I took 4 years of Latin in high school and 2 semesters of German in college back in the 1970's because those were the languages associated with science and math. BS in Physics and Mathematics in 1978. English is my native language. Never got a handle on either of the other 2.
Been wanting to learn another language or two or three or more all my life. I just turned 70. French (Canadian) would be good to be able to speak with the Canadian visitors to Maine here. Spanish too as there are now numerous Spanish speaking workers here.
I started with Duolingo, paid for a year of German, about 3 years ago. I chose German because of my earlier exposure to it. I had a good streak going for about 4+ months and had advanced to the highest level. But, I felt that I had hit a wall and wasn't really learning as I was using my notes too much. Also, speaking and listening weren't spontaneous enough. Other things going on in my life were getting in the way too. So, I stopped cold.
Around last Christmas and New Year, I finally got back into learning German by listening and speaking with music. I set about learning Stille Nacht and O Tannenbaum in their native German. The English versions vary greatly from the original German. I looked up and printed out the German lyrics, listened, sang along. There's lots of YouTube videos on both those songs.
Of course, YouTube started feeding me other videos that I might be interested in. Lolita: Seeman, Deine Heimat ist das Meer and Der Weise Mond von Maritonga came up. Her voice is clear and not drowned out by the music. Bought a double CD (40 songs) of her music on eBay. I listen while driving or while dosing off to sleep at night.
German versions of Paul Simon's Sound of Silence came up. Klang der Stille translates very close to the original English. German versions of Bette Midler's The Rose (Die Rose) and of many other songs came up. Even Linda Ronstadt's Spanish version of Blue Bayou (Lago Azul). Been listening to and trying to learn them all. Maybe not sing them well. But, atleast speak the lyrics.
Lately, I've been attempting to speak German versions of things that I say every day. Es ist ein wunderschöner Tag. It is a beautiful day. Behalten Sie das Wechselgelt. Keep the change.
German with Laura and Your German Teacher videos have been filling in grammer and vocabulary. I also suggest watching Richard Feinman's video on how to learn a language.
I have a decent handle on verb conjunction, noun gender and declension and word/phrase order. I'm not spontaneous with them yet, but, atleast I think about what to use when I try to speak or write or read.
When I learned the planets and moon, I learned them as a class, all der except Venus and Earth both die. Same with other nouns. My biggest challenge now is vocabulary! Google AI says 500 to 2,000 words for A1-A2! I'm making up my own physical hand written flashcards. With verbs I'm adding tenses and whether they require a particular case. With nouns I'm adding plural form. And, so on. I may download some too.
Well, there's my language learning journey so far. Maybe a bit long.