10/13/2019
My experience in my first-year learning German with Chatterbug.
10/13/2019I’ve always wanted to learn German, I tried learning it through different apps (mainly Duolingo) but I always ended being motivated fo...
I’ve always wanted to learn German, I tried learning
it through different apps (mainly Duolingo) but I always ended being motivated
for 1 week or 2 and then just lefting it aside (The Duolingo Owl became every
time more and more at my lack of commitment)
So, last year, I decided that I should take it seriously
my language learning or I will never learn German.
At that point I discovered Chatterbug and I decided I would
give it a try with the 15 days free trial. What I liked most about Chatterbug
(and what makes it different from other learning platforms I tried) is that you
have Live Lessons with tutors so you can practise what you are learning.
Being honest, I started in October but around December
I’ve stopped doing the lessons every day because I was busy with exams and
stuff, and once you take the lazy path is really hard to get on track again.
But in March I decided that I had to start AGAIN (fact:
I have been paying all that months, so it was a waste of money for me) and for
the first time, I took a live lesson.
I know it is quite ridiculous to sign up for a website
for learning language the which main feature is the live lessons, but I felt so
unconfident with my German level that I decided I was not going to be able to
handle one. Reality is, that it doesn’t matter because your tutor will be patient
with you and will try to adapt to your level but also is quite rewarding that even
though I made many mistakes I could communicate for real with a person in German.
If you want to give a
try to Chatterbug I recommend you to schedule, the lessons in the morning
because both your tutor and you will feel more energetic (I promise)
Chatterbug is not only about Live lessons but it is
divided into lessons that adjust to the CEFR and features a wide selection of
videos, podcasts and writings so you can practise, and grammar lessons and
vocabulary which you can revise later with cards. It has a spaced-repetition
system which is based on the correct answers you had in the past and the time
you’ve been learning them, so you revise what you really must revise (quite
like the Memrise system)
- In Chatterbug you can also learn French, English and Spanish!
In my first year with Chatterbug, with all my ups and
downs (in summer I didn’t use it) I made it to the A2 level and I improved
quite a lot (one of my biggest achievements is that I can understand Peppa Pig
in German) but also, I keep motivated to continue learning German and I even
bought some grammar books to practise more in-depth some topics. Talking about,
I remembered that the second thing I like the most about Chatterbug and which
Duolingo doesn’t have is the grammar lessons which I consider quite important.
My goal is to complete the A2 level by the end of June
and continue learning so I can maybe reach the B2 level someday. I try to study
20 minutes per day which I normally do in my commuting to university (I set a
goal of studying 120 minutes per week) and I try to do one live lesson each
month (As my plan includes one live lesson)
In the next posts I will continue talking about my
learning progress and about resources I find useful.
If you would like to use my referral link to get the 15 days free trial plus a 25% discount on
your first month you can click here.
(Unfortunately,
Chatterbug didn’t pay me or anything for writing this post but they had this
option to provide a discount for the people you gave the link)
