I love learning new things. Learning something new makes me feel like I’m becoming a better verision of myself. I suddenly have new tools for problem solving.
One thing I’ve always wanted to learn was French.
At school, half the the students were set to learn French, and the other half to learn Arabic. Since most of my family spoke French, I wanted to learn French.
I was put in the Arabic class.
Leave it to the education system to mess things up. No matter how much I protested, and despite there being kids who’d happily trade places with me, they wouldn’t budge. So, being a stubborn kid, I ended up learning neither.
Every once in a while, I’d give it a go. I tried multiple apps (ahem, Duolingo). None clicked for me. I guess different people learn differently.
Luckily, I married a teacher. With the help of my wife, I gave it another go. I started making real progress when my wife introduced me to Memrise.
Memrise really works for me. It’s practical, focusing on everyday words and sentences. It’s friendly, with videos of locals pronouncing common sentences. It’s progress system makes sense to me. I could do with less promotional ads, but for a free app I guess I can put up with it.
I still have a lot to learn, but I’m making good progress now, which is exciting. Mon dieu!
Optimising My Life 