LEARNING SWEDISH

I'm on a streak

By Ellen Donker

My daughter Madeline has been encouraging me to learn Swedish for a long time. In 2018, I had taken her and her brother, Christian, to Stockholm and they loved it so much that they started learning the language and stuck with it. Now when they talk, they’ll throw a few Swedish words into their conversation and have a private laugh.

I don’t know what was the tipping point for me at the beginning of January, but I decided to learn Swedish, too. (For the record, I am a quarter Swedish.) I had said that I didn’t have the time or interest to study a language spoken in one country. But Madeline and Christian kept saying that the Swedish news outlet Dagens Nyheter sends updates faster than U.S.-based news sites. Although I don’t know this to be true, I finally decided that learning Swedish well enough to be able to read Dagens Nyheter would be an interesting exercise for the new year.

To learn the language, I’m using Duolingo, the app Madeline recommended. After three weeks, it started congratulating me on my lesson streak. I had not missed a day. I proudly shared the news with my kids (the app encourages you to message your friends and family about your achievements). But “pride goeth before a fall.” Not four days later I forgot to complete my lesson. I couldn’t believe I had broken my streak, even with all the reminders Duolingo sends me.

But wait! Duolingo has a way to reclaim one’s streak with the streak freeze. That is how Madeline has accumulated a streak of 1,205 days.

This got me thinking. Streaks seem to be a thing these days. I have a number of other subscriptions that encourage me to keep my streaks going. Zwift, an app on my stationary bike, warned me that I needed to pedal today or else I’d break my 10-week streak. I think I had already broken my streak on the Peloton, so I Zwifted instead. Easy choice.

I also have streaks going with Words with Friends. I play with a few different people, but I have the longest streak with my mother. Playing with her is a way for me to know that she has engaged with the game at some point during the day. In other words, it allows me to keep tabs on my 93-year-old.

Although it’s good to have consistent habits, like brushing one’s teeth and keeping the house clean, I don’t need an app to track everything I do. Apparently, Snapchat was the first app to use streaks. Now it seems every app prods you to keep up the good work. Even the Bible app does it, which can be helpful but not if it stresses me and makes me feel guilty. Well, maybe a little guilt is needed.

I used to start the day with Wordle, but I didn’t like the idea of being on my phone the moment I woke up. It took a few months to finally let that one go. I had added the medications I took on my iPhone. Every night it reminded me to take them, but I soon got weary of logging my activity. I guess it would be useful if I couldn’t remember to take my meds, but that’s not the case. And do I really want to share everything I do with Apple?

So although I will use my streak freeze to keep me in good standing with Duolingo and my kids, I pledge not to pursue any other streaks this year. I hope that by year end I will be able to read Dagens Nyheter, give my friends and family the latest news scoop and share some Swedish humor with my kids.