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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:30 am
by Lawyer&Mom
Language learning has basically fallen to the wayside. Husband and I are supposed to be working full time at home, while simultaneously homeschooling our kids... It’s exhausting. At night I’m binging a lot of happy, wholesome, mindless television in English. So basically not what I usually go for at all. (That said, Hart of Dixie was delightful!) And recommendations of shows with happy people doing happy things, without any peril or suspense at all gladly accepted!

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 8:55 pm
by Lawyer&Mom
“Language learning” remains suspended, but I dipped my toe back into “language enjoying” by having a mini-Yiddish binge on Netflix. (I’ve never studied Yiddish, but it’s fun to watch Germanic language content to see how much I can follow (with English subs, of course.) I’ve done the same with various Scandinavian languages.) I started with Unorthodox, which I have mixed feelings about. Lots of Yiddish, mostly spoken by actors who don’t actually speak the language. Similar to Shtisel in that regard, except Shtisel is just a much better show. Turns out my Yiddish comprehension is pretty good when the actors speak as slowly and simply as non-natives always do. Next I watched Menashe, which I highly recommend. Filmed entirely in Borough Park, Brooklyn with all native Yiddish speakers, and a sweet, gentle story. My comprehension was lower, but that made it more fun.

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:55 pm
by Lawyer&Mom
Finished Deutschland ‘86. So much fun. The season starts out in Africa, which was interesting, but ended up back in Europe, which is where the show is at its best. I personally love the bickering bureaucrats in boardrooms scenes. It’s great that the show makes fun of everyone: East Germans, West Germans, Americans, the French... But also gives everyone real human dimensions. Without giving anything away, there is a cross-cultural moment that was truly unexpected and sublime... Strong recommend, especially if you actually lived any part of the eighties!

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 2:02 am
by Jimjam
Lawyer&Mom wrote: And recommendations of shows with happy people doing happy things, without any peril or suspense at all gladly accepted!


If you're still looking for recommendations, I find the new Queer Eye series on netflix to be one to always make me happy. It is extremely wholesome and feel-good. Most episodes do have people who have emotional struggles or difficulties but seeing the pay-off at the end of the episode when they're overwhelmed with happiness always makes it worth it. I've cried watching about 90% of the episodes but it's almost always happy crying.

I also recommend a movie recently released on netflix called "The half of it". It's meant to be a young adult LGBT+ coming of age story but it was such a sweet, wholesome movie which was also surprisingly funny.

I have never commented on your log but have been enjoying reading it since the start. Hope you are doing well during this time!

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 4:28 am
by DaveAgain
Re nice programmes.

For French I like Louis la Braconte. Bad Eggs appear in the storylines just to provide Louis with someone who needs his help. He then gets everyone else to help them too.

It also has a Citroen H van, and some nice scenery! :-)

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:07 pm
by Lawyer&Mom
I’m always looking for new series! Watching TV is basically my only hobby at the moment, and I always need more ideas!

Good news! Deutschland 89 has finished filming and is in post-production! Yay!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_89

Disappointed to hear that a third season of Shtisel was due to begin filming, but was halted by the pandemic. Such a good show.

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 6:06 pm
by guyome
Lawyer&Mom wrote:Disappointed to hear that a third season of Shtisel was due to begin filming, but was halted by the pandemic. Such a good show.
That's too bad, I really enjoyed the first two seasons and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Yiddish they put in.

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:59 pm
by Lawyer&Mom
I miss my language hobby. I tried reading a French book. Nope, still don’t have the attention span for that. But I think I can click things, and I love the soothing repetition of learning at the A1 level. So I’ve resurrected my Irish Memrise course from way back. It’s based off of Buntus Cainte, and I allegedly know almost 300 words! (Not hardly, but it’s fun nevertheless.)

They now let you skip the typing questions which is delightful, but I do try to do them when I feel up to it. The user interface is very pretty now. It’s a shame their own language courses were always underwhelming...

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:32 pm
by Lawyer&Mom
So now I’ve jumped into the Duolingo Irish course. I’d previously heard bad things, but there aren’t many accessible Irish resources so I figured it was worth a try. I love it. But wow, I really feel for the casual language learner who decides to dabble in Irish... If this wasn’t my fifth or six Indo-European language.... If I didn’t know VSO was a thing... If I hadn’t forked out for Duolingo Pro... The course is opaque enough you really need to be comfortable trying things out and making mistakes. It’s a great way to learn, except when you are constrained by the inane heart system. (I hadn’t touched Duolingo in awhile and my goodness that was a nasty surprise!)

Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:03 pm
by Lawyer&Mom
So today i have a 90 day Duolingo streak. Irish and I parted ways about a week ago. It was amicable, no shame in a nice three month language dalliance. I’ve unexpectedly jumped into Duolingo German. Man, we give Duolingo a hard time, and deservedly so, but it is *great* for revising a language you already know. I’m racing through the German tree, not go for five crowns on each level like I had with Irish. Two crowns for the grammar I really need to practice, just one crown for the themey vocabulary. (I know more than enough German occupations and vegetables, thank you.).