Best language learning app?

[Citygirlrurallife]

Any recs? I don’t like Duolingo for learning a new language, good for keeping you up with a language you already know. We’re going to Japan in a few months and I’d like to learn some basics especially as we’ll be going to some areas where English isn’t as widely spoken

anyone used Jumpspeak/Babble or something else?

Italki. Real humans online.

Langua Talk is great with its AI practice facilities and the how detailed the corrections are. But depends which language you are learning

Duolingo is terrible for Japanese. In terms of what worked for me: Lingodeer. They have a feature where you can listen to a phrase, then record yourself speaking and play it back to compare. This technique is called "shadowing" and it got my pronunciation down.

If you're serious about learning Japanese, you need to start with hiragana, the phonetic alphabet. It will prevent you from reading Japanese words with English phonics.

You can get started for free here: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/

Let me know if you have any questions!