I've had a similar experience with Spanish. But I learned another language, Mandarin, in a more formal way, so I alread had experience throwing myself out ther

I've had a similar experience with Spanish. But I learned another language, Mandarin, in a more formal way, so I alread had experience throwing myself out there and immersing without fear for years. That experience made it much easier to try speaking broken Spanish without hesitation when I finally had the opportunity. In other words, if you already know how to learn languages, Duolingo is a great way to build grammar, vocab, and pronunciation for when you do get a chance to practice, but may not be great for first timers. If I was younger and without a family I'd still consider in-person courses full time instead though.