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

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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Wed Nov 30, 2022 8:47 pm

I am probably the reason that people think they can make a fortune teaching languages. I have way too many paid subscriptions to places. And yet--I found an amazing Black Friday deal on yet another--Smarter German. Huge course--each level has 50 lessons, and each lesson has 20 to 30 or more sections to complete. It's similar in concept to German Uncovered and Ollie Richards courses--based on a story, then do vocab and grammar from the story. But it's totally different, so I'm now doing both. And this one pushes you way harder than German Uncovered--in the very first lesson I'm having to write out what I'm hearing rather than just passively listen.

Other than that, my 400-day is going well. I'm aiming for 1 to 3 hours a day, depending on work, etc.

I've stepped away from Memrise. I've always touted it as wonderful, and have been doing both Spanish and German there for years. But other than words that I recognize from there (but don't remember what they meant) I have to wonder if I'm actually learning anything. Hmmm......
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Wed Dec 07, 2022 10:04 pm

I love the various challenges here. I never join one expecting to "win" but use them for motivation and pushing a bit harder than I might have. (Oh, x has 30 minutes more than me, I need to up my study time tomorrow. :P )

But alas, I apparently went looking for motivation in the wrong place and comments were that it apparently would be wrong for me to try to be motivated in two different challenges. It's one or the other, or you're a cheater!

So I'm looking elsewhere for group challenges. I know Benny Lewis used to have them in his forum, but I don't think the forum is there anymore. A lot of the Facebook learning German groups seem to have faded away--there were quite a few of them back when they had that mass migration, but apparently they all learned German and have already moved on.

I'll keep looking.
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Fri Dec 16, 2022 8:46 pm

I found an interesting speaking practice site--DeutschGym. Link below. Group of 3 speakers, all the same level, led by a native speaker. Sign-up is for a year or by the month, with a 7-day free trial. Am I ready to talk to people? Out loud?? It's audio only--no Zoom (I hate Zoom, I just sit there and watch people's mouths move) so this could work for me. Biggest issue is that it's a (presumably) German site and the time zone might be an issue with finding people to talk to--the last non-US seminar I did was 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. which wasn't pretty.

My 400-day is going well. Currently doing:
Clozemaster--currently working on 1000 Most Common words
Busuu--almost done with A2. Lots more listening comprehension than earlier.
German Uncovered--still stuck in Beginners. I replaced my pc speakers and I can still hardly hear the lectures. Need to spring for some decent speakers.
smarter German. I started with A1 and am glad that I did. While I "know" the words, he's all about speaking at a normal speed from the beginning and I'm thinking (hoping) my comprehension is getting better.
And three different textbooks and lots of books--both graded readers and easier fiction books.

Still looking for a mentoring/support group.

https://deutschgym.com/meetups
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Tue Dec 27, 2022 8:44 pm

Since I'm in week 2 of some weird sinus/respiratory thing and and was defeated by the child-proof cap on the only medicine that would make me feel better, I'm in the mood to rant.

1. When you present a story in presumably B2 or C1, but it's ok because you offer a Reading Analysis to go over all the sentences: Discussing a couple of words in the sentence and then saying "the rest of the words don't matter" and going on to the next sentence is not actually helpful. Three pages/chapters into the story and I didn't have a clue what it was even about. Yes, I could sit with the dictionary--but if I have to do that, do I really need a teacher?

2. Different person than above. When you present a story to help explain concepts, such as irregular verbs or pronouns, but the story is written at the B1 level. If you're already gotten to the B1 level, wouldn't you already have dealt with irregular verbs and pronouns?

Maybe I just need to go back to my textbooks, and leave some of the subscription websites alone.
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:05 pm

So, Mr. "the rest of the words don't matter" is gone.

I've seen posts elsewhere about "best learning program" with all the standards rated. I looked again, and there's a lot of new websites that have popped up, so I took a look.

Lingoni--I love this one. The basis is Youtube videos, which are free to everyone. They are labeled by level and subject and are maybe 5 minutes, on one very specific concept. To do the whole program, after the video there's 8 pages of activities, then a test. For level A2, there's 152 lessons, 100 vocabulary lists and 38 podcasts, so a ton of information there. The woman that does the videos has a wonderful voice--very clear to understand. Right now I signed up for a year, but I need to step up the lessons to finish A2 before the year is up.

Wunderbla--I love this one too. You sign up for 1 month free, and 5 days a week they email you a chapter of the story. It's a very short cartoon-type story, with all kinds of help and exercises along the way. Every sentence you can re-listen to in either German, Swiss or Austrian accents and it's just fun. The Bad: I looked today at the pricing if I wanted to stay (and I so do)--if I pay for a full year in advance it is "only" $648. They advertise it as being "from $39 a month" (which is still way too high), but that's if you pay for 3 years in advance ($1404). I can't. I want to, but sadly reality says no. I realize that a ton of time and work goes into these programs, but that's still crazy money. I'm going to finish the month, though.

I did recently go back and look at Duolingo again. Lots of changes--again--and still mostly weird sentences and no grammar.
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Wed Jan 04, 2023 8:25 pm

Lingoni is killing me. But, apparently, in a good way, because I'm suddenly more comfortable with verbs, seeing the patterns that I didn't see before, and walking around talking to my dog in more complete sentences than I have before.

But still--the pain is real. I've been downloading the activity sheet and printing them out (5 or 6 pages per lesson) to work on later, then returning in the evening to take the test and complete the lesson to be ready for the next lesson the next morning.
Lesson 3 (A2) took me 2 1/2 days, a dictionary and the big verb book to get through. Lesson 4 was wonderful and I felt like I was making progress. Lesson 5 lecture was all about verb patterns and was great. The activity sheets? 56 pages, 171 questions, and each question has 4 parts to do. Yes, I see the benefit, but I sure hope this isn't a sign of what's ahead. Lesson 40 with 300 pages of activities??? Oh, well. We have a huge storm hitting and they're already saying to expect power outages, so at least I'll have all my activity sheets to keep me warm and busy.

So my schedule has kind of settled down to:
Morning--online for at least an hour, maybe more--Clozemaster, Busuu, then Lingoni if I'm ready for the next lesson, or Rocket German if I'm not. Still having trouble fitting German Uncovered back into the mix.
Afternoon--in front of the tv (turned low) and working on activity sheets from Lingoni, or my workbooks--Practice Makes Perfect Grammar Drills, Verb Drills, etc. Generally at least an hour, sometimes two.
Evening: If ready, take Lingoni test.

Can I do this for the whole year? I hope so.
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:15 pm

I made it to question 30 or so of the 171 before I caved and just took the test. Every question on the Perfects was correct, my only two errors were putting taglich instead of täglich and mixing up es gibt and gibt es. I am going to keep working on them, but am moving on to the next lesson today. Nicht vs kein--easy, and back to 5 pages of worksheets.

I saw a chart that said you're supposed to know 1500 words for A2 and 2700 words for B1. I looked around a bit, and that seems to be an average--I also saw 1700 words for A2. In Clozemaster, I'm still working on the 1000 Most Common Words, so I'm thinking I should also do the 2000 category to step it up.

My 2023 daily book has julian dates--previous ones didn't--so I'm not sure if seeing that I only have 359 days left to make my goal is a good thing or not.

Progress I'm seeing: My Practice Makes Perfect workbooks are suddenly seeming too easy. I remember when I struggled to do the exercises. I'm switching today to the Intermediate German Grammer workbook, so we'll see how that goes.
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:44 pm

I'm absolutely loving Lingoni. Each lesson video is very short--8 or 9 minutes at the most--and packed with info. One thing I noticed is that they're presenting stuff at the beginning of the A2 section that other places haven't even introduced well into B1. And when I went back to look at the list of A1 lessons, they had topics/vocabulary that are routinely high A2 elsewhere.

I've seen the chart of "what is A1/A2" etc. But apparently there's no industry standard of what to include in each level. So a website/book/whatever could be telling you that "you've reached A2--renew to hit B1" and you're really still in the lower part of A1 grammar and vocabulary wise.

Long way to say that your A2 at Lingoni is probably a true A2. And when I looked back at their lessons for A1 (76 of them) I found I really need lessons 49-76. 49 starts a series of 7 or so lessons on the dative--never my best subject--and I need that. After talking with Lingoni, there's no way to pick and choose, so I'm returning today to A1 and will whip thru the beginning stuff as fast as I can. They gave me all the exercises (with answers) so the easy stuff should go pretty fast.

I've been putting a ton of time into German lately. It's been keeping my mind off of our never-ending rain/storms/rising rivers and my personal world of suddenly leaking roof and huge tree falling in my yard. Even knitting and tv wasn't distracting me from the never-ending sound of chainsaws (we're known as the "City of Trees" and it seems about half of them fell during the storms.) But all my workbooks are keeping me happy, so that's a good thing. And chocolate. :P
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby CarlyD » Sat Jan 14, 2023 7:37 pm

There is a breed of dog that is often called in the U.S.--"wiener dog" and there are dog races where they're outfitted in hot dog buns. But everyone knows the real name is dachshund, a German word.

I've just discovered that dachshund is now in my dictionary as the English word for Dackel. So they gave up on the word dachshund and got a new one? Were the hot dog bun costumes a bridge too far?

I'm seeing other words that have changed. Die Arbeit is still in my dictionary as the job, but all my books and websites are now using der Job, which isn't in my dictionary--or do I need a newer one? Ledig was just noted "archaic and we now use single" and I feel like I should be changing with the times. I did give up Fraulein from my old books.

But wait. I still use the English I started with. I still say 'cool' and I spent my childhood with thongs on my feet and refuse to move them to my butt.

So I think I'll keep learning what I have and just be an older person that speaks older person German. That works for me. :D
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Re: CarlyD's 2022/2023 400 Day Challenge

Postby tiia » Sat Jan 14, 2023 8:14 pm

CarlyD wrote:I've just discovered that dachshund is now in my dictionary as the English word for Dackel. So they gave up on the word dachshund and got a new one? Were the hot dog bun costumes a bridge too far?

I'm seeing other words that have changed. Die Arbeit is still in my dictionary as the job, but all my books and websites are now using der Job, which isn't in my dictionary--or do I need a newer one? Ledig was just noted "archaic and we now use single" and I feel like I should be changing with the times. I did give up Fraulein from my old books.


I have to say that Dackel has been used at least as long as I have been alive, so for more than 30 years. :D

Job is definitely newer than that, but I'd say mostly used alongside Arbeit. Except when it's more like as task, or a temporary workplace, then Job may be more common. Especially if it's a so called Nebenjob for students. Or in other certain compound words such as Jobwechsel, wich would otherwise be Arbeitsplatzwechsel.
In some situations also the word Stelle may be used (Stellenanzeige or Jobanzeige are ok, but Arbeits(platz)anzeige sounds weird).

And ledig... well, I'd only use it in byrocratic situations when dealing with authorities, but not in everyday life.
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