Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide
Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:
Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)
Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)
Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)
Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)
*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.
Mango (Languages: So many and all endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)
AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)
AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone
lingory
ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)
Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)
Reminder that boycotting DOES work, there is historic proof! Don't let anyone discourage you otherwise!
The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide.
We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact. Companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes and where there is real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerry’s and Pillsbury. Compelling such huge, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that “your time will come, so get out before it’s too late!”
Bro absolutely COOKED with this.
Seattle Public Library is doing this awesome program called Books Unbanned that allows teens and young adults (ages 13-26) access to their collection of e-books and e-audiobooks from anywhere in the USA. All you need to do is fill out a simple form and you get their Books Unbanned card. Please share this information far and wide. I know they're not the only ones to have done this, but the more the merrier!
I agree 100%
Thinking about what journalist Momen Alsharafi said, after having lost 21 members of his family, that he is so worried about what will happen after the war.
"The question that haunts me is what should I do then? After the war, after the work pressure ends, in my free time, what should I do? What should I work on? How do I fill my free time? It's going to be long. No brothers, no sisters, no father or mother, not even the children I used to play with, my nieces and nephews."
This is going to be the reality of tens of thousands of people in Gaza who had lost everyone. Who will they go to for comfort? Who will be there to help them through? Who will they visit on holidays?
Israeli crimes aren't just what's happening at this moment, their impact is for a lifetime. Fuck israel.
I'm finally reading South Africa's application to the ICJ against Israel and damn they really came with those receipts!! Must read document if you not only want to understand how Israel is committing genocide, but the situation in Gaza more generally also
the third edition of Julia Serano's foundational and ever-relevant Whipping Girl (the book in which the term 'transmisogyny' was coined!!) just came out, with a new afterword on the current anti-trans backlash and you can order a copy directly from her publisher using the code SERANO20 for 20% off through the end of march
white gays need to read up on pinkwashing and homonationalism before ever even thinking about opening their mouths talking about homophobia/transphobia in the global south
like to charge, reblog to cast <3
‘I wish for death’ - Twelve-year-old Alma says. She fled bombing and shelling twice before the third place they sheltered was bombed, She was rescued from the rubble only to find out both her parents and all four of her siblings had been killed. She found her 18-month-old brother in an unimaginable state. Her little brother was beheaded from the rubble after the IOF massacred them.
Source: BBC