DuoLingo : Teach yourself a new language - Desktop client, in 'portable' format

[mikewalsh]

Evening, gang.

Following discussion in this thread about Bluetooth headset issues:-

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=6053

....and with grateful thanks to @user1234 for digging this up, I'm pleased to be able to offer

DuoLingo-Portable

A desktop client, that is essentially a 'wrapper' around the Duolingo website.....turning it into a 'webapp'. Electron-based, this is a pretty apt description of the way these things usually work anyway.

Works pretty well, too. I've been using it this evening to brush-up on my schoolboy French; my only niggle is the almost 'cartoon-like' multiple-choice questions you get posed, along with animated characters praising you up every time you get something right..!

Have our educational systems really devolved this far? It's a far cry from how stuff used to get taught when I was at school, 50-some odd years ago.....and is a telling comment on the state of society, when folks need to be made to feel good about themselves at every opportunity.

What happened to self-esteem, hmm?

(*shakes head in disbelief*)

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Mini-rant aside, it seems a very good way to quickly get your head around the basic concepts of another language. It's also shown me that I really hadn't forgotten half as much French as I thought I had! (Which quite surprised me, given that I haven't used it seriously for almost 40 years.)

Being Electron-based, of course, makes it an ideal candidate for the 'portable' format. And so it's proved.

Anybody who may be interested, you can find it here:-

https://mega.nz/folder/qKRSnbhB#MpFWMnPL1O-AS6LpFy-zRg

As always:-

• Download

• Unzip

• Move the portable directory anywhere you like - preferably outside the 'save'

• Click to enter

• Start via the 'LAUNCH' script to keep it 'portable'. If required, scripts will let you add a Menu entry for greater system integration...

See what y'all think of it.

Mike.

[user1234]

Thanks mike! Would try your version too .

[mikewalsh]

Thanks mike! Would try your version too .

You're very welcome, mate. Let us know how you get on with it, please. Should be very straight-forward to use.

It just goes to show; you find Electron-based & AppImage-based stuff all over the shop.....often in places you would never expect to find it. Like this one, for instance....

What are you teaching yourself, just out of curiosity? I have an advantage with French, y'see; I remember pretty much all my basic concepts anyway, which gives me something of a step-up to begin with.

I did the obligatory 2-week exchange visits at school; stayed with a very pleasant French family in the Parisian 'Palais-Bourbon' "arrondissemente" (no. 8 out of 20 total - their name for 'administrative district'). A couple of years later I went to stay with a mate of mine during the summer holidays; his old man turned out to be the Dutch ambassador to France at the time, and we stayed at their summer chalet down in the south-western Camargue district, near the Spanish borders. Mostly French was spoken, though I also picked up a smattering of Dutch while I was there!

Reminds me of the older Linguaphone language courses, which you used to obtain on a 12" LP. That dates me, for starters..!

Mike.

[user1234]

What are you teaching yourself, just out of curiosity?

You can say that, I'm not sure. I think I might never take the whole course.... but it's a great activity to do when you've got nothing to do .