Duolingo or Babbel to learn French

[Seagullslanding]

Has anybody successfully learned French with either Duolingo or Babbel.

I've been using duolingo for almost 3 weeks. I'm at a point where I am getting frustrated with running out of hearts.

So fo I pay for super duolingo or pay for babbrl instead.

Has anybody successfully become confident in french with either of these?

Not Duolingo! I started nearly 2 years ago from an already intermediate point of knowledge. At least 30 minutes a day most days. Have finished the course and now just on a daily refresh. My vocabulary has slightly increased and my reading comprehension but my listening not much and my confidence in speaking hasn't improved one bit.

I'm trying to find a local course in person and it is proving surprisingly difficult

I'm trying to learn Italian- much easier to pronounciate than French.

I found Duolingo too repetitive and a many of the phrases aren't relevant to everyday life. I did a year's streak. I gained some confidence but I don't think there was much improvement to my knowledge and understanding.

I'd also love to know an alternative app!

I think Duolingo is useful for learning grammar and vocabulary - but you need to actually speak to people to improve fluency. Watching TV/ reading news etc also can help.

Can i recommend 'Unlocking French' by Paul Noble? I have his CD course and found it very helpful for Fench conversation. His technique builds on words you already know. I survived a trip to France recently by going through the course

I used Babbel and Duolingo for a while to learn Dutch. I found Babbel more useful as it taught sentence structures and other grammar rule whereas Duolingo just seemed to make you repeat sentences and words with no explanation really as to why they changed under different circumstances.

I haven’t stuck to using either app though 😅

Rosetta stone. I was dubious but dh and I are both using it now. It's great.

@WinterFrogs ive just ordered the book. Luckily Amazon had a pre-loved one for sale. The reviews were good. Ill try using it alongside Duolingo, if it helps Ill then look at the audio course. Thanks for recommending.

I hope you find it helpful!

I second this. I did it in the car and found it really easy to follow and picked up a lot quickly.

Coffee Break French might be worth a try as well. Quite well structured and builds up sensibly.

https://coffeebreaklanguages.com/coffeebreakfrench/

I would not use either to learn a language. There is a very good YouTube channel called The Perfect French with Dylane. She also has a lot of really good free content on her website, or you can buy her books. French with Alexa on YouTube is also great.