Enjoying a cup of coffee (or six) in 2024

[deekin]

Hi Cavesa - I have been following your logs for a couple of years now. You journey has given me a lot of inspiration and hope to reach proficiency in a few more languages while working in a demanding profession.

I really have a confidence problem, which is in some ways so weird! I missed out on some opportunities in the past simply due to not applying. I wanted to apply to so many good hospitals, but I get blocked, when writing the stupid motivation letters. It is expected of me to lie a bit, but the Italian and German is also a factor. Considering some coaching on this by italki tutors focusing on job hunting. They exist in German, but not that much in Italian.

This is a problem I have as well. I don't know how it is for you, but I feel like my ability to speak a language (in my case, Spanish) is worse than other people think it is. So I downplay it, but that ends up screwing me over when it comes to applying for jobs and interviewing. I'm thinking that my CV doesn't accurately convey what I'm able to do in Spanish. It leaves the potential employer thinking I'm not fit for the role, but when they actually find out my level of Spanish from interacting with me in the language, they are surprised (in a good way). Is that how it has been for you?

Anyway - I wish you the best in 2024 with jobs, exams, and languages! Sounds like we both have big exams for work coming. ¡Suerte!

[qxz]

Welche Spracheverbesserungs-Technik(???) gefallen Ihnen/gafaellt dir am meisten? Was ist die wichtigste (in ihrer/deiner Erfahrung)?

[Cavesa]

An update after a loooong time. I am exhausted, a bit on the burn out or depression side (a bit too much), and cannot wait to get out of this hole. Still looking for a job for May, still scared to do what I had invested so much time in: use my German and actually send in some job applications. So scared. So paranoid about losing my active skills in German and Italian, as I am not practicing enough, due to lack of time and energy.

But at least the month of horrible schedules is gone, now I am back at regular work. It is a bit less exhausting. Aaaaand I wanted to study Italian again in the interactive coursebook..... aaaand my old laptop has just decided to lose a few more functions today. It cannot do sounds anymore (which is an issue for language learning), and the screen flashes in a bizarre way, trying to induce a migrain probably. So nope, it's gonna be in two days, when I finally get a new computer. I am lucky I can sort of afford it (but yeah, it will hurt my budget a lot, I hoped to keep the old laptop at least one more year).

As far as language learning goes, not much has been done. Mostly some reading. Need to finish some of my "reading in progress" books asap.

Hi Cavesa - I have been following your logs for a couple of years now. You journey has given me a lot of inspiration and hope to reach proficiency in a few more languages while working in a demanding profession.

Thank you, you're very kind!!! You can reach a solid level in a few, it can just take longer than to people with lighter workloads. And it is sometimes exhausting. Learning languages you like, that helps a lot though (not like me and German )

This is a problem I have as well. I don't know how it is for you, but I feel like my ability to speak a language (in my case, Spanish) is worse than other people think it is. So I downplay it, but that ends up screwing me over when it comes to applying for jobs and interviewing. I'm thinking that my CV doesn't accurately convey what I'm able to do in Spanish. It leaves the potential employer thinking I'm not fit for the role, but when they actually find out my level of Spanish from interacting with me in the language, they are surprised (in a good way). Is that how it has been for you?

Yes! In my case, it is a bit easier as I simply state my CEFR level on my CV, but still. Most people are surprised in a good way, but German is always a different thing than the others. And you remind me of how much I miss Spanish!!!

Anyway - I wish you the best in 2024 with jobs, exams, and languages! Sounds like we both have big exams for work coming. ¡Suerte!

Thank you!

Welche Spracheverbesserungs-Technik(???) gefallen Ihnen/gafaellt dir am meisten? Was ist die wichtigste (in ihrer/deiner Erfahrung)?

Ich weiß nicht, ich denke nicht, dass ich etwas wirklich liebe. Die wichtigste Sache, die mir gefällt ist der Erfolg. Das wichtigste wäre nichts vergessen, aber das ist nicht wirklich möglich, oder? Ich habe eine Klasse am Italki reserviert für nächste Wochenende. Das kann helfen.

[deekin]

Yes! In my case, it is a bit easier as I simply state my CEFR level on my CV, but still. Most people are surprised in a good way, but German is always a different thing than the others. And you remind me of how much I miss Spanish!!!

It sounds like the European countries you've been in are a bit more familiar with CEFR levels - I have met very few Americans that know that there are language exams or what C1 means.

[Cavesa]

Today:
1 italki lesson on job interview training in German. I am horrible. Lots and lots of space for improvement. Both on the German language side, but also on job interviewing side
2. 200 minutes of tv show in German: Vampire diaries S3, ep 15-18
3. finished reading a book in French (finally!!!)? La Tempête des Echos, by Christelle Dabos. It is very good, but there was like half the book, where I got stuck for months, without much desire to keep reading. But by the end, it got back to the pace and style from before.

[Le Baron]

but there was like half the book, where I got stuck for months, without much desire to keep reading. But by the end, it got back to the pace and style from before.

That describes almost every book I read! I started Rousseau's Confessions in 1998 and read the rest in 2016.

[Carl]

Any ideas how to make Anki more addictive/fun/less annoying?

Good question! Some people like the Pass/Fail extension, which reduces the number of buttons to rate your answer from 4 to 2. They say it makes it easier to rate the answer quickly, so they rate it and move on, rather than dithering about which button to click on. (Me, I tried it for a month or two and then went back to four buttons. I was finding that many cards I'd have picked "Easy" for came back to me in the same session, when I clicked on "Pass." But your mileage may vary.)

While they're a pain to construct, I find decks with more bells and whistles--pictures and pronunciation and supplementary information--are more fun to use. Maybe look for good, colorful pre-made decks in your languages?

One Anki habit I'm trying to form is to keep the program open when I'm studying, so it's easy to make a card on the fly. I have a text document called "Ankify.odt" that is full of stuff I've seen and want to remember, when I haven't had Anki open. I found the list only got longer, and I never actually put any of the stuff into Anki.

[jeffers]

Yes! In my case, it is a bit easier as I simply state my CEFR level on my CV, but still. Most people are surprised in a good way, but German is always a different thing than the others. And you remind me of how much I miss Spanish!!!

It sounds like the European countries you've been in are a bit more familiar with CEFR levels - I have met very few Americans that know that there are language exams or what C1 means.

That shouldn't be a surprise, since the 'E' in CEFR stands for 'European'. It was specifically designed so that people anywhere in Europe could put it on their CV for any language, and people anywhere else (edit: anywhere else in Europe) would know what it means, as opposed to the patchwork of national qualification titles which only apply to single languages.

[Cavesa]

Only some Vampires Diaries watching: S3 ep 19-22, and S4 ep 1-8. It is again getting more fun. Yep, this is clearly an example of a show, where the long format of 22 episodes was just too much (I think the ideal middle ground was the era of 13 episodes per season), but it is good for my German. I am more and more comfortable. Yeah, I still miss some words and sometimes the details are harder, but many of the dialogues are now comfortable even if I do not pay 100% attention (how many more times will Elena discuss choosing between the two vampire brothers? How many more times will we hear that Klaus/Elijah is dead/alive again?). That's good for language learning, but the series is really vastly inferior to a bit similarly themed True Blood and can get really boring/annoying, before a new interesting thing appears. I need to switch to something new soon, even though there are still a few more seasons for lazy watching.

I should sign up for more italki and stuff, I am just a bit lazy and overworked, so much that even my holidays are starting slowly. But my next job will be again in a bilingual place. At least it seems so. What is not really encouraging: comments of some of my bilingual colleagues like "you think the Swiss German here is hard?! Wait till you get there!!!"
....................

Any ideas how to make Anki more addictive/fun/less annoying?

Good question! Some people like the Pass/Fail extension, which reduces the number of buttons to rate your answer from 4 to 2. They say it makes it easier to rate the answer quickly, so they rate it and move on, rather than dithering about which button to click on. (Me, I tried it for a month or two and then went back to four buttons. I was finding that many cards I'd have picked "Easy" for came back to me in the same session, when I clicked on "Pass." But your mileage may vary.)

While they're a pain to construct, I find decks with more bells and whistles--pictures and pronunciation and supplementary information--are more fun to use. Maybe look for good, colorful pre-made decks in your languages?

One Anki habit I'm trying to form is to keep the program open when I'm studying, so it's easy to make a card on the fly. I have a text document called "Ankify.odt" that is full of stuff I've seen and want to remember, when I haven't had Anki open. I found the list only got longer, and I never actually put any of the stuff into Anki.

Thanks for the ideas!
The pass/fail is not really for me, I need more options, otherwise I will end up too harsh with myself and fail everything all the time

More creative decks would be definitely fun. But I am a bit struggling with finding easy ways to do them. Already finding digital versions of my resources and copy pasting stuff is saving me ages. Now lets imagine me learning my way around bells and whistles. It's a bit like imagining a donkey trying to put together an IKEA bookcase.

Premade decks are often a good idea, but there is a real problem with quality. Most are really tiny (tons of decks "top 1000 words to make you fluent" trash), and many are irrelevant. I would love to get or even buy decks based on my coursebooks, but those are not available usually. Students probably don't make them or share them, and the publishers are often making their own low quality app. No idea why they think that trash is better for their marketing that profiting from the awesomeness of Anki.

[Cavesa]

Oh, and a hilarious note: I am right now back at home for my holidays (it is one of the unfortunate consequences about moving abroad. Always torn between visiting home and having a real holiday). And my little sister (some of you might remember the epic tale of tutoring/torturing her from failing her German class to being one of the best in it in one month) called me today, about my visit. In panic. Like this:

LS:Just don't come here too early, not before 18h, nobody is there but me.
Me:It's ok, I mainly want to pet the cat!!!
LS: You don't understand, I have a German class, you cannot come.
Me (really not understanding):Ok, I will come with mum, when she comes from work, you will arrive later.
LS: No, you don't understand! I have a German class.
Me: ---confused silence---
LS: I have an online German class and I don't want you to hear me speak in German!!!


Really, NOW she is ashamed about her German???!!! Now???!!! To speak it in front of ME???!!!
.............
And today, my husband should get his TCF results for speaking and writing. We are nervous. Still no email. Still waiting... AAaaaaaarrrrgghh!!!