Off to France for the third time (not including Noumea) in Christmas. Ill be doing a contiki while over there too.

Bump! 

How is everyone going? 
Duolingo ended up making some huge changes over the past couple of months, probably for the best but it was pretty frustrating with how it was done. I was starting to focus on my past tense but had to go back and learn some old things. 

I've made a lot of progress over the past couple of months and now I can actually speak a little! 

Stopped my Auslan and Dutch after posting here :/ there was no-one to really practice with and I think that's a big barrier.

Got the Duo Lingo app, up to level 13 in Dutch just smashing through the categories to refresh my brain.  Want to make new friends with or clients out of fellow speakers so there's a practical reason for it.

EDIT: to say good job on the Spanish. I've heard it's probably the easiest language and most versatile.  What are the difficulties you have in it?  Like for example, Dutch has genders for different objects, so "het" and "de" both mean "the" but only depending on the context.

Have heard Dutch speakers know what you're talking about but it's akin to Emmanuel Macron calling Mal's wife "delicious" - it jars on the ears of native speakers

Yea a lot of people do say its one of the easier languages to learn but its still a real challenge. 

It does have genders as well, the whole ser/estar (the verb to be) and present tense verb conjugation was a real pain to begin with but now its a lot easier. I still make a ton of mistakes but with most of them I can recognize immediately. 

Listening is really tough for me, so many times I'll be talking to someone and after four or five words I'll just get lost, things are either said way too fast or I get confused between different tenses or hear words I just don't know. 

Talking is also very tough, I've noticed that I either get way too nervous or forget things. I also feel that maybe due to duolingo I know a lot of words but the ability to have an actual conversation with someone is almost impossible. I can ask them how they are, their name, where are they from but nothing really on a deeper level. 

But with that said, going out drinking and approaching Spanish speaking girls is awesome, they seem to really appreciate that you are learning their language. :kiss: 

Currently in France and don't speak French. I always feel a bit guilty as I insist people speak German in Germany. Tourists and residents are completely different things though.

Thanks for the reply.  How do you keep on top of it?  Youtube, Spanish speaking friends for example?

Duolingo seems to be a good foundation to being able to hold your own around town, but doesn't compare to actually living it ie. through videos, movies, music etc.  The Spanish speaking girls example I actually took as a practical reason to learn it more in depth!

Duo is good for memorising the words though.  Once I saw "Pardon. Ik ben een paard" the words were burnt in my memory back in the day

Is there a duolingo equivalent for Croatian?  

Spanish speaking friends at work was the big one, I went from practicing the alphabet, words I learnt from duo and then actually speaking to them in small sentences. The ability to speak with someone regularly is huge I couldn't imagine learning the language and having no one to practice with. 

What I do in addition is: 
Duo: Although this has slowed down in the last few months as like you said its a good foundation builder. I like the Stories option and need to give the podcast option another go. 

Youtube: I've found a couple of good channels that really help me. (Whynotspanish) & (GringoEspanol) 

Music: I listen to a lot of reggaeton but I don't think that really helps too much tbh. 

Lingq: This has really helped me, it's basically a huge word database that tracks every word that you see while you read in your target language. You can tell the system if you know the word or not so its been a great way to keep track of things, via spaced repetition. I try to read maybe 1000 words a day, most of the stories have been a bit of a pain to read but it helps. (I do pay like $10 a month for this though). 

Podcast: I found this classroom style podcast which was interesting but I'm only on episode 13 of 90. 

Grammar book: I'm only two or three chapters into this but its a big text book, its a different experience its hard to sit there and try and do certain exercises in Spanish but it has helped me recognize some of the mistakes I do make. 

Spanish classes: I've only just signed up to some so hopefully this helps. First time I've been around some beginner speakers and its interesting to see them make mistakes/ struggling at things I've been able to teach myself. 

I've also been meaning to join some free salsa classes and go to some meetups at local bars. 

I think that's everything I do, I work really hard on it but its such an up and down process where I'm continually frustrated. 

Ok so I will give some of you peeps of how my language progression. Every Saturday morning I take an intensive French course for 4 hours (I'm super sick today so I didn't go).

Morning:
-30 minute drive in listening to France24 radio
-Duolingo (maximum xp daily) (10 mins)

Morning break:
-TinyCards (5 minutes 2 decks)
-Quizlet (5 minutes 2 decks)

Lunch break: 
-1 article from French newspaper app (usually France Football)

Drive home:
-1ère radio from New Caledonia

Before dinner:
-7jours sur la planete (30 mins)
-SBS French Radio (5-8 minutes)

Saturday:
4 hours of intense French courses at Alliance Française

Every 5 weeks:
Private tutition for b2 exam

Every 2 years minimum:
Travel to a French speaking country. Last year was New Caledonia this year its France Blwgium and Switzerland. 

Get on my level. 💪

The versatility and practicality of speaking/ understanding Spanish and my preference for Latina's is what got me interested in studying.

The frustrating part is that speakers of latin languages (Italian, Portuguese etc) all seem to speak much faster than we do in English. I imagine that to somebody who grows up speaking one of these languages, English speakers must ssssooooound liiiiike weeeee taaaaalk reaaallly sssslow liiiiike thiiiis. It's harder for me to understand more than the odd sentence if I watch Spanish language movies or news because it seems their normal speaking speed is the equivalent of an English speaking race caller whereallthewordsjustfalloneaftertheotherlikethisandI'mgoingwhatthefuck?

Hablar mas despacio!

Well from the people I know who have been in this country for a couple of years, I'm continually told by them to slow down every now and then and that they can't understand certain people as they are speaking too fast. 

@ Theselctfew dam that's impressive. How often do you get to speak it? 

Oh I have been doing it since year 7 and I use it in my career so it's a necessity. The more you practice it, the better you will be. I speak it 6 days a week with Sunday being my day off from it lol.  

Almost completed the Duolingo tree with golds on each capability. It has been fun to learn a language again. It's taken 2 years and a lot of dry spells.

Good stuff. I tell my English students that language is everywhere. It's a tool for life. It never stops. When out and about be curious. Ask yourself what that object is in the language you're learning. When you hear something in English or think of a situation, ask yourself how you'd communicate that in the language your learning. 

Well done mate.

Inspiring people regardless of age the importance of languages is vital. Keep us informed of the progress. As well as your German;)