DuoLingo is deceptive at best. It's made addictive at the outset so you feel good. You feel like you're learning. But long term the platform has what is now dubbed enshittification. It gets exponentially harder to keep up with reviews, there are known problems with the lesson structure that will never be addressed, etc. And if you pay money, they'll make it easier for you. Hm.
Real critique example: Duo relies on 1:1 translation. Native language learning isn't even close to 1:1. Every language learner hits a point where they can say, "I know exactly what this phrase means in the target language, and there is no direct translation in English". To finish a language in Duo, you will have to memorize dozens/hundreds+ of totally misleading and bad translations like this.
Tldr. Selling kids DuoLingo for language learning is like selling kids cigarettes to help them learn to build a fire.
Real critique example: Duo relies on 1:1 translation. Native language learning isn't even close to 1:1. Every language learner hits a point where they can say, "I know exactly what this phrase means in the target language, and there is no direct translation in English". To finish a language in Duo, you will have to memorize dozens/hundreds+ of totally misleading and bad translations like this.
Tldr. Selling kids DuoLingo for language learning is like selling kids cigarettes to help them learn to build a fire.