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I have spent a lot of effort in Duolingo in multiple languages, that I now use daily. Imo it's a mediocre but _extremely_ convenient way to build a base of voca

I have spent a lot of effort in Duolingo in multiple languages, that I now use daily. Imo it's a mediocre but _extremely_ convenient way to build a base of vocabulary, but it is completely different to seriously learning a language (unfortunately). As far as I'm aware this applies to all the apps - real human conversation is very hard to usefully simulate. That doesn't mean Duolingo isn't useful, it's definitely helpful, even if you're living in a full immersion environment, but the map is not the territory. If you really want to learn to talk to people, you have to talk to real people. It is a completely different thing to just learning all the words and grammar, far more than I realised before seriously getting into languages.

prmoustache 4y ago
This. I moved to south of spain 3 years ago without knowing spanish except a few words to order a beer, ask for the bill and where are the toilets. I did a bit of duolingo that helped me just grow enough confidence to learn the basic stuff. Then I met what is now my girlfriend in a language exchange event and my level grew steadily that people in latin america say I am speaking really well. I still struggle a bit sometimes in south of spain but that is just because they speak in an awful way, like they would be drunk 24h a day and it costs the same to native spanish speaker to understand them.