(Re Duo, again: my kids are suddenly into it now in a big way, having been inspired to learn by Eurovision, and their Dad having a Finnish girlfriend for a year (she herself speaking about 5 languages). The 9yr old has been dabbling in Finnish, Norweigan (sp?) and Swedish, but now focusing on German because his brothers do it at school and it’s an easy one. The 13 yr old is doing Finnish and German (and Latin at school, which is favourite subject). The 15 yr old German and Russian on Duo, and Latin, Greek and German at school; he would have continued the French to GCSE if he’d been allowed to do more language options. 10 or 20 years ago he’d have pursued a career in translation, but AI has stolen that job option. I did do Italian on duo for perhaps a year, because my boys have Italian heritage, but it was French that seduced my focus.
(Can you tell I’ve only had a single proper conversation with an adult in the past month? And that about 50% of what my sons talk about is duo? The rest is eurovision by the 9yr old and DnD by the others … The saving grace for adult stimulation is reading Catch 22 with my older two, and some proper grown up TV: Spartacus Blood and Sand with my eldest, and then Tenko with the older two, as a feminist antidote - it’s an drama from the 80s set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. It is almost exclusively about women, constantly talking about things that aren’t men … Every few minutes of the first episode I kept exclaiming, ‘look, a woman over 50! And she’s unattractive!’ It makes you realise today just how few older woman there are on TV, and that those there are are in tailored clothing and heels. I delighted in the sour, unattractive, riveting old nun, and so many others besides.
I’ll shush now. I appreciate the indulgence of anyone who made it this far, hahaha
Whenever I see clips of the Live Aid I feel nauseous at the sight of the stupendous size of the crowd, I can’t think of anything worse that being there. I can’t comprehend how anyone could feel comfortable in the middle of it all
Re Duo, I’ve just been back on this week for the first time in years. I’d forgotten just how awfully cartoony and reward focused it is. When I was in a daily habit I became inured to it - much as I’ve become inured to the rats living in our walls - which are so numerous and confident that they sometimes fight turf wars, which is really remarkable to hear. Nothing works to get rid of them, so I've had to make peace with it, framing it that we have some self-sufficient pet rats. With the newer Duo I was briefly pleased to see there were richer listening exercises than previously, but couldn’t get to the end of a single conversation exchange because the excessive English prattle of the cartoon character was so grating. Ah well. About 5rs of regular Duo in years gone by (when my kids were younger - I originally started using it to teach them, but ended up whiling away gaps in the day between them needing me, on it), was enough to get my level high enough to read the Musketeers books in the original French, and that’s enough for me (I may or may have mentioned this before, but there is actually 200 pages! - 20 chapters or so - of further material in the last book, than is in the usual English editions. I can not tell you how excited I was to discover that there was more Musketeer material to read, 20yrs after I first devoured the series. And it is prime stuff: Athos gets arrested after telling the king he is a very naughty boy; d’Artagnan has an ensuing dramatic argument with the king, going so far as to threaten to kill himself, sword held to his own breast; then a prison break, etc. It’s also come in handy for some historical research. So I will always be grateful to Duo for that. But I returned to it seeking to refresh my rusty vocab and grammar and the lesson block system is completely at odds with a light skimming over past material; combined with the intense level of cartoon and competitive elements, it doesn’t work for me now.
what a great clip, not seen that before. Status Quo got a massive cheer, but surely Mel Smith was taking the p!ss when he referenced them?!
(Re Duo, again: my kids are suddenly into it now in a big way, having been inspired to learn by Eurovision, and their Dad having a Finnish girlfriend for a year (she herself speaking about 5 languages). The 9yr old has been dabbling in Finnish, Norweigan (sp?) and Swedish, but now focusing on German because his brothers do it at school and it’s an easy one. The 13 yr old is doing Finnish and German (and Latin at school, which is favourite subject). The 15 yr old German and Russian on Duo, and Latin, Greek and German at school; he would have continued the French to GCSE if he’d been allowed to do more language options. 10 or 20 years ago he’d have pursued a career in translation, but AI has stolen that job option. I did do Italian on duo for perhaps a year, because my boys have Italian heritage, but it was French that seduced my focus.
(Can you tell I’ve only had a single proper conversation with an adult in the past month? And that about 50% of what my sons talk about is duo? The rest is eurovision by the 9yr old and DnD by the others … The saving grace for adult stimulation is reading Catch 22 with my older two, and some proper grown up TV: Spartacus Blood and Sand with my eldest, and then Tenko with the older two, as a feminist antidote - it’s an drama from the 80s set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. It is almost exclusively about women, constantly talking about things that aren’t men … Every few minutes of the first episode I kept exclaiming, ‘look, a woman over 50! And she’s unattractive!’ It makes you realise today just how few older woman there are on TV, and that those there are are in tailored clothing and heels. I delighted in the sour, unattractive, riveting old nun, and so many others besides.
I’ll shush now. I appreciate the indulgence of anyone who made it this far, hahaha
Whenever I see clips of the Live Aid I feel nauseous at the sight of the stupendous size of the crowd, I can’t think of anything worse that being there. I can’t comprehend how anyone could feel comfortable in the middle of it all
Re Duo, I’ve just been back on this week for the first time in years. I’d forgotten just how awfully cartoony and reward focused it is. When I was in a daily habit I became inured to it - much as I’ve become inured to the rats living in our walls - which are so numerous and confident that they sometimes fight turf wars, which is really remarkable to hear. Nothing works to get rid of them, so I've had to make peace with it, framing it that we have some self-sufficient pet rats. With the newer Duo I was briefly pleased to see there were richer listening exercises than previously, but couldn’t get to the end of a single conversation exchange because the excessive English prattle of the cartoon character was so grating. Ah well. About 5rs of regular Duo in years gone by (when my kids were younger - I originally started using it to teach them, but ended up whiling away gaps in the day between them needing me, on it), was enough to get my level high enough to read the Musketeers books in the original French, and that’s enough for me (I may or may have mentioned this before, but there is actually 200 pages! - 20 chapters or so - of further material in the last book, than is in the usual English editions. I can not tell you how excited I was to discover that there was more Musketeer material to read, 20yrs after I first devoured the series. And it is prime stuff: Athos gets arrested after telling the king he is a very naughty boy; d’Artagnan has an ensuing dramatic argument with the king, going so far as to threaten to kill himself, sword held to his own breast; then a prison break, etc. It’s also come in handy for some historical research. So I will always be grateful to Duo for that. But I returned to it seeking to refresh my rusty vocab and grammar and the lesson block system is completely at odds with a light skimming over past material; combined with the intense level of cartoon and competitive elements, it doesn’t work for me now.
Did somebody say ‘doing Duolingo French on the toilet’? 🥕