Languages - Day 31

Wow, I can’t believe this month is over already. I worked on a lot of adjectives today. I’m sad that I don’t get to work on this every day anymore, since I feel like I was making progress . . . maybe I’ll continue to work on it in the future. At any rate, I’d recommend Duolingo to anyone . . . I thought it was fun. Now on to a new month!

Languages - Day 30

Woohoo, I made it to Level 10! I wish there were some rewards that came with this other than the obvious growth in my vocabulary. I feel like I should get an ice cream sundae or something for getting this far ;) I am rather sad that tomorrow is the last day of October already, I was enjoying the Duolingo challenge (most days). This year has gone by so fast. Any suggestions for next month? I have a few ideas, but I’m not set on anything yet.

Languages - Day 29

Not too much was accomplished today, and I would like to say I would have worked on it longer had my internet not given up on me, but that’s probably not true. I was tired, so I went to bed. I did some fun translating of an article about cameras, but other than that, I was just mostly frustrated with Duolingo (or rather my brain and fingers that type the wrong letters) tonight.

Languages - Day 28

I was having computer problems tonight, and I spent all weekend baking and washing dishes, so I didn’t get a full hour in tonight, but oh well, it’s going to have to be good enough. Why is tomorrow Monday?

Languages - Day 27

Okay, 45 minutes will have to be good enough for today. I did far too much work today for it to be a Saturday. It was all cooking and dishes related. There was much good food generated, but I still have more to do tomorrow. At least I have enough leftovers for the coming week. Also, I got to share my love of baking with some people who don’t do much of it, so that was fun. Time for bed now though I think. . . not much Duolingo progress today, just some more practice and I finished the “occupations” section and am now onto the “household” section. Only a few more days!

Languages - Day 26

I got to Level 9 today J Unfortunately, with every level, it takes more and more “points” to reach the next level . . . it would take forever I fear. Oh well, I’ll just have fun with it while I can, and it’s good exercise for that other part of my brain that doesn’t get used very much J

Languages - Day 25

I liked my practice today. It appears Duolingo updated their practice session and now they are timed (and they got rid of those pesky hearts that fell whenever you got one little thing wrong). They now have it against the clock so if you get it wrong; you just don’t get as many points at the end and don’t get the bonus sections. I like it much better . . . that way there is no record left if I didn’t get them all right. You guys have figured out by now that I’m a bit of a perfectionist, right? ;) I worked on learning some occupation words, and did a little more translating along with a few practice session . . . all in all, a pretty good day I would say.

Languages - Day 24

I went back to trying to learn using the Side-by-Side book again, but it was pretty impossible. It was a different book and the grammar was much, much more difficult so I didn’t learn anything. But, we were in the car, so I didn’t really have another choice. So I still worked on Spanish, but not as well as I should have. Tomorrow I’ll switch back to Duolingo.

Languages - Day 23

I finished the family section today and also the sizes section. Not too much to report, just more progress, slow but sure. I’m about halfway through level 8 so far.

Languages - Day 22

Okay, I did a little better with my Spanish today. I finished the date and time section and had no distractions while I worked on my family words section. I completed most sections without a mistake . . . thank goodness. I did a few more translations too. I have a long ways to go, but I’m having fun with it. My husband asked if I was ready to go out and speak Spanish to people now . . . unfortunately not, but one small step forward is still moving in the right direction J

Languages - Day 21

I worked on Duolingo again today while watching TV, which makes it a bit more difficult, but I still got some more learned in the date and time category, and did a few more translations. I’m getting frustrated that I get so close to being done (the number of items per lesson is getting longer) and then I just make one mistake and I have to start over to the get maximum number of bonus points. It’s not very fun . . . I hope I start doing better soon, or learn not to be such a perfectionist, but I'm not betting on that one.

Languages - Day 20

Yet another late night . . . it’s okay though, it followed a fun day at a pumpkin patch with good friends and good food and I made a pretty cool fingerprint pumpkin (if I do say so myself J). I just wanted to go to bed, so I had little patience with my annoying little mistakes that made me redo the whole lesson over and over again just so I could get a perfect score, but I did keep working until I filled up my “coin meter” for the day. Hallelujah, time for bed now J

Languages - Day 19

I did a little better with Duolingo tonight. I was tired again because it was a long day and I was busy baking in the evening (more beet cupcakes to use up the beets from our farm share box), but I still managed to squeeze Duolingo in too. Nothing too eventful about my lessons tonight, just working on dates and times.

Languages - Day 18

I did not do so well with my Duolingo tonight. My husband turned on “Cars”, and I got sucked into it . . . such a cute movie J I will have to try harder tomorrow.

Languages - Day 17

This is fun, I may not have made any progress at work today, but at least I feel like I did something helpful with Duolingo tonight. I worked more than normal on some “real world” translations . . . I think those are my favorite part. They are like puzzles to solve J But alas, I am up too late again, no wonder I’m tired at work. I should go to sleep now so I’m ready for another day . . . goodnight!

Languages - Day 16

Woohoo . . . I practiced a whole bunch of present tense verbs and reached Level 7 J Unfortunately, the lessons are getting longer, and now it is way past my bedtime, again. Goodnight J

Languages - Day 15

Halfway through the month already. I’m up to Level 6 in Duolingo . . . it’s kind of like a fun yet serious game. I think it’s going well so far. Have any of you tried it yet? If not, you should really look into it. That’s all for tonight.

Languages - Day 14

More Duolingo today . . . I worked on types of clothing and colors. Fun stuff, although I felt like I’d had enough after about 30 minutes, which is what I think they intend you to do. You get “coins” for practicing and my meter usually fills up after that long, although I might be burning through lessons faster than intended because I know quite a bit of the material already. So far I’d say it’s a really good program though, I like it.

Languages - Day 13

Another good day of Duolingo. I made it through food, animals, and possessives. I translated a few other sentences too. Eventually I get fed up with it (or actually with me, when I go too quickly and make a mistake), but it’s very fun most of the time J

Languages - Day 12

Happy Birthday to me! J It was a good day. My in-laws came to visit and made me dinner and dessert so I had to time to relax when I got home and work on my Duolingo J I’m having fun with it, and it’s nice to feel like I’m helping by translating the internet too. I’m sure there are many people who could do it much quicker, but it’s fun for me, so I’ll keep doing it. Time for some cake and ice cream time now I think . . . what a crazy year it’s been J 

Languages - Day 11

Here is the link that explains all the history of Duolingo . . . it was posted a year or so ago, so it's a little outdated, but it gives you a good background, and I think it's really interesting: Duolingo video. I decided to do Duolingo again today, and I’m glad that I did. I actually focused on it without the TV on or any other distractions, and I really enjoyed it. I ended up working on it for over an hour and I made it through the Basic levels 1 and 2. Of course this is all stuff I learned in Spanish 1, but it is really good review, and I feel like I really got into the language. I was speaking things, learning new words, and translating back and forth between Spanish and English. I think this might be a good way to learn a language, and I’m helping translate the internet too J 
Here is the link that explains all the history of Duolingo . . . it was posted a year or so ago, so it's a little outdated, but it gives you a good background, and I think it's really interesting: Duolingo video.  

Languages - Day 10

Ugh so tired again. I did manage to finish my book though. Luckily I have two more just like it so I have more to read later if I want to. Bedtime now. 

Languages - Day 9

I need to remember not to do this so late at night. I may have fallen asleep while reading tonight. I’ve just been so tired lately. One of the stories was rather creepy, but the other was a cute story about a brave little girl. I wonder what else I’ll be reading about in the coming days.

Languages - Day 8

I read a few more stories from my side-by-side book today. I should have done Duolingo, but I was too lazy. I do like reading these short stories though, because I don’t know any of them, so they are always a surprise. I read about the BBC having a good, free language course too, so I might have to look into that sometime soon.

Languages - Day 7

Okay, today was my first day of Duolingo. I had the TV on at the same time, so it had difficulty picking up my voice, but other than that, it worked pretty well. I started with Spanish which is kind of cheating since I know all of the easy stuff already, but it helped me figure out how the program worked. I still have a lot to learn in it, but it seems pretty cool. We’ll see how it goes I guess.

Languages - Day 6

A short 30 minute of reading tonight. I read in the car on the way to a friend’s house for a dinner party. I read the story about the Virgin of Guadalupe . . . I had heard of it, but never read the whole story before, so that was interesting. I think if I have time I’ll try Duolingo tomorrow. 

Languages - Day 5

I read in the car today on the way down to Chicago to a Jaguar driving event (quite fun). I think I’m getting a bit better at reading in Spanish, but I should probably start the Duolingo soon so I actually try to write or speak some of it (I think that’s part of Duolingo . . . I don’t really know). One of the fairy tale stories I read today was really sad. It was a Mexican version of Sleeping Beauty, but the princess and her beloved were exiled because she was native and he was a Spaniard and they were confined in a cave and couldn’t escape and they died. Their bones were found years later locked in an embrace . . . how sad is that? Hopefully the rest of the stories are a little more light-hearted. 

Languages - Day 4

So tired . . . long week at evidence technician school. It was a lot of fun and very helpful, but now I’m tired. I just read for about 40 minutes today: a little of my magazine and one bilingual story. I am very tired though, so time for bed. 

Languages - Day 3

I read one of my dual language stories this morning before class and another after dinner. I really like that book. The stories are like short fairy tales and the language is fairly simple. I don’t know if I’m retaining any of it, but it’s fun to read in another language. I tried People en Español again and gave up very quickly . . . that language is not so easy. So far I’m enjoying this month though J

Languages - Day 2

I struggled with some People en Español again before returning to my story book. It is much easier to have the translation right on the opposite page than having to look it up online. I can get the general drift of the stories, I just need to focus on remembering the vocabulary words I think, and I’m having difficulty with the verb tense too. We’ll see how this month goes.

Languages - Day 1

People en Español is more difficult that I realized. There are so many specialized words that I don’t know for relationship situations and makeup and things like that. I had to look a lot of words up, but the pictures are very helpful in determining what they are talking about. I also read a chapter (short story) in my Mexican historical short stories book. It is a side-by-side book so I can read the story in Spanish and English (I try to just look at the Spanish and then check the sentence in English to make sure I got it right . . . my translations aren’t perfect, but I can get the general idea). I think that’s not too bad for the first day. Good night J

October Reveal

So I tapped into my creative side a little bit last month, and I wanted to kind of keep that trend going. I discovered this cool website called Duolingo where I can practice/learn a new language while at the same time help to translate the internet into another language . . . cool huh? So, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to learn (continue Spanish, learn German since my husband took a few years of it in high school, start a new language altogether . . . French?). I was not sure if I would have internet access for the first few days since I am away from home on training for my new job, so I picked up some Spanish language magazines and books to try and read. Maybe later on in the month I’ll try Duolingo and maybe do German or Spanish or French . . . I want to keep my options open. That’s the challenge for this month: spend some time (30 – 60 minutes) every day immersing myself in another language and try and make that stagnant “English only” section of my brain a little more pliable . . . this should be fun J