I'm thinking of learning a new language. Would love to know your experiences with it. Also, here are few questions 1. How to pick a language? 2. What tools to use? 3. How long does it usually take? I was thinking of Spanish because of future travel plans. But then my company is in Germany (although it's fully remote) and I thought learning German would be good as well because then I can practice it with my colleagues while learning.

Spanish is relatively easier. I found Michel Thomas and Duolingo the fastest to start communicating

I have been using Duolingo so far. Wanted to know if anyone actually learnt a language using it.

I tried learning German using Duolingo. Got frustrated with the stupid gamification and focus on competing for fake internet points rather than language learning. Both me and my friend uninstalled the app after Duolingo made those changes.

I use Duolingo to study Romanian, as its very difficult to be here in Romania without knowing the language. Duolingo is good to pick up vocabulary and it helps, for example in knowing what a supermarket aisle has but don't expect to be fluent or conversant in day to day dialogues

Try to look into language podcasts like Coffee break german after learning a bit of vocabulary using any app.