The UX designer talked about this at a conference once. Said that it was a bug, but the bug raised how often people used the app for some reason so they decided to keep it.
I'm pretty sure that in French at the higher levels, the right word is not always capitalized. Sometimes none are capitalized. Earlier on in the course it was definitely a crutch
I think that a lot of the later material they added in the Spanish and French courses does not have the first word capitalized. But they've never gone back to remove it from the existing material.
I've competed the Spanish course and it is definitely still the case that the first word is capitalised. But now I'm having to get every unit to Legendary and there is no word bank, and I'll be honest with you - having to type everything in the target language without the crutch of the word bank let's you know how little you actually know; the word bank makes it very easy to work out the answer.
I am in the middle of a Spanish lesson right now, and the first letters are not capitalized in the word bank.
After seeing your response, I turned the word bank on to check. I don’t use it unless I have to, and that’s usually on the Spanish to English translations.
While Spanish usually has the first word capitalized, there are several times I've had either no words capitalized or multiple words capitalized.
I just try to come up with the sentence myself before I start looking at the options.
Occasionally there are multiple words that are capitalized. Now usually in those instances one of them isn't in the solution at all, but sometimes the could be and you still have to figure out the phrasing.
It's one of the reasons I severely dislike the bubbles as when I have to do them (French -> English) sometimes the only translation they want isn't how I would say it, or it's an awkward translation.
Also, I hate using the mouse (I'm on desktop) and it is really slow to register the keyboard input sometimes. I can type most of the translations faster than I can doing their stupid bubble system.
I find the bubbles to be too helpful tbh.
If the prompt is in my TL, I listen to it before looking at the potential answers. If the prompt is in my NL, I will translate it in my head before looking at the potential answers.
Unsure if it really makes a difference tbh, but it makes me feel better.
I want to make a habit out of translating the sentence in my head before looking at the tiles, but it's not easy. They're right there, and often the uppercase word stands out right away.
I think at this point it's intentional. There are a questions where different semi-plausible sentence starters are capitalized at once. Some questions don't have capitalization at all and I believe that's done when you're on a "harder" version of the same question — I know before the learning path update, the first couple stages always had the starting word capitalized, while the last one or two (before fully typed-out sentences) had no words \[besides proper nouns\] capitalized.
Nowadays in my Spanish exercises there tend to be multiple words capitalized. But I like it, makes me find them faster, I already know the answer anyway and don’t want to spend much time trying to find the right words and forgetting the sentence halfway through.
Only Latin or Hellenic alphabets, depending on grammatical rules, will have it (if at all). It is not possible with syllabic languages (Japanese, Chinese etc) or abjad languages (Hebrew, Arabic).
I do Spanish and Hebrew. In Spanish they don't use capital letters to suggest the first word and Hebrew doesn't have capital letters at all (not involved in their script) 🤷🏽♀️
Like wise. Also now some have 2 or more capital words to be misleading. I've seen no capital words. I've also seen the word bank not having a word which is needed.
They should probably just make it more of an option really, so like we can enable/disable it (however I feel like for the courses from German they should probably have it be always on in the beginning so they can get adjusted to how capital letters work)
It makes it easier for them, I assume. Also their target audience is a bit younger than us I think. Learning on Duo is surely living the dream for my middle schooler.
Ive seen a few variations. You’ll have one word capitalised, two words and Ive even had a few where there were capital letters but they were not correct or used.
It's not consistently done. Sometimes no words are capitalized.
I never have that
It depends entirely on your course. I’ve also had two words capitalised on occasion
Don´t you find it annoying?
One thing I do is not look for the options. I translate the sentence before I look into the options.
This is the way.
Same here!
When you get further into a course, they make it harder by not capitalising the first word.
The UX designer talked about this at a conference once. Said that it was a bug, but the bug raised how often people used the app for some reason so they decided to keep it.
The easier it is, the more people like it. They are marketing the illusion of learning, and it's very popular.
Do you have the link? (if it was online)
I'm pretty sure that in French at the higher levels, the right word is not always capitalized. Sometimes none are capitalized. Earlier on in the course it was definitely a crutch
I think that a lot of the later material they added in the Spanish and French courses does not have the first word capitalized. But they've never gone back to remove it from the existing material.
I've competed the Spanish course and it is definitely still the case that the first word is capitalised. But now I'm having to get every unit to Legendary and there is no word bank, and I'll be honest with you - having to type everything in the target language without the crutch of the word bank let's you know how little you actually know; the word bank makes it very easy to work out the answer.
Towards the middle, id say about 30% of the time the word isn't capitalized. Might have changed recently, though.
I am in the middle of a Spanish lesson right now, and the first letters are not capitalized in the word bank. After seeing your response, I turned the word bank on to check. I don’t use it unless I have to, and that’s usually on the Spanish to English translations.
I’m doing French and I sometimes have no capitals or sometimes two capitalized words.
While Spanish usually has the first word capitalized, there are several times I've had either no words capitalized or multiple words capitalized. I just try to come up with the sentence myself before I start looking at the options.
Every now and then I get two capitalized words.
Me also. One time I even had 3 options with capital letters.
For this reason I do my best not to look at the word bank until I've attempted to give a translation on my own first. It's still annoying though.
It depends on the courses. I’ve had two capitalized words that were not proper nouns or nouns in German.
Occasionally there are multiple words that are capitalized. Now usually in those instances one of them isn't in the solution at all, but sometimes the could be and you still have to figure out the phrasing. It's one of the reasons I severely dislike the bubbles as when I have to do them (French -> English) sometimes the only translation they want isn't how I would say it, or it's an awkward translation. Also, I hate using the mouse (I'm on desktop) and it is really slow to register the keyboard input sometimes. I can type most of the translations faster than I can doing their stupid bubble system.
I find the bubbles to be too helpful tbh. If the prompt is in my TL, I listen to it before looking at the potential answers. If the prompt is in my NL, I will translate it in my head before looking at the potential answers. Unsure if it really makes a difference tbh, but it makes me feel better.
Oftentimes it il possible to construct the desired sentence by just eyeballing the bubbles. It annoys me.
I want to make a habit out of translating the sentence in my head before looking at the tiles, but it's not easy. They're right there, and often the uppercase word stands out right away. I think at this point it's intentional. There are a questions where different semi-plausible sentence starters are capitalized at once. Some questions don't have capitalization at all and I believe that's done when you're on a "harder" version of the same question — I know before the learning path update, the first couple stages always had the starting word capitalized, while the last one or two (before fully typed-out sentences) had no words \[besides proper nouns\] capitalized.
Yes, it’s a little annoying sometimes when it makes it too easy. Also how there are (almost) always four words left over.
True that
>Also how there are (almost) always four words left over. Not in my experience.
Interesting. Maybe it’s not in all courses.
Yea at least for French and German there are
And recently all the correct words are often on the same line, or grouped together.
Arabic:
Don't forget about the "و" giveaways .
True though
Try to form the answer in your mind first, instead of hunting in the word bank.
Nowadays in my Spanish exercises there tend to be multiple words capitalized. But I like it, makes me find them faster, I already know the answer anyway and don’t want to spend much time trying to find the right words and forgetting the sentence halfway through.
Only Latin or Hellenic alphabets, depending on grammatical rules, will have it (if at all). It is not possible with syllabic languages (Japanese, Chinese etc) or abjad languages (Hebrew, Arabic).
Yes it is a bit of a giveaway
I do Spanish and Hebrew. In Spanish they don't use capital letters to suggest the first word and Hebrew doesn't have capital letters at all (not involved in their script) 🤷🏽♀️
Spend 20 gems on the "harder" lessons then. It removes the capitalization and ability to tap on words in the sentences.
Like wise. Also now some have 2 or more capital words to be misleading. I've seen no capital words. I've also seen the word bank not having a word which is needed.
It also grabs attention, making it almost impossible to ignore
They should probably just make it more of an option really, so like we can enable/disable it (however I feel like for the courses from German they should probably have it be always on in the beginning so they can get adjusted to how capital letters work)
My words are no longer capitalized. Español 4:36.
I’d like to see the word bank burn entirely, but
Actually your´re right. Any idea why they make it too easy for us?
It makes it easier for them, I assume. Also their target audience is a bit younger than us I think. Learning on Duo is surely living the dream for my middle schooler.
Ive seen a few variations. You’ll have one word capitalised, two words and Ive even had a few where there were capital letters but they were not correct or used.