Tristano's log 2016:Things! (now Russian and Dutch)

[Tristano]

Het blijkt dat de ultieme manier om een taal heel snel te verbeteren is:
gedwongen zijn om ermee te communiceren.

Beter dan Anki, Memrise, Assimil, Grammatica's, boeken, cursussen, cazzi e mazzi.

(Ok, eerst moet je de basis leren en de bovenstaande spullen zijn erg nuttig)

Drie jaren om iets duidelijks te ontdekken. Ja, "beter laat dan nooit".

[Tristano]

I'm done with Duolingo German. It is boring as hell.

[arthaey]

I'm done with Duolingo German. It is boring as hell.

I know lots of people enjoy Duoliguo, but I've never really gotten sucked into it. I agree with you: it's boring to me, too. And I say this as someone who enjoys Anki! So you're not alone.

[Tristano]

I know lots of people enjoy Duoliguo, but I've never really gotten sucked into it. I agree with you: it's boring to me, too. And I say this as someone who enjoys Anki! So you're not alone.

Thanks for the solidarity @arthaey I decided to switch to GermanPod101 as study tool. I want to ultimately get a very good understanding (spoken and written) of the language as I can see that the spoken skill comes as a consequence. The writing skill is less important to me, it can arrive as last.

Dutch: certain days good, certain days bad.

French: I'm reading Arabic Night and I really want to finish it. I am 70% of the book, pretty long. Reading in French is very enjoyable to me because I can read it at the same level of English.

Spanish: this is my weakest language. I should do something about it... but it is so easy that I have problems finding the motivations back

[Tristano]

I'm enjoying Germanpod101 perfect to use hidden moments.

[Vedun]

I'm enjoying Germanpod101 perfect to use hidden moments.

On a scale of 1 to fluency-in-a-day, how good is it? How far in are you? When I first took up German I also tried it, but early on I found it to be, for the lack of better word, too 'cheeky', and didn't give it a fair chance.

[Tristano]

I'm enjoying Germanpod101 perfect to use hidden moments.

On a scale of 1 to fluency-in-a-day, how good is it? How far in are you? When I first took up German I also tried it, but early on I found it to be, for the lack of better word, too 'cheeky', and didn't give it a fair chance.

Very far from fluency in a day. It is a fairly slow program, there is a lot of English and doesn't go incredibly deep in the grammar. The good parts, you can use it in a assimil fashion and the quality of the audio is very good. I don't aim for fluency in German, at least not in the next few years. I'm more interested in passive skills, and for this purpose I find it a very good alternative. I was looking for something that I can just listen in the bed when I switch off the light without bother my girlfriend, or during a break in the work, and a audio only program non output based is my best shot. I'm not aware of any other series the work this way.

[Tristano]

My girlfriend told me about a series of countries we may visit in the future. It looks like I have to learn Croatian, Greek and Hebrew among the others.

[Tristano]

I'm still alive. Didn't study German for many and many days and it looks like I'm not going to do it anymore in the next future.

I'm still suffering the intermediate plateau in Dutch. I guess it will take years to overcome it.
I want to improve my French and Spanish.

A question is starting to arise: "is it maybe that 5 languages is the maximum I can manage?"

[reineke]

I'm still alive. Didn't study German for many and many days and it looks like I'm not going to do it anymore in the next future.

I'm still suffering the intermediate plateau in Dutch. I guess it will take years to overcome it.
I want to improve my French and Spanish.

A question is starting to arise: "is it maybe that 5 languages is the maximum I can manage?"

You stole all my lines. Germany won't go anywhere. You could try reading some classic Dutch novels like Walter Pieterse. You're already improving your French. I wouldn't do more than Dutch + 1. You can always switch around the additional language after a few months of intensive study.