this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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Wales's minister for education and the Welsh language said he will write to the company to see how the government might be able to support the course's continued development.

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[–] neutron@thelemmy.club 112 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's actually cool to see a government body embrace new technologies to promote their language and culture.

[–] Salamendacious@lemmy.world 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It is! It's unfortunate that Duolingo killed the volunteer program.

[–] Kolrami@lemmy.world 53 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can't even see comments on lessons anymore. There was one Brazilian dude named Paulenrique who would answer anyone's questions about quirks of the language and now all his efforts to help people are just gone.

[–] Salamendacious@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

Yeah there were lots of people in the Italian comments who did the same thing. It was invaluable. Now all that work is gone. It's frustrating. I cancelled my super Duolingo subscription over that.

[–] neutron@thelemmy.club 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah, tons of helpful tips on actual natives chiming in, just gone. It's a shame.

[–] Etienne_Dahu@jlai.lu 9 points 1 year ago

It's because they didn't connect for 7 days... A warning to the other students.

[–] elscallr@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure if you've ever moderated anything volunteer based but.. honestly you can't give the internet anything nice.

[–] Kolrami@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But then why did they get rid of the comments that were old, locked, and useful? Sometimes it feels like Duolingo cares less and less about whether or not people learn languages. It's not surprising, but unfortunate.

[–] elscallr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not saying it was the ideal thing, I'm saying people mostly suck and moderating something sucks a lot less when you can fire the person who decided to say "pinche tu madre" meant "have a nice day."

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

the Welsh government is desperate. Welsh was close to being eradicated because somebody wanted more land, like they literally used to beat children in schools for speaking Welsh.

Now Wales is trying really hard to bring it back, and duolingo offering a free course for anybody on the planet helps a ton. Especially because it's hard to find learning resources when you don't live in Wales. Hell, the resources are scarce even when you do live in Wales!

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

It's unfortunate to see them embrace closed source solutions. They could either fund an opensource project and build a welch program on top of it making them the owners of their own fate, or they could beg a company to not let their language die.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Dywedodd Mr Miles y byddai'n gofyn i'r cwmni ystyried sut y gallai'r llywodraeth - sydd â tharged hunan-osodedig o gyrraedd miliwn o siaradwyr Cymraeg erbyn 2050 - gefnogi datblygiad y cwrs, gan weithio gyda'r Ganolfan Dysgu Cymraeg Genedlaethol. Roedd ffigyrau Cyfrifiad y llynedd yn dangos bod 24,000 yn llai o siaradwyr Cymraeg o gymharu â degawd yn ôl a dywedodd adroddiad yn gynharach eleni fod amheuaeth ynghylch cyrraedd y targed. Ychwanegodd Mr Miles: "Mae Duolingo yn adnodd gwerthfawr a all helpu dysgwyr ar eu taith i ddod yn siaradwyr Cymraeg, ochr yn ochr â chyfleoedd dysgu iaith eraill. Roedd y tiwtor iaith Richard Morse yn un o'r rhai a fu'n gweithio am nifer o flynyddoedd i roi cynnwys y cwrs at ei gilydd.

[–] Beardedsausag3@kbin.social 63 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not so bad, thanks for asking - how are you?

[–] Squeak@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That was just the guy’s address…

[–] ripcord@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Need way longer words with fewer vowels for that.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 year ago

it's the short version. The local post office will recognize it

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

I was looking for this in the above comment

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You make a strong case. Maybe people should learn...that.

[–] kn33@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Mr Miles said he would ask the company to consider how the government - which has a self-set target of reaching one million Welsh speakers by 2050 - could support the development of the course, working with the National Center for Learning Welsh. Last year's Census figures showed that there were 24,000 fewer Welsh speakers compared to a decade ago and a report earlier this year said there was doubt about reaching the target. Mr Miles added: "Duolingo is a valuable resource that can help learners on their journey to become Welsh speakers, alongside other language learning opportunities. Language tutor Richard Morse was one of those who worked for several years to put the course content together.

[–] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Bora da! Dym smygu araf.

[–] veniasilente@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Instead of depending on a for profit / corpo for maintaining something like a whole language maybe that should be left to a coöp? Or at least something open source / Creative Commons so that people actually are authorized to contribute?

[–] Salamendacious@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there an open source language learning platform? I'm not very invested in the FLOSS community but I didn't think there was anything.

[–] veniasilente@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know either, I just assume that since it's 2023 and there's corpos, at least someone, somewhere, is thanklessly working on a FOSS language learning platform.

[–] Salamendacious@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does corpos refer to corporations?

[–] veniasilente@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah it's like, the same way "pharmaceutics" get shiv'd into "pharma" (or "big pharma") "corporations" get shiv'd into "corpo".

[–] Salamendacious@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

It must be a regional thing. Personally I've never heard pharma by itself only as big pharma, shiv is an improvised knife a prisoner might make, and I've never heard corpo before. English is a huge language with a lot of regional differences. When I was young I would say wicked to mean very. If something was really fucked up I'd say it was wicked fucked up or wicked fucked.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 14 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The Welsh course on language learning app Duolingo will no longer be updated from the end of the month.

The course, which the company describes as "the world's most popular way to learn Welsh online", will remain available but not developed further.

"Duolingo is a valuable resource which can help learners on their journey to become Welsh speakers, alongside other language learning opportunities," Mr Miles added.

He wants to see an extension of another year to allow the National Centre for Learning Welsh to complete its work on the course.

Read more:Boy gets GCSE in Welsh months after fleeing Ukraine warUni lecturer 'sacked' after branding bilingual signs 'dangerous'

"Our aim is to channel limited resources into enhancing high-demand courses like Spanish, French, and German, which serve a larger audience in the UK and worldwide.


The original article contains 329 words, the summary contains 134 words. Saved 59%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Aatube@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Does the website have no problem with that outdated logo staring into your eyes

your eyes

[–] rustyricotta@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Well, the current logo on my phone is the owl screaming with its face melting, so it was probably the better choice.

[–] elscallr@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

The one that looks like it's had a stroke?