Apps are a trap. Especially Duolingo. They give the illusion of progress but no effective learning.

In my experience, I think an ounce of output is worth a pound of input. By which I mean for example, talking to someone for ten minutes entirely in Chinese is probably worth about two hours of watching a variety show or playing Black Myth Wukong.

Output forces you to consolidate your learning in real time to communicate, rather than just getting by with ‘I know or think I know what this means enough to enjoy the show’.

You can even force output by journalling, talking to yourself in Chinese (e.g. narrating what you’re doing as you do it), or recording videos of yourself and watching. You don’t get the feedback, but you’re still forcing some of those neural pathways.

To a lesser degree you can also tune your ear, pronunciation and accent by ‘shadowing’ (watching/listening to a show and repeating exactly what you hear immediately, like you’re a ‘shadow’ following the speaker’s words). It’s not as effective as conscious output but it is still forcing your brain and tongue to speed up and anticipate what is being said.