Halt! Das ist nicht gut! : Mastery Review Time!

Halt! Turn Back!

Yesterday or so, I decided I wanted to dip my toe in Unit 6. The beginning stages were not bad, it was the review and then you write. However I got the number
section too and was ok. Null, Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Fu**nf, Sechs, Sieben,Acht, Neun, Sehn. No big deal, just a bit of memorisation needed there. However structures are changing, speed is increasing and most importantly, the Drill got harder.

They started talking about Marks, I got that part. However, when I saw that next section, I had to put my own brakes on. I only have so many marks? I don't have enough marks? And then the combination of the words, the full on speed and complexity. PLUS, they EVEN decided to make it a longer drill too. not just Hello, Hello, How are you?, Im fine.... No. They literally jumped into full on conversatuon territory...... NOPE! Not yet.

I actually have words I still need to strength and Sprechen is one of them. I can say Shp, I can say Rech, Rechen. Shprechen? I still slip into SP instead of Shp, and my lazy tongue gets stuck and says "ken" instead of "hchen"(my own little way of spitting). Slowly I get it, but normal speed I get my tongue caught. Dru**ben is no longer an issues, and in fact Unit 6 helped clarify some sounds for me.

Verstehen.  The new word Vier in Unit six sounds like "feel", because of the force you need for the V. So knowing how to pronounce V like this, I decided to repractise "Ich Vesterhen Frau Kunze" in my head and it sounded much better. That one little pronunciation clarification makes the words flow out of my mouth much easier, than we I was solely using "Vee" instead of a "Fee" sound. I'm still saying a "Vee", but it's close to "Fee" now, with more force behind it.

So did Unit 6 destroy me? No, in fact, dipping my toe into Unit 6 gave me some more tips and words to work on. Those little changes have me needing to go back and just strengthen the words I already know, work on the phrases, and masters these first 5 sections. As I said before, 5 IS getting better, but the mastery is not there. I also have to remind myself to go ahead and slow down and get the accuracy right, first. I have the luxury of learning at home in my own time, and thus, if I need to slow down and replay a part, I have the option for sure.

In fact that's why I enjoy self studying no matter the subject. I can really sit with myself and focus on what I need to correct and strengthen and take as many or less breaks as I need for restroom, to eat, to socialize or get fresh air, and then come back to study with a fresh head. I'll talk more about this in the next blog entry.

Happy Learning!