I’m on a 285-day Duolingo streak!

Every day for about nine and a half months, I’ve spent some time doing lessons in a foreign language.

Duolingo is a language learning app. You can use it on your computer, but it works best on your cell phone.

There’s a free version and a paid version. The free version lets you play with 3 lives. But you lose a life when you make a mistake. It’s easy to run out of lives and have to wait until the next day.

I opted for the paid version. I can play as long as I want.

I started with Portuguese. I wanted to get some language learning done before we went on our trip to Portugal last October.

I got comfortable enough reading signs and ordering food a couple of times. So, I consider it a success.

After our trip, I decided to work on French. I grew up in Quebec, but never quite “got” French. I was always in the “dumb” French class when I was a kid. Conjugation of verbs got the better of me.

Learning some Portuguese made learning French easier. And I was surprised how much comprehension surfaced when grades didn’t matter.

I mostly work on French now. I spend a few minutes a day on it.

I’m surprised at my consistency.

But the learning is gamified in Duolingo.

You get points for completing a lesson. And if you do a certain number of lessons, your points can double for 15 minutes. And there are challenges.

You compete against other people. And the grouping changes every week. So, if you are with a group of keeners, you might have to play a lot if you don’t want to be demoted!

But you can also do a challenge with a friend. Your combined points help you reach the target.

It’s competitive enough to keep me interested. But not so much that I am obsessed with it.

Of course, maybe I am obsessed with it. I work on it every day…

But I find it fun. And challenging.