Having been a long term SSI fan I’ve been really looking to giving the new language courses a try.
Last week my diary had quietened down enough to put some time into trying the French course, a language I dropped in school to do Welsh GCSE.
Having learnt Welsh, Spanish and a little bit of Dutch with SSI I had pretty good expectations of what to expect.
I was not disappointed.
The first hour was probably the most challenging as I got used to the accent but soon I was happily chugging away through new words and sentences.
In just a few days I’ve already been able to have a short (and admittedly one sided) chat in French with a French colleague who was pretty impressed with my progress after only a week.
But I think the most telling thing was a German colleague (who can speak perfect English and conversational French) said they’d never have had the confidence to just start having a go without worrying about all the mistakes they’d make.
And I think I’d have felt the same many years ago if it hadn’t been for Aran telling me over and over and over that mistakes are absolutely critical in the learning experience.
I’m looking forward to trying some very intense sessions with the app over my Xmas holidays and wowing my colleagues again in January…
So thank you again Aran and everyone at SSI for not just giving me the ability to speak my own county’s language but the opportunity to speak any language…
After just over a year I’ve completed the French course.
Having done the Welsh and Spanish old style courses I’m fully on board with the SSI style learning but this was the first language I’ve done with the AutoMagic.
It took me a bit of time to get used using the advance button, probably because I thought I’d miss stuff, but once I did start using it, I found I could start every session advancing.
I’m really liking the Infinite Play. I’m not sure why but not long after starting the infinite play, it felt like I’d immediately jumped significantly in ability.
I love and hate the more idiomatic sentences such as “avoir l’air”. They give me the most trouble but are an interesting window into how other languages work.
Also love finding out that certain English phrases such as “toot sweet” come from French.
A few minor bugs I noticed:
A handful of times the female voice will continue the sentence beyond what the English was.
I’m not sure if this is my imagination or if it’s really happening, but I think the word mais/but is being added in the French when it’s not in the English. And also I think the English sometimes says Wednesday and the French says Tuesday.
But otherwise yet another thoroughly effective and enjoyable course which has allowed me to wow friends and colleagues.
I think in the new year I’m going to switch to the Welsh course. I’ve neglected my Welsh and Spanish since lockdown and would like to get back to improving it.
