I don’t get the connection between losing access to tik tok and starting a +20 years journey to learn chinese
I believe that a clickbait title about 400 idiot people starting the first lesson in Duolingo and then quickly quitting without deleting their accounts is the through line here.
“only idiots show interest in a second language” is a take for sure
That’s very clearly not what they meant and you know it.
A small but vocal chunk of people moved to another Chinese social media app with the announcement of the TikTok shutdown. This app is mostly used by Chinese users unlike TikTok. The idiots are the ones trading one foreign monitoring app for another - one which doesn’t even primarily use the language they speak
Okay buddy 👍
Well, considering that I speak 4 languages myself, maybe that’s not the take I was going for.
The context of this bump is people being so enamored with tik Tok that they’re interested in a second language just to use a potential replacement.
You can be a dumbass but still be interested in a second language. That doesn’t imply everyone interested in a second language is a dumbass.
It shouldn’t take quite that long.
Shame it’s Duolingo though. HelloChinese and DuChinese are way better for actually learning the language.
HelloChinese is a little better on content and a lot better on not being an annoying ad machine.
Firefly timeline!
FIREFLY TIMELINE!!
FIREFLY TIMELINE!!!
I guess it’s better than some alternatives, at least because we never found out what the Space Confederates were fighting for
This Tiktok ban is going to make people in the US do what they never did before and learn a second language. 万岁
More like start learning a second language and give up after a week.
This may be a stereotype, but TikTok specifically caters to people with short attention spans.
Yeah learning to speak Mandarin is one thing but learning to read it feels fucking impossible if you don’t start young.
Gateway learning.
I learned Spanish to write love letters in 2nd grade.
And now 30 years later, I know like a dozen languages at a basic level, but still good enough to be sent all over the world on business trips for free.
I wonder how many 7 year olds are picking up Mandarin to protest this tiktok thing.
什么万岁？
Not that there’s anything wrong with people wanting to learn mandarin but I wonder whether this uptick in engagement with the Chinese world will just be a blip and soon people will get bored of it and look for more “Western” platforms again.
Like, when the enshittification of reddit and Twitter took root, you would also see very big numbers of users flocking to alternative platforms like Lemmy (like yours truly!) or Mastodon but in the end, after the initial novelty wore off, how many of those people actually ended up sticking around or moved on to something else after a short while?
My point is that it is still way too early to judge whether RedNote will become the next TikTok in the US, or whether this could be the start of a mass grassroots movement for American and Chinese people to get closer.
Can anyone explain to me what makes TikTok and now this RedNote so much better than the other short form options (YT, Insta… others) that people think learning a completely different and unfamiliar language is not only viable, but the best option?
I want to learn another language for travel purposes, which to me makes sense. I’ve never had the itch to learn one so I could use a social media platform.
I wouldn’t overthink it. It’s just a youthful rebellion/protest thing. Old people banned an app young people like and young people were like, “Ok, fine. We’ll use a different app, assholes.” And they found one even more Chinese just to be obnoxious.
But to answer your primary question, Instagram is a bloated app with a terrible algorithm made by a garbage company owned by a garbage person. But just as important, Instagram is also where TikTok users’ parents are. Youths don’t want to hang out with friends where their parents are watching. Hell, I’m middle-aged and I was annoyed when my mom followed me on Instagram. Like, “Stay on Facebook, mom. That’s the boomer app.”
I’m sure almost every TikTok user is a YouTube user too. But YouTube Shorts isn’t the same as TikTok. Shorts are basically a way for established creators who make longer, professional videos to make little casual ones between their main video releases. It’s not a drop-in replacement for TikTok. The vibe is different. (If Shorts had been released as a totally separate app with a separate algorithm, it’d be a drop-in replacement for TikTok but they just duct taped it onto YouTube proper.)
Plus, the data and national security excuses were always horseshit. Congress was trying to protect American dominance in social media and during the debate, members of Congress said their issue with TikTok was that it didn’t have an Israel boner. https://forward.com/culture/688840/tiktok-ban-gaza-palestine-israel-antisemitism/
Forward is a publication aimed at a Jewish audience, for the record, so that’s not some antisemitic conspiracy theory.
It’s not even to go for a TikTok clone, it’s more to do with the avoidance of Meta products because they’re following Twitter and allowing toxicity and constantly pushing ads and influencers and MAGA. Someone decided hey it would be funny if we just installed an actual Chinese app just out of spite since we’re effectively getting censored anyway so getting censored on a chinese app to blow it all up would be funny. It was supposed to be a meme.
Turns out the chinese people on there were mostly excited to get so much attention and an opportunity to talk with americans. Loads of kids there practicing their english, and people felt so welcomed they’re trying to learn the language and everything’s subtitled in chinese+english because they want to communicate back and make their content accessible to them out of respect. There’s plenty of content there to teach chinese to the newcomers too. Bunch decided to stay because it’s just pretty nice since the lack of politics and “sensitive” topics it’s a very positive and welcoming platform for once.
The whole thing is a completely accidental cultural exchange on a massive scale, and a very rare case where americans and chinese people kind of can talk directly like that. Both sides gets to peek at the other’s lifestyle and bond over common things instead of hating on eachother. They aren’t learning chinese to use the app, they’re learning it to communicate and exchange with the people. The chinese government seems unconcerned and welcoming as an extra fuck you to the US.
The algorithm is surprisingly not really biased nor pushing propaganda. It’s happily suggesting me openly queer content (with a lack of hate comments and americans being called out for their hateful comments), they have gun content, they have a car scene, they have their thirst traps (with respectful comments), it’s really not all that different than us and not the propaganda machine the US is so concerned about. It kind of leans more left than TikTok if anything, which makes the ban even more questionable.
I do wonder though if some of those people are just ccp agents making content. Operating anything in China you’re required to be overseen by CCP so I highly doubt that they don’t carefully sift through comments.
I do find it funny that people would rather pick chinese spyware cause our spyware has too much political leans and censorship.
I’d be surprised, unless they somehow managed to train 9 year olds into tricking americans into teaching them english on a live call all basically overnight, at the scale of several thousands of them. If that’s chinese propaganda then man they sure have heartwarming propaganda. I’m sure there’s inherent bias due to culture, it’s still China. But I doubt they were prepared for this at all.
It also was never really picked with the intent to switch, the meme was to just download it and browse it a bit so it goes at the top of the downloads chart and beats Meta. The happy accident is the part where people browsed it and figured it’s pretty nice on there and turned the whole thing into a mass scale cultural exchange.
The irony in all that is I haven’t found anything sketchy in it yet. On Android they’re not asking any non-standard permissions, much less than TikTok or even YouTube both of which ask for accessing connected biometric/fitness devices. REDnote asks for the device’s ad ID. All the sensitive ones are runtime permissions it doesn’t ask until you ask for it like access the camera to post a video. I’m sure they track everything you do in-app like everyone else, but nothing that gives me the ick having installed. Facebook Messenger in comparison wants full access to telephony and SMS services, your contacts, start background service on boot, bluetooth and NFC. I haven’t pulled out WireShark yet but from a basic Android permission perspective it doesn’t have access to much of anything to begin with.
It’s literally just a random chinese app intended for mainland China, and that’s kind of what sticks about it: it’s just not really that evil. There’s no ads, no influencers, no celebrities, those are all bannable offenses even. It’s just… kinda nice and nobody expected that at all.
Here’s a snapshot of the evil propaganda they’re so afraid of: https://www.max-p.me/p/2025/rednote/rednote-snapshot.mp4
Their daily life looks just like ours, similar hobbies including cars and guns and tanks and cat ears.
They said a 216% spike
That could be an extra 15 people
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Just as I finally see Chinese culture gaining more global cultural relevance— and it had to be in order to bypass a ban of an intrusive app.
Gotta rise up to that Firefly/Serenity lore.
the app wasn’t banned, the company refused to split American operations off.
… And because they refused, is now banned.
So, yes it was.
no, they were given the option.
- split into two companies
- close down operations in the US
that’s pretty cut a dry they chose to end operations in the US. The US didn’t ban them.
☝️🤓 Well, actually…
#2 is a ban.
I’m really not sure why that’s so hard to understand. If I said, “sell me your house or get out of town,” how is that not me running you out of town?
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so when other companies that refuse to adhere to labor laws in the US move their factories to other countries, are they banned?
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I’m pretty sure that this post is a total load of bs.
I like how they don’t label the y-axis at all to give any sense of scale. This graph could be showing a jump from 10 to 22 people. 🤷
That’s what I was thinking. Probably not that small, but not a lot it’s a notoriously hard language to learn. You have to be pretty stupid or nieve to think you’re learning it on Duolingo.
Could it be just bots?
My niece is one of tiktok’s victims and she is as young and lazy to even construct herself a sandwich. Nevermind learning a language as confusing and backwards as mandarin or Cantonese.
I’ve heard Mandarin at least is pretty straightforward, it’s just the writing system that causes problems.
so instead of 25 people learning Mandarin now there are 79 people learning Mandarin.
I’ve just learned how to say fuck America, 他媽的美國
Que se cague China, América, Rusia… la lista sigue
Stop sucking superpower’s dicks
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What a take: learning a language makes you a tankie.
This guy absolutely harasses people in the real world.
I’ve just learned how to say fuck America
Also, the countless comments in praise of China and calling anyone they disagree with sinophobic.
As an American, I can say fuck America because that’s my god given right.
The right to shit on your country is the most American thing ever.
Exactly. I’m American too and that’s the entire point of the first amendment. I can burn flags, flip off police and politicians, and cover my car in unhinged stickers and a judge will side with me. As long as I don’t threaten or hurt anyone (or cause too much of a disturbance), I’m good.
The TikTok ban should be unconstitutional and thrown out by the Supreme Court. If I want to let Winnie the Pooh spy on me (not saying that’s what’s happening), that’s also my right, so back off and let me use foreign spyware instead of domestic spyware.
That said, I hate TikTok and think nobody should use it, but I’ll defend my right to use it because who knows what they’ll come after next. I also hate the CCP, love my country (US), and largely hate my government.
Did I hurt your nationalistic feelers?
Oh yeah, I’m a real patriot. God bless the USA! DM me when you move to China.
Can you just use duolingo as a translator?
No.
These kinds of figures are pointless without knowing the starting number of users, it could be an increase from 10 to like 30 or something… Also, this sudden rush of articles mentioning rednote seems more like an attempt to induce movement to it, but that could just be me being cynical.
