CarlyD's 2018/2019 German log

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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Fri May 04, 2018 11:40 pm

6WC: 5/3 textbook--60min, Duolingo--25min, Memrise--52min. 5/4 textbook--125min, Duolingo--15min, Memrise--45min.

I've had two more (really short) conversations with people in my Facebook group. Nothing compared to others, but progress....

I sat and went through all the German courses on Memrise yesterday--all of them. Wow. I picked up several that matched books that I already have--Cafe in Berlin, Arme Anna--that present all the vocabulary in the book. They also had vocabulary courses now for Assimil and Hacking German. Plus a bunch more books that I don't have, including a 17-hour vocab course on the Harry Potter book.
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2024 15,000 pages Reading Challenge--pages: 1180 / 15000

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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Sat May 05, 2018 9:13 pm

Death from spring allergies seems possible.

I'm behind on my German and can't concentrate right now. I can hardly see right now. I'll catch up and post a combined total on Monday.
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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Sun May 06, 2018 6:09 pm

Apparently I'll live.

6WC: 5/5 65 min textbook. 5/6 50 minutes textbook, 10 minutes Duolingo, 30 minutes Memrise.

I started the Cafe in Berlin course on Memrise. I'm going to finish each chapter there, then read the chapter in the book and see what happens. I also have the Arme Anna course, but they only did it up to chapter 4. I have that book in Spanish also anyway, so I can easily check myself that way.

Direct Object pronouns are kicking me today. Back to working on exercises and looking at examples.
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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:10 pm

I'm so lame at keeping a log--good thing I'm not trying to support myself by blogging. :P

So, I love challenges. I join quite a few, I do finish a good number (but not all) and I have fun and improve along the way. I saw something on Facebook about a language challenge, but then of course couldn't find it again. So I started googling--and found out I'd missed a couple of really good ones:

* Learn a language in 100 days. They will email you 10 words a day. At the end of 100 days, you're fluent. Or something.
* A 90-day challenge that takes you from A0 to B1, but doesn't explain how. I'm sure they'll tell you after you pay the money.
* Learn 12 languages in 30 days. Ok, that one scared me.

I know I'm joining the next Goldlist Challenge (July 23/70 days) and the 6 Week Challenges (August and November 1st) and I'm in the Super Challenge (still logging to my notebook, though)--but my momentum is going and I want to Go Big.

I checked the calendar and from tomorrow 7/10/18 to the end of the year is exactly 175 days.

What can I accomplish in 175 days?

I have some planning to do.
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:14 pm

Woo Hoo!! I passed the A1 test with a score of 82% so I'm fully A1 now. :D

I signed up for a year's subscription to Yabla today. I've looked at their site a number of times in the past, but it didn't really seem suited to the absolute beginner. They have the graded videos, lessons, flashcards (you make the decks by clicking on any word in the videos) and a lot of helpful articles. I watched a video on public transportation in Berlin that I need to watch 10 more times probably, and a music video from Rammstein that I've heard of and didn't realize till now that I really don't like. I'll be adding Yabla to my daily routine for the rest of the year.

Duolingo--the love/hate continues. "My cow has no hat." "The man is eating the insect." There must be a better interactive website out there, whether free or subscription. Need to look around.

Phrases--I got that from somewhere. Write down 5 phrases on an index card and carry it around all day, and use the phrases as many times as possible through the day. Why did I never do that before?
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:47 pm

165 days left till the end of the year......

Ok, I've finally found my happy place to hide in till the end of the year.

I've been sitting and watching Yabla videos--much harder ones that I think I can do--because of the stop-pause-start and subtitles. I've found I can handle the ones marked 1 star and am pushing to work the ones marked 2 stars--so there's a ton of them to watch and work with.

Then someone in my Facebook group was talking about GermanPod101. I remember them from when they first started--I had signed up for the free preview in 2013 and just didn't get into it. I don't think they had that much stuff back then, and maybe I was wavering about returning to Spanish, so never pursued it.

Wow. I signed up yesterday, am on the Beginner Pathway and there's a ton of lessons that I want to do. Today. I started with Beginner Season 1 (a tad below my level) and quickly did lesson 1. I'm thinking I could do maybe 3 or 4 lessons a day until I hit the point where it's all totally new. Even with the lower level lesson, they had an interesting discussion on when to use Entschuldigung, which I kind of knew, but I still learned a bit.

Just on the Beginner page, they had like 15 or so sections, and each section had from 4 to 40 lessons. That's a TON of stuff. Plus I'm being assigned a teacher who will respond in a couple of days to my assessment test and give me the most effective pathway for where I am now.

Yep. Happy place. :D
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Mon Jul 30, 2018 5:00 pm

I generally spend the last couple of days before the 6 Week Challenge starts in getting used to tracking my time again and trying to set clear goals of what I want to accomplish. Usually it's some textbook goal--learn Datives or finish through Chapter 10 or something. And I keep plugging along.

This time--this time is different. And scary. But it's time. This has all come together to create my watershed moment:

* GermanPod101--for the rest of the year. Conversation based, going very well, and have a teacher.
* Facebook Learning German group--they actually talk to each other. And me. And expect me to answer. And it's dawning on me that people in their 3rd week of German class have better conversational skills than I do.
* Large knitting website made a change and allowed us to add two categories to our profile. Of course I added Languages. I said English and Spanish, and I clearly said I was learning German. I'm also the administrator of one of the huge groups there and now I'm getting messages in German from people who are interested in the group and have questions. Aaarg!!

So this 6 Week Challenge. Well, actually for the rest of my 175-day project but that's too much to contemplate right now.

I'm going full Benny Lewis.

I have 4 resources for this challenge--no textbook, no grammar (although I can certainly look something up or browse if I want.)

1. GermanPod101
2. Benny Lewis' Hacking German
3. Berlitz German in 30 Days
4. Langenscheidt Deutch in 30 Tagen
(5) Assimil--maybe I'll try that again.

It will probably come down to the GermanPod and one other, but I plan to start them all to see what feels right. I'm already looking longingly at my (German) fiction books and knitting patterns, which was my kind-of goal with this.

My 6-Week goal is again 100 hours. Last challenge I hit 86 hours, the one before was I think 83 or so.
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby Jaleel10 » Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:28 pm

CarlyD wrote:
Duolingo--the love/hate continues. "My cow has no hat." "The man is eating the insect." There must be a better interactive website out there, whether free or subscription. Need to look around.


Congrats on reaching A1. I have been lurking around your log because German is up next for me. It's still more than a year away so I will be living vicariously through you :D

Have you heard of the Deutsche Welle German course? https://learngerman.dw.com/en/overview It is a course organised around a series of videos telling the story of Nico who recently moved to Germany. It is categorised: A1, A2, B1 and B2.

If you want you can try Babbel. I finished the beginners course for Spanish and I mightily enjoyed it and found great great value in it. Due to me being a cheapskate I didn't stick around for the intermediate course :lol: You can watch a comprehensive review on it here

Good luck in the 6WC! As I find more resources for German, you will be the first to know.
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CarlyD
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby CarlyD » Tue Jul 31, 2018 7:02 pm

Jaleel10 wrote:
Have you heard of the Deutsche Welle German course? https://learngerman.dw.com/en/overview It is a course organised around a series of videos telling the story of Nico who recently moved to Germany. It is categorised: A1, A2, B1 and B2.

If you want you can try Babbel. I finished the beginners course for Spanish and I mightily enjoyed it and found great great value in it. Due to me being a cheapskate I didn't stick around for the intermediate course :lol: You can watch a comprehensive review on it here



I did look at the DW course, but there's something with my computer that won't let me do it. I have a computer guy and need to talk to him about what the problem is, but I just get an error.

I started Babbel German back in 2013. I don't remember why I didn't stick with it, but it just wasn't engaging me for some reason. Then I remember getting into a huge hassle with them when I was trying not to renew, since it was going through my credit card and they had the credit card number, so of course I would be renewing. I think my credit card company ending up having to get involved. I haven't looked at them since.

I think between GermanPod, Yabla, Memrise and the conversation courses that I already have, I should be set for awhile.
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Re: CarlyD's 2018 German log

Postby Jaleel10 » Wed Aug 01, 2018 5:00 am

CarlyD wrote:I did look at the DW course, but there's something with my computer that won't let me do it. I have a computer guy and need to talk to him about what the problem is, but I just get an error.



Here is the Youtube playlist (A1,A2,B1) :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abFz6Jg ... Dl832n0bLg

I think between GermanPod, Yabla, Memrise and the conversation courses that I already have, I should be set for awhile.


Yeah of course. I am using Yabla and SpanishPod as well. Love them!

Good luck with your studies!
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