The only one I listened to was read very well.
Well Duolingo has just gone down the crapper with the new redesign.
Argh. Just Argh.
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So what platform are you using - PC, phone/tablet or iPad? I haven’t a redesign on the iPad app that I use.
PC-browser.
The new interface is being rolled out gradually. At the moment there’s no going back to previous lessons and stories no longer exist as a section. ios seems to have been developed rather better than all other platforms. I will try it for a while, but if I needed a push to move on, this is probably it.
I’ve reacted badly to each Duolingo format change, but have then gradually been won round.
The positve aspects of the new format are more background info about the lesson and a much clearer indication of the lesson’s emphasis.
My assumption is that they’ve redesigned it in order to more formally integrate it into a national education syllabus.
Busuu seemed good (I looked for other lanuages) but I did not have time to follow up
I tried Busuu, but abandoned it.
I realised that when users “correct” exercises other users do, no quality control is applied. I saw wrong English answers being praised, and correct ones criticised, invariably by people who were non-native speakers (you could tell that: they wrote in the same way as spammers do!).
I had zero confidence that my work was being corrected by anyone competent, so I binned it.
Babbel wasn’t bad when last I used it.
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I’ve been giving Kwiziq a go after it was recommended on here and I have to say it’s very useful for sorting out confusion on (what seem to me to be) arcane grammar points.
However, none of the courses is at all helpful about the use of the word “encore”. Used in the negative is nice and clear (I think) - pas encore is equivalent to not yet.
Used positively though, I am getting more confused by the moment. I thought I’d sorted it out when I talked to my French teacher about it but I clearly haven’t. I thought that if encore is placed before the verb, it meant again, but after the verb, it meant still - looking at examples elsewhere, I am clearly wrong about this. Then, of course, there is the use of toujours to mean still. I wonder if some kind expert could sort me out on this please?
Maybe Alex can? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8QikBFCjo
(I tried to find something all in French, because I often find videos in which French people speak English unhelpful, but I failed. I searched for “encore french” on YT and got several results. To me, Alex is less irritating and more adult (ie uses adult learning tricks) than most.
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Ah là là le chien du voisin est encore là! For goodness’ sake the neighbour’s dog is here yet again! (He’s a regular visitor) or bloody hell yes he’s still here, why?!?!
Ah là là le chien du voisin est toujours là! For goodness’ sake the neighbour’s dog is still here! (He turned up in the night and it’s 6pm)
Ah là là le chien du voisin est toujours là le jeudi! He’s invariably here on Thursdays (He knows it’s sausage making day).
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Ah - so it can be translated either way in the same sentence. One of those words that has a more generic meaning than the two English equivalents.
Thank you @vero
Another question if I may…
I saw a specialist yesterday and he described a colleague, whom I’ve met several times, as “gai comme un pinceau”
So far I haven’t discovered what it means - is it roughly equivalent to “daft as a brush”?
Correction I think I’ve now found it - my hearing at fault again 
. It’s not pinceau, it’s pinson. Sorry folks
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No it’s gai comme un pinson, literally cheerful as a chaffinch aka happy as a lark 
Sorry to answer so late. Just back from work ugh idiot that I am just seen addendum. Pffff
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Really appreciate the confirmation, @vero - thank you!
I bet you are tired… rentree and all that (sorry about lack of accents!)
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A tip, picked up from Reddit, is to log in at Duolingo - where the last incarnation of the site is alive & working. For now.
Oh dear, have been using “carafe” in Brittany, that’s really marked my card, one suspects.
And you have to watch out with ‘pots de vin’ because they are bribes.
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Spoke to my French teacher about this this morning and she said she wouldn’t use it as it had acquired a double meaning in that gai in French now means much like gay in English. Is that your experience @vero?