Learning German

[Slowpoke]

I have decided ... to make the plunge.

I deleted Anki.

I feel like I'm breaking up with a boyfriend I like, but don't love. However, the good thing is, I know he's crazy about me and will always be around. I like Anki! I think it's an awesome tool, and I've used it professionally a bunch. However, my goal for German is absurdly reasonable (B2 in all 4 skills by 2028, and I have A2-B1 listening now). I'm not quite a Dreaming Spanish purist, but I do think the idea is interesting and if I haven't reach 1000 hours of input by 2027 (which seems very unlikely, I'm at 370 now and it's getting easier because I no longer have to hunt for stuff) then I'll switch over to a more 4 strands approach, but for now I'm enjoying it and am happy with what I'm able to do with German now - watching kids shows is relatively easy and Checker Tobi is great. Easy German podcast is *significantly* more understandable than it was even 50 hours ok, which seems crazy.

[Slowpoke]

I recently hit 400 hours and have noticed that:

- I can understand podcasts for native-speakers when it is a subject that I am extremely familiar with. The italic is VERY important - I was listening to the Checker Pod about dialects and was like wow, this is awesome - I'm picking up everything! Then I listened to the one on noodles and was lost.

- Listening to news podcasts - I generally get the gist of what's going on. I can't pick up all the details.

- I've been relistening to 14 Minuten from the beginning and I've noticed it feels a lot like looking through a window after you've cleaned it. I've picked up on details etc that I didn't notice before. I plan on subscribing to the premium version when I get a new job - excited for 37*14 minutes more!

- The thing that's hardest but that I should ostensibly be able to do? Deutsch Lernen Durch Hoeren dialogues. The stories are perfectly fine, but the dialogues make it so much harder. I think it's the complete whiplash of location etc.

- There's one podcast that everyone recommends but seems to be the worst for me, lol. It's extremely slow read but with advanced vocabulary - so it's boring, but I don't understand anything.

[Slowpoke]

One thing I've been doing lately is just focusing on things that interest me. Lots of YouTube channels - ARTE, Atlas and Simplicissimus especially. So it's a lot of documentaries and reports meant for Germans, and I'm not following 100%, but again, I'm in no rush, I'm busy, and watching a super interesting video where I get the gist and miss the details certainly isn't going to make me worse at German. I'm noting what I felt I understood - so if I watch something for 45 minutes and feel I got 80% I'll put down that much.

[Slowpoke]

I'm now at 470 hours. Thinks I've noticed:

- Easy German podcast is becoming more and more clear

- 14 Minuten is relaxing to the point I have to play it 10% quicker to still be engaged

- It feels like vocabulary is really the main thing holding me back. I don't really struggle understanding the gist of a sentence, unless there are multiple words I don't know.