ryanl321 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4365 days ago 94 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish
| Message 9 of 118 06 January 2014 at 7:05pm | IP Logged |
Hey DamedesLangues! My Duolingo username is Ryanl321. Yeah, I have three kids and of course a crazy life like most people when they try to raise a family. The key is to get the family into it as well. It's a learning process for everyone. We like to learn other languages and the kids have fun with it too.
I use the Italki tudors a few times. I find that program very helpful too. I'll check out the others, thanks so much and I look forward to tracking you progress on Duolingo too, take care..
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ryanl321 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4365 days ago 94 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish
| Message 11 of 118 07 January 2014 at 1:46am | IP Logged |
First day back to work in 2 weeks, did Duo German course for 10 minutes and listened to German podcasts for 45 minutes and 30 minutes to Pimsleur French on my bike to work. I'm a CPA, so I don't get a lot of chances to ride my bike to work, but when I get the chance I take advantage, especially while we're still living in San Diego!
I listened to more German audio while replying to emails, etc. Tonight I have a good idea. I have audio from podcasts that are in German and English and I have the scripts in both languages as well. While I listen to the English audio I'll try to translate into German as quickly as possible. I should get through two or so paragraphs then be able to go back and check my translations with the original German audio and script that I have. I'm missing speaking and fast active recollection of German words and phrases in my practice and this should help. I'll post how that worked out. I'm all about variety in my learning process. That's one of the factors that keeps my motivation high.
I have to ride back home now so I'll play my Spanish podcasts..
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renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4359 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 12 of 118 07 January 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged |
Good job so far! Good luck with all your languages. A french team mate.
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Duan Newbie Canada Joined 4797 days ago 36 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish, French
| Message 13 of 118 07 January 2014 at 12:27pm | IP Logged |
Hi there Ryan,
I'll be keeping an eye on your log as well. As the others have said, it looks like you're off to an amazing
start. I'm in a similar situation (kids/family life and demanding job) so I'll just cheer you on from over here!
DamedesLangue convinced me to start up Duolingo, so if you want yet another person to follow I've got
the same username over there.
Edited by Duan on 07 January 2014 at 12:28pm
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ryanl321 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4365 days ago 94 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish
| Message 14 of 118 08 January 2014 at 1:51am | IP Logged |
Thanks renaissancemedi and Duan for the encouragement!! Duan, I just added you as a friend on Duo so I looked forward to seeing your progression over there. Duolingo keeps me motivated because I'm sometimes competitive and will put in the time to surpass other friends for points that week. Weird I know. Great system they have to keep people on the site!!
Yeah, with family and work, language learning usually takes a backseat. I'm such a proponent of the time in the elevator on Anki, at lunchtime getting in a few lessons, or Pimsleur and audiobooks/podcasts when I drive or exercise. I got to a decent level at German and Spanish that way. On to French!!!
Completed my Duolingo goals for today in all languages. I know the time I spend on Duolingo is not significant but I don't want to commit to anymore right now. The plan will get me through German (at stage 15 now) and Spanish (at 10 now) by the end of the year. I don't know if I can finish French by the end of the year. I'll leave that as a "stretch goal".
German - had to fly to Phx today, of course I got in massive of vocab learning on the waiting in the terminal and the actual 1 hour flight. Most of it was in German though. On the way back tomorrow, Spanish vocab will be my focus. I'm at a conference for the next 1 day and 1/2. I try to take to translate into German (in my head however) what the speaker is saying. I wind up not getting bored and getting in critical learning as well. I call this dual purpose training, work and language learning!
Spanish - Not much today but I didn't mention earlier that I'm through 2 videos of Destinos. A little easy right now but I know it gets a bit tougher later. I like listening to the conversational Spanish to try and understand what they're saying.
French - Got through 45 minutes of Pimsleur today. I do want to hit a bit of LingQ tonight but I have to go to this conference's social deal now..
I did try the translation, voice recording I mentioned yesterday. Very helpful but very frustrating. Having to recall that quickly they going back to the recordings was humbling. I did this all in German today. I'll try Spanish tomorrow.
Edited by ryanl321 on 08 January 2014 at 1:52am
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Duan Newbie Canada Joined 4797 days ago 36 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish, French
| Message 15 of 118 08 January 2014 at 6:40pm | IP Logged |
ryanl321 wrote:
Thanks renaissancemedi and Duan for the encouragement!! Duan, I just
added you as a friend on Duo so I looked forward to seeing your progression over there.
Duolingo keeps me motivated because I'm sometimes competitive and will put in the time to
surpass other friends for points that week. Weird I know. |
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No, I totally understand the drive. After holding off on doing it for so long, I find it
funny that now I'm continually heading back to the site to do "just one more" lesson :)
Edited by Duan on 08 January 2014 at 6:40pm
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ryanl321 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4365 days ago 94 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish
| Message 16 of 118 09 January 2014 at 1:39am | IP Logged |
In the airport now catching up on my Duolingo goals and listening to Spanish music. Today was sure a good day for German vocab while in and during conference sessions! I wanted to concentrate on Spanish but I was concerned since my Anki Spanish deck has audio that it would go off in the middle of the conference. I know I have a mute/volumne button but this has happened before and I'm just a little paranoid about it.
Now that I'm in the airport, after I finish Duolingo I'll go to Spanish and French vocab. But today feels like a German day. We'll see, I'll let my interest guide me for how I feel during that time. My plane doesn't leave for a couple more hours so this will be a good time to get in large amounts of learning. I really should be working and catching up on emails though..
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