Language learning – the next generation

At the risk of spam comments, here’s a bit about my latest discovery after my summer learning hiatus.

A few months ago, I told you about Babbel: a website that combines language learning with social networking, with 5 languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) from which you can learn words and phrases based on photos submitted by the users, and audio provided by Babbel. I still like the site, and their latest evolution adding tutorials (even if I’m less than impressed with their attention to users, since it was they who approached me to ask if I wanted to test that function, then never gave me access until the testing was done and it became available to everyone).

Anyway, I recently discovered, thanks to my favourite blog for all kinds of interesting discoveries: lifehacker, I discovered Busuu, a language learning / social networking site with a much stronger emphasis on the social networking part of things. The vocabulary on the first (very basic) units I have tried so far is a little light, but combined with photos and sound, it’s a good review. What’s interesting is that the second level, after seeing the vocabulary, is writing a couple of sentences, which are then corrected by native or advanced speakers on the site to learn other languages. For me the clear lack is (as a beginner) trying to go from vocabulary to actually writing a sentence, but since I’ve started with Spanish, in which I have some “traditional” learning behind me, it was ok. With that basis though, it’s really an amazing way to move forward. I actually started by commenting on a couple of other users sentences in English, which gave me a first idea of how things worked. Besides, in this sort of community, there is little sense in taking (the advice/corrections of others) if you are not going to give (and help other users). I have helped a couple of people with their English, a couple of others with their French, and gotten some help on my Spanish. The site offers vocab for English, French, Spanish and German, but provides a full list of languages that you can indicate that you speak. You seem to be limited to “learning” 4 languages, but you can indicate any on the list (in addition to German and Spanish, I’ve added Italian and Japanese, following a recent decision with Luc to give that a try this year). I quickly became “friends” with two Spanish-speakers who are learning English, and who gave me some great help with my Spanish, as well as a Japanese speaker who is learning English. I’ve only been at this for a couple of hours though, so I’ll have to see how it pans out.

What’s interesting, is that I find myself automatically looking for people around my age, perhaps because I feel subconsciously like they will be the best help for me, and (who knows) the least judgmental. With users I’ve seen ranging from 16 to their 50s or 60s it seems like just about everyone can be that picky too

What’s a trip without a story?

Well, thusfar (sitting at Stockholm Arlanda airport, waiting for my flight home, or rather to work) I don’t really have much negative to say about the trip, but I’m also not home yet… No sense opening the door for Murphy and his laws, knock on wood and the like. Let’s start at the beginning though…

As has become my habit, I left tons of time to get to Zurich airport for my flight out. Since the colleague of mine that was also going to Stockholm needed to be at Mulhouse airport right around the time that I needed to be getting on a train from Basel (not far from the airport) we enlisted our new teammate to drive us. Being his first day, he was the least busy/pre-occupied of all of our colleagues (maybe I should have put chauffeur in his job description!). As it turns out, the train I caught was the TGV (French), and I therefore could have got on in Mulhouse, but TGVs in France require reservations (which also cost extra), but in Switzerland they don’t, so I had one less thing to worry about.

The ride was uneventful, with the minor exception of an announced delay in arrival. Frankly I’d left so much “just in case” time, that such a delay was really not an issue for me though. I found the automatic check-in terminals, but couldn’t check in. At the desk for people that the machine decides not to serve, I got a stern scolding because my bag was 1.8kg overweight for cabin baggage. With a limit of 8kg (6 on other airlines, as she pointed out) she checked how full the flight was (full), thought for a moment, and let it pass telling me to be more careful next time. She also told me that it looked to wide for the 20cm limit, and suggested I check in one of those bins that you can put your bag in to show it. I told her that I had specifically bought it because it was within the limit, to which she responded that the shops will say anything to make a sale. A little jaded, are we? Anyway, I made the offhand comment that with a computer, (I didn’t add the weight of a sturdy bag and a pair of shoes), it’s awfully easy to exceed the limit. She noted that computers are getting lighter, and I (trying to limit the frustration in my voice) told her that I couldn’t really afford a MacBook Air (my laptop is certainly not above average in the weight department).

Anyway, she gave me my boarding card, and I was on my way to killing some time. Despite not really being obligated, I decided to slip my bag into the size test thing, and was surprised when it was a bit of a tight squeeze. Worse, once it was in, I really struggled to get it out. Although they rarely check your cabin baggage, I was still really surprised that the one time they did I actually had a bit of a problem. Once I got on the plane, though, it slipped into the overhead compartment just fine.

(Coming soon: tack för tack)

Shrimp and other fun creatures

Last weekend we decided to do a little ecosystem renewal on the aquarium, with a few new beings. We’ve gone beyond the “classic” tropical fish, adding 2 transparent ones that look like skeletons, a new window cleaner (that’s about 5 inches inches long and looks not unlike a twig) and 3 shrimp. The window cleaner is interesting, because it’s mouth doesnt move like the other window cleaner, so it’s intriguing to watch, and the shrimp are downright entertaining. Their members are constantly moving, shoving microscopic (invisible as far as I’m concerned) food into their mouths, while other members appear to be grooming the bodies. The movement is quick, and continuous, so I can’t help but watch for a few minutes at a time. I am continually amazed at how much I enjoy just watching the wildlife for a while.

If a Canadian makes meatballs in France, can they really be called Swedish?

I worry about these things you see. I’m hoping that my upcoming trip to the land of the Smorgasbord will help me to answer that question, or at least to see how close (or how far) my meatballs are from the real thing…

Return of bureaucracy day

Roughly this time 5 years ago, I started getting the hang of this bureaucracy thing, and even set aside a day when it was best to get stuff done (Thursday). While today was originally a day off for a long weekend away, the weather decided that we should really not spend a weekend in the mountains this time around. As a result, today became an unintentional bureaucracy day, with the list of things to get done growing steadily throughout the evening yesterday. The morning actually went pretty well, but the afternoon didn’t quite work out as planned: first stop, the sous-préfecture to get some information on what my next steps should be. I really didn’t understand what the guy told me though, and other than the fact that I should probably go back another day to talk to someone in another department, things are pretty unclear (I’d pick Thursday, just to get back into proper bureaucracy day traditions, but I’ll be out of Mulhouse for work on both of the next 2 Thursdays). The next stop was quick and easy: I’m all signed up to continue Spanish classes in a few weeks. The last two stops, though, really REALLY didn’t go as planned: we needed to update some stuff at two different banks, both of which have suddenly decided to close on Mondays (one of them used to be open all day, and the other in the afternoon only). What the? So rather than feeling good about getting a lot of stuff done, I’m ending the day annoyed. Grr.

I can vote (?!)

A surprise piece of mail arrived for me yesterday from the Ministry of Work, Social Relations, Family and Solidarity (something tells me Canada doesn’t have one of those!), clearly marked (and by that I mean in bloc letters bigger than anything else on the envelope) ELECTORAL CARD. Huh?

Yep, I am elegible to vote for people having something to do with the labour relations board in my “collège” (salaried) and my “section” (diverse activities)…which leads me to wonder what sections exist that my job doesn’t fit into.

From what I have seen here, voting (at least for the president and such) is taken pretty seriously among young people (do I still fit into that category?), or at the very least among my friends. I remember being surprised on election day several years ago, hanging out with a group of friends, with each of them disappearing at one moment or another during the day to cast their ballot. While I’m sure that not quite so many people will vote in this election, I think that I would like to be one of them.

To be fair, this isn’t my first voting opportunity (within a company, salaried and the equivalent of hourly workers each vote for a representative that is supposed to meet regularly with management…sort of a union rep in a non-unionized organization), but it’s certainly the first time the French government has asked my opinion on anything, and I think I’d like to take this opportunity.

Now to figure out what the issues are, and what this vote will actually do…

Reminiscing

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been rediscovering the emails that I wrote in my first months in France and remember details and stories long lost in my memory. You will find these emails from 2003 Heather, with the occasional commentary from 2008 Heather, by checking out the calendar on the right side of this page, locating January, 2003, and wasting hours and hours and hours (etc), reading chronologically (I’m currently up to the end of November, 2003). To make the rediscovery a little more impactful (at least on me), I have recently moved from PC to Mac (does that make my cool and friendly, rather than dorky and depressive?) and set my desktop to slideshow its way through my photos, helping me to see photos that I haven’t seen in years, and remember still more things that have been long replaced by eMarketing and clients and the regular day-to-day.

It’s funny how things always seem easier when viewed from the future. I just read about a time that I was totally over-stressed trying to make lesson plans that would be both useful and interesting to my students. Now I think about how much easier teaching was (seemed?) than the challenges I face in my current job, and the hurdles I’ve jumped (some more easily than others) to get where I am. I guess most of all it reminds me how lucky I am to have done the things I’ve done and met the people I’ve met.

And to think that when I got on that plane in January, 2003, I thought that spending 5 months in France was going to be hard.