Connecting with Other Language Enthusiasts

Okay.  I was going to make the title of this post, "Connecting with Other Language Nerds,"  but I decided that "nerd"  may have a pejorative connotation, while "enthusiast" sounds rather elegant. 

I can proudly say that I am a language enthusiast. Whichever term you prefer to describe someone who enjoys learning languages, just for the sake of learning languages, it is always heartening to connect with other people who share your passion for languages.

In previous posts, I described how much fun it has been participating in Duolingo, a (free!) online language program.  I work on Duolingo every day for about an hour, practicing Spanish, Portuguese, French, and now Irish. It is an hour that I look forward to every day.  My brain gets a workout by jumping into new worlds created by different sounds, words, and structures. And my streak (not missing a day) on Duolingo is now at  279 days!

Duolingo

But Duolingo is not just all about language learning.  It has a social media aspect that I have dipped my toe into and found to be engaging, even addictive.  I'll do a disclaimer here and admit that I have Facebook and Twitter accounts, but that I am not a very active user.  So it has been a revelation to me that I really am a social person, at least as long as languages are the topic!

One of the features of Duolingo is the option of translating articles from the Internet from another language into your native language.  The activity is a group translation, because users can edit and comment on each others' translations.  Although in the beginning I would take each correction to my translations a little too personally, I have discovered that the majority of people make gentle but helpful comments.

My translation tier in English and Spanish

Another feature of Duolingo is  "following" other participants. The first person I decided to follow on Duolingo had written a  helpful comment on my translation. He sounded like a person who knew what he was talking about.  For other contacts, I received messages that they wanted to follow me!  So I in turn follow two young ladies who appear to be very enthusiastic language learners.  The latest person I am following is a multilingual Brazilian who is new to Duolingo but has hit the ground running, racking up lots of XP's (Experience Points) in a short amount of time.

Duolingo leaderboard for XP's

Every time I log on to Duolingo, I can't help checking the Leaderboard to see how many of my connections have been active users and which ones are ahead of me!.  I am usually about mid-way in the pack!  I also notice connections with a 0 for XP's who haven't participated in quite a while.  

I wonder what causes people to start and then stop a language program?  I suppose you have to be a little over the top about languages, a true language nerd, I mean enthusiast, to fit languages into our busy lives.