Amanda's 2024 Log: Spanish, French, and German

[philomath]

11Mar24–17Mar24

Spanish
Speaking: On Tuesday, I took another Lingoda lesson after work. This one was categorized as "B1.1 Reading" and the topic was "Noticias falsas". I signed up even though it was a B1 level class because I felt like taking a class that night, and the topic seemed interesting. However, the lesson was just okay. I think I prefer taking group classes with more advanced students, so I will stick to the B2 lessons from now on.

On Friday, I took another Lingoda lesson: Level B2.1 Speaking, "¡Hablemos de problemas medioambientales!" To my surprise, I was the only student who had signed up, so I got a private lesson for the price of a group one. It was a good lesson because I got to do a lot of speaking, and the topic was interesting.

I also had an iTalki lesson with a new teacher named Carlos, from Mexico. It was a really good lesson because he was very friendly and good at leading the conversation. Plus, he wrote down words that came up during our conversation. I’m looking forward to taking more lessons with him, but he doesn’t offer lessons on the weekend, which will make it a little difficult to schedule them.

Reading: Halfway through Limpia. I’m enjoying it so far!

Writing: On Tuesday, I wrote a few paragraphs in my journal in Spanish. However, I realized that I was inadvertently simplifying my sentences to avoid writing things I didn't know how to say. Therefore, I wrote out the journal entry in English, and then I tried translating it to Spanish. Afterward, I asked ChatGPT to give me corrections, but for some reason it wouldn’t give me anything useful.

I feel very dissatisfied with my progress in Spanish so far. I know the solution is just to do more of everything though.

French
Nothing to report.

German
After a few weeks without studying, I resumed my Anki reviews and Assimil. I decided to take an even more relaxed approach to Assimil, not worrying about the exercises as much. Also, after cancelling my LingQ subscription, I decided to try Babbel. What can I say, I’m having fun testing different subscriptions lately! Anyway, Babbel definitely seems like an improved version of Duolingo so far. I decided to start at the A1 level because I like to do things in order. There are nine A1 "courses", each with around 10 lessons, but the lessons are much less repetitive than on Duolingo. I finished the first A1 course and listened to one of their podcast episodes, which was interesting.

[philomath]

I just back from a week-long trip to Puerto Rico with my fiancé and his family. I’m not a fan of group trips, but it was a good vacation! We stayed in Condado, but drove around and explored some of the surrounding areas like Old San Juan and El Yunque. For this trip, I didn’t want to pressure myself to speak Spanish all the time. However, I did get some Spanish practice in. The first time was during an Uber ride. The driver was very friendly, and once she realized I understood Spanish, she started asking me about myself and giving me recommendations for what to do during our trip. It was a fun conversation, although I felt a little awkward because she was very chatty and I wasn’t always sure how to respond (which might’ve been the case even if we were speaking English ).

My second Spanish-speaking success was at a restaurant near the beach. The waitress didn’t speak English, so when my fiancé’s mom was having trouble explaining her order, I stepped in to translate. After that, the waitress kept coming to me when she needed to explain something. It felt good being able to communicate for everyone.

I also went to two bookstores: The Bookmark and Librería Laberinto Viejo San Juan. I bought a few books, including En agosto nos vemos, but I barely read anything during the trip. Beforehand, I had been dreaming about lying on the beach and reading all day, but it was so hot that we spent our time at the beach swimming.

Overall, it was a good trip and I would go back sometime!

[philomath]

18Mar24–24Mar24

Spanish
Pronunciation: I haven't been happy with my pronunciation lately, so I decided to cancel my Pimsleur subscription and try shadowing with Glossika instead. I've done 200 reps so far, but I'm still figuring out a method that works for me.

Speaking: As I mentioned in my last post, I got to practice speaking Spanish a few times in Puerto Rico, which was nice! The day after I got back from the trip, I had a 45-minute lesson with Flor. We discussed misinformation in the news. It was an interesting topic, but I wasn’t satisfied with my speaking ability at all. I think doing more writing practice would help me get better at constructing more complex sentences and using more words. I also had a Lingoda lesson about sustainable transportation.

Grammar: I brought The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice with me to Puerto Rico and reviewed most of Chapter 14, which is about commands.

Reading: I continued reading Limpia during my trip, although I didn’t read as much as I’d planned to.

French
Nothing to report. I was supposed to have a lesson with Kevin, but he wasn't feeling well. I'm worried that I should be doing more to maintain my French skills.

German
Nothing to report here either. Next week I plan to continue Assimil and Babbel during my commute.

[philomath]

25Mar24–31Mar24

Spanish
I didn't do much this week except for listen to a couple of podcast episodes. I cancelled my Glossika subscription because I realized the way I was using it, it wasn't any better than Speechling.

French
I had two iTalki lessons, one with Kevin and one with Marylène. I hadn't had a lesson with Marylène since December and it was nice to talk to her again. As usual, she didn't give me many corrections, but I kept a list of the words I looked up during our lesson, and then I made flashcards later.

German
I decided to stop Assimil after reaching Lesson 80. I definitely learned a lot, but the later lessons are so boring. I still want to make progress with German, but I don't think I have time to start taking conversation lessons right now. Instead, I plan to begin doing more listening practice (mostly with the Easy German podcast), continue using Babbel, and start working through an easy reader. Ideally I would also do some writing practice as well.

Other Updates
I decided to postpone my trip to Mexico City. I was nervous about the current water shortage, and to be honest I could really use a week off from work with no plans. I'm not enjoying my job at all lately. I'm trying to change careers and I have an interview with another group at my current company, so hopefully that goes well! Anyway, instead of going to Mexico City in May, I will probably go with my fiancé in November.

[philomath]

This month I'd really like to prioritize writing in Spanish. I used to keep all of my writing in a document in Google Drive, but I decided to try Notion instead, using the "database" feature to store different writing entries. In the calendar view, I can organize the entries by date:



And in the table view, I can see the tags and word counts:



As for the entries themselves, at the end of each one, I have been making a list of phrases to make flashcards for and other topics to write about next time. I'm excited to keep using this system, and hopefully I will see improvements in my Spanish soon!

[philomath]

01Apr24–07Apr24

Spanish
Speaking: I had a 1-hour lesson with Carlos on Thursday evening. I was so tired after work that I even tried to take a nap before the lesson, to no avail. However Carlos has such an energetic personality that I soon felt more awake. We spent the lesson discussing my trip to Puerto Rico and what I do for work.

I also had two Lingoda lessons over the week, one about consumerism and the other about the internet. One thing I'm enjoying about group lessons is meeting students from all around the world. This weekend, I met students from England, Germany, Hong Kong, and Russia.

Reading: I had bought a physical copy of Limpia while I was in Puerto Rico, so I continued reading it during my commute.

Writing: As I discussed in my last post, I've started doing more writing practice, keeping track of my writing in Notion. This week I wrote 470 words.

Also, recently I joined ConversationExchange.com. At first, I was overwhelmed by the number of messages I received, but I replied to a few of them and started talking to a guy from Argentina. He is very friendly and we have been sending messages back and forth in English and Spanish. However, I'm not sure if I'm learning much compared to iTalki and Lingoda lessons.

French
Nothing to report.

German
Nothing to report.

Other Updates
Hopefully this isn't TMI. On Tuesday I noticed a lump on my neck and went to see the doctor, who confirmed that it is a thyroid nodule. My bloodwork looked okay but after doing an ultrasound they recommended a biopsy to make sure it's not cancerous. The soonest they could schedule it was the first week of May, so now I have three weeks of worrying ahead of me. I really hope it's nothing serious.

[kundalini]

Hopefully this isn't TMI. On Tuesday I noticed a lump on my neck and went to see the doctor, who confirmed that it is a thyroid nodule. My bloodwork looked okay but after doing an ultrasound they recommended a biopsy to make sure it's not cancerous. The soonest they could schedule it was the first week of May, so now I have three weeks of worrying ahead of me. I really hope it's nothing serious.

I'm sorry to hear this. From what I understand of thyroid nodules, the odds are quite in your favor, but three weeks is a long time to wait for a test. In the meantime, take good care of yourself, and know that people here are keeping our fingers crossed for you.

[philomath]

08Feb24–14Feb24

Spanish
Nothing to report.

French
I had a 45-minute lesson with Kevin. I thought I did a pretty good job speaking.

German
During my commute, I listened to an episode of Slow German while reading the transcript. I also started reading Short Stories in German. After the first chapter, I made a bunch of Anki flashcards.

[philomath]

15Apr24–21Apr24

This week I had a business trip in Long Island from Monday to Friday, so I didn’t do much language-learning.

Spanish
Listening: I listened to a podcast episode and watched 1.5 episodes of La casa de papel.

Speaking: I had a Lingoda lesson called “¿Somos la especie privilegiada de la Tierra?” where we talked about animal testing and protecting endangered species.

I lost the writing streak I had, but I’m hoping to pick it up again this week!

French
I’ve been keeping up with Anki reviews, more or less, but that’s it.

German
I’m not sure if I should continue learning German or not. I only started learning it to prepare for our trip to Berlin, and I was happy with my speaking ability during the trip. I’m not particularly interested in German film or literature either. But it seems like a shame to stop learning German after getting this far. Maybe I should try to find an iTalki teacher, because developing some conversational ability would give me more motivation. If I wasn’t spending so much money on Spanish lessons, I would try Lingoda for German, but unfortunately they make you buy a second subscription to learn two languages.