I find it a little bit hard to learn a language by myself. Now I am learning Cantonese and French. Cantonese is easier to learn because it shares some grammars or pronunciations with Mandarin. French, on the other hand, is a bit difficult. Thanks to duo lingo, I can learn vocabs faster. Instead of memorizing words over by heart, it is more efficient to apply these words in conversations.
Actually, it would be fine if I go to France and read. Meanings of French words are usually not hard to figure out. But listening would be a problem. Without sufficient exposure in a pure language environment for a long time, it is hard to fully understand what others say.