Resources to Keep Busy While Sheltering in Place

[mu_hilltopper]

Two summers ago I assigned my kids 10 minutes a day of Duolingo .. we were going to France, so I figured they should try French.

They didn't hate it, but it never took off.  They probably did it 30-40 sessions, but .. I don't believe anything sunk in for them.     I've been thinking of making them do it again during Corona-madness.

Honestly, what really irks me is .. my wife is a teacher.  She kinda speaks French, so I asked her, hey, the kids aren't in school now.  How about you become their French teacher and do actual lessons and teach them something besides how to win at Fortnite?

That sure sounded like a good idea when I spoke them into the air.

[BM1090]

Admittedly is due to a past near-fluency in Spanish, but using Duolingo helped me enough with French and Italian to have brief convos in shops or restaurants.  A waitress in Paris told me my pronunciation was excellent, which I found amusing.


Wow, interesting.  Hows that going?  I asked both my rep in India and one of my good friends in Bombay if there is any merit to me learning and both said no.  My rep said unfortunately without being completely fluent nobody would want to converse with me in Hindi and the staff in our office like using my visits as practice for their English skills.  My friend laughed and said anyone worth talking to there would speak English anyways.  Also, the "listen to side convos" benefit would be limited cause the factory managers and other people I usually interact with speak Gujarati primarily.

Similar situation with Mandarin.  My head of Asia Pacific said there is certain leverage and power being a Westerner and speaking only English that you would lose.  But I'm dabbling in Mandarin more cause there is a tangible benefit to potentially spending more and more time in China.  Flying out of Shenzhen Airport last year headed to Shanghai, I was STUNNED by how little competent English I encountered.  The problem is Mandarin is hard as hell 

It's going well but I'm in the very early stages. I've learned a lot of words and just started with sentence structures. I agree it's not necessary to learn for work, but I'll be marrying into a Punjabi family next year and I'd like to have at least a basic understanding of the language.

It's been eleven years since I was enrolled in any type of Spanish class but I have to admit that's coming along much more easily. I am not sure yet if I'll get to the point where I'll be able to speak fluently. Right now it takes me a bit too long to process what I'm hearing and form a response to be conversational, but I do think I'll be able to read and write the language well at the very least.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

It's going well but I'm in the very early stages. I've learned a lot of words and just started with sentence structures. I agree it's not necessary to learn for work, but I'll be marrying into a Punjabi family next year and I'd like to have at least a basic understanding of the language.

It's been eleven years since I was enrolled in any type of Spanish class but I have to admit that's coming along much more easily. I am not sure yet if I'll get to the point where I'll be able to speak fluently. Right now it takes me a bit too long to process what I'm hearing and form a response to be conversational, but I do think I'll be able to read and write the language well at the very least.

Are you doing the traditional Indian wedding? 

[BM1090]

Are you doing the traditional Indian wedding?

Not the full traditional wedding. We'll be incorporating a lot of it but it will be more of a hybrid.

[JWags85]

It's going well but I'm in the very early stages. I've learned a lot of words and just started with sentence structures. I agree it's not necessary to learn for work, but I'll be marrying into a Punjabi family next year and I'd like to have at least a basic understanding of the language.

It's been eleven years since I was enrolled in any type of Spanish class but I have to admit that's coming along much more easily. I am not sure yet if I'll get to the point where I'll be able to speak fluently. Right now it takes me a bit too long to process what I'm hearing and form a response to be conversational, but I do think I'll be able to read and write the language well at the very least.

Oh very cool.  That makes a lot more sense.  My sister actually dates a Punjabi guy right now.  He barely speaks (born and grew up in NJ) which makes it hard to talk to his grandparents when he visits them in India every few years, wild as that seems.

As for the wedding, hybrid is the way to go.  I went to a Jewish-Indian wedding in the Tri-State last year and it was easily the coolest wedding Ive ever been to, and thats including huge budget Indian weddings in Mumbai that had thousands of guests.

[GooooMarquette]

Two summers ago I assigned my kids 10 minutes a day of Duolingo .. we were going to France, so I figured they should try French.

They didn't hate it, but it never took off.  They probably did it 30-40 sessions, but .. I don't believe anything sunk in for them.     I've been thinking of making them do it again during Corona-madness.

Honestly, what really irks me is .. my wife is a teacher.  She kinda speaks French, so I asked her, hey, the kids aren't in school now.  How about you become their French teacher and do actual lessons and teach them something besides how to win at Fortnite?

That sure sounded like a good idea when I spoke them into the air.

See, that was your problem. NEVER suggest that she do something. Instead, word it in a way that will let her think it was her idea.

Like - "that duolingo we tried a while back never stuck. I have been trying to think of better ways to get the kids to learn French, but am at a loss. Any ideas?"

[ZiggysFryBoy]

See, that was your problem. NEVER suggest that she do something. Instead, word it in a way that will let her think it was her idea.

Like - "that duolingo we tried a while back never stuck. I have been trying to think of better ways to get the kids to learn French, but am at a loss. Any ideas?"

Gooooo is a chick?