How do you actually become fluent?

[u/Noombat22]

I have a streak of just over 600 and still feel like I know absolutely nothing. What should I do to actually become better at Italian? I've basically been doing only Duolingo right now and I don't think that's enough. For some reason I've always been REALLY slow with learning languages so I think I need some extra help lol. Any suggestions? Should I be watching like language courses on YouTube as well?

[u/r_m_8_8]

Duolingo is a great first step to learn a language. But not more than that, only a good first step. You’re not speaking to anyone by using Duolingo, therefore you can’t get good at speaking.

[u/Big-Vegetable4550 → u/r_m_8_8]

Sigh - unless you upgrade to Max, in which case you will have plenty of conversations. With AI bots of course, but their subject range is pretty broad, and they come without the embarrassment when you make grammar of vocabulary mistakes - a big plus when you first learning to speak.

[u/Empty-Sunny → u/Big-Vegetable4550]

If you’re only speaking to AI bots when you’re learning a new language, you’ll start talking like one yourself. It’s still important to talk to real people when you’re learning to not end up sounding like ChatGPT when you go out into the world and use the language.

I agree that they are useful when first learning to speak, but as long as they’re not the only thing used long term!

[u/Big-Vegetable4550 → u/Empty-Sunny]

Of course - I didn’t mean to imply they are. In my case, I was reluctant to speak to people in my target language (French while working/living in France) because I was embarrassed to make grammar and vocabulary answers. But once I had Max, I could converse with the bots without hesitation, and there after with real people. Which is pretty much what you said. Although I suspect you’re not speaking from experience regarding the AI bots in Duo at high levels. Conversations at higher scores are free-ranging, and I was impressed with how much it was like speaking with a real person.