Walter Freiberg

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Thai Learning: One-Year Update

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It’s been more than a year since I (re)started learning Thai in October 2022. Last April, I finished my 6-Month Update with this text:

I intend to continue working with the 25 Real-life Conversations by Thai with Grace. After that, I will continue with her short stories. I commit to the daily study schedule until June 10th or so. In the second week of June, I will participate in the Polyglot Gathering, that will take place in Poland (looking forward to learning a lot and meeting other language lovers!). The rest of June I will visit other countries in Europe. For that reason, I might pause or reduce my Thai studies for a few weeks in June (or not!). Let’s see how it unfolds 😊.

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My Experience Taking Language Lessons on italki

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Between January 2020 and September 2022, I took a total of 162 classes on italki, diving into languages such as German, Italian, Portuguese, and English. During this period, I interacted with 34 different instructors, although most of my lessons were with just 11 of these professionals. In this blog post, I’ll delve into my italki experience, offering insights for anyone considering the platform for language learning. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your language skills, I think you’ll find it helpful.

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Polyglot Gathering in 2023

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Between June 13th and June 19th of this year, I took part in the Polyglot Gathering held in Teresin, Poland. This was my first time participating in the gathering. In my previous post, I shared my experience during this whole trip to Europe. The Gathering was the kick-off for my trip. As the other article focused on speaking German and Italian in Germany, Austria, and Italy, I didn’t delve deeply into my time in Poland—although I did actually speak some German and Italian with other participants at the gathering. Here, I’ll elaborate on my learning experiences, the wonderful people I met, and what it was like being in Poland without knowing a single word of Polish 😄.

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Speaking German and Italian Abroad

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Common wisdom dictates that one of the best ways to learn a foreign language is to move to the country where it’s spoken. If you’re learning Spanish, you would move to Spain, Argentina or any other Spanish-speaking country. If you’re learning Japanese, you would move to Japan, and so on. In theory, those should be the ideal places to learn our target language: the country where it’s spoken by everybody. I haven’t tried this approach yet, but I tried something similar. Between 2020 and 2022, I spent a lot of time learning and practicing German and Italian in Argentina and Uruguay. And in June 2023, I had the opportunity to visit Germany, Austria, and Italy for the first time. Here I’d like to share with you my experience using and speaking German and Italian in Berlin, Vienna, and Rome.

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Training in Immersion Learning with Refold

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YouTube and Netflix have been game-changers for language learners. They grant access to a wealth of content in various foreign languages, both in original and dubbed versions. However, many language students don’t take full advantage of this abundance of video content. Perhaps they regard media consumption in their target language as an activity reserved for after they’ve mastered the language. But what if one could learn a language by immersing themselves in bingeworthy YouTube and Netflix content? This is the foundation of several immersion methods for learning foreign languages, and Refold is one of my favorites.

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Chess Practice with Aimchess

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Last April, I resumed my chess practice. This time, I decided to try Aimchess. It’s an impressive app that tailors exercises and training to your online games. By linking your accounts from platforms like Chess.com or Lichess.org, Aimchess analyzes your results and highlights areas for improvement. Even though this website is not as popular as Chess.com or Lichess, it has solid backing. Moreover, in 2021, Aimchess was acquired by Play Magnus Group, a chess company co-founded by former World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

I decided to practice throughout April and May, alternating a weekday training regimen with online Blitz games each week. In this two-month period, I played a grand total of 150 Blitz games. I won 60 games, lost 82, and drew 8. I’ll share more about my rating changes below 🤓♟️.

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