Has anyone used an app to learn a language?

Nein.

...but seriously, kids are currently learning Japanese and French with duolingo and going well.

My whole family are learning and speaking French using the family plan on Duolingo.  It seems to work well for everyone from 7y old to 75y old.

As an aside , I had an interesting exchange with a Spanish lady outside my site a while back. She wanted to know directions, and just spoke into her phone, which then translated into English on her screen. She then read to me. It was strangely impressive, and I really enjoyed being referred to as Sir

Duolingo is decent but it's useful to be able to speak with a native every so often as well

Learnt a little bit through Duolingo but haven't picked it up for a while, get the feeling it can only take you so far before you need to just get out there and...

speak with a native every so often

Advice I had was to get a Spanish girlfriend...

I've been learning German on Duolingo for 3 years or so...

I second the idea of finding a native speaker to practice on! :o)

I've been using Duolingo for French, and honestly while my vocabulary is better and my reading is better, I'd still hesitate to say that I'm any better in conversing with any French folks. I think the best method is just to thrown yourself into the community in Spain that you're going to join. Learn some basics and go from there, the more time you spend with natives the better IMO.

Advice I had was to get a Spanish girlfriend…

Good advice, whether you want to learn Spanish or not!

I used Duolingo for a few weeks before going to Andorra. It really helped. Asking for bill, a table for four and other stuff. It gave me a start in a language I didn't really have much experience of.

But yes, speaking with a native speaker is better.

I'm a big fan of the approach used in the Say Something In Welsh course. I think they also do Spanish...

[Checks]

Yes, they do: SaySomethingin - The Natural Way To Learn A Language 

Duolingo is good, classes with people make it better though it doesn't prepare you for Spanish spoken in a regional accent at a million miles an hour! At least you can get across what you want though and just look confused when the reply. Watch some Spanish movies or series to get your ear in. I stayed in a small Spanish mountain village for 3 months last year. Road bike heaven compared to here, the drivers were very polite and cafe stops are great!

I have been using duolingo for ages.

I wouldn't say it has improved my conversational skills but my vocabulary and ability to read the language is much better.

Honestly the main thing for me now is that it is something positive to do with a phone on an evening rather than the usual look at crap

 It really helped. Asking for bill, a table for four and other stuff

TBH for most of us though, that's all you'll really need. Our French (my wife's using Duolingo as well) was really really useful in those situations when you're buying things, or you want to try stuff on, or at a pinch* "We're at the wrong train station, can you take us to the other one in town rather quickly?"

*ask me how I know.

I've used Duolingo for the past year on the paid plan (£60 I think) and although my reading & writing of the language is better my conversational skills not so much.  I'd have expected it to be much better after a year so a little disappointed.

Hence I won't be renewing on the paid plan but revert back to the free version.

Was contemplating giving Babbel a go instead (£200 for a lifetime licence).

I would also highly recommend Language Transfer - free and very good.

https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish

After years of using Duolingo I got frustrated with it/

Someone on here recommended Language Transfer and it's been excellent. It's more conversational in style and is thus more useful on holiday. Knowing how to say the pink bear likes green pizzas in German is good but it's just not something that is ever going to be useful.

I've been doing Duolingo French for a while now, but for the last year have supplemented it with a weekly 1:1 conversation with an actual French teacher (who is French)

I would agree with others, good for basics, and vocab, but not great for conversation.  I've Also found the duolingo french podcasts very helpful for improving listening skills, but you need to be at a certain level before you can get anything from them.

Duolingo here - used it for about 9 months before going to Japan, was useful but certainly not conversational. Switched to French and currently in Brittany - I feel my French has improved (although still not conversational) but I've been much more engaged in the listening and speaking exercises and I think that's made a big difference. Our lovely French campsite neighbours sometimes pop over for a very simple chat - we might understand 20-25% but get the general gist, don't think we'd have got anything before Duolingoing. Plus, it turns phone time into something useful, and I find the gamification helps me stick at it. 🙂

Duolingo for japansk, fransk og italiensk, og norsk selvfølgelig!

If you have a university nearby, most of them do night classes across a range of languages. Learning with a class gets you speaking much better, depending how modern the teaching style is (I found Cov good but Warwick old school textbook boring)

I used Duolingo for a while a few years ago. The free version of the app kept getting increasingly annoying and I never tried the paid version. As others have said it increased my reading ability but not my speaking. Maybe I'll give it another try.

Podcasts are good. Search for slow Spanish or slow French and have someone talk about the news or tell stories at a speed where you can actually hear the words.

duolingo shmuolingo.....  its ok for teaching you vocab, but sh1te for actually teaching you how to actually talk to natives.

what you need my good man is  https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish

in the process of learning greek at the moment, got a decent linguaphone course (2 books, 2 DVDs and an app), plus a duolingo account but i found they did nothing for me in regards to actually talking to people and really understanding the grammar etc.  duolingo just hopes that by giving you strange sentences, that something sticks.  "i found a pink elephant in my bath" stylee.

been through the language transfer course a few times now (revisit it every time we go to greece) and i can have a good bash at talking to the locals and always get complimented on my speech.  because youre actually listening and not reading, you also get the intonations and rhythm of the language too.  the chappy really explains it all in an easy to understand way, with tips on 'internalising' what youve learnt and how to process it in your head as your conversing. whats even better is, ITS FREE!! :D. you can either listen to the 90 soundbites online, or download them to your phone/laptop (theres also a dedicated app).  hes not bothered about making money from it, just wants people to learn languages.  youve got nowt to lose by listening to the first soundbyte and seeing if its for you.

I completed Duolingo for French, good for learning vocab, but useless for grammar and conversational skills.

It's just glorified flashcards with some gaming added in.

Advice I had was to get a Spanish girlfriend…

Good advice but my wife didn’t agree 🙂

Memrise and Espanol con Juan on YouTube, on a 2030 day streak with Duolingo but much prefer Memrise

I've learnt more talking broken English and Italian with the locals in 9 months than the GF managed in three years with Duolingo.

Another recommendation for Language Transfer. Learning Spanish with the app is very easy although it is spoken only, no written. I switched from the Bola Di Niege program which was ok but I was progressing slowly with that.

I also have Duolingo which is ok for what it is but as said above it's pretty much a flash card app with a few bells and whistles.

Right.... Have just downloaded the Language Transfer app. Thanks for the heads up.

something positive to do with a phone on an evening rather than the usual look at crap

Not everyone is into scat.

Try looking at cats instead.

Have been using Duolingo (Italian) for a couple of years now. Only recently has it started teaching me anything useful for day to day conversing. However, it has given me knowledge of a lot of vocabulary.

It's no good for speaking, in fact I skip speaking exercises on it.

Previously used Paul Noble and also have some of the Pimsleur audio books. These help speaking but you really have to put aside 30 mins a day to get the benefit. Used to use them while driving to work, but don't have the same commute any more.

I’ve learnt more talking broken English and Italian with the locals in 9 months than the GF managed in three years with Duolingo.

This is the rub, duolingo is only a single piece of the jigsaw,you need a local to speak with unless you are only going to text  message people 🙂 and getting to a conversational levels to the standard you are in English is going to harder/longer than you think.

Local dialects and living in the sticks can also be interesting, one of my er language victims said that they didn’t understand my Spanish, pronunciation is tricky without someone to pick you up on it.(speaking Spanish with a pirate accent doesn’t always help either.)

I tend to watch Spanish Netflix series like alpha-males and elite as well to train the ear.

Don’t hold your breath☺️☺️☺️

But it’s an enjoyable way to get to grips with the pronunciations and cadence.

Have been using Duolingo (Italian) for a couple of years now. Only recently has it started teaching me anything useful for day to day conversing. However, it has given me knowledge of a lot of vocabulary

I’ve recently stopped with duolingo after a two hundred and something day streak with Irish, as you say little of any real use. No use of numbers, little on days of the week, jobs, travel etc and completely ridiculous sentences which were of no use in real life to translate.

I couldn’t really tie it in to the other learning resources I was using and when i had a few problems opening the account on another device i just stopped.

Its ok / fun to see if you enjoy the language but its not really a learning resource (at least for Irish).

If you’re subscribed to Amazon prime (just the movies, etc), you also get access to free prime books.

Sol Mancilla :Learn Spanish

so, it’s free as long as you subscribe.
and you can listen to it with Bluetooth headphones.