose some hearts, I just practise to earn the hearts back, which is a great way to increase my vocabulary... love it.

I honestly can't remember the last time a Duolingo update made things better not worse, it's been getting slowly worse for ages and I'm only just still tolerating it

Over 500 day streak and I quit the moment that new update hits. Holding onto that tree for as long as possible, but once the update arrives I'm done. And for me what really stung was the reddit ama 1 of the devs did a couple of days ago, basically brushing away concerns and issues as people "complaining" and said they didn't get what people were unhappy about. How much more tonedeaf of a response could they give?

YT recommended this video and I think it was my reminder that I did promise myself to become fluentish in Español. Thanks for sharing! I re-downloaded the app! 😆

the worst update of Duolingo ever is disable the Discuss section. I learnt from Discuss section more than the lesson of Duolingo itself.

CLICKED SO FAST. one: because Evan, two because Duolingo haha ❤

I think the things that frustrates me most about the new tree are not being able to see what I have done and get a refresher, not being able to see exactly what is coming up and choosing what to do first (when tree split), and I think the new layout looks like it is geared towards children (it looks infantile) which isn't bad if that is their target audience. I also miss stories. Hopefully I will get use to it, but at this point it feels more like just checking the box to not lose my 4 year streak rather than actually wanting to learn more.

I never recall having or using stories in my language that I was learning, so I'm not personally sad about their loss. The thing that I can't stand is the extremely linear path that takes away my autonomy regarding learning what I want to learn day-to-day. I liked being able to pick a lesson for the day. Picking what I wanted to focus on and knowing that that was what I would be covering. It was something super important for me to remain engaged, especially with my ADHD. It was the only reason I managed a 450+ day streak. I even paid for a year subscription last year. I was considering resubscribing, and I'm very glad I didn't because my motivation now is non-existent. I force through a lesson to keep my streak right now, but I'm no longer doing it to learn the language and now am only doing it to keep the number. The second my streak falls off - which it inevitably will now that the lessons no longer interest me - I know I will never pick up the app again and that's sad to me because I want to learn the language.

Here I thought you were going to talk about them getting rid of the forums. Those were so helpful!

For me, the chats in the lessons were really helpful because for some reason, I can't access the grammar tips. So now, I am just blantanly guessing rather than seeing other people bring the issue up and getting an answer. I hate not having that reminder now to go back and refresh my memory on topics and and I much preferred the old layout, where you could pick what topic you wanted to do. If you do the same one after a while you can just rehearse the sentences which is not the point of language learning. Worst thing, is I can't really leave because Scottish Gaelic isn't found on most other learning langauge apps.

I was really looking forward to this video - thanks Evan! Definitely people should be patient and give it a chance HOWEVER for me personally the new version really messed up my own learning. I was learning French -> Spanish. I had already reached the end of the tree but I still felt like I was progressing by going back and reviewing, especially with the really tricky grammar at the bottom. When the app updated it put me at the very bottom and with the lack of incentives to review old lessons (only 5 XP) plus the really hard to navigate tree order, I felt like this effectively totally stopped my learning. I was sort of excited for the new updated as I was hoping they would add new lessons but its the total opposite! There were only 4 units on French -> Spanish but they had got up to conditional, future tense, imperative and plenty of other things that were really challenging me. The last units on this new version are past tense and infinitif which are so much easier. I suspect this is an issue for a lot of Duo users using languages other than English as their base language. I've switched to English -> Spanish which is sort of starting from scratch. I think it will be good for my learning in the end but it is a bit frustrating that I have had to.

I think the new update if absolutely fine. I'm just trying to progress in a language and it works. But I'd like an easier way to easily go back to previous chapters when I want to complete the legendary status. A chapter select would be nice

I just got the new update a couple of days ago and I hate that I'm longer able to move around and do what I want rather it's an old lesson or a new one and I don't like that the stories are included in the tree making it impossible to tell which ones I've read and which ones I haven't. Hopefully it will grow on me with time. By the way I just found your channel as this video was recommended to me and I was excited as I didn't realize such a channel existed now I have someone to share my Duolingo gripes with LMAO 🤣🤣

The new update put me in a weird place where I am both further ahead and way backwards compared to where I was before. It makes no sense.

I actually really like the new update. I'd tried using duolingo several times in the past, but I always gave up after a couple of weeks because I found the old tree overwhelming. I'm now over a hundred days into my streak, and I'm super motivated to keep learning Japanese. The new path just vibes so much better with the way my brain works.

Taking away the pages of tips on the web page that explained why and how changes occur is a big back step in learning and understanding. I pay a yearly membership. Great value, feels like its free because of how much you get for it👍

I really like the new update. I am also able to go back in my tree and replay lessons. I like the stories being built in to the tree. I do miss the audio lessons though.

The new update is alright imo. Sadly, they didn't fix the practicing mistakes thing, it's still behind a pay wall. I think language learning would be way more effective if I practicde the stuff I struggle with instead of moving forward constantly, especially with grammar concepts, I wanna fully grasp them before I move on

I’ve stopped using the duolingo app because of the update. I was almost finished with the Scottish Gaelic course but then the update happened and the unit is all personal practice, which is so annoying because you don’t really learn anything all you do is revise. I really liked the old version

the new road map looks like a video map which is fun but it makes scrolling take forever and I missed picking what I want to learn. Also I wish we had stories. We had them for Spanish but not in Swedish and that was before and after this update. Edit: Also I kinda liked hopping from topic to topic and it sucks we are forced into learning in one way. Edit 2: Okay so I like the sections where you have to repeat the words but (it's probably a me problem) It doesn't pick up on what I say and it only gives you two attemeps on saying it!

The biggest thing I miss is indeed the cascade learning. I used to have "10+ lesson days" quite often as I would go through 1-2 lessons for each of several topics, while some are new, some are at level 2 or 3, and some are getting legendary. Some days I didn't feel like learning new vocabulary but I could still do many lessons improving/remembering things I learned yesterday or last week. Now I feel so limited, they literally make me learn one specific topic, and do 6 lessons of it in a row. Most days now I just do 1 lesson for the sake of keeping the streak (I'm at 288 days), and I think I'll stop after I reach 365 days. I'm exploring other options to learn now.

I used to love being able to have the collection of stories in a single tab. The older layout was more flexible and easier to navigate. When I needed to practice to get hearts, I was able to choose which lessons I can practice on, and now they choose for you. I can't describe how much I despise the new update, and I find that I use the app much less than I used to. I basically force myself to do a single lesson just to maintain my streak and do not feel the incentive to do anything more than that. I wish they would go back to the old format. I don't see myself continuing on with this for much longer, unfortunately.

I got through that “I need to be top of the leaderboard” junk. For me it is more about consistency. 40 minutes each Russian and Swedish every morning.

I really disliked how they took away the choice of what to work on. It made it feel like I had more control, and it was nice to know what to expect clicking on a lesson, and like I could go at my own pace. If I had trouble remembering a certain concept, I could work on that until I felt comfortable before moving on. Now it just makes you move on whether you get it or not. I also liked being able to choose between an easier review lesson or a harder new lesson depending on how much energy I had at the time, because sometimes I just don't have the mental energy to process new information and would much rather just go over something not brand new that could still use some improvement.

Wow, nice! 823 comments already and the video was only posted 8 days ago. WTG! I tried out Duolongo a long time ago (years) and then dropped it but have very recently (right before the new update) taken it up again to learn French. Your assessment seems to be spot on for me. When I first got the updated version, I was appalled. I felt that I had travelled backwards and that really affected my motivation. BUT, since I really want to learn French, I just stuck with it and a few days later I saw the value in the "new" way. Since I am such a new user, I not only don't have any "awards" to speak of, but I don't even really know exactly what they are, etc. HOWever, I do agree that if your objective is to really learn the language all that stuff is immaterial. My hope is that any updates requiring "spending" gems stays with all those shenanigans and not on the actual ability to learn the language successfully. I did get nervous when after the update I was not able to earn hearts by opting to do a practice session. Like you said about the speed challenges testing your reaction time and agility with the keyboard since a miss may only be due to hitting an incorrect key, I have that problem in general. I use the mobile app and answer all the questions as quickly as I can only because I want to get on with it. Almost always, my hearts get deducted for my bad data entry on the phone rather than true mistakes. So not having a way to refill those hearts would severely cut down on the amount of learning I could do in each session. (The watch-an-ad option is not available on demand; I would have to wait for it to pop up or wait while the hearts very slowly refilled in time. Anyway, I think the option of a practice session to make up for mistakes is beneficial and a good idea). But, I think it was just some coincidental fluke that the practice session disappeared for me at the same time as the update came through because today "IT IS BACK" so I am a happy camper again.

I've been studying/reviewing several languages, but what I dearly miss is the discussions and the tips in Swedish. The Swedish mods were absolutely amazing. And the so called "guidebook" is nothing like the pre lesson tips that used to be there. I'd be okay with Duo not letting us ask anymore questions, but darnit why throw away all the previously answers given by those amazing mods?

I’ve been with Duo since 2015, like you topped the Diamond league and won the diamond tournament a few times. I have a 1500+ day streak right now. I loved the previous iterations enough to invest in duo+ as it was and then to invest in the company. This new update was forced on me in August. All I could do was answer questions on geography and physics in school, something I neither wanted or needed to do. All flexibility to add to my learning where I needed to, was removed & I was dictated to by the algorithm. The CEO saying anyone who didn’t like it was adverse to progress & change decided me to vote with my money- I’ve cancelled by subs and divested my shares I still do a daily lesson; I’ve done 34 minutes this month. It’s not just how many subscribers; it’s about how much time they’re spending on the app: I used to spend 30-45mins daily & provide all that data for them to Monetise. There’s something called the thermocline of truth- I think Duolingo has passed it & is past it as a relevant useful language learning app & tech stocks investment.

Thanks for this! The new update really threw me off and I unfortunately broke my streak of 500+ days due to it. Wasn't really mad at the app, it just discouraged me a little bit. Thought I'd watch this and find out what had happened, and realized that I had, in fact, been so fixated on maintaining the daily streak and gaining XP/climbing the ranks, that it had stopped being about learning the language at some point. I'll adjust my priorities and start again now!

I agree with the motivation I saw a lot of people that say they want to learn that language and they're doing nothing to learn and your Spanish is so good

I hate it because I have to scroll back forever to find the last "legendary" lesson so I can continue those. Also, agreeing that the lack of descriptors is bad.

Thank you for your video, Evan, and for consolidating some key points/bones to pick. Idk how I haven't heard/seen my biggest bone talked about anywhere, but my biggest complaint is the replacement of the tips/notes with the guidebook, which is no more than a dinky phrasebook at this point I understand that the old tips+notes were a product of the time and effort the course creators put into it. Some language courses have more meager notes, and others are more detailed. German used to have more detailed notes until they updated these to include the Duolingo dolls, but to get a good grasp of what I'm talking about, look at the Welsh course. The old Welsh tree, pre-update, had paragraphs of comprehensive notes, just as you would get from learning a language inside a classroom. The notes would even refresh your memory of previous skills, e.g. remember that this is how the past tense is formed, or remember that soft mutations occur in these situations ALL of that is gone in the guidebooks, just some throwaway phrases that we get anyway from actually completing the lessons. If I were a beginner in the language, I would feel thrown to the wolves and completely lost. I would have to figure everything out from the sample sentences and vocab in the lessons without any grammar notes, and I feel I would lose motivation. Not to mention all the time the creators put into those notes; I feel it to be disrespectful to have gotten rid of those carefully-drawn up notes. That's my biggest gripe...