Duolingo for learning Spanish

[Astella22]

I’ve decided to try learn a bit of conversational Spanish. I’ve always wanted to travel in South America and I think this would help. It’s not going to happen this year but some mystical date in the future when Covid is a distant memory.
Has anyone used Duolingo and if so have you actually learned to speak the language using it.
Thanks

I use it and love it. I am only at Checkpoint one but have learned lots of phrases and vocab.

I used it years ago before the app even existed and it definitely helped me a lot. I started knowing no Spanish at all and could eventually understand quite a lot of what people were saying etc. I did use other materials here and there to supplement it and made sure I practiced every day by refreshing what I'd already learnt and only doing a new lesson when everything was fully refreshed so it was really drilled into my head. The only thing it didn't help much with was speaking, although there are now some speaking questions on there, I don't think it's enough.

I got to level 25 for fun ! I learned Spanish Spanish at school, but I found some of the verb constructions very latin american. Hope I haven't mixed myself up.

I prefer to watch netflix shows with the subtítulos on, that is very contemporary dialogue. I used to live in Spain but 30 years ago and there are words and phrases that didn't exist 30 years ago. My crazy x girlfriend was great, such modern language all to do with social media and dating language and psychological jargon about attachment styles and underlying issues etc I learned a lot!

ps, I got to level 15 on Duo Lingo for Danish but although I can understand a lot written down, I couldn't say a damn thing!!, so I abandoned that project. Watching Danish tv is too fast. I need something where you repeat what you've heard, but not with a microphone, because if that's not working, you can't proceed. I had that problem on duolingo.

I’m learning Italian through a combination of Duolingo and the Coffee Break podcasts. They’ve got Spanish too. coffeebreaklanguages.com/

I am using Duolingo to learn Swahili and have found it incredibly useful as a learning tool. Far from fluent, as yet, but getting there, doing about 15 - 20 minutes a day.
I can write it better than I can vocalise it, but fortunately have some Kenyan and Tanzanian friends with whom I can practise my pronounciations.
Would like to learn Shona and possibly Xhosa next

I've just started with it (just booked a holiday to Spain in the summer!) and finding it fun so far. I did Spanish at GCSE so I know the basics but have forgotten most of it.

Duolingo is definitely jogging the memory and the difficulty is ramping up nicely as I go. The speaking part is a bit minimal and I think it probably won't be sufficient on its own to get me fluent. DD1 is learning at school and DD2 is also using Duolingo, so we can hopefully do some speaking practice together eventually.

I'm brushing up on my French with it, but find it pretty dull and repetitive

@dementedma

I'm brushing up on my French with it, but find it pretty dull and repetitive

then hire a tutor

@Astella22

I’ve decided to try learn a bit of conversational Spanish. I’ve always wanted to travel in South America and I think this would help. It’s not going to happen this year but some mystical date in the future when Covid is a distant memory. Has anyone used Duolingo and if so have you actually learned to speak the language using it. Thanks

Yes for French but I have a tutor now so I do not use it as much as before.

I'm using it for the same reason and language. I'm finding it good so far.

I used Duolingo for Spanish a few years ago and found it somewhat helpful but it does have some major limitations. You can learn basics there, and you will learn grammar, verb tenses etc, but as the emphasis is predominantly on reading and then typing in/selecting your answers it doesn't help much with spoken Spanish. Honestly my advice would be (if you are in the UK) to do a Spanish course (at a local college or further education institution) where you do get a chance to listen to the language and practice having actual conversations. The added benefit is that you can make friends too and meet up for extra practice.

I live in Catalunia now and am learning Catalan as well as continuing to improve my castellano Spanish, and I really do learn more Catalan from an hour with my friends in the local coffee shop than I do from Duolingo. Plus I learn it more as it is spoken 'on the street' as opposed to the very stilted gramatically correct form which is learned from a program like Duolingo.

Such great advise from everyone. @UserBot314159 I love the idea of watching Netflix with subtitles on, thanks for that tip.
I live very remote so going to a class is out for the moment.

I’m doing French and I think it’s great-unlike others, I think there’s a lot of speaking /listening which is actually useful for travelling.

It can be annoying, as I speak-text a lot of the written answers too and, if I don’t proof read properly, it says I’ve made a mistake (missed plural or spelling mistake) when I would have got away with it in a spoken interaction!!!

If you are learning it specifically to travel in South America, then make sure you learn Latin American Spanish rather than Spanish Spanish. They can be quite different, particularly in Mexico.

@Planesmistakenforstars oh I had no idea they were different thanks

I have not used it for Spanish but I have for French. It helped me a lot, especially with reading and written French.

I have been using it for Spanish for the last 65 days and I am enjoying it, I just took a notion I would give it a go as I was rubbish at languages at school.

I am also watching this channel in bed at night and enjoying it too.

www.youtube.com/c/SpringSpanish/playlists

@Redpriestandmozart thanks for that link I’ll check that channel out. I was also terrible at languages at school so I’m hoping learning it this way helps me.