I am Terry Vogelaar from Holland and I would like to review Duolingo. The problem to be solved is that as the world turns into a global village, being able to speak more than one language becomes increasingly important, especially for people in the less wealthy countries. But traditional language education is expensive. So there is the desire to learn, but not the budget. That is where Duolingo comes in.
I wanted to learn Esperanto. Why Esperanto, you might ask? Because I’m a geek. This is a constructed language. It’s almost as straightforward as a programming language. It has no exceptions and the grammar is very visible. And it is a neutral middle ground. Whenever I speak English, I am well aware of my Dutch accent. I took a big step to learn English with all of its quirks. But I still feel inferior to native speakers, because I came to their territory. But with Esperanto, everyone took the same small step towards each other.
I’ve mentioned a few times over the years that if there’s something new you wish I’d do on the show or something you wish I’d do differently, you should go ahead and ask. I may not change things, and I may not do what you ask but if it’s easy or I think it’s cool enough, I will do it. There’s zero harm in asking!