IMO most app-based services like Duolingo will help you to learn basic grammar rules and random vocabulary but learning a language requires speaking it under ti

IMO most app-based services like Duolingo will help you to learn basic grammar rules and random vocabulary but learning a language requires speaking it under time pressure to living humans about changing topics with shifting social context, so no matter how good Duolingo gets it will only get you so far. In other words, I’ve never met someone who actually attributed their success in learning a language to Duolingo or any app like it. I do hear a lot of beginners who can’t consistently form grammatically correct sentences lavishing it with praise, however. Old school services like Pimsleur’s tapes, or for more advanced users services like FluentU can help get your listening skills up, and language specific publications like the Chairmans Bao for Chinese can work on your literacy, but ultimately there’s not much substitute for speaking with a teacher or friends (my experience with HelloTalk for connecting you with conversation partners has been mixed - better than nothing but its not like the prolonged exposure & relationship building of a real friend, nor the targeted learning and crisp explanations from a teacher). But yeah if you’re just getting started I personally enjoyed learning through Pimsleur - no fancy app, just mp3s, and it gets you speaking with time pressure from day one - if speaking is your main goal, this was the fastest way for me to get started, and you learn from exclusively listening to people pronouncing correctly (unlike taking a class, where you’re exposed to everyone but the teacher butchering the language), so I find I sound much better than any of my classmates in class nowadays.