Am I Back - Comments

@ Michael Westen
AHah I am but I'm not all that active in terms of reading and commenting stories though. Which is kinda sad because I used to read and write stories simultaneously.

Yeah, DuoLingo has its issues, especially with Russian. I really only find it helpful when I'm using it to review material I've already at least started learning. Some of the sentences it wants you to translate are a bit nonsensical, too. It literally prompted me to translate "Give me the duck." the other day. Of all the words to use in that sentence, they went with duck. I will never understand. And to me it seems like Duo is worse with Russian than it is with any other language. I don't love their refusal to ever explain anything, but I feel like with German or Spanish, it's at least easier to follow along and figure out what's happening. With Russian? Not a chance.

I've been lucky enough to be able to convince my department to let me take Russian courses even though that's not a normal offering for a grad student, which is probably the main reason I've made any progress. I know sometimes community colleges and other places offer cheap language courses, but I'm not sure how common Russian is... Other things? I don't personally like the Тройка textbook we've been using, but maybe just working through a textbook or workbook would be helpful? That'd at least explain concepts, since Duo refuses to do any of that, and you can usually find used textbooks online for comparatively cheap. I have an Essential Russian Grammar book and an Essential Russian Book (...book? the title includes the word book, and now I'm not sure if I'm supposed to repeat it, haha), and those have been helpful, too. Not as interactive so they'd be more about memorization than anything else, but still, they explain things better than Duo. I've heard good things about Pimsleur, but haven't tried it myself, and I think it's probably more costly than anything else (or, anything else except Rosetta Stone). There are also a couple other language apps, like Babbel, FluentU, and others that might be helpful if used in combination with Duo or something.

I'm glad to hear you're doing better, at least! I totally hear you on being ready for the new year. If 2017 could just be over already, I'd be thrilled.

@ clint barton.
I don't know your strategy sounds pretty great and I almost wish I had done that. Oh well. Any tips for learning it? I still want to, but DuoLingo is... doesn't make it easier if that makes sense.

Glad to hear your doing well. Congrats on finishing grad school! That's huge! I've had a hell of a year, but I've been doing better. Definitely ready for the new year though.

@ Hina;
I feel like you're still pretty active Hina

See, I started really focusing on it a couple of months ago in order to avoid all of the other things I already had going on in my life, haha. But your strategy is probably the smarter one.

I've been alright though! Pretty good now, but had a hell of a time earlier this year. Looking forward to finishing up grad school this year, so there's that. What about you? How've you been? Other than the obvious from the blog, I mean.

HIII! I actually feel this way too. I mean I still write stories and blogs but I'm not as active as i was about three years ago (since it was about three years go that this site became almost as dead as it was/is now).

@ clint barton.
The site is definitely just a shell of what it once was, which is sad, but oh well.

Oh man, I gave up on that months ago. It was just so hard and I already had so much else going on in my life.

How have you been?

Oh, I'm right there with you! I feel you so much on not being sure if you've missed the site. I'm trying to figure that out myself right now. Heck, I'm not even sure I actively miss the old days, at this point, just because it's so hard to remember a time when I would log onto the site and actually expect literally anything to have changed since my last log-in.

But hey! How's learning Russian going? Вы все еще учитесь русский язык?