>>1120860It’s not “bad” in the sense it’s teaching you anything wrong, but you shouldn’t use it expecting a comprehensive coverage of the language.
If you don’t speak any Japanese at all then the first 1 or 2 lesson groups will teach you hiragana, katakana, basic vocab, some kanji and some simple phrases.
It’s downfall is the lack of any detail in the lessons. Every lesson has “tips” which you should 100% read and study, but even then they’re not great. Duolingo becomes more of a game than a study tool when you’re just clicking the words to match the translations.
Using Duolingo + wanikani up to level 3 + watching JP streams and videos can give beginners a good start and is 100% free. It’s also not boring which is a big reason people give up. After that though you shouldn’t rely on it as a “good way” to learn Japanese. Continue using it if you want but seek out additional sources for better understanding of grammar, sentence structure and vocab building.
