I finally took the plunge a couple weeks ago and started to learn Italian. Why Italian? This might sound silly but I’ve fallen in love with a studio in Italy that does some stellar motion graphic work. It would be a dream to work with them and that was enough inspiration to learn a new language. My boyfriend and I have also been thinking about living abroad for a couple years and Italy is in the running.
In high school, I took French and just didn’t have the interest or mind for it at the time. I really wish I had taken to it more but I figure that foundation should help me learn Italian a little faster. Maybe. I will say small things like sentence structure have started to come back to me.
So I went on the hunt for a language app and decided to go with Duolingo. First of all, it’s free to use. I wasn’t ready to invest in something if I wasn’t sure I could keep up with it. There is a subscription version that gives you access to more lessons but the free version is working well for now. Side note, I’m really starting to get tired of all the subscription models and I just wasn’t ready to commit on that yet. Second, the UX is well thought out and the interface is fun and engaging. You progress through various topics at different levels and learn in a variety of ways. It has been delightful using it. I’ve made it a point that when I find myself endless scrolling social media to switch over to Duolingo and be more productive. My mind has not been very focused this year and using this in little spurts has centered me and kept me from scrolling so much.
I will say the reminders can be annoying but I’ve been trying to do it a little each day and I’m ok with it for now. I’ve reached 47 days straight as of today (I made the image below a couple days ago) and I’m going to aim for a full year. Cheers to learning something new!
