duolingo is an amazing business. 

you pay a subscription, collect streaks, get addicted to that « correct » sound, get to tell all your friends « i am learning [insert chinese, japanese or french] », and build a love-hate relationship with those notifications. 

all this, and i’ve never met anyone who learnt a language with duolingo. 

no polyglot has uttered these words «i learnt with duolingo »

it’s a simulated environment - that keeps you as far as possible from jumping into the deep end.

but you keep paying the subscription, hoping one day you would fly to paris and say « bonjour » to a stranger.