Excuse my ignorance, bit how can I do this.
May sound hard to believe but I can’t keep up with it.
Hi @lee
I’m sure if you drop an email to admin@saysomethingin.com they will sort out whatever you need…
You can also ‘pause’ the course for a period of your choosing, or multiple times I believe, so that you can continue at the pace of your choice.
Hopefully that is an option.
Rich
Thanks for the reply. Pausing would be good so I could catch up!
Following on from what Rich said, pausing to catch your breath is a good option before deciding to cancel altogether (everyone has sticky moments!) and remember that this forum is here for support when you feel things are getting too much or there are things that puzzle you - learning online can feel a bit lonely but this is a huge community of learners who have been through or are going through exactly what you are experiencing, so please do consider leaning on our shoulders whenever you need to - you are never alone in SSiW!
Thanks for the reply. This is my second go at learning, the first time I got to lesson 18, had to leave it and when I came back the whole thing had changed
Came back and it had changed again, and of course everyone it changes they start a different process!
And o jist find they introduce a new concept and I’m just getting into it and they add another then another, and I end up running to stay in the same place.
Does anyone else struggle with the clarity of the spoken parts though, I was saying “thedra” for two weeks before I realised it was “vedra” (fedra)
The dd sound and the f (v) sound can sound very similar until your ears get attuned to them - it’s very common with these two.
Does anyone else struggle with the clarity of the spoken parts though, I was saying “thedra” for two weeks before I realised it was “vedra” (fedra)
I had exactly that problem with fis (month) - for weeks I was saying ddis! Then I discovered there are vocab lists for each challenge. I wouldn’t recommend leaning on them too much (as Aran has said, notes can actually slow you down by becoming a crutch) but they’re useful for checking ambiguous sounds.
It’s a relief to hear others have trouble keeping up at times. Sometimes I find if it all seems too confusing, I left go for just a day or two and then spend an extra hour just listening through the previous couple of weeks’ challenges without even trying to speak, just letting things sink in – and then it doesn’t seem too difficult all of a sudden. I think with learning like this we all have to find our own rhythms. And I do check the vocab lists especially to help me with the words I can’t seem to remember no matter what I do!
I am at a very early stage indeed. I am a much older learner. To give you some idea…a couple of weeks ago I was almost in tears over “bord” and “boveen!” Better now. I’m just proceeding at my own very slow pace and am absolutely fine with that.
Learning a new language is excellent for your brain too. Win, win.
I’ve been on ‘pause’ since the lockdown started (was finding concentration very challenging). I was on week 9 of level 2. Almost ready to return, but now think I need to go back and restart level 2 again, as I don’t think much has sunk in!
Does anyone know if it’s possible to receive the weekly learning emails fortnightly instead? I think that would help to consolidate the lessons without feeling under pressure to ‘get them done’, if that makes sense.
Cheers,
Liz
Everybody has their own pace, don’t worry. Mine makes a snail seem fast!
Hi Lee, I had this last week and wrote to admin, someone helped me out and it gave me the confidence to carry on. I’m now at the end of that challenge (no 7 which I found really challenging) and onto the next. Really glad that I carried on and I feel much better about it all. With me, I was doing too much, around 45 mins a day and I got into the rhythm of doing that until I hit a wall. When there was listening practice as well and then the sound cloud and bits about the forum I felt totally overwhelmed. Now I’m back to 6 mins. But I have to say when it’s easy I can go do the whole challenge but it’s not a good idea for me because I get into the headset of doing 45 mins and did that even when I was struggling. So, 45 mins of hard slog, undermining myself and all the good work I’d done. It’s best to do a shorter session now and trust that I’ll learn as much. I hope you get through this. Good luck.
i so agree that a fortnightly lesson would be better. the pace is too fast for me as well. i have had to pause so many times to consolidate my learning it is very dispiriting especially as so many people including Aron are so relentlessly upbeat and insist that i am doing so well. How can they know?
i am making some slow progress and that is the best that can be said.
Fortnightly would be great. I start a challenge full of good intentions but by the time I’ve worked out what to say Aron had introduced the next thing, I think I’d prefer the lessons to consolidate the previous ones a bit more too, so introduce new bits just that bit more slowly whilst consolidating what we’ve learnt so far.
Wow, Lee, I’m very impressed that you got so far! I’m just working through Challenge 4 and, frankly, it almost has me in tears! I don’t know if it’s because my brain is slower after a very slight stroke a year ago, or I’m older, or what, but I didn’t expect it to be this difficult. Languages never presented a problem in my younger days, but this just moves on so fast that I was going to put something on the Forum myself and then I saw your post. I didn’t realise that the next challenge is sent BEFORE the last one has been marked as done, so that put me under pressure as well. It’s no good saying that you can work through at your own pace, because if the challenges keep coming every week, that’s putting more pressure on all the time. I don’t want to get another one until I feel comfortable with the one I’ve got, but I feel I’m being forced to rush through before I’m ready. Anyway, whinge over! I hope you don’t give up.
Maybe it’s designed for young quick minds! I’m 58 and need more time to get through it. And I agree very much about the next challenge coming before you’re finished, it can be very pressurising.
I think if you use the pause button, this also puts a pause on the new “wythnos” challenge emails as well (you still get the general forum ones). If you press pause each time you get a wythnos email you could essentially do a lesson every two weeks if that suits you better.
Just remember to unpause when you’re ready to move on (and don’t forget like I have!)
I found challenge 4 very difficult! I’m almost at the end of level 2 now, and level 1 challenge 4 remains one of the most difficult ones I’ve done.
One thing to remember is that is should feel uncomfortable, especially early on. None of us are used to taking in information in this way, so it’ll feel hard and strange and as though it’s too much.
You can always email the admin folk if you want to pause or slow down, but I’d suggest pressing on for now because you might find you’re taking in more than you think you are. Maybe give it another challenge or two and see how you feel about it then.
Back in January, I had five attempts at challenge 4 and even then I felt like I hadn’t taken in a word of it. Eventually I decided to move on because I didn’t know what else to do. Fast forward a couple of weeks and it was fine. Your brain does soak this stuff up, it just doesn’t like being made to earn its keep for once. Plus, the same material is visited again and again in subsequent challenges, so you have plenty of time to reinforce what you’re learning.
If you really feel down about it, though, you can ask to pause for a while. Feeling challenged is fine, but if you feel completely overwhelmed it won’t be fun, and if it’s not fun then it’s harder to stick with.
The other thing I do is I don’t even attempt to answer the questions the first 2 or 3 times I listen to a lesson. I’ll stick it on in the background while I’m cooking or working or doing something else - I don’t even try to pay full attention to it, but a lot sinks in anyway. Then when I come to do the lesson properly I find that I have a lot fewer instances of scrambling to remember some vocab, and I can usually go through it on the first or second attempt.
That said, every now and again a lesson crops up that requires many more repeats, but I think thats fairly normal. I hope that helps