I’ve been using and writing about Duolingo and their excellent language lessons for a long time now, but was not expecting the wise old language owl to branch out into other areas, particularly maths and most recently music. The team have said they get asked a lot to expand into other areas, and it’s always been their mission to make the best free education possible so perhaps it was always the next steps.

I love this blog post from Duolingo recommending ways to increase your language learning by utilising your television and its various audio/subtitle options. The post runs through the different scenarios you can try to help boost your listening and reading skills, for example, audio in your own language and subtitles in the language you’re trying to learn, or vice versa. Or the pro option, audio and subtitles in the language you’re trying to learn.

Last year one of my monthly projects was learning British Sign Language, which was really a lot of fun, very insightful whilst still being challenging, and something I want to dive into more. I stumbled across this article a while back, that discusses the evolution of language generally but more specifically how sign languages change with the times. I found it a really interesting read. Sign language is, obviously, a completely visual medium and that means many of the individual signs reflect the subject in hand. I remember enjoying learning the hobbies category during my month of learning because they were all so easy - swimming is just miming swimming, tennis is swinging a racket, basketball bouncing a ball. Brilliant. But, of course, that’s only brilliant if you know the subject under discussion, and assuming that it doesn’t change.

My new year goal for 2022 was to complete some 30 day challenges, try out some new things, get some habits forming, generally be industrious throughout the year. I completed 11 30 day challenges some of which have formed habits which have stuck, some of which I never want to revisit again, and some which were good but probably need another go. I think it’s been a really successful year and something I might try again in 2023. Until then, though, and having taken December off from a specific challenge, it seems like a good time to reflect on what I did achieve this year.

Duolingo have been rolling out a new format to their free language learning app, with a more structured approach than previously. I’ve been using the app on and off for years, and have loved it, it’s been my go to for language learning. The new path rolled out to me this month, as it did to most others, having been in testing and beta for a while, and the reaction has been… mixed would be polite, negative would be more truthful.

I wasn’t sure how October’s 30 day challenge was going to go - learning sign language with this online course. The guidance suggests really taking your time so I didn’t want to rush through and set artificial deadlines when all I really wanted to do was explore the language. However, I was at a massive advantage being able to fingerspell already, so it became an achievable goal to get through the whole course in the month.

Last year, when Rose won Strictly, I was one of those people who had been completely intrigued by sign language and curious about learning some myself. I didn’t do anything about it at the time, and somehow an entire year has passed, but my thoughts returned to the subject when Rose popped up on this year’s launch show, and then a small amount of research later highlighted that it was International Sign Languages day on September 23rd.

I set myself the January challenge of getting a thirty day Duolingo streak, concentrating on their French language course that I’ve been dipping in and out of for as long as I can remember. I ALMOST made it. If I’m being honest with myself, for the first thirty day challenge of the year, and as a means to getting back in the habit of checking into Duolingo every day, I’m happy with the result of a 29 day streak.

Halfway through the first month of the year, and that means halfway through my first 30 day challenge. It was a deliberately easy one - not having to go too far out of my way to make it happen, and something I have done before and know I can do. But even with that, resuming my Duolingo streak has meant remembering to do it each day for the fifteen days so far.

It’s become a tradition for me to write a new year post on this site, setting out what goals I’m going to try and fail at over the coming twelve months. Last year’s post was a little bit different, as we were all worn down by a pandemic that didn’t seem to be ending any time soon. I finished that post with the optimistic thought: “So here’s to 2021, and hoping that this time next year, we can all start making proper resolutions again.”

It’s no surprise that as this year’s Strictly Come Dancing drew towards its conclusion and more and more focus was paid on the finalists, particularly Rose Ayling-Ellis, that the number of people interested in sign language increased time and time again. There were several stories on this topic through the series, but by the end, the BBC were reporting that: The director of one firm offering BSL courses told Radio 1 Newsbeat enrolments have gone up by more than 2,000% since Rose Ayling-Ellis has been on the show.

Incredible film. Great story, great acting, great singing. Coming-of-age tale with plenty of layers to unpick: family drama, surviving at school, following your dreams, working with a great teacher, falling in love. And on top of that dealing with being the only hearing person in your family. There were tears at several points, particularly at the end, where it ended on such a hopeful note. Lovely.

Many moons ago, I wrote about Duolingo, the language learning app that uses short lessons, goals and badges to encourage you to reach your targets. I’ve dipped in and out of that app over the years and for some reason, just recently, the obsession grabbed me once again. I downloaded the app and was impressed with some of the new content since the last time I looked at it. Not only are there the standard lessons – with each topic of the language broken up into a specific area where you can learn and gain skills via typing, speaking and listening – but now there are stories and audio lessons too.

I can’t believe it was three long years ago that I first wrote about the magic of the Duolingo language learning app. Three years of free French lessons (with a few hiatuses here and there) and I definitely feel like I know more of the language than I ever have before. What’s also amazing is looking back at my initial post, to see how the app has developed. It has a fresh and much cleaner look now, the lesson style has changed slightly from a “three strikes and you’re out” approach to a more “keep trying and you’ll get there” system. There are also a lot more languages out there to choose from, I’ve already experimented with a spot of German and Dutch, but always come back to the more familiar French.

When I was younger, I moved from one school that hadn’t started teaching languages yet, to another that were already a year into their studies. I was an entire year behind in learning French, and I vividly remember spending a few weeks beforehand driving around with my mother, listening to some French tapes to try and catch up. In the end, I did a couple of years of French, but studied Spanish more intensely and took exams in that language instead. I did reasonably well, but since then almost all the Spanish has dropped out of my head. French, however, I have managed to retain some knowledge.

This morning, Mr C pointed me in the direction of the Quest Visual site, where they demonstrate a brand new iPod/iPhone app called Word Lens. It is crazy! You open up the app, hold it up in front of some signs and it translates them on the fly. At the moment it only does English to Spanish, or the other way round, but I would imagine there are more dictionaries coming soon. Here’s the excellent video, showing off the astounding app: