One thing about Duolingo is that it’s very easy to spend very little time on it. It will cheerfully tell you how awesome you are, when you’re spending 5-10 minu

One thing about Duolingo is that it’s very easy to spend very little time on it. It will cheerfully tell you how awesome you are, when you’re spending 5-10 minutes a day. When I did 30-60 minutes a day for a few months (I did Spanish, then Portuguese, then switched to Memrise because it had European Portuguese), that seemed to lay a decent foundation. Conversationally, I was hopeless for a few days, but I learned quickly (unlike when I went to Mexico without having done Duo). I don’t think there’s any substitute for being thrown a curveball or two by a real person and having to muddle through. Meanwhile, here are CIA estimates for time to reach professional working proficiency. 600 hours for Spanish or French, up to 2200 for Japanese or Arabic. https://www.state.gov/foreign-language-training/ https://www.state.gov/foreign-language-training/. Just gotta wait for that 3000 day streak!