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Learning Foreign Languages (Self-Education) 2021


cintinative
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I am not sure where the other threads went, but apparently they were here on the Chat board.

@SusanC

@MamaSprout

@Matryoshka

@gardenmom5

@alisoncooks

 

How are things going with your self-study? Please tag anyone I have missed.

As mentioned in the other thread, I am working through DuoLingo Spanish.  

I am contemplating if I should switch from DuoLingo to Transparent Language. Transparent is free through my state and reportedly has a better recognition algorithm so it might help more with my pronunciation.  Has anyone tried it? 

Edited by cintinative
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Moving my post from the other thread:

I am working on learning Spanish, French, and ASL.

I've made some really good progress on duolingo and I can tell that it is really helping me to learn the language.  I finished the Spanish Reverse tree and then I hopped over to my Spanish tree and completed the new lessons that had been added since I completed it last year.  So I have two beautiful golden trees now!

I am still going to Spanish church services via zoom and have added in a ladies' Bible study.  My Spanish comprehension is pretty good, although some people are harder to understand, especially when they get excited about something.  Speaking, however, is still pretty difficult.  I do better if I can think of what I'm going to say ahead of time.

On duolingo I am now working on the French tree.  I already had a little bit of it completed from when I had dabbled in it before.  I am currently working on taking the lessons up to the red level; then, when I get to the end I will go back up to the top to turn everything golden.  I am hoping to have the French tree done by the end of 2021.  My plan is to do the French Reverse tree in 2022.

I have no idea how I'm going to get French practice, as I don't really know anyone who speaks it.  

I am also still dabbling in ASL with youtube videos.

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Ah, I have found my people! 😊

I’m forever working on Spanish (kids zoomed past me years ago), and I recently decided to dust off French to help my 9th grader.  Yeah, she doesn’t need my help.  But I’ll keep at it. 😂 

The last 10 months of language learning have been crazy.  Lots of productive periods, and others not so much.  I tried group Zoom classes in both Spanish & French.  Nope.  No matter how good the teacher is, adult students have such varying levels of previous exposure and motivation/energy that hardly any meaningful progress was made in any of my classes, even the expensive ones. 😳 I’m trying 1-on-1 tutoring now (iTalki), but I think I’ll make as much or more progress on my own.

Right now I’m flitting between lots of materials.  Some graded readers, some fiction, some audio (Lupa app, Pimsleur French), some video (French series for fun with English subtitles, EXTR@ in both languages, Destinos, Gran Hotel).  In my head I have unlimited time and should be able to do all of the things, every day.  Must work on managing expectations and picking a few things to stick with!

Edited by jplain
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I just found in Transparent language that there is a segment where I can check my pronunciation against words used in a recent newscast. It gives a little graph so you can see how your pronunciation matches up with a native speaker. I think this might be the add-on to DuoLingo that I am looking for.  I am never confident that DuoLingo is doing much more than matching up phonemes in what I am saying with their stored algorithm (or something like that).  

@jplain I had wanted to sign my kids up for Italki to supplement our Spanish study at home. Do you mind sharing the reasons why you are not finding it helpful? 

 

image.thumb.png.9758500178b880a604cd3d448e1e4c3d.png

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16 minutes ago, cintinative said:

I am not sure where the other threads went, but apparently they were here on the Chat board.

@SusanC

@MamaSprout

@Matryoshka

@gardenmom5

@alisoncooks

 

How are things going with your self-study? Please tag anyone I have missed.

As mentioned in the other thread, I am working through DuoLingo Spanish.  

I am contemplating if I should switch from DuoLingo to Transparent Language. Transparent is free through my state and reportedly has a better recognition algorithm so it might help more with my pronunciation.  Has anyone tried it? 

I'm still plugging away at all the languages I'm learning (Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch), but not at the same pace I was earlier.  I need to do more in Duolingo again, that's mostly what's slowed down.  I'm still meeting weekly with my Chinese italki tutor, plus I go to weekly Portuguese lessons plus a conversation hour on the Lingua Llama site, as well as a weekly Dutch lesson there.  And I have to say I've gotten a bit distracted by playing with the languages I already speak - I go to the Spanglish exchange at least 3x/week and am now hosting a weekly German conversation hour.

For anyone wanting live language practice, I really do recommend trying the Lingua Llama stuff.  It's all free, and there are both structured lessons with native teachers, and conversation hours that also have native speakers.  The language exchanges for Spanish/English are 7 days a week, twice a day.  Drop in any time.  I may start doing a 1:1 language exchange for German/Portuguese with a woman from Brazil who is learning German.  On the platform, you can tag people to come do a language exchange or conversation at any time, even if it's not on the official schedule.

They have structured lessons at all levels in Spanish, and somewhat more limited offerings (not all levels) in French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Tagalog, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Dutch and Esperanto.  Oh, and Maya (the indigenous language).  For German there's only conversation at the moment, but I hear someone's signed up to teach a class in the near future. They're also soon adding Farsi (Persian). These are not classes for your high school student to get credit, but fantastic for adult learners wanting motivation, practice, and structure.  It's also a fantastic resource for less common languages where it's hard to find anything.

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22 minutes ago, jplain said:

Ah, I have found my people! 😊

I’m forever working on Spanish (kids zoomed past me years ago), and I recently decided to dust off French to help my 9th grader.  Yeah, she doesn’t need my help.  But I’ll keep at it. 😂 

The last 10 months of language learning have been crazy.  Lots of productive periods, and others not so much.  I tried group Zoom classes in both Spanish & French.  Nope.  No matter how good the teacher is, adult students have such varying levels of previous exposure and motivation/energy that hardly any meaningful progress was made in any of my classes, even the expensive ones. 😳 I’m trying 1-on-1 tutoring now (iTalki), but I think I’ll make as much or more progress on my own.

Right now I’m flitting between lots of materials.  Some graded readers, some fiction, some audio (Lupa app, Pimsleur French), some video (French series for fun with English subtitles, EXTR@ in both languages, Destinos, Gran Hotel).  In my head I have unlimited time and should be able to do all of the things, every day.  Must work on managing expectations and picking a few things to stick with!

Re, the bolded.  The struggle is real...

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13 minutes ago, cintinative said:

Does anyone know of a clean series on Roku or Prime in Spanish that I could watch? I hadn't thought of this before but I could do that while I am exercising. It would probably really help.  

Do you have Netflix?  I have lots of Netflix suggestions...

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Just now, Matryoshka said:

Do you have Netflix?  I have lots of Netflix suggestions...

Unfortunately, no. I can probably find a way to watch the Destinos stuff via our Roku (or something like that).  

Is the Lingua Llama the same as this site: https://www.spanglishclubusa.com/class-schedule-calendar/   When I found LinguaLlama it linked this.

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20 minutes ago, cintinative said:

Unfortunately, no. I can probably find a way to watch the Destinos stuff via our Roku (or something like that).  

Is the Lingua Llama the same as this site: https://www.spanglishclubusa.com/class-schedule-calendar/   When I found LinguaLlama it linked this.

Yes, the "Spanglish Club" renamed itself Lingua Llama as it started adding lots of non-Spanish or English languages - though the majority of the programming is still Spanish and English (for non-English speakers).  The best way to access content is through their Discord server, which is here: 

https://discord.gg/2HrXwSvc

They must not be updating that site; the class schedules aren't current.  These are the current Spanish and World Languages schedules:

English_Class_Schedule_2.pngEnglish_Class_Schedule_3.png

Edited by Matryoshka
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1 hour ago, cintinative said:

I am not sure where the other threads went, but apparently they were here on the Chat board.

@SusanC

@MamaSprout

@Matryoshka

@gardenmom5

@alisoncooks

 

How are things going with your self-study? Please tag anyone I have missed.

As mentioned in the other thread, I am working through DuoLingo Spanish.  

I am contemplating if I should switch from DuoLingo to Transparent Language. Transparent is free through my state and reportedly has a better recognition algorithm so it might help more with my pronunciation.  Has anyone tried it? 

I've passed off the level 5 checkpoint for Duolingo and working towards level 6.  the format changes, and it gets harder. It also added more voices to get a greater variety of speakers. More listening requirements to be able to answer questions in spanish - no more tips. Sometimes it will ask you what a new word means - and you have to read the descriptions in spanish. I am learning.  But I'm better at reading, need to do more listening without the words in front of me before verifying with the words. 

I also read scriptures in spanish.  Yesterday, i was able to understand some entire spoken sentences in real time at church.  (usually, it's words, or at most phrases.)

I speak it aloud - I rarely do it on my phone, so rarely am required to speak.  I speak anyway, because pronunciation is important to me.  If I have even the slightest question about pronunciation - I will double check.  Sometimes I've gone to spanishdict.com to check because they will also show the word phonetically as well as having someone pronounce it both at normal speed, and slower.

 

I've never heard of transparent language.  Our library system has Manga/mango for free.  Not as much vocab building on internetpolyglot.com as I want - I've had some burn out and scaled back how much I've been doing.

Ultimately, the system you use it what works for you.

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44 minutes ago, cintinative said:

I had wanted to sign my kids up for Italki to supplement our Spanish study at home. Do you mind sharing the reasons why you are not finding it helpful?

Oh, my issue is finding the right fit for me.  iTalki, Verbling, etc. are kind of like Etsy: lots of variety, but you may have to search for a while to find exactly what you're looking for.  There is one French tutor that I am meeting with weekly, and she's lovely, but I'm not counting on it for more than getting my mouth moving. 

My kids have once or twice weekly sessions with their language tutors, who all happen to be on other platforms: LiveLingua for Spanish, HeyLangu for German, and ofrench for French, but it could just as easily have been iTalki.  Their tutors have been amazing for their language skills.  They've been with their Spanish tutor for 2 years, and they adore her.  The French and German tutors are newer.  My older daughter liked the first German tutor she tried, while finding the French one for my younger daughter took some trial and error.

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52 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Do you have Netflix?  I have lots of Netflix suggestions...

I have netflix.  I'd love to hear your clean suggestions. 

I've got dvds with spanish language tracks (and subtitles - which I need because there are sounds that are hard for me to hear.  I do better if I know it's there)

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1 hour ago, jplain said:

Oh, my issue is finding the right fit for me.  iTalki, Verbling, etc. are kind of like Etsy: lots of variety, but you may have to search for a while to find exactly what you're looking for.  There is one French tutor that I am meeting with weekly, and she's lovely, but I'm not counting on it for more than getting my mouth moving. 

My kids have once or twice weekly sessions with their language tutors, who all happen to be on other platforms: LiveLingua for Spanish, HeyLangu for German, and ofrench for French, but it could just as easily have been iTalki.  Their tutors have been amazing for their language skills.  They've been with their Spanish tutor for 2 years, and they adore her.  The French and German tutors are newer.  My older daughter liked the first German tutor she tried, while finding the French one for my younger daughter took some trial and error.

would you be willing to share the name of your tutor via PM (for the kids)?  I am looking for one for my boys and I am a bit overwhelmed with all the options.  Also what age are your kids?

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I'm working on French fluency in listening right now and trying to increase my reading level. I'm probably a low intermediate? but that really depends on how out of practice I am. (Currently, very out of practice). I like that there is something of an accountability thread going here.

I find this show painfully trite, but since it has good subtitles and my reading level is higher than my listening level, it's the transition I think that I need: Extra French episode 1 with french subtitles - YouTube

Teachers have been using it for awhile, so there are quizlet sets and TpT worksheets available.

I've discovered I can put French books on my kindle and if I come to a word I don't know, I can look it up by highlighting it.

I adore Ernest et Celestine, but it doesn't have subtitles. If I haven't watched French TV for a while, I need to "warm up" my ears, then I can follow it fine. I watch kids shows on TV Monde 5. I seem to get a better selection if I use the VPN in the Opera browser and set the location to France.

My other language goal this year is to learn the Russian alphabet.

Edited by MamaSprout
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I started watching Destinos when I exercise. I am excited to see how this helps!

@MamaSprout have you looked at the French equivalent of Destinos called French in Action? My guess is that it starts at mid-beginner but since I don't know French, I am not sure.  https://www.learner.org/series/french-in-action/

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32 minutes ago, cintinative said:

I started watching Destinos when I exercise. I am excited to see how this helps!

@MamaSprout have you looked at the French equivalent of Destinos called French in Action? My guess is that it starts at mid-beginner but since I don't know French, I am not sure.  https://www.learner.org/series/french-in-action/

Yep. Dd used it for awhile. I have the books, too.

I think Dd and I are going to do Extra! together. Might be more motivating that way?

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This thread caught my eye because I'm on my third year of learning Spanish. I'm using Breaking the Spanish Barrier combined with Anki flashcards inspired by the Fluent Forever system. I started it three years ago with my younger daughter when she was in 7th grade, then when she went to public school for 8th  grade, I continued learning on my own. My system is rather unique and slow, but it works well for me.

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I am on something like Day 70 of my Duolingo French streak. I went to Duolingo Plus because the ads were annoying and I didn’t want to lose “lives” by making mistakes. Don’t ask me what the Plus version costs per year because I forgot. It was no worse than any other app, though. 

My boss showed me the trailer for Lupin on Netflix, which is set in the Louvre. You can watch it dubbed in English, but I wonder if I could watch it in French and how much I would understand if I did. 

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19 hours ago, Quill said:

Is @Penguin around? She has started these language threads in the past. 

Yes, I am still around although I have obviously not been very active. 

@cintinativeI am glad that you took on starting the thread. I didn’t really mean to ghost on everyone, but life has been a bit complicated lately. 

Languages are actually a nice diversion and a balm at the moment. 
 

Everyone should listen to @Matryoshka when she talks about Lingua Llama! It is a friendly place with lots of options.

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20 hours ago, Quill said:

I am on something like Day 70 of my Duolingo French streak. I went to Duolingo Plus because the ads were annoying and I didn’t want to lose “lives” by making mistakes. Don’t ask me what the Plus version costs per year because I forgot. It was no worse than any other app, though. 

My boss showed me the trailer for Lupin on Netflix, which is set in the Louvre. You can watch it dubbed in English, but I wonder if I could watch it in French and how much I would understand if I did. 

I do it on my computer, there's an ad bar on the side on the main page.  that's it. it's never in the way, no other ads.

at least the computer version doesn't have "lives".  Though it did show up on my phone version.

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On 2/5/2021 at 10:24 PM, Quill said:

 

My boss showed me the trailer for Lupin on Netflix, which is set in the Louvre. You can watch it dubbed in English, but I wonder if I could watch it in French and how much I would understand if I did. 

I watched Lupin last night. I think I like it! I'm leery because it's TV-MA (but I think pretty much everything French is, lol.) I found it easier to understand than say, a police procedural. I only watched part of the first episode, though. I think my listening level is a B1 or B2, if that helps.

On Netflix, if you search the language you want "French" for example, it now gives you the option to pull up "French Language TV" or French Language TV and Movies", etc. I'm sure this would work for Spanish, too. ETA. Yep, and Russian, too.

Edited by MamaSprout
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On 2/5/2021 at 12:56 PM, MamaSprout said:

I think Dd and I are going to do Extra! together. Might be more motivating that way?

I did this with my ydd in Spanish, her sister started watching in French, and so her brother watched it in German. 😀 It isn't good story-telling in any language, but i think it is empowering to watch something and understand what is going on. Plus we could all laugh at the "American" guy (apparently the actor is Dutch?) and all the aggressive americanisms.

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On 2/8/2021 at 12:29 PM, cintinative said:

I am watching Destinos now in addition to doing DuoLingo and I like having the immersion exposure. I will definitely want to continue to do that after I am done with Destinos.  It's helping me stay motivated to do the DuoLingo

I have a huge soft spot for Destinos.  I watched on PBS way back in the 80s or early 90s soon after it came out.  I was so desperate for anything to watch in Spanish that wasn't a telenovela (I just can't with those...).  I mean, I know it was kind of supposed to be telenovela-y, but honestly it was downright subdued compared to the over-the-top melodrama and plots on Latin American telenovelas!  Raquel with her big hair and shoulder pads!  Ah, memories.

And it is also great for people learning, as that's what it's designed for. 🙂 

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14 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

I have a huge soft spot for Destinos.  I watched on PBS way back in the 80s or early 90s soon after it came out.  I was so desperate for anything to watch in Spanish that wasn't a telenovela (I just can't with those...).  I mean, I know it was kind of supposed to be telenovela-y, but honestly it was downright subdued compared to the over-the-top melodrama and plots on Latin American telenovelas!  Raquel with her big hair and shoulder pads!  Ah, memories.

And it is also great for people learning, as that's what it's designed for. 🙂 

I am really enjoying it! I hope I can find something good to watch after this. I am not into typical soap operas. 

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7 minutes ago, cintinative said:

I am really enjoying it! I hope I can find something good to watch after this. I am not into typical soap operas. 

Maybe the BBC's Mi Vida Loca. It used to have some nice interactive parts, but with the demise of Flash I think that stuff is gone. Dd found the first few episodes on YouTube, though. It was also for language learners.

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4 hours ago, SusanC said:

Maybe the BBC's Mi Vida Loca. It used to have some nice interactive parts, but with the demise of Flash I think that stuff is gone. Dd found the first few episodes on YouTube, though. It was also for language learners.

Mi Vida Loca is, I'd say, at a lower level than Destinos.  But also fun.

4 hours ago, cintinative said:

I am really enjoying it! I hope I can find something good to watch after this. I am not into typical soap operas. 

I thought The Grand Hotel (El gran hotel) and High Seas (Alta mar) were both fun (on Netflix)  The titles in the Netflix menu are in English for search purposes.  They're both from Spain, which doesn't tend to the overly soapy like Latin America.  I also can't do typical soap operas, and telenovelas are even more over the top, so...  Try an episode of one of those and see if you can understand it.  You can put Spanish (or English) subtitles on.

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So last week I decided to sit down and make myself a kind of weekly 'goals' list, because somehow I keep adding things and I'm trying to prioritize and keep at least most of the balls in the air...  so I'll share...

Chinese
Slowed down on this quite a bit, but want to refocus.  I've been meeting with my tutor weekly, but have been kind of scattered and have not been getting through as much Duolingo.   So, would like to set a goal of getting through at least 2-3 Duolingo lessons a day, and weekly: one story in the HSK 1 storybook, 1-2 Pimseleur lessons (got these out of the library) and 30 'new' characters on Tofu (a flashcard app to learn characters, but I tend to 'learn' these there after I've already encountered them on Duolingo, but it's excellent reinforcement).

Portuguese
Do at least a few new lessons on Duolingo, continue with weekly lesson and conversation hour (two hours total) on Lingua Llama, and one story weekly in my easy Portuguese storybook.  Oh, and watch one episode of the Brazilian sci-fi show I found on Netflix.

Dutch
Mostly just been going to a weekly meeting on Lingua Llama and anemically doing a Duolingo lesson every now and then, but just signed up for a paid class with the same teacher for 6 weeks.  Will likely put Dutch on a back burner after that.  

French
Blame this on the Book a Week thread...  they're doing a Count of Monte Cristo readalong, and I started reading the English translation, but thought it would be fun to get a French copy and see how much I could read.  Apparently, more than I thought (it's mostly dialog and action, so a fairly easy story to follow).  So, I've been reading in French and consulting the English translation just to check my comprehension.  I find this much a pretty good way to go.  I think if I delve in to Portuguese Lit eventually (my main goal in learning Portuguese) I'll plan on getting an English copy out of the library to have as a check, rather than trying to use a dictionary all the time.  Aiming for three chapters a week (they're short).

Oh, and especially with a bit of French in the mix, I should really start actually reading that super-cool Romance language comparative grammar tome I bought...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I quit Duolingo German, after passing the 50day strike it became a burden to not loose a day. And my German is somewhere between - not good enough for.... - and - to good for..- and Duolingo didn’t fit well in filling in my gaps, and learning German from English (also a foreign Language) is difficult as I learned German from Dutch in highschool. I think I should try another way to improve my German then through duolingo

after doing nothing for a few weeks, I started Duolingo Russian and so far it gives what I need: fun short brain teazers. I have a lot of fun with decoding the alphabet and trying to pronounciate. Goal: being able to pronounciate words in Russian alphabet (so it becomes easier to sing in Russian)

I would love to improve my English but I am not sure how to do that.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some things to explore:

This is a really neat app that lets you listen to radio around the world.

Radio Garden

http://radio.garden

Women in Language (March 4-7). An online event with a $29 fee. I think you have to enroll while the event is active, but you can view the recorded talks later.

https://womeninlanguage.com

P.S. I obviously should no longer be relied upon to start a monthly thread. Sorry. 

Edited by Penguin
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On 3/4/2021 at 10:45 AM, Penguin said:

Some things to explore:

This is a really neat app that lets you listen to radio around the world.

Radio Garden

http://radio.garden

Women in Language (March 4-7). An online event with a $29 fee. I think you have to enroll while the event is active, but you can view the recorded talks later.

https://womeninlanguage.com

P.S. I obviously should no longer be relied upon to start a monthly thread. Sorry. 

I suppose you could just take out the "February" and make an ongoing 2021 thread.... No fuss, no muss. 😉

I'm doing quite miserably with my Spanish learning. I took a break around Thanksgiving and never resumed; now feel I've lost it all (which wasn't much to begin with!)  I'm currently reading Fluent Forever, hoping for a little inspiration. 

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  • cintinative changed the title to Learning Foreign Languages (Self-Education) 2021
  • 2 weeks later...

So far I have watched all of Destinos and all of Extr@ in Spanish (Not super impressed with Extra to be honest.).  

I was hoping I could watch News in Slow Spanish but it is subscription only now and very expensive.

Anyone find any clean shows online to watch since I last asked? I also have Prime and Peacock.

ETA: It looks like I can stream Telemundo news on Peacock, but I need to try it out.

 

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1 hour ago, cintinative said:

So far I have watched all of Destinos and all of Extr@ in Spanish (Not super impressed with Extra to be honest.).  

I was hoping I could watch News in Slow Spanish but it is subscription only now and very expensive.

Anyone find any clean shows online to watch since I last asked? I also have Prime and Peacock.

ETA: It looks like I can stream Telemundo news on Peacock, but I need to try it out.

How clean is clean?  I have recommendations that I'd rate about a PG-13.  Occasional non-graphic adult scenes, not-so-bloody (Agatha Christie level) deaths, light cussing.  

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I came across an interesting sounding language service over the weekend, NaTakallam. It sounds to me like Homeschool Spanish Academy, but taught by refugees and with more languages and a strong focus on Arabic. I enquired about cost, because, like HSA, the pricing is a bit opaque.

The response I got was:

NaTakallam offers two main options:

1- our "conversation sessions," which are available in Modern Standard Arabic but most frequently for those interested in dialect, including Levantine Arabic (Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian) as well as Egyptian, Iraqi, Yemeni and Sudanese.

More details here: https://natakallam.com/conversation-sessions/.

These are also offered in French, Spanish, Persian, Kurdish & Armenian. We call this option conversation sessions because they are based on each student's needs (provided upon registration) and doesn't follow a strict curriculum but rather adapts to what the individual requests.

Sign-up Instructions
Step 1: Register here: https://airtable.com/shr58UrKpo8uFLSgL
Step 2: Purchase your preferred bundle of sessions: https://natakallam-2015.ecwid.com/
Step 3: Be on the lookout for an email introduction within 1-3 business days & meet your partner!

Cost:
$25usd/hour if you purchase 1 hour
$19usd/hour if you purchase 5 hours
$16usd/hour if you purchase 10 hours

2-our Integrated Arabic Curriculum which blends formal and colloquial Arabic for which we offer a 1 hour free trial session.

It is a fully structured MSA/Levantine dialect curriculum option in partnership with the head of the Arabic department at Cornell University. More information about this online here: https://natakallam.com/startarabic/

Cost: $750usd/25 hours.

Register below and request a free trial
https://airtable.com/shrw4pU3h306HngZg

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I’ve recommended natakallam here before. Started out as just Arabic and that what my DS has taken. Of course the lessons are as good as the teacher. He had a great one for years, she was Syrian displaced to Lebanon then Italy. Anyway she went in maternity leave and we’ve moved on but yes it’s an almost too cheap 1:1 language option. 

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50 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

How clean is clean?  I have recommendations that I'd rate about a PG-13.  Occasional non-graphic adult scenes, not-so-bloody (Agatha Christie level) deaths, light cussing.  

That's probably okay?  I watch Murder She Wrote and that is fine. 

I have a mind that tends to be haunted by things, so I have to be careful what I feed it.  

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12 minutes ago, cintinative said:

That's probably okay?  I watch Murder She Wrote and that is fine. 

I have a mind that tends to be haunted by things, so I have to be careful what I feed it.  

Lol, I really liked The Grand Hotel (version from Spain, set early 20th century) and High Seas (set just post WW2).  Light murder mystery type plot, except one mystery per season, rather than per episode. Light romance as well.  Both on Netflix. 

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I started learning Māori in December.  I'm mostly text based right now because I have a terrible ear.  There has been an upsurge in Māori in New Zealand, so all the classes are full unfortunately.  I really need to get going on my vocab, but that part I hate the most, and so far I have not found any resources that will work for me, so I'm using old fashioned flash cards. I've got the top 1000 word list that I'm working through. And it is fun to attempt to translate everything in town (all government signs are bilingual), but Māori is very figurative, so my translations often make me laugh. 

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FYI. I found an online video series called El Cuarto Misterioso

You can find them on Youtube and there is a google doc with all the videos linked that I found.  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17eokamE-QYqnXAnoxt06A1T6BNNY4xMS

20 episodes--first 10 or so are about Spanish I level, 2nd 10 about Spanish 2. There are supposedly five documentaries but I can't find them--they would be Spanish III reportedly.

It's overall cheesy, but not intolerable. The episodes are short--less than 8 minutes each.  

Edited by cintinative
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  • 3 weeks later...

It's April! How is everyone doing?

I am still not to checkpoint 3 on Spanish, but I am trying not to be discouraged.  Slow and steady, right? 

I am rewatching Destinos because we have no money to purchase a DVD set or another streaming service.  Fortunately, I like it, and I am finding it helpful to watch it again, this time without any captions (which I sometimes used last time).

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On 2/1/2021 at 9:16 AM, cintinative said:

Does anyone know of a clean series on Roku or Prime in Spanish that I could watch? I hadn't thought of this before but I could do that while I am exercising. It would probably really help.  

My favorite guilty pleasure--Velvet.  I speak no Spanish and had to read every line, but I watched the whole series. lol  The actors and the fashions- they were dress designers- made this show something I couldn't stop watching. lol

 

And now I see there was a 2 season spin-off I'll need to find.😉

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I've kept up the momentum. And now that we are on school holidays, I'm getting in about 4 hours of Māori per day.  Once we start back up again, it will slow way down. My biggest problem is being consistent with vocab drill.  Not my favorite thing, and stuff slide out of my head so fast!

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Sounds like a lot of concentration!

12 hours ago, lewelma said:

I'm getting in about 4 hours of Māori per day.

I'm still plotting along in German. I think my steak is up to 720 days. I listen to Spanish language podcasts a few days a week, but I am not progressing, just hoping not to fall back. I recently added some Italian to my social media feed. That is my true interest, i just don't have time to dedicate to it.

13 hours ago, cintinative said:

I am still not to checkpoint 3 on Spanish, but I am trying not to be discouraged.  Slow and steady, right? 

Yes! I have a picky approach to slowly rolling up each section to level 5 as i go, but it then takes forever to get to a new check point. I'm teetering on 5 currently. Have you tried listening to News in Slow Spanish? I'm not sure what is available there for free anymore. If that doesn't work you could try looking around BBCMundo.

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1 hour ago, SusanC said:

Have you tried listening to News in Slow Spanish? I'm not sure what is available there for free anymore. 

I think they have podcasts for free? The last time I tried it, it was a bit too fast for me since there are no visual cues. 

The video section of News in Slow Spanish is all subscription except for one to two minute clips. 

I can look at BBC Mundo

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