I worked my way all through the Duolingo German course; sadly, I still speak German like a Patagonian... aye well.

In the last months, they introduced lives ('hearts') on the phone app which rendered it effectively useless; five mistakes and you're out for the day. Then they did the same to the web version but I discovered by chance that if one registers as a teacher (or a student) the hearts go away. Which made it usable again...

(I know they can be removed by paying for the course(s). I don't object to that; I do object that a course that was advertised as being free changes the rules partway through...)

I also had a problem in that it wasn't in English. It was in American, which in spite of all the apologists is _not_ the same language. So much of the 'English' part of the course was predicated on knowing US terms, grammar, spelling, and general culture. Which on the whole I do, but translating DE-UK-USA-UK-DE was painful to me.

Neil

My neighbour suggested the Duolingo course and it sounded horrific with its lives and ads

When I started, it was also promised no adverts. Since then...

But uBlock Origin helps, or using Vivaldi browser on the phone.

All our family use Italian duolingo , its not a bad starting point , or even to brush up your Italian before you go away , plus point is its really easy to use