Moving beyond Duolingo: Whats helping me learn Spanish in Spain

That’s really interesting and I also noticed some differences with words they used in Latin American Spanish compared to European Spanish. I would be very interested in your cheat sheets. 

About 24 months ago I arrived at a lingual crossroads. To be honest I got disenchanted with Spanish and questioned why I was still trying to learn something that I was finding difficult to remember. You have to come to terms with the amount you have got to remember. I couldn't and decided to take a break of a few months. I got a tip from a lady in Mojacar to try Duolingo and it kick started my interest. Yes, it's South American Spanish, but it transports you through simple to more difficult Spanish in a good sort of way. There were times when I questioned Duolingo, but the plus factors well outweighed the negative ones. I'm 19 months into Duolingo and while I use it almost every day, the time I spend there never exceeds 30 minutes per day. 

Like Airtaine, I hope to arrive at a stage where I don't need Duolingo anymore, My current tutor (from Spain) is not enamoured by Duolingo but I have convinced her that it's a good go-to place for Spanish learning. 

I used to swear by The Language Tutor on YouTube. I still do and I find instruction there to be very good. But, you can't beat the spoken word in the presence of a friendly Spaniard. Mrs Matt although not wanting to learn Spanish has bought into me educating myself through a tutor, Duolingo, textbook, listening to good Spanish radio, etc. When next I go to Mojacar, I've made my mind up to inflicting myself on Spaniards. If I have to exchange English for Spanish conversation so be it. And I'm not going to stop learning anytime soon.

Thanks for that, very informative.

A few years ago I was thrown by a comment. I had helped out an elderly Spanish woman and I was very confused when she called me the milk! (Eres la leche) A Spanish friend explained what she meant, and I was very pleased. lol.

I forgot the obvious. If you've completed the Duolingo Spanish Course you've achieved a lot. Most don't complete the Duolingo course. I reckon if you do manage to get to the end you'll have quite good Spanish and ridding your usage of SA Spanish in favour of Castillian Spanish would be a doddle. 

Hi Matthew, I've been doing Duolingo - they are clever in making it a challenge to keep  up a 'streak' of continuous days practice. Some days I just do five minutes but it really makes me keep going -  I would boast about my very long streak but that might expose my slow learning acquirement...  I can understand  a great deal now, but am hung up on the meaning of verbs and there are no  written exercises any more, just words to tick.  The trouble is, when visiting Spain there is no way to practice speaking Spanish much, except with waiters- we have very nice ones in our local places, but it is unreasonable to take up their busy time for long.  We would like to make Spanish friends but it is difficult to know where to start when just visiting, rather than living in Spain.

You've called it right there Bess. One of the things about Duolingo is that you don't take notes. The idea is to get you immersed in Spanish through repetition of language rules but in an aural environment. When first I encountered Duolingo I intended only to use it as a jump start to my waining Spanish onwhich I had become disenchanted. But, 19 months later I'm still using Duolingo. But, when the course is eventually finished I will seek advanced lessons in Castillian Spanish through a good native speaker. I should add I am pleased with Duolingo though and my Spanish would not have improved as much as it has without it.

Bess as a visitor it is very difficult. We try to use it everyday, even my wife and I will speak it to each other. 
we started Duolingo at the start of COVID so my daily streak is 2113 days!

However I also have been learning Italian and improving my French.

I wanted to learn some Italian as well as were going to a wedding in Tuscany. According to Duolingo I know 2000 words! lol. Well it was a different story when actually staying there. We always learn menu terms first, then normal day to day things. It did help to some extent, but we were so glad to return home to Spain.

Don’t give up.

I agree Duolingo isn't the best but does make me practice a little everyday although sometimes I just do what is needed to pass a level ... I hope eventually to do local lessons when I'm in Spain more but do like to practice in shops and restaurants when visiting. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been using Duolingo for a while to learn Spanish, but recently it’s felt pretty limited and lacking in real educational value. Because of this, I have recently started using Memrise hoping to move forward with my learning.

Although some of you have found that Duolingo is useful for building a daily habit and introducing basic vocabulary, I'm finding that it's weaknesses are becoming more annoying over time. The app provides very little explicit grammar explanation and relies heavily on pattern recognition, which makes it difficult to develop a deeper understanding of how the language actually works. Progress also seems to plateau fairly quickly once the basics are covered.

Another major issue for me is the frequent use of unnatural and often irrelevant sentences. Many of the exercises involve bizarre or unrealistic scenarios that may be memorable, but have little practical value for real communication.

I have also found that Duolingo often marks, what seems to me and from I what I have learned so far, perfectly acceptable translations as incorrect simply because they do not match one specific expected answer, which can be frustrating and discouraging. 

The Spanish taught in Duolingo clearly favours the Latin American usage of Spanish, both in vocabulary and expression. For a learner like me who wants to learn Peninsular Spanish, this can lead to confusion and, in some cases, the learning of matériel that has no relevance to my goal of trying to use the language comfortably on a daily basis.

From what I found so far, Memrise, places greater emphasis on realistic vocabulary, spaced repetition, and exposure to native speakers through audio and video content. While it is not perfect and lacks a strong grammatical framework, it appears to address several of the issues I encountered with Duolingo, particularly in terms of authenticity and listening skills.

There’s a free course and a paid option that I’m going to try for a month, I would be interested to hear if anyone else is willing to give Memrise a try and share their experiences, it would be interesting to compare opinions.