CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge--DE

[DaveAgain]

Got a bit of a shock this morning. I received my assessment from Wunderbla after completing their assessment period. They rated me as B1. At first I was thrilled, then I thought--what?? I just barely passed the A2 somewhere else (that I trusted.)

Then Wunderbla gave me this morning's lesson (you only get a max of 5 short lessons a week, emailed to you.) It was clearly marked B1 and I struggled so bad I wanted to give up. So I'm not B1. I sent them a request--if they can move me back to A2 I would be willing to subscribe for at least 6 months. I do love their process and the lessons. But not if they're going to just dump me into the deep end like today.

Perhaps you could try their B1 material for a week or tow and see how you do?

[gsbod]

I'm inclined to agree with DaveAgain. Stick with it for a few days, stretch yourself a bit! In any case, if you've already reached an A2 level, surely you should be studying B1 material?

What was it about the B1 lesson that you found difficult?

[CarlyD]

I'm inclined to agree with DaveAgain. Stick with it for a few days, stretch yourself a bit! In any case, if you've already reached an A2 level, surely you should be studying B1 material?

What was it about the B1 lesson that you found difficult?

The "little bit of grammar" lesson was about changing the word order because of certain words when they're used in compound sentences. I've just barely touched on compound sentences and the words they gave--dass, als ob, etc.--I've never used before. And who's the etc.?

I asked them yesterday if they could move me back to A2 and they answered this morning and said no. They said just get everything wrong and then I could learn from my mistakes. Not a learning style that I'm comfortable with.

[gsbod]

I think for English speakers learning German, the two biggest grammar hurdles are cases and word order. You need to tackle them both early on, but once you're familiar with them, the rest is relatively plain sailing. I have every confidence you can get to grips with compound sentences, and once you do it will super power your German! In the lesson you had, was it just looking at examples where the conjugated verb goes at the end? Or was it a mixture?

[CarlyD]

I think for English speakers learning German, the two biggest grammar hurdles are cases and word order. You need to tackle them both early on, but once you're familiar with them, the rest is relatively plain sailing. I have every confidence you can get to grips with compound sentences, and once you do it will super power your German! In the lesson you had, was it just looking at examples where the conjugated verb goes at the end? Or was it a mixture?

They give a very short explanation about it, 3 example sentences where the infinitive is at the end, then 3 sentences where the conjugated verb is at the end. Then you get 3 fill-in-the-blank sentences. To me, not nearly enough to grasp a new concept. I have other resources that I can go through to help me, but these are daily lessons and today's lesson will probably be about something totally different.

[gsbod]

They give a very short explanation about it, 3 example sentences where the infinitive is at the end, then 3 sentences where the conjugated verb is at the end. Then you get 3 fill-in-the-blank sentences. To me, not nearly enough to grasp a new concept. I have other resources that I can go through to help me, but these are daily lessons and today's lesson will probably be about something totally different.

Oh, I see your problem. It sounds like I'd not get on with their system either! Never mind. It's definitely worth getting stuck into your other resources on the same topic though

[CarlyD]

Ok, I've given up on Wunderbla. They moved me half-way to B2 and I couldn't understand anything. The daily story went from fun to frustrating. Their secret seems to be AI--instead of moving ahead a step at a time, if you guess right on something, they skip over steps thinking you thoroughly know it. Even the free trial couldn't keep me.

So ... I'm still doing Lingoni. Went through A1 quickly, now I've settled into one lesson a day in A2. Some are super easy, some aren't, but I'm moving forward. I discovered I have issues with nach/zu/in so need to pull out grammar books to get them settled in my mind. A lot of times it's fine, but I would be given sentences to fill in which one was needed, and was wrong too many times. The vocabulary units are wonderful--generally a minute (or less) each of video, then the test. Still loving this website. At this rate, I'll be a quarter of the way thru the A2 lessons by the end of March.

I went back to GermanPod101 and found that in the Level 1 and Level 2 German there's now a ton of tests after many of the lessons. I was used to the tiny 4-question quiz after the video, so this is nice. I don't remember there being so many tests before. I'm part way through Level 2, and dipping back to Level 1 for quick reviews. This is on my study plan to do for the rest of March.

The rest of my study plan for March--Rocket German, a bit; A2 with Antrim--I have both the book and have saved the Youtube video that goes with the book; and four conversation-based textbooks--Assimil, Bild für Bild, German in 30 days and German Made Simple. I'll see how far that get's me.

[CarlyD]

Last day of the 6 Week Challenge. Fun, got a ton of work done, but I'm glad it's over. Now I need to come to a full stop--maybe this weekend--and do a full review of two problems:

* nach/zu/in is still a problem. I need to pull out all my other books and go through it all again.
* hören is fine. It's zuhören/anhören/mithören/überhören/hören+auf that killed me. Again, all the grammars come out.

I went back to GermanPod again a bit ago. Not all over the place, but just with the Level 2 and then Level 3, then see what I want to do. Actually it's good that the challenge is over--now I can go back to stuff that's not really a reach for me and review it without feeling like I'm wasting my time or logging time that wasn't well spent. Maybe I'll spend the next couple of weeks just reviewing everything new from the last 6 weeks--I was really pushing, maybe too fast and it won't stick.

[jeff_lindqvist]

* hören is fine. It's zuhören/anhören/mithören/überhören/hören+auf that killed me. Again, all the grammars come out.

I feel your pain. Some prepositions are similar to Swedish - that is helpful for me.

Are you listening? The German verb HÖREN & 20 different prefixes

[CarlyD]

* hören is fine. It's zuhören/anhören/mithören/überhören/hören+auf that killed me. Again, all the grammars come out.

I feel your pain. Some prepositions are similar to Swedish - that is helpful for me.

Are you listening? The German verb HÖREN & 20 different prefixes

Thank you for that link--I liked her examples.