[2023-04-23] 250 days of learning
Yesterday, I reached another milestone in Duolingo: 250 days of learning Brazilian Portuguese.
When I reached Duolingo level 75—the final unit in the Brazilian Portuguese course—I estimated that it would take another month to complete all the Legendary Levels. These are like final exams for each unit. I now know that it will take much longer. In the 26 days since I made that guess, I've gone from 10 completed Legendary Levels to 30. And I imagine that the degree of difficulty will increase as I continue to review the course material. I now expect that I will be working on the Legendary Levels for another two to three months.
But that doesn't bother me. I have a lot to learn. The repetition on which Duolingo is based is essential for me. When I started learning Brazilian Portuguese, I struggled with the basics, such as keeping carro (car) and cachorro (dog) straight in my head. With practice, they started to become clear in my mind.
Some things have come easily, especially words, expressions or sentence structures that are similar to English or French. Other things have been a challenge, such as the many words for this, that, these and those in Brazilian Portuguese. This can be este, esta and isto. That can be esse, essa, aquele, aquela, isso and aquilo. These can be estes and estas. Those can be esses, essas, aqueles and aquelas. That's 15 words in Brazilian Portuguese compared to 4 in English.
However, that's not to say that English is easier to learn than Brazilian Portuguese. Questions are more straightforward in Brazilian Portuguese than in English. For the most part, you simply use a question mark at the end of a sentence to switch from a statement to a query.
Duolingo has been invaluable in helping me to internalize vocabulary and patterns. However, many things in Duolingo are not explained, such as which of two words to use to mean love: amar versus adorar. So I do supplemental research to understand the nuances of the language. Sometimes, a quick look at a dictionary clarifies a pattern that I couldn't pick up intuitively no matter how many lessons I did in Duolingo. For example, my pocket English-Portuguese dictionary uses amar for a beloved person or thing and adorar as a synonym for like. So it's eu te amo (I love you) but eu adoro o café (I love coffee).
Today, my son reached his own milestone: a 150-day streak on Duolingo. We often talk about the joys and challenges of learning another language. Recently, he said to me: "Children acquire languages like a gift. Adults must labour for them." I thought this was very perceptive. My experience with learning Brazilian Portuguese is that it is a labour, but it's also a labour of love. And it's an absolute gift.
