I'm learning Italian with English as the base language. One of the things I felt with Duolingo (at least the "old" version, didn't try the new version) is that

I'm learning Italian with English as the base language. One of the things I felt with Duolingo (at least the "old" version, didn't try the new version) is that the exercises make you write mostly in English, not Italian, which is the main point of why I'm on Duolingo in the first place. It's rare for an exercise that makes you write in Italian, even when assembling your own sentences is the basics for those who are learning a new language. Finishing an entire module doesn't make you entitled to write anything. So I inverted things. Instead of the Italian course, I applied to the English course (which I am already fluent) as an Italian native speaker. This way, I write mostly in Italian, with almost no exercises to write in English (same problem with the Italian course). Learning has been much more effective.