Duolingo functions on the premise that "being conversational" means "cobbling together words shakily into passable sentences". I find that people in general hav

Duolingo functions on the premise that "being conversational" means "cobbling together words shakily into passable sentences". I find that people in general have a low bar for "being fluent" and "being conversational". Have you ever tracked a conversation you've had with your friends? A conversation can broach many different topics, and can go deep into those topics. Are you "conversational" if you can only say a few sentences and are completely out of your depth once the conversation switches to any other topic like politics, etc? No. Conversations can also last hours. Doing things like duolingo will never have you reach fluency or even being fully conversational. It may be a good start, but it should always be complemented by studying with textbooks or online resources like instructors on youtube. Anki (or memrise) is necessary to start memorizing heaps of vocabulary words so you can begin to have simple conversations. Glossika is good for making yourself practice saying sentences and listening to sentences. Native material is by far the most important aspect. That's how you find vocabulary and practice things like listening and shadowing along.