Category: Learning Project

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the final stretch of this journey.

When I started this learning project at the beginning of September, I didn’t know where it would exactly lead me. I wanted to learn German so I could one day travel to Germany. From reading facts in museums to ordering a drink at a local brewery.  I remember writing that first post with that ambitious goal in mind. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how much I would learn, given that I have a busy life both in school and outside. But throughout the semester, I endured and kept my committment to learning German to the best of my abilities or what time would allow me.

And let me tell you, it was worth it. Let’s take a look back….

Week 1 : Romancing the Germanic

I found my most consistent tool for learning/practicing German throughout the semester, Duolingo. Although I have my gripes with Duolingo, it kept me engaged and allowed me to practice the format of the language.

My progress as of Dec 12th

Week 2 : Grasping German Grammar (feat. Laura)

When it comes to German language, noun genders can be really confusing. There are no set rules, so most sites tell you to learn the gender with the noun as you go. And while that is mostly true, Laura’s German Grammar helped organize the noun genders into different topics, which was super helpful for me going forward.

Week 3 : The Conjugation Champ (ft. Decent quality video editing)

Conjuu was a helpful app that helped me practice german verbs. I also learned some video editing skills, which was not as daunting as I once thought it was.

Week 4 : Vocabulary List? Answer:Mango

Who doesn’t love free things from the library? I certainly do! I quickly learned the days and months of the year.

Week 5: Is Drops a [ka]hoot!? Tune in

As much as I found the app a bit disappointing, I realized that my learning system can’t heavily rely on visuals, or else I focus on learning the visuals themselves and not the words/phrases. It was fun learning about different hair styles though, haha

Week 6 : Domo arigato Mr. Roboto!

I never would have thought of the day of using AI to explore a language, but it was a unique experience. While I wouldn’t rely on it teaching me the language, it did provide some good resources and alternate ways of learning, such as songs and rhyme (something I didn’t even think of).

Week 7 : Memorize? How about Memrise?

I love this app. Listening to native speakers was such a refresher, especially since Drops and Duolingo both gave monotone robot voices. Learning vocabulary from short form video content was a cool way to keep people engaged whilst also learning! I learned enough vocabulary to get a beer! Haha

Week 8 : A Whole New World

I found a site that has a library filled with German content. I doubt I would have found this amount of content at the local Regina library. I can’t wait to come back to this site later when I have enough vocabulary to read a novel made for kids.

Week 9 : The Last Tool

Just recently, I found a Youtube channel that explains the language in a similar tone to Laura’s German Grammar from Week 2. The channel also has an app and website that helps new learners navigate through the german language.

Now, more than ever, I’m excited to continue studying the German language and improving that knowledge. Although I’m still a beginner and still have a lot more to learn, this project has really invigorated my love for languages again. Even though this learning project journey has come to a close, my eagerness to learn German will continue to thrive in the upcoming year.

Thanks to all for being with me throughout this journey.

Prost und Auf wiedersehn!

Josh

Welcome back! This is gonna be the last tool I share with you before the learning summary. And boy, it’s a good one.

Today I finally scoured the Youtube space. I was a bit daunted going into the Youtube space because it’s a very accessible tool that has an overwhelming amount of content. You could scroll  through the various “learning german” youtube channels all day and not reach the end. It can be very time consuming to find a content creator that fits the need you are looking for. 

By happenstance, one of the first videos I clicked was from the Youtube channel : Learn German with GermanPod101.com

I was intrigued with how they were doing the breakdown of each section, so I continued on. At 12:08, the section covered making apologies. The teacher explained the differences and contexts between entschuldige, entschuldigen sie and entschuldigung. I was immediately hooked after that, as some of the other resources I have used in the past did not explain it. 

I soon looked at their other videos and playlists. They had vocabulary, listening comprehension and reading practice videos, for all different levels of learners. I also noticed they had a website and app. Of course, it was a free trial, but I wanted to check out what they had. It not only included videos that were not on the channel, but also lesson notes/transcripts and language tips. They had a flashcard system and a way to track your progress. You can also access assessments and a 1-on-1 teacher in the premium plus version, which I thought was pretty neat. It’s organized to really help a learner progress from a beginner stage to an advanced stage.

Overall, this is a good resource to use not only for memorization, but to understand the language itself. Also fairly accessible and can easily be put in the background while doing chores. 9.5/10

What kind of Youtube tutorials do you watch? Let me know!

Hey folks, long time no see! These past few weeks have been a gong show, but here I am again.

Have you ever found a resource and go – wow, where do I even start?

That is the question I faced this week as I looked into the other ChatGPT recommendation. Today, we’re looking at the Goethe Institut. When I first reached this website, it was all in German. One of my first thoughts was “Oh no, what am I getting into?”. Once google translated the page and I created an account, I realized what this was. It is an organization that is dedicated to providing resources and courses about the German language and culture.

I then discovered their library system, Onleihe. And wow, where do I begin? It essentially is like a library in almost every way, except it is mostly German content, ranging from books, to audio, to videos to music. There was so much to go through, but I thought I could try to read an easy kid level book. I chose “Zippel macht Zirkus”, which translates to “Zippel makes a circus”. I tried to read this:

I was able to identify some words, but I clearly knew that I needed time to learn more vocabulary as a whole. 

I then moved on to the video section. I found a movie called “Welcome to Siegheilkirchen”. It was a German film with English subtitles. It was really cool to not only watch a German-based animation film (which is a completely different experience from North American animation story-wise) but also being able to learn certain words and phrases from it. 

As much as this resource is leagues above me in terms of language sophistication, I know that I will come back to it over time as my learning progresses. I might not be able to read a children’s story right now, but I hope I can get to that point in the next year.

Have you tried to read a book or watch a movie in a different language?

Hello hello! Today we’re looking at one of the resources ChatGPT recommended to me called Memrise. Now, I had never heard of Memrise up until the recommendation. But after some lengthy use, I gotta say, it’s pretty unique and cool.

One of the first unique things I saw were the videos, which were produced by native German speakers. Most of the ones I have encountered so far are short form videos, ranging from 15 to 30 seconds. Once the video was over, the app requested feedback on your level of comprehension. If you don’t understand what the video was saying, it’ll bank those key words to practice on later.

There is also a vocabulary builder, similar in function with duolingo in how it gamifies it. However, there are key differences. Again, there are native German speakers introducing the words or short phrases. It also not only provides a translation of the phrase, but also a literal translation, which is super helpful in how it all connects together. 

The games themselves are slightly more difficult, which I appreciate, especially when it comes to learning new material. There is no punishment as well if you make mistakes. It simply marks it as a word you need to work on. You can even have the option to mark a word or phrase as difficult, which the program will remember later on. It keeps a whole progression on what videos and vocab lessons you’ve done and makes it accessible! I cannot stress that enough, especially given how much frustration I have with Duolingo on being a perfectionist to progress with the content.

Finally, something I was thrown off by at first, was the AI conversation bot. The app promotes having dialogue or text conversations with it. The app has specific AI conversation topics, such as ordering from a restaurant or working in a hotel. Even though it was daunting, I gave it a shot anyway. It was a bit rough, but I managed to produce 1-3 word sentences to keep the conversation going, haha. It was a humbling experience where I didn’t know exactly what to say, even though I’ve progressed decently well in German. There is a hint option as well, which will provide suggested answers to the AI’s questions. While I do think speaking with a native German speaker is a lot better than AI, this is a good alternative, especially if one is shy or not confident with other people around. 

The only drawback I have is that in order to access all the content, you have to pay a premium subscription, but that’s nothing new. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend it. I think this is a great way on how AI can be integrated into the learning space for the better.

Another week, another update!

I was struggling a little bit as to what resources I could use to improve my learning of German. And then the idea dawned on me as I was working on an environmental biology assignment. This particular assignment required me to utilize ChatGPT to create a one page essay rough draft, which I would then refine into a workable paper. With AI becoming fairly prominent in modern culture, I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to see what it could produce.

I first asked for German learning sites. The results provided some stuff I’ve heard about, such as Duolingo, Babbel, LingoDeer and Rosetta Stone. However, it also provided other resources that I never heard of before, such as Deutsche Welle, FluentU, Memrise, and the Goethe Institut. I have chosen the latter two to dive into in the weeks to come, so stay tuned for that!

Once I scouted those resources, I was curious as to ChatGPT’s capabilities in language and how it can help me learn. I asked if it spoke German in German, and it responded in German! Same with French. I’m sure it would have continued to speak in German had I known more questions in German to pose.

I then asked it to teach me German. I knew it was going to give me broad strokes, but I took it on as if I was a complete beginner, with no prior knowledge or experience. I then went through the various aspects of the language itself, such as verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs, and even sentence structure. It did a fairly good job at explaining the different concepts.

It was at that point, I wanted an easy way to learn about colours. One of the tips ChatGPT gave was to learn the colours through songs and rhymes. I completely forgot that form of mnemonic, as I didn’t utilize it all that much. I then asked to give me a song or rhyme and it produced this:

When I spoke the rhyme out loud, it made so much sense. It was such a fun little rhyme too, nothing too complicated. I’ll continue to remember it for a long while.

I’m still unsure of AI as a whole, but this experience was a positive one. I wouldn’t recommend people to use AI as a crutch to learn a language. However, I think AI can be used as a tool and can be helpful in little instances, especially coming up with mnumonics and resources.

What are your thoughts on AI and learning languages? Or using AI as an introduction to a new subject? Share in the comments below!

Howdy Folks! How are you guys doing? It’s been a minute. Hope everything in your life is doing alright.

So today, we’re going to explore an app called Drops. I found this app in the google play store one day as I was browsing around. When I read the description, I noticed it was from the developers from Kahoot! Colour me intrigued indeed. I like Kahoot and how interactive it can be, especially in the classroom. I figure I’d give it a whirl.

I gotta be honest, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It felt like a downgraded Duolingo knockoff, where it focused primarily on vocabulary and phrases using visual aids. For me, it comes back to visual pattern recognition, which I find is great in the short term, not so much in the long term. I tend to associate the picture with the phrase, not the other way around. I’m not actually thinking about the phrase itself.

I wouldn’t necessarily count it out though. It may not work for me personally, but I can see it working really well for some individuals. If someone finds Mango (check out my previous post) a little dull but finds the flash card system effective, Drops is definitely the way to go. Another positive is that it covers a wide array of vocabulary topics (I think more than Mango) and includes modern niche topics like Diwali, Chinese Zodiac, Board game lingo, etc…

Unfortunately, the amount of content is somewhat limited without a premium subscription. The other drawback is that you can only spend a maximum of 5min/day.

At this point in time, I’m learning more from Duolingo and Mango than anything else so far.

What do you think of Drops? Have you ever tried it? Let me know your thoughts

Welcome back to another week of learning German,  where the title for this post sounds like a key phrase spies like Johnny English and Austin Powers use.

I mentioned in my first post that I wanted to find useful tools for 3 areas : Verbs, Vocabulary and Sentence structure. I successfully found a verb and sentence tool, as seen in my earlier posts. This week, I found the vocabulary tool.

Introducing Mango Languages!

One of the best things about this program/site right off the bat, is that it’s free! “But Josh, I’m combing through the website and its definitely not free!” A true and astute observation. However, I wanted to add more links to this post and that was one way to do it (sorry not sorry).

The way to access it for free is through a medium funded by the public…. the Regina Public library. Here’s the direct link.

Once you sign into your library account, BAM, its all in your fingertips. I would recommend creating an account with Mango as its a way to track your progress and also be able to login the app via your mobile device. You can choose to do German or another language.

Mango splits German into 5 units, with a varying amount of chapters, each with its own subject and vocabulary that its related to. Depending on where you’re at with the language or if you’re interested in a specific subject, you’re able to bounce around from subject to subject without any major barriers. You can jump from learning vocabulary related to numbers to shopping to airports and customs.

Another nice thing about this program is that it shows you both the singular and plural versions of the same word all in one. The lessons take you through the vocabulary step by step and asks you to recall earlier words and/or translations. All of this is through the age-old strategy for learning exams — flashcards.

This is the tool I wished was implemented in Duolingo. Instead of having to scramble through a Duolingo lesson or two to find a specific word you want to remember, you could interact with a bank of words the game has shown you. If this was implemented, it would allow people to have easy access to jump right back into lessons and succeed, instead of choosing to give up.

That’s it for this week! Hope you’re enjoying it so far and let me know if there is anything I can do to go further! And for fun, comment your favorite spy movie and/or favorite fruit!

Greetings!

It’s been another week and I have taken up the task of video editing! (Heads up, the video is way better than the last 2 posts).

I was always a bit apprehensive with video editing because I thought it was a time eater and too complicated to deal with. After looking at it for a couple of hours, it’s a lot simpler than I expected it. I’m no means an expert, but I can navigate it well enough to continue with these edits in the future (given enough time).

I used Microsoft ClipChamp for my video editing program.

When you open the program to create a new video, one of the first things to pop up is the option to import media, which is as simple as click-drag-drop. Once the video clip is in, you can add it to the template and edit it right away. You can splice sections you’re not happy with (like a long pause or rambling on too much) and add transitions afterwards (if applicable). You can add all kinds of other media (texts, images, gifs, music…) and move them wherever you want, both on the screen and the timeline. There is even an option for automatic closed captioning, which does a decent job of translating the audio. I thought about adding it to my video and editing the closed captioning, but the length of the video was pretty long already and I didn’t want to waste time (maybe next time). There is an option to pay premium to access more features and options, but the free version is good enough for me right now.

If you plan to use this tool in the future, I’d recommend creating short clips first and then edit them in ClipChamp, as opposed to making one long video. It saves a good chunk of time in the editing bay.

I can see myself using this tool as a future educator. I would primarily utilize it to create review videos for the class, in case they were struggling on a particular subject or if they happened to miss a class. It would allow me to assemble the material together in a concise and clear way, without droning on and repeating myself. On the SAMR model, this would likely be regarded as Augmentation.

For Substitution, a teacher could use it to create a funny video that has no educational purpose.

If students were assigned a project and wanted to utilize video to convey the material, ClipChamp would be useful to bring all the ideas together in a fun, creative way.   This tool could be an introduction to those unfamiliar with editing technology (Modification),

Finally, for redefinition, I could see a project based around news media outlets/game shows, in which a class-led dramatic scene is filmed and students have to find creative ways to edit the clips to convey certain emotional or knowledge based ideas. The projects could then be uploaded to Youtube for future grades or the public.

Without any further adieu, here’s this week’s progress!

Week 2 is here and I feel a bit more confident than the last post! 

In the previous post, I wanted to find a way to understand German grammar and how it was implemented in a basic sentence. After some research, I can happily say I found a site that answered most of my questions!

German with Laura is primarily a site to buy their German course (similar to Rosetta Stone and Busuu). However, the website has some fantastic articles on various grammar topics. It takes a grammar topic (ex. nouns) and explains how it is used in an English sentence. It then compares the English sentence to a German sentence and explains the similarities and differences between the two sentences. It does a great job at breaking down each case, provides a good amount of examples and exceptions to each rule. Some of the articles also give good study tips and advice on how to tackle the subject. This site helped clear a lot of confusion I had when I started Duolingo last week. Now when I use Duolingo, I can use some of the strategies and pattern recognition from German with Laura to clear the units without losing a lot of hearts.

I found another annoyance with Duolingo. I wanted to look back at some of the vocabulary and sentences I practiced in Duolingo and compare it to the general rules on gender groups (whether the word is masculine, feminine or neuter) from German with Laura. It turns out there are guidebooks as to what kind of material you’ll be learning in the unit, but there is no set list. If you want to find a word, you have to go through some of the review units or redo a previous lesson, which in my opinion wastes time. Perhaps one of the reasons to not include it is to, again, emphasize the game element of the app. I will continue to use Duolingo as it is a good practice tool, but I will search for another alternative that allows me to access vocabulary lists to look at and practice with.

I love languages, real and fictional. I find it fascinating to see how different words and sentence structures can be between languages. I also loved the twists and surprises a language can carry in terms of similarities as well. Modern day English is a stew of many different languages.

When I was in grade 6, I decided to go into french-immersion. I recognized it was a skill that would be good to have in the future, for occupational and traveling opportunities. I stayed with the french immersion program till I graduated highschool and enjoyed it thoroughly. There were some challenges to overcome, but I was able to complete them with ease. 

When I came to the UofR, I discovered they offered Latin and Greek courses. I took the Latin course because latin is the root of the 5 romantic languages (french, italian, spanish, portuguese and romanian). If I knew some of the Latin vocabulary and how it was structured, I could use it as a baseline for learning other romantic languages in the future. I completed the course with ease, thanks to my French immersion background. 

One of my dreams I’d like to fulfill one day is to travel Europe. I’d like to visit countries like England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I’d include more countries, but it’d be pretty expensive for one trip. I’d love to spend a week or so in each country to see the history, to eat unique dishes, and to experience the culture. I believe I have enough French/Latin  to do moderately well for half of the countries I’ve listed. The other half is another story because their languages are not based on romantic languages, but rather the germanic languages. The Germanic languages are another branch on the tree of languages with its own vocabulary, verbs and sentence structure that generally have no relation with the Romantic languages. 

I believe learning German will prove to be a bit of a challenge considering I don’t know a lot about it. I know a couple of words and some of their pronunciations because of movies and world war 2 documentaries. I have two advantages going into this learning project. One is that I have a general idea as to how languages work and where to begin, thanks in part to learning French and Latin. The other advantage going into this is my knowledge of English. According to the tree of languages, the English language is a branch off of West Germanic, the same branch as the modern German language.

For the first week, I wanted to learn some basic verbs (to be and to have), adjectives (hot, cold, loud, quiet, beautiful, etc…) and nouns (family and food). I decided I would try Duolingo, as it is one of the more popular apps to learn a new language and I know some friends who use it. After using Duolingo for a week, my conclusion for now is that it is an alright app for beginners.

I was able to get through 3 units in the Rookie section. I think it is a good tool to practice new vocabulary.  I’ve been able to go through some of the units fairly quickly because of the combination of pattern recognition and repetitive practice. The sentence structure portion has been fairly simple, which is understandable given what level I’m starting from. However, I’m disappointed the app has only had me learn partial conjugations for 2 verbs so far – to be and to come. I was expecting to know the full conjugations for those verbs and learn the verbs ‘to have’ and ‘to do’. 

Duolingo is one of the free mobile apps to learn a language, but it is also plagued with 30 second long ads after each lesson. The other drawback is that you have a limited amount of hearts/attempts to complete the lessons. If you run out of hearts, you can gain one every 5 hours. This isn’t a great way to learn a language as it punishes you for making mistakes, which is inevitable when learning something new. By the time you get back into the lesson, you may have forgotten what your mistake was, and then get punished again. Duolingo provides opportunities to regain hearts by practicing, spending diamonds (money) or subscribing to their Super plan. I was tempted to try their Super plan to see how much more efficient the course is. However, I recently tried the PC version of Duolingo and because I have an ad blocker on, I don’t see those pesky ads! The heart system is still lingering in the background, so I have to be careful. 

For the next 3 weeks, I want to expand my knowledge in 3 areas. Each week will focus on a different verb tense (present, future and past). I want to continue growing my vocabulary and will focus on numbers, colors, emotions, vehicles and more. Finally, I want to understand how to properly compose a sentence or question. This last point may seem odd, considering that Duolingo content seems to imply an English-like sentence structure (from an English speaker’s perspective…technically it’s the other way around). However, the French language places their adjectives and adverbs a bit different from English. With Latin, there is an order to follow where to put nouns, adjectives, adverbs first and verbs at the end of a basic sentence. 

I may be a bit ambitious with what I’m wanting to do, but I hope for the best!