Hi Christine! Guess I shouldn’t have picked you for my next Duolingo friends quest!! :) I have an idea for you. I have been studying Spanish for about five years now and honestly Duolingo has just become useful again because it is cementing vocabulary and structures that I am learning in other ways. The thing that has been a huge success for me was spending anywhere from one to three hours a week with an instructor directly on a platform called Verbling. I was able to choose an instructor who seemed similar to me demographically and over the past five years we have become close friends and have even met in person a couple of times. so that has been a huge success, but even if I hadn’t gained a friend, the one on one hour of instruction, which I ramp up anytime from once a week to 2-3 times whenever that I know I’ll be having an opportunity to speak Spanish in person coming, has been amazing. I have supplemented that with workbooks and books just like you’re doing but it’s really only fairly recently that I’ve been able to make that kind of progress, and it’s thanks to the forced commitment and being forced to speak in person. It’s not cheap the prices for an hour lesson I think maybe $10 up to I don’t know how far up they go but it is invaluable in terms of actually making progress!
Rael is learning Spanish (intensively, as he does). He has taken Babbel classes, live local classes, done self-study via books and YouTube, listened to music and podcasts, etc etc etc and is now having a great experience with https://www.italki.com/
I commend you for your courage (boldness?) in leaving during your dissertation! I have a daughter in a 5+ year Ph.D. program and I know of the pressures!
I tried brushing up on Vietnamese on Duolingo, but found zero uses for saying, "The bat is at the train station." My parents said they learned English by reading children's books, so you're definitely on the right track!
I have also felt like my Duolingo progress is less about learning the actual language and more about my placement on the leaderboard. They have replaced their VO artists with AI, too, which annoys me on many levels. I canceled my subscription but will keep using it until they start advertising to me…and then I think I’m going to take an actual class. Imagine that!
Have you tried just taking the Level 3 book to your closest library branch and speaking with a librarian there? Librarians are awesome! And often can make magic happen.
Hi Christine! Guess I shouldn’t have picked you for my next Duolingo friends quest!! :) I have an idea for you. I have been studying Spanish for about five years now and honestly Duolingo has just become useful again because it is cementing vocabulary and structures that I am learning in other ways. The thing that has been a huge success for me was spending anywhere from one to three hours a week with an instructor directly on a platform called Verbling. I was able to choose an instructor who seemed similar to me demographically and over the past five years we have become close friends and have even met in person a couple of times. so that has been a huge success, but even if I hadn’t gained a friend, the one on one hour of instruction, which I ramp up anytime from once a week to 2-3 times whenever that I know I’ll be having an opportunity to speak Spanish in person coming, has been amazing. I have supplemented that with workbooks and books just like you’re doing but it’s really only fairly recently that I’ve been able to make that kind of progress, and it’s thanks to the forced commitment and being forced to speak in person. It’s not cheap the prices for an hour lesson I think maybe $10 up to I don’t know how far up they go but it is invaluable in terms of actually making progress!
Rael is learning Spanish (intensively, as he does). He has taken Babbel classes, live local classes, done self-study via books and YouTube, listened to music and podcasts, etc etc etc and is now having a great experience with https://www.italki.com/
I commend you for your courage (boldness?) in leaving during your dissertation! I have a daughter in a 5+ year Ph.D. program and I know of the pressures!
I tried brushing up on Vietnamese on Duolingo, but found zero uses for saying, "The bat is at the train station." My parents said they learned English by reading children's books, so you're definitely on the right track!
Your Korean teacher looks like my Korean language professor—is that Prof. Marshall in the photo?
I have also felt like my Duolingo progress is less about learning the actual language and more about my placement on the leaderboard. They have replaced their VO artists with AI, too, which annoys me on many levels. I canceled my subscription but will keep using it until they start advertising to me…and then I think I’m going to take an actual class. Imagine that!
Have you tried just taking the Level 3 book to your closest library branch and speaking with a librarian there? Librarians are awesome! And often can make magic happen.