Language learning apps like Duolingo are useful, but they have their limits. They're ideal for getting started with a new language, beefing up vocabulary, practicing skills, and even having fun playing the built-in games.
If they're the only thing you use to learn a language and your goal is to become fluent, however, they aren't efficient at all. To reach a conversational level or better, you need to sign up for classes, private tutoring sessions, or both. You can do so from the comfort of your home at a very decent price.
I've been reviewing language learning software and services since 2012 and have studied languages at the Foreign Service Institute (where ambassadors and diplomats learn), as well as universities, community college, grade school, and with private tutors. While I don't have a background in pedagogy or linguistics, I can say from my own experiences and from watching others learn that the most effective language learning happens when you put several hours per week into small classes with fewer than six students, one-on-one tutoring, or a combination of both.
Apps are an excellent resource, but they aren't a replacement for learning alongside other humans. Is it possible to achieve fluency using only an app? Sure, but anyone who can is an outlier. The majority of adult learners need human instruction.
The reason is you need to be pushed beyond your limits. Language teachers have told me that if students aren't making mistakes, they aren't learning enough. As a result, a good teacher will have you speaking and understanding at a 70 or 80 percent success rate—which can be deeply demoralizing! But that's an instructional tactic the teacher uses; adult language learners have to struggle beyond their abilities to gain language skills. (Children, meanwhile, have the magical capability to acquire languages. There's a joke that you don't have to be a genius to learn a language; you just have to be younger than 10.)
Another bonus for having a human teacher is you never have to worry about AI infiltration. I’ve seen a few apps that run on AI translations that contain major errors. If you don’t speak the language or have someone who does on hand, there’s no way to know if you’re learning something wrong. That problem simply doesn’t come up with human teachers.
Here I want to share some of the best places I've found to get small group classes and tutoring online easily and at a good price. I include some immersion programs, which can be online or IRL—you can even bundle them into a luxury vacation!
Lingoda
Affordable and small online classes and tutoring.
Lingoda specializes in online language learning in the form of small group classes and one-on-one classes, both held via video call. Classes are available every day of the week at a variety of times, with teachers all over the world, though especially clustered in Europe, North America, and South America. The catch with Lingoda is it only has instructors for a handful of languages: French, German, Italian, and Spanish, as well as English and Business English. I've used Lingoda for months at a time to improve my intermediate Spanish while living in a Spanish-speaking country.