Episode 14: Language Learning, Does Duolingo Help, Taking Portuguese Classes

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of As the Dinosons Turn. And in this episode, we'll talk more about our language learning and and whatever else. It seems like we start with one topic and then we like go off on five different tangents. But the this was about this one's about our language class and the fact that I just finished mine. Um as we're recording this, it was last week that I finished it. And we took our test and I did not well on it. But, you know, I got 11 out of 20, which sounds disastrous, but would you figure that I had no prior language experience really? I took two years of French in high school, and I did it because I thought it would be easier than German, which was the other option in high school back in the 90s. And I was the kind of student who's like, I'm going for see, I never wanted to actually really how to this isn't coming out right.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

We wanted to get it done. Jason was the I do enough to get by, but I don't worry about being the overachiever.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

So if you get C's, people hassle you. Your parents and your teachers and and stuff, they hassle you that you're only getting C's. But if you get A's, then everybody expects you to always get A's, and that's a lot of work. So it's like, what can I do to just kind of bob along as you get B's? That's okay. We are so different. We are so different. I love Oh my god. So that's why I took French.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Also because you figured then you wouldn't ever have to take a language again.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Right. So at that time I went to Simpson College, where you later were a professor, but they didn't have a langu well, they did have a language requirement, but I met it by having two years of language in high school. This is like 90s, we're talking here. Right. And so I was like, okay, I don't have to do that. Um so it I had the two years of French that I just kind of muddled through, but other than that, I've had no language learning at all, and hadn't set foot outside the United States except for 2019, uh, was the first time I had actually set foot on foreign soil.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Right, so that's walking the Camino, and then we went to Mexico, and I could be a translator there, and you could learn you understood little bits of things here and there, maybe. Maybe. Did you understand anything? No, nothing. Okay. Damn.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

I've not really picked up any Spanish from you, which is very strange.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Which is funny because there was a point in time when you started doing your own learning, your Rosetta Stone.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

I did Rosetta Stone, and I just remember the first thing we learned was Quiero Presentarle al Señor Molina.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

That's all he remembers, and that's all he learned. Right. And so that's the thing. So you learned scripted things, and you'd done Duolingo before. So you knew kind of how things worked. Did that help you at all in your your class?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

No, I don't think Duolingo helped at all. Why? I I think Duolingo is fine if you know that you're traveling to another country for a vacation in the future. Like six months from now, we're going to Italy or whatever. And so you pull up your Duolingo and you do the language for that country for the next six months. You'll learn some vocabulary words so that when you get off the airplane, you can read a few signs, you go to a restaurant, you can read some of the things that are on the menu. But there's no way that you will ever be able to have a conversation with somebody from what Duolingo teaches you. None.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Well, uh uh caveat also that Duolingo is Brazilian Portuguese, which is different than European Portuguese. So let's put that out there too. So I, you know, maybe. Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

And and some of us are kind of remedial at thigs, and so you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Other people's mileage with Duolingo may vary. But um, so I took this class, which was the first time in 30 years, I suppose, that I've had a right and proper language class. And I guess I feel like it's kind of a minor miracle that I got 11 out of 20 on it instead of zero, you know, because I suppose you could guess your way to like five, I suppose. But um, I got 11 out of 20. It actually was enough to be satisfactory, but the teacher recommended that I have some private lessons to work on a few things.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Right. And I I love your instructor. She's also Tyler's instructor, and she's brilliant and does wonderful things. Like, I think she's fantastic and very thoughtful, and you know, really working on applied language and all of those things too. So that's what these classes are. They're not like, you know, we're learning, we're writing things of like, you've lost your passport, now you need to, or you lost your ID, and now you need to go and report it stolen and or lost at the G like was it GRN or GNR, the police basically. And so it's things like that, or you're, you know, so what are the things that you feel like talk to me about your class? So people have a lot of these questions. What are your classes like? How many people were in your class?

SPEAKER_00 5:54

There were there were six, then one person had to drop out because they had a family emergency, and then there was another person who just stopped appearing. I think she had to work a lot. So she missed, I think she watched the recordings. So there really were there was one other American, um, one person from Canada, and then one woman who I think was Ukrainian and living in Portugal.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

And then the one who worked and couldn't come to class a lot was from Turkey and living in in Portugal. So it was really a diverse a diverse uh group of students.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

I've met people from all over the world in my classes, you know, um Turkey, Ukraine, um, South Africa, Nigeria, um, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, you know, um, I mean, so like everywhere. And that that was wonderful because you're all learning it together.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Um, but you know, it's intensive.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

It's hard. Especially, especially when your mind isn't wired to work that way. It's a different way of thinking.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Well, we know this. We know that language learning is a rewiring of the brain or a wiring of a brain that can only happen through doing language learning. And um, that that's a part of your brain that you have to actually activate and grow. And so I think that was pretty impressive that you got that far, right? But sh Sarah, your instructor, had some feedback for you. Didn't she tell you that you needed to calm down and you know more than what you think?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

She did. That that's paraphrasing it. I have to look up exactly what she said. It was essentially just you know more than you think, so just relax.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Relax, yes, relax. It's okay, relax. Yeah. And I think that that's a large piece of it. So, and you're doing well. Like you've talked about how really you want to be functional at the grocery store, those types of things. How do you feel there? Like checking out or talking to people. Where are you now versus when you got here?

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Well, you abandoned me at the store a couple of weeks ago.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I've quit enabling. I was like, nope, I did. I love how he's like, you abandoned me. I did. I said, you can do it. Have fun. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll meet you back here at some point in time.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

I did okay. I understood everything that the person was saying to me. They did ask for my nif or if I wanted to use my niff, and I told them no. Even though I know it, it's that's the whole spotlight thing when the spotlight is shining. It's like I have no idea what the answer to that is. I do know, but I have no idea right now when the spotlight is shining brightly.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

I've gotten I'm going to be getting some information about the private lessons, and then I can move on to so A1, I guess, is what I was in. Next would be A2, and then you get into the B levels. And within five years, I guess we all have to be at what B2? A2. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

It's A2 for citizenship, which is what I love. So, and that actually to give for those of you who know languages in some way, shape, or form, that includes the past tenses. Um, and it includes some articles, like prepositions and articles in Portuguese or something else, let me tell you. Um, but yeah, so that includes the um past tenses, present tense, and the conjugated infinitive is a more advanced thing. So it's basically preterite and imperfect and present tenses.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

So I also have to tell the story of my dad.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Because this gives you some idea of foreign language and the the the background I have. I was probably like twelve years old, and we were on vacation, my mom and dad and me, at Glacier National Park in Montana, which is in the north-northwest of Montana, right next to the Canadian border. And my mom wanted to go to Canada. And you know, my dad was an old farmer. He reminds me, well, Cesar, our neighbor, reminds me a lot of my dad. So Cesar is the guy who farms all this stuff down here. And so my dad didn't want to be there anyway.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

He didn't want to go. He didn't want to do a vacation to begin with, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

And so he did, we did go to Canada. And this was pre-9-11, so I remember we rolled up to some little there was just this little hut, like a ticket booth almost. There was a guy standing outside with a clipboard. I don't know if he was Canadian or American, and my dad had to give him his driver's license, and the guy wrote down a few things and handed it back to him, and we had to state what our business was. And I remember my dad saying, Well, we're just here to say we've been here. And we drove across the border, and I don't know how far we drove into Canada, but just far enough to get to a crossroads, and we swung around in the intersection and drove back. And when we crossed the border back into the U.S., my dad said um, he said, now you can say I've taken you out of the United States.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

That sounds like Melvin. I'm sure he was not happy to be on vacation at all, was he?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

No. So that was my only experience outside the United States until 2019. So and when I say that 2019 was the first time loud motorcycle driving by. Oh, they must have gone to the river beach bar. So that was the first time 2019 was the first time I had actually set foot because we didn't get out of the car when when we went to Canada.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

But that also is kind of his his philosophy of uh over your of culture and language and all of those things too. And Link, you were in Western Iowa, that's what you should be doing, that's what you should know, and that's good enough.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Grandpa Dallas, he didn't like going anywhere either. He always joked, even going to Wisconsin to visit his son, my aunt and uncle and cousins, he wanted a a bucket of Shelby County dirt in the car that he could put his feet in. He didn't really, but that's what he said.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

He would have. I'm telling you, I'm sh pretty certain that the only reason why he didn't go into the car is because it wasn't allowed. But I think that that's really entertaining. So coming from that type of a background and then meeting me, and then, you know, it's a whole different world and going additional things. Like, how did you get from that to like, let's move to Portugal and let me learn another language that I have to learn in order to be able to survive in the area I live in?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

I guess I have more of a sense of an adventure than that people think. I just like to think about things and plan them first before doing them.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Okay. So if you could script the conversation, you'd be totally fine.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

I don't know if scripting a conversation in a foreign language would be fine.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Oh, okay. So are you are you gonna take the private lessons and keep going?

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah. Okay. And um, well, I mean you you already can order consistently at our cafe.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

We we make you do it now. And you also have to pay. Now we're working on the payment part and all the numbers, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

So you have to do those things. But I think it is it is the forcing yourself to do things that you are uncomfortable with doing and finding out that it's okay. And that you absolutely next time you'll give them your niff, and that will be your next step. You're gonna remember I have to give you my niff. I have to give you my niff. Right? And it'll be fine. I'm pretty proud of you. An 11 out of 20. I mean, because think about it, A1 is present tense, and it is basically every single present tense verb of the entire language, all the irregulars. Right? That's a lot, that's a lot. It's also all the numbers. Numbers are really important and they're not easy to learn.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

So there goes the motorcycle again.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Different one. This is a different one. Everybody's out and about, so church is over. Um, we've gotten everything at the at the grocery store that we needed, and now it's time to relax and be around, go for a ride, go for a walk, go down to the river beach, go down to the river. Yeah. We have said, and this is one of the things that we probably need to do. Um, we have not been down to the river beach bar.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

That's true, we've not.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

And it's a language thing, right? And we know we are the foreigners, right? But we have not done that yet.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

We'll go and I'll just let you walk up and do your thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Oh, I get to be the interpreter and the guide again. Yeah, I've been pushing back at that pretty hard. So when we went out to um when we go out to eat now, everybody orders their own food. I don't order everybody's food anymore. That's a big step. That's true. Right? We answer all the questions and all of those pieces. And so I'd say knowing that we are five months in and that you can do a transaction and you can order food in a restaurant and get what you ordered, right? And what and get what you want to drink, those are pretty big deals. Particularly considering that we're not surrounded by Portuguese people 24-7 all of the time. We're speaking English at home, which by the way, my English is getting worse and worse, and my Spanish is like decaying into like portanol Spanish-Portuguese mix. That's entertaining. Um I send some interesting messages. Um but that's pretty damn good. We haven't even been here a year yet, right? So it's like we'll just keep working on these classes.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yep. As a radio guy, I also can sense some changes in my cadence and also those certain pronunciations. I'm having trouble pronouncing the word out. Out.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

What are you saying?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

I sound more Canadian or Minnesotan or Godo. Outs.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Well, uh yeah. I'm just gonna say that there even the kids, I've noticed this, and this is this is only natural, that there's a decay in their English language too, because they're using structures from Portuguese instead of in English. And I'm gonna be honest, like I am excited for that because it's gonna help them in school next year. That's a temporary thing, just so you know. So the interference of my Portuguese and Spanish and all that stuff, it's just because my mind is like getting those worked out, and it's the same thing with your English and your pronunciation, those things.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Being from Iowa though, you don't have an accent. Oh, that's bunk.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

You do too have an accent. You do.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

They always said Tom Brokaw was hired because he was from someplace in the Midwest.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Wasn't he from Ohio?

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Midwesterners don't have an accent. No, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

They, oh my god, we know that Midwesters have an accent. Well, what's with the R and wash? Warsh? Yeah, and I Italian, I mean, I'm telling you right now, bunk, bunk. But it's all gonna sort itself out and through those pieces. Jack's doing an intense, intensive Portuguese class. Like three hours a day solid for two weeks. His last class is Monday. It's an A2 class, so it's more um advanced than what you're doing. I do not expect him to pass, but he's not doing it to pass.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Hola, hola.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

He's he's not doing it to pass, right? He's doing it to get ready for school. So those are new things and good things. It's gonna be easier. I'm excited to be able to go to a parent-teacher meeting and understand what the heck is going on.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Well, school year starts in about a month as we're recording this, and probably by the time this airs, like maybe two weeks before school starts, as people are listening to this. So it's like it's uh it's coming.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

I can't even believe it. Well, they're 12 and 15 now.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

We should be clear too, we're talking start a school in Portugal. Yeah. Um, in the US, as we're recording this, a lot of places have already started, I've seen. So school here starts somewhere between what did we determine, September 12th to 15th or thereabouts.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

About the middle of September.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

I don't think we know yet, do we?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

They haven't said yet. That's pretty Portuguese as well. They'll they'll send us an email and we'll get it like the couple of days before. Um, but yeah, so they'll start then, and and I think that it'll be exciting to see how it goes because we've all been working on our language skills. Tyler, however, is kicking everybody's butt. He has got this. And and I don't know, so he is he just turned 12, which is the same age I was when I started Spanish. And there's just something about magical of that 11 to 12 age that makes a big difference because he is putting together all kinds of sentences and pulling things together and making jokes and all of that kind of stuff. Like he's he's gonna be just fine. I wouldn't be surprised. Both boys will take an Portuguese as a second language test at the end of the academic year again. We'll see where they end up.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Sounds like dogs are barking, so let's just wrap this up then. Thanks for joining us and catch us again next time. All right, bye.