Learning a New Langauge - SWH Added

HI,

Glad to hear the update on your life. I am so happy you are taking time for yourself and that the boss was so cooperative. I'm happy you've made friends for yourself and are starting to think about what YOU need, after so many years burning out and taking care of 3 generations of family members.

I'm an experienced Spanish teacher - I used to teach middle schoolers, now I tutor mostly adults (because they want to be there) and occasionally a teen (but only if they want to be there and not if the parents are pushing/punishing them). I don't know of apps like what you mention, but I don't have a lot of experience with apps anyway. What I can say is that, if you find something, it will ONLY word if you are an auditory learner. I think you could learn individual words and some individual phrases ("green - verde" and "thank you - gracias" and so on), but then what? How do you string them together? After you ask someone a question or make a statement to them, how would you decipher the response? Most people are at least partly visual learners, which means using a book or a website or direct interaction with a human so you can decipher facial expressions and helpful gestures. If you are not visual at all, maybe you could do it by listening. But I think you should use that only as getting a start, and not as getting yourself to the level of conversing. Otherwise you'll be frustrated.

Also, pay attention to the native speakers and make sure they are from the area you think you might travel to or using the same accent as the people you'll run into and speak with. Learning Spanish from a Spaniard is totally different from learning from a Mexican - in fact, a friend of mine who was raised in Puerto Rico and is fully bilingual (Spanish as first language, then English) just traveled to Spain on business, and even he had a tough time. Same goes for French in Canada, France or Haiti. And so on.

Finally, consider enjoying that hour of downtime when you don't really have to do anything on top of getting ready for work. You have spent decades multi-tasking and never taking a moment to breathe or just let your thoughts wander. You might consider doing just one thing at a time for now. That hour that you stop and have a drink at night? Take some of that in the morning, have a cup of coffee, and sit and watch the trees leafing out or the birds at the feeder.

I have experience with learning other languages, and I agree with Diane that you probably won't get too far just listening to something on your own. No reason not to try, just tune your expectations to that possibility.

Thank you so much for the update! It is great to hear that your life is in a calm place now. Dang, you worked hard for that 30 years! As Diane B and the others said, I wonder whether your mind is just feeling a little off-balance with the idea that you don't have to take care of anyone else and go a hundred miles a minute? If you are really WANTING to learn another language, great, however if it's just a part of you getting antsy at the idea of not going a hundred miles a minute, it might be interesting to see what you get from being still for that hour. If that really doesn't work for you, you could use the time to explore new types of music (there are lots of internet radio stations which specialize in every kind of music on the planet, I think!). You also could listen to audiobooks or pod-casts about topics you want to learn about. What a treat, having that time you can use as you wish!

Nice to hear you're doing well. So nice that your boss accommodated you :) That's wonderful and must make you feel valued.

You need to (if I may say this) stop thinking of downtime as 'wasted' time. I agree with Diane. You must still be in busy mode. I know you're a do-er (I have a sister like this) who takes care of everyone :)

But if you need to take on one more thing - if that's what makes you feel good, I will check with my son who had an app for Spanish. I have spoken a second language since I was small but I learned through talking with others.

I was going to try meditating (there are apps for this but I have yet to really get into apps). I wonder if anyone here meditates .... it's that whole mindfulness thing. I have to admit, the idea of it kind of stresses me out lol.

Congratulations on the move and making friends etc. I think it sounds wonderful. Good for you.

i'm just the opposite. i find having an hour or two or three during the day to spend in total silence is absolutely vital to my ongoing sanity. if i'm doing housework i do like to have the tv or music on, but my brain requires frequent and prolonged periods of zero input other than my thoughts in order to stay (relatively) sane.

it sure does sound as if this little interim time is a huge blessing for you. perhaps it's the years and years of zero you time that's making you feel as if some quiet time on a daily basis now means you're 'wasting' it.

nothing wrong with some language training. i don't know of any good ones that are free, but my son has a fancypants apple watch that does real-time translations for him. maybe you can find something like that.

but unless you're burning to learn a new language, it might be more useful to you to explore the silence, and see what about it is making you feel uncomfortable. you ARE still very very busy, so an hour of silence doesn't, to me, sound like very much.

khairete
S.

https://www.lingualift.com/blog/best-language-learning-apps/

See if one of these will work for you.

Additional:
Recreational reading is something I really enjoy but there have been times when there just were not enough hours in a day.
It's a pleasure to get a great book and read it cover to cover in one weekend - just drink the story in! - and it's hard when you are so busy that it just can't be done.
So sometimes I'll just read a chapter when ever I get a 15 min break.
Takes a long time to finish a book that way but the reading for fun is worth it.

Not doing is just as important as doing. Silence is awesome. I love being in complete silence with my thoughts. However, I recommend sing along language learning. My kids took this Spanish in school where the sang along to songs with the lyrics in Spanish. I would play it in the car. You will learn faster and it’s mindless and after a few times will know the words completely.

Congratulations on your exciting new chapter! You deserve some peaceful silence, that is not wasted time...enjoy it! (But if you want to learn a language, that sounds like fun, you have good tips below.)