60 Language Classes in 60 Days

At the beginning of the year, I made the resolution of wanting to improve my French. Alex’s family is from Belgium and they are better able to express themselves in French than in English, so I think this is a win-win for all of us since I’ve always wanted to learn French anyways.

Enter: The Lingoda Super Sprint.

The Super Sprint is a promotion that the language platform Lingoda runs a few times a year. The “regular” sprint means that If you sign up for the 30 class deal and complete all 30 classes within 60 days, then you will get half of your money back (this comes out to paying around 400 EUR upfront and then getting 200 EUR back). Not so bad considering that’s a class every other day, or just most weekdays. The super sprint is double this endeavor, challenging you to 60 classes in 60 days. If you don’t miss a class in the 2-month period, then Lingoda is happy to refund you your full payment (around 800 EUR).

Did someone say “challenge”....

I am a sucker for challenges like this. I am an extremely competitive person (but not in the silly “board games” type of way) so stuff like this definitely scratches some mental itch. I signed up on January 23 for a super sprint and I’m still in the thick of it with two more weeks to go.

My experience so far has honestly been great - a solid 8 out of 10 for a group language platform. Here’s what I’ve taken away:

🇫🇷 French is a damn hard language to learn! There are way too many silent letters for me to keep track of and sometimes there are simply sounds that my mouth does not want to make (“truc!”). It sounds all sweet and buttery when Alex speaks it, but I sound like a train crash while reading most things. I’m waiting to sound like this chick when I speak Franglish…

That being said, the lessons are well organized and designed to keep a group of students engaged in the content. You really have to pay attention to the course content as the class moves through the deck so I wouldn’t recommend multi-tasking in case you get cold-called on. Of course, some topics are a bit boring (how to schedule an interview, the climate crisis, rural vs. city living) but this is to be expected with any language learning course.

👏 Teachers are almost always excellent, patient, nice, and glad to be there. I know I would have zero patience to be a language teacher, so I really appreciate how motivating and encouraging the Lingoda teachers are. I’ve only had one bad experience where the teacher was a bit too scatterbrained to keep the lesson moving, but one out of sixty is a pretty good outcome!

🤼 It’s not as awkward as I thought to mess up in front of the other students because nobody knows one another! The classes are very international, and even if you have some students who are always in class with you, there’s not really an opportunity to chat with one another. I wasn’t looking to “connect” with other French students, so I like this setup.

⏰ You can’t be more than 10 minutes late to a class, and you obviously can’t miss a class all together if you want the discount so participating in the sprint has helped me work on my punctuality. It also means that I’ve lived the past 60 days around when I have a French class…

💰 800 EUR is a lot of money so I wouldn’t recommend taking part in this sprint if you don’t have that money to spare in the worst case scenario. Alex is participating in the German super sprint, but after a night out, he had to forfeit his streak (and money) to Lingoda.

❌ Scheduling is a bit tricky because you can only cancel a class within 30 minutes of booking the class or one week in advance. In order to follow the unit syllabus and to get classes at normal hours of the day, you need to book your classes at least a week in advance. This complicates things and requires a lot of planning (or having others work around your language course schedule).

🗣️ Before using Lingoda, I was using Chatterbug which is another language learning platform. This platform is great if you learn better on your own, because a lot of the platform is “self-study.” You need to take a 1x1 “Live Lesson” with a tutor in order to progress through a unit (which is great for accountability, but also more pressure because you do the whole lesson solo). With 30 chapters per unit, and two live lessons needed to get through each chapter, this leaves you with 60 classes per “section” (B1.1, B2.2, etc.). Lingoda has three sections of B1, while Chatterbug only has one. I think it could be “quicker” to go through Chatterbug, but you need to be someone who is motivated by self-study. That isn’t me, so I prefer the model of Lingoda where there are more classes more often. I really believe the daily exposure to French is helping me a ton.

💭 There have been times during the classes where I’ve counted down the minutes left in the class, not paid attention and multitasked, thought about what I’m having for lunch after, or just plain old cursed myself for having taken on such an annoying endeavor. Despite this, I always get the same feeling after a tough workout: you never want to do it, but you always feel so much better afterwards!

Overall, I think the concept of the “ super sprint” is a great marketing ploy from Lingoda considering that it’s quite challenging to complete. They definitely make it quite rigid in terms of scheduling, but if you have a flexible work schedule and are willing to be dedicated for two months, I’d definitely say it’s worth a try.

Now that I'm done with the 60 days of French lessons, I'd definitely do it again with the following things in mind:

📌 You don't need to take every single class in order. I'd prioritize the Grammar and Reading lessons over the others, and then go back and do Communication and Speaking classes for additional practice.

📌 If a teacher gives you a bad vibe, don't book with them again. There's no reason to waste your time with a person who makes you feel self conscious when you're already going through the trouble of learning a new language.

📌 The classes when you have teachers who give you a hard time are the classes you learn the most. Also, don't multitask during class - take notes!

Happy Learning! 😃