Duolingo is to feel like you're learning not for actually learning.
Great for telling people you are doing something, that's all.
For me, the best has been to get a anki deck to get the most basic 1000 words, once finished, go find a tutor to speak 1h a week on Preply and then create a personal Anki deck with words you encounter.
That has been the easiest way to improve for me. And this is for Japanese, one of the hardest languages I tried learning.
Great for telling people you are doing something, that's all.
For me, the best has been to get a anki deck to get the most basic 1000 words, once finished, go find a tutor to speak 1h a week on Preply and then create a personal Anki deck with words you encounter.
That has been the easiest way to improve for me. And this is for Japanese, one of the hardest languages I tried learning.