For comparison, I taught myself Spanish with paper flashcards I wrote, and a grammar book and I was at a similar stage after 5 months. 3 hours effort per week approx so a bit more than you.
If I had the discipline to do it I'm sure I could get further with other techniques, but for me the biggest feature of Duolingo is the way you don't need very much discipline at all to make progress with it.
"You don't need very much discipline" and "5 year streak". Sorry, but is my definition of discipline that off? You managed to have 5 years of discipline. That's the reason you managed to learn a language, not because the duolingo gamishittification does miracles.
simonw|2 years ago
dayjaby|2 years ago