for my friends at LiveMocha.com

March 11, 2010

Hi there! Hallöchen! Salut! Olá!

I'm back! I'm now 1 year old in my German learner life. After a full-year hiatus from LiveMocha, I'm happily reconnecting with many old friends. I also resumed a limited number of quality reviews. I will not be as active as before. I'm pleased to find some minor feature improvements on the site.

My French learning was practically put on hold during the past 6 months, as I fully focused on German. I did manage to keep up minimally, as I still watch French films and listen to French music. My friend Bruno from France also chats with me occasionally. I just haven't done much studying in French lately.

My German abilities has advanced by leaps and bounds, and I'm very pleased. No longer being an absolute beginner, I'm now able to absorb and comprehend things better. I am now able to conduct text chats using broken German, with English as a fallback.

I also learnt a great deal in history during the past year. My recent studies mostly covered Roman Empire and contemporary Europe.

My political research and advocacy has expanded, not diminished. I project that my next 25 years will be largely consumed by that endeavor.

That's all for now!

March 26, 2009

What's Cuppachino been up to?  Why are you "drastically less active"?

I decided to learn German seriously (outside of Mocha) at the end of February.  That has consumed all of my free time, after my professional duties, social/political advocacy, and economic studies. I've recently been inspired to restructure my life and devote even more time to writing.   [Why German?   SEE My Progress & Milestones]

My French learning continues, perhaps at a slightly reduced pace. I still listen to French news daily and watch French films. Incidentally, my German progress has been quite rapid. I'm now spoiled by the hand-holding, various attention with continuity, and ready access to answers for all my burning questions. Being motivated and constantly steered in the right direction make a huge difference! It's been very productive—in stark contrast to my early days of French (in 2006), where I had to endure painful struggles and research tediously to answer my own questions.

I'm still keeping up with messages here, and reviewing 95% of exercises sent by friends, but less than 10% of the requests from other members. My in-depth analysis style is now reserved for friends only, due to time constrain.

Later...  A+!  Bis später!