Technology

HelloChinese is a little better on content and a lot better on not being an annoying ad machine.

I think it's great for basic grammar and vocabulary. Pair it with a grammar text book, dictionary, and media in the target language (written and spoken) and you should be able to understand the language fairly quickly. If you can get conversation practice with a native speaker, you'll learn so much faster.

As with learning anything, you have to commit yourself to using multiple resources. Duolingo has been a great way for me to pick up vocabulary. Do I use it for sentence structure and grammar lessons? No. But it's a fun way to replace the monotony of flashcards.

Duolingo is a game for points and badges. it's not actually useful for learning anything.

I believe that a clickbait title about 400 idiot people starting the first lesson in Duolingo and then quickly quitting without deleting their accounts is the through line here.

It shouldn't take quite that long.

I guess it's better than some alternatives, at least because we never found out what the Space Confederates were fighting for

Nah, they'd learn Toki Pona, because it's an amazing interlanguage.

I'm no anti capitalist, but I also learned Esperanto a few years ago. But nobody really speaks it, so I switched to learning something a bit more practical (SO's native language so I'm less helpless when we visit their country).

May I ask why?

Есперанто товарищ!

That depends on how you use it.

I use DuoLingo as daily practice, and I add a bunch of other stuff to it as well. I did really well learning Esperanto this way, and have learned a fair amount of Spanish and Korean as well. Generally:

1. Duolingo for a couple weeks, blitzing as many lessons as I can
2. Find lessons elsewhere (YouTube, books, etc), while using Duolingo for 5-10 min/day
3. Read childrens books (look up everything you don't understand) and watch children's shows (write down what you don't understand) in the language, and use that to review grammar and vocab
4. Read the news in the target language, looking up unknown words
5. Watch TV in the target language
6. Finish up the Duolingo course while doing the above

Duolingo by itself won't get you fluent, but it'll teach you basic grammar (if you read the grammar notes), vocab, and build a habit of learning with a minimal time commitment. Use it as a sort of stretching routine before more serious study.

All this hatred for a tool that is bridging the gap between not speaking a language and being able to understand basic sentences.

More like start learning a second language and give up after a week.

This may be a stereotype, but TikTok specifically caters to people with short attention spans.