Learning Another Language in My Thirties, During Lockdown
By: David Arias
Tags: Hobby, Work From Home, Language Learning, Language, German

When the first lockdown hit in March 2020, I saw numerous friends, family members and coworkers take advantage of the flexibility of their morning routines and the absence of their evening commutes. From fitness to healthy eating to taking classes online and spending time with family, everyone’s new year’s resolutions and goals pivoted instantly. Among my goals was to become conversational in German. So I enrolled with my first one-on-one online language tutor.

I registered with Verbling, an online language platform that let me scout for a tutor to my liking, within my budget and schedule. I vetted a few different tutors on the discounted price, which by the way, even full price per lesson is pretty affordable. It was definitely an “easier said than done” process because when it came to actually turning on my camera and speaker to talk to a complete stranger in another language, I was immediately overwhelmed with nervousness. “It’s a video call, why am I being anxious. Sign in and if it gets uncomfortable, just end the call.” Seriously though. I was so extra when logging in for my first tutoring lesson.

After four years of self-teaching, I discovered that I was an advanced listener, intermediate speaker and reader, and beginner writer. My tutor listed me as an overall B2 level. There were months at a time where I just didn’t have the commitment or time to open a language book, app or flash cards so I played German podcasts and music in my car during my commutes to and from work in hopes that they alone might preserve my skillset. I wasn’t a toddler or child, I didn’t put too much hope on audio alone but it turned out that it helped. Significantly, in my opinion.

I chose a German tutor based in London while I was living in Los Angeles. I was able to schedule my Verbling lessons two to three times a week before work, during lunch and sometimes after work despite the time difference.

The other benefit to this virtual period was that I could attend German Meetup groups regardless of my level. I could avoid stage fright by being behind a screen, and engage as often as I felt comfortable with others on the Zoom call. No one is going to grow impatient, talk over you or attempt to finish your sentence on a video call, especially with the delays in reception. That would just fill the call with a bunch of stutters. These gatherings were definitely supplementary to my Verbling lessons for more than a few months.

The last component that I was able to add to my study routine were apps. Given that we rarely have any reason to step outside, my average step count has decreased by half from last year. I incentivized myself to go on three to five walks a day with Duolingo. From my perspective, the app has been another supplementary component to my Verbling and self-teaching book lessons. The convenient part about Duolingo, aside from being able to use it on the go, is that I can select a course that corresponds to whatever topic I’m reviewing in my other materials. You can make it reiterate, essentially.

In the last nine months, I’ve become more comfortable speaking another language than I have in the past four. It’s enabled me to implement my vocabulary and become accustomed to verbalizing sentence structure without translating it in my mind first. If there has been a good time to start learning a new language, it’s now.