Learning Projects

Chess Practice with Aimchess

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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Learning Thai: January-April 2023

By Walter Freiberg

This is what I wrote here four months ago (December 2022):

In December, I intend to continue working with the Thai Reading Exercises. After finishing the second book of BananaThai I will continue practicing with other similar easy readings for the rest of December. In January, I will start BananaThai’s Intensive Thai Course and after completing that, the Thai Listening Exercises. Then I would have finished all A1 and A2 resources provided by BananaThai (at the moment I’m writing this, December 2022).

What happened with my Thai studies in the firs quarter of 2023? Did I actually follow through as intended? Well… yes and now 🙃. Here’s a short summary of my Thai activities in the past few months:

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Performance-based Language Goals

By Walter Freiberg

The start of the year is our favorite time to set new language learning goals. After reflecting on the past year, we plan ahead for the next twelve months. We dream about where we’d like to be with our target language, one year from now. Most people set their goals according to the CEFR (Common European Frame of Reference for Languages). They tell themselves: ‘I’d like to reach a B2 level in Spanish’, or ‘I want to pass a C1 exam in French.’ I have set such goals for myself in the past with good results. However, this year I’m trying something different: I’m setting performance-based language goals.

When I think of language goals in terms of performance, I’m aiming at a very specific and individual result. At the end of the year, I want to be able to do X, Y, or Z in my target language. This can be more inspiring and motivating than a certificate. We will see! 😊

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Learning Thai: My Second Attempt

By Walter Freiberg

I always prefer to learn skills on the first try. But, sometimes, it doesn’t work like that. I may need a second, third, or even fourth attempt. That was my experience with the Thai language. I tried to learn it in 2020, put it on hold for a year and a half, and got back to it at the end of 2022.

When I tell others I started to learn Thai, one of the first things they ask, is: “Why are you learning Thai?”. A legitimate and important question. My short answer is: because I’m a Buddhist 🙂. Having clarity on your reasons for learning a certain language or skill turns out to be vital. And it’s not about having a good answer when others ask. It’s about you knowing why you’re doing it. What makes you want to do it? If we don’t ask ourselves why we learn what we learn, we may end up picking up languages or skills that are not entirely meaningful to us. Skills that are supposedly useful or good for us.

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Singing in German (Week 13) – Wrap-up of the Project

By Walter Freiberg

During the last week of December (and the first one of January), I further explored the voice preparation with the spaghetti exercise described in the Week 11 article. I tried looking for more ease and a sense of freedom in the voice production. I had a number of good experiences in that regard. In fact, I think that going through just a few of these new experiences during a multiple-month project can make a big difference. That’s how we learn, right? By trying something different when things are not working out as expected (and, in this case, I knew what was not going well and was looking for alternatives).

That’s why it is so important to work with a teacher, a coach, or find some kind of mentor. It saves us time. With the guidance of an experienced person, you can get there in less time and with less unnecessary struggle. Learning a new skill is always challenging. Why should we make it even more difficult? I know that many people like the idea of learning on their own. I totally get that. And I even support it (I do it myself as well, all the time). But self-learning has its limits. Especially in fields where you cannot tell what you’re doing well and wrong and need external feedback. Learning how to sing, in my opinion, is one of these skills.

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Singing in German (Week 12) – We Sing As We Train

By Walter Freiberg

This may sound like something extremely obvious, but many times we forget completely about it: we sing as we train, as we practice. That means that, in order to be able to achieve a specific result when we sing a song, we need to practice that a good deal consistently. We need to train our muscles and our mind to get whatever we’re looking for. And that can take time. Because of that, is important to be patient 😊 .

The attitude we bring to our practice sessions also plays a role in this learning process. According to my voice teacher during this skill building project, ideally, we should practice as if we were meditating (with the same focus and mindfulness), or as if we were in a music performance. We don’t want to practice carelessly or just go through the motions. Practicing carefully and mindfully can make a difference over time.

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