Member-only story
I neglected Duolingo for 20 days after signing up. Here’s every email they sent me.
About 3 weeks ago, I signed up to Duolingo intending to learn Swahili every day for about a month. Why? To learn something new, to make some progress with a language I’ve been casually interested in for some time, and to document to process from a UX perspective.
What went wrong? Not to be dramatic, but work, sickness, war and calamity. I have simply not been in the mood to learn Swahili, and that is fine. That’s how it is.
Not according to Duo the green owl, however.
I have received an email a day since I last logged in, and they have not worked. In fact, I’m a little annoyed now as, after 3 weeks, they’re just reminding me that I’ve not made any progress with a goal I set and a loooot of time is now passing, and now I feel super unproductive.
So I made a decision. Rather than use this time to learn Swahili, I’ve decided to write a review of the emails they sent me instead.
As they say in Swahili… I don’t know what they say, I’ve not learned anything yet.
Day 1: Noble beginnings, good intentions
As an intro, this is all pretty standard. The eponymous owl is introducing itself, and it looks just a little too manic in that top illustration for my liking, but I appreciated the energy. I also like the casual reminder that they are the world’s top language-learning app — just reinforcing that I have come to the right place for my Swahili-learning needs.
I appreciate the simplicity of the above-the-fold section of the email, with the simple “Learn now” prompt, however, it was only when I went back to take a screenshot that I noticed the offer to set up a personalised learning plan. Now that sounds interesting, and I know that this would likely help me succeed, however, coming last in the email means I missed it.
Ah, if only I had seen this on day one. I’d be fluent by now. Except reading the text, I realise this is actually just a tip about regular learning, something which is actually pretty obvious, and there’s no actual setting up of a personalised plan. So it feels like an empty promise.
