The Lion Tamer

What jobs have you had?

I have never had some career guidance, but here’s a perfect example of career guidance going amuck.

Tales in Duolingo

There is a feature in Duolingo that allows you to listen to a story and answer questions. In the story titled “I Want To Be Like You,” Junior, Eddy’s son, thinks Eddy is a lion tamer. Eddy is an average father, and he is out of his element. For now, we will just ignore the fact that every character in Duolingo speaks German with an Indian accent.

Junior comes home excited from school one day talking about the job fair they had at school that day. Well in my world this plays out in German because that is what I am studying in Duolingo. When you are learning a language, you do not always trust your instincts and you want to make sure you are hearing the story right, but this is how this story plays out.

 

Junior comes home from school, and his father Eddy starts asking what he would like to be when he enters the work world. His father assumed he would be a soccer player or another noble profession. Junior tells Eddie that he would like to become a lion tamer. Not only a lion tamer, but he would like to become a world, famous lion tamer. He would like to be the best in the world. The story is so awkward that I even forgot to get mad that there are still lion tamers around. To take it one step further I can not believe there are still circuses.

 

His father appears non-plussed and naturally his father starts asking about the profession of being a lion tamer, and how he came upon wanting to become a lion tamer.

 

Gefährlich – in the Story, the German word for dangerous is introduced. Most people agree lion taming is a dangerous profession. Junior insists it is not dangerous, and he reiterates that he is going be the world ‘s best. He does not mention that healthcare in Germany is cheap. And then he tells his father where he got the inspiration, he said he just wanted to be like his dad.

Eddy blushes and then is confused for a second and asked how this is being like his dad. Junior tells his dad that he found a whip and a cape in his closet. A bird flies overhead, and a bee hovers around his nose. Eddie stumbles around with awkward sentences that I do not even recognize as German. “Sein Vater ist uberrascht. Yes, they introduced the word for surprised. Which I was also.

 

There was then, an awkward silence taking up a lion share of the dialogue between them.

There is another episode where Junior’s father is despondent because his girlfriend Chloe breaks up with him after what he considered a perfect date. Junior digs a little deeper and blames it on his father’s cooking. I personally think it has to do with what he hides in the closet.

 

That is your family friendly Duolingo. Yes, beside the obvious gamification the app only teaches German to an A2 level. It would be nice if DuoLingo went to a higher level in German. It is more likely they develop an app in a more useful skill. Might I suggest Lion Tamer or Master Gardener.