Achievement unlocked
In motherhood, if not in Duolingo
A few weeks ago, I finished the entire Welsh course in Duolingo. The whole thing! Getting to the finish line was…
Utterly anticlimactic.
Here’s what happened. The course (which is significantly shorter than a lot of other Duolingo courses, I should mention) was divided into three large sections, each divided into 20-40 units. Each unit consists of a whole bunch of lessons.
As I neared the end of the final Unit of Section 3, I was getting pretty excited. I could see that after Section 3, there was a “Personalized Review” section, which I took to be what happens in a Duolingo course after you complete it: an opportunity for ongoing review. And since the app is big on confetti and rewards (gems), I figured there was sure to be some major fanfare when I wrapped up that final lesson in Section 3. I like fanfare. Duolingo gems don’t do much—you can send double XP to your friends, or you can buy a timer boost if you need it—so I wasn’t super invested in a game reward; I just wanted the digital confetti. Some props. A tiny onscreen party. Fanfare!
Welp. I got to the end of Section 3 and…nothing. Because it turned out the course wasn’t over yet! I was just advanced to Personalized Review, which turned out to consist of SIXTEEN UNITS of many lessons each. And now the screen showed that after I completed all of those units, then the course would be finished.
Okay, fine. Fanfare delayed. No biggie. I worked my way through Units 1 through 15. Early one morning, about two weeks ago, I worked my way through Unit 16 all the way to the penultimate lesson. I thought about breezing through those ✨last✨two✨lessons✨ right then and there, but it was past time for me to move on with my day. I’ll do them tonight, I thought. An end-of-the-workday celebration. Sparkles!
But that night, when I opened the app, noooooo. Every now and then, Duolingo reorganizes a course. When that happens, your progress is recalibrated to match the new structure.
And sometime that day, Welsh was reorganized.
The entire Personalized Review section had been dissolved.
My progress was casually updated to Daily Review. Course completed, zero fanfare.
I’m making a long story of this. That’s all setup for this bit that’s coming next, see.
Five of my six kids are, like me, daily Duolingo students. We’re all learning different languages, naturally. We do friend quests together and cheer each other on. So OF COURSE I complained to them all about the anticlimactic fizzling-out of my Duo Welsh adventure. They were highly sympathetic. They know I like me some fanfare!
Well, on Friday, my 26-year-old daughter Rose came over to help me work on some boxes in the basement. She arrived bearing cupcakes. Cupcakes decorated with WHALES. Because Wales, get it?
And a card positively bursting with fanfare. 🏴
The cupcakes didn’t make it through the day, but the fanfare feeling will last a lifetime. Thanks, my Rose. 🐳
As for Welsh: my studies aren’t over. I’m continuing to make my way through the FAR MORE COMPREHENSIVE Say Something In Welsh program (which I love love love)—
and also? I deleted my Duolingo Welsh progress and started over.
Good morning, Dragon.
I am wildly impressed - with you and your daughter!! What an amazingly beautiful family culture❤️
Oh wow! Congratulations! I think I remember when you started with Welsh, many moons ago.
In another millennium, I spent Thanksgiving in Cardiff. Turns out they don't really celebrate, so I ate dinner at Burger King and went to the natural history museum. All of the displays used far away, forgotten Cardiff as the center of the story of evolution. The world felt very big and very small at the exact same time.