I’m curious to know how many days in a row you have got behind you and for those of you who have a rather long streak, how have you ensured that you stay consistent?
Many Thanks
I don’t pay any attention to my streaks. I did in the past, and reached 30 or 35 days, but there often happens something in your life which breaks the line. So why bother? If you have intrinsic motivation you don’t need streaks to keep you on track.
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While I do agree that you cannot control everything, I feel that streaks are an important part of language learning. I have just started to prioritise it’s maintenance as well as including more sitting-down time and as a result I feel that my ability to notice what’s happening in the language has improved tremendously.
I’m currently at 20, going on to 21. I’ve reached longer ones in the past but I don’t mind interrupting them if something important comes up. I agree with benscheelings that they are not so important and can be in fact counter-productive. My main goal is to read something almost daily but allowing for exceptions. This turns to result in interrupted chains that would be very long if the counting could bridge occasional one-day breaks and rare two-day ones plus some extended holidays of a few weeks (often when I’m in another country and so in fact getting much more practice than usual). For me this is the ideal state of affairs and I don’t care if the Lingq software registers it. It’s the opposite of single-mindedly pursuing extremely long streaks, which, to my mind, actually diminishes motivation because you may find yourself forcing hurried, unenjoyable sessions just for the sake of streak counting plus you may end up completely demotivated if you lose a single day because your streak will be so short for a long time.
My main statistics at lingq are:
Number of read words (best way to measure activity, I think it was user parkerhays who made this point in the forums)
Number of known words (not a perfect measure of progress but it does work for me)
For those of you who find the streak-length statistic useful, maybe LIngq should consider adding the Duolingo system of “buying” (through activity points) days off?
Another example from my experience: right now I’m prioritising more watching movies/series in both German and Russian than reading on Lingq (though I still keep the reading going because it’s so useful). This results in my streaks tending to get shorter and, even more, my lingq statistics plummeting. However, I think I’m progressing more than ever. That’s just another example of how statistics should be taken with truckloads of salt
What’s more important is to avoid a streak of not interacting with the language. For some folks the Lingq streak might be a useful tool to avoid that.
Steve and others always stress the overriding importance of motivation in language learning, and I think we all agree with that. Lingq is full of little features like streaks, word counts, avatars, etc., that in and of themselves are really not significant. But they’re there as potential motivators, and if one or the other clicks with someone, then they’ve done their job.
For myself, I’m currently watching more videos and reading news sites without Lingq’s help, so I frequently have no streak. (Thanks, Lingq, for helping me get to where I can do that!) When I am using Lingq I find myself sometimes going until my known word count reaches some next pleasing round number. It’s silly, but it serves to push me on a bit farther.
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I am currently at 170 days. When I know I have a day I will not be lingqing, I put in a little bit of reading just after midnight the previous day! That streak will end when i have some work obligations later in the year.
5 days now. At best I’ve had 10 days this year, but this is not so surprising.
I usually go through these short bursts of motivation where I read for hours every day for a week, two, a month at most; I then feel depleted and bored and stop for a few days, sometimes much longer (a couple of years for my French for example).
I personally do not recommend trying the consistency approach because the daily volume you end up with is usually insufficient in my admittedly short experience to get far and you’ll just end up feeling like you have wasted time. Some people may be different, however. In the end what actually matters is how much time you end up spending in the given language, not so much how you do it.
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I’m at 142 days. I don’t need the extra motivation normally but we all have those days when we’re too tired, or just too lazy. On those days it encourages me to get on Lingq and read a few paragraphs. It would be nice if it took listening time into account. I need more motivation on the listening front.
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To be frank, that does not bother me, really. I mean, I’m really very enthusiastic about lingquing, but sometimes I just do not feel like it. And, like I said, I’d not worry about it much. I find ways to interact with my languages anyway. Basically, lots of input and some output… no speaking, though - I never know what to say. lol
57 days in a row.
I love the streak system, it keeps me motivated to study everyday.
107 for me currently. I purposely wake up earlier than I otherwise would to get an hour in every morning before I get ready for work and all that jazz.
Glad it’s working for you, I feel like trying to maintain it gives a nice boost in motivation too.
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Damn that is dedication right there! 
That’s what we have to do if we want to make sure that we get the time in to lingq. If you have the mindset of doing it later, there will always be a chance that you won’t do it.
Well it depends really. What if your daily time you have to spend is 2+ hours? After even a week, that is a lot of time spent sitting down with the language. Then if you add on top of that listening time when you are going about your daily activities, we have spent quite a lot of time with the language.
All depends on the individual, how much time they have. But I feel consistency should be prioritised as it helps build the neural connections in the brain.