My name is Darragh Reale and this is my blog. I’m a second year Applied Languages student who studies Spanish and German at the University of Limerick, Ireland. I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say and stick around over the coming weeks as I give this blogging thing a go.

As a languages student in 2018, I’m often faced with technology in the course of my studies. From online courses, to dictionary apps, to SULIS (the site where we find all of our lectures notes and announcements related to each module), it’s fair to say I use technology to help in my learning every day. Over the past week I decided to try out something I probably don’t do often enough: read blogs and sites related to my language learning.

One website I do read quite a lot is Marca, and although it is not a language learning focused site like some of the others I discovered this week, it is  massively beneficial. It’s a Spanish sports publication and I’ve read it sporadically for a couple of years now. The language used is fairly simple and the stories are usually based around situations I already know about, for example, Ronaldo going to Juventus (still can’t believe that one). As a result of this, understanding isn’t too challenging, it’s fun to read too and it definitely helps my Spanish.

Now that’s where my language reading-outside-of-class experience ends, it’s something I should do more but I don’t, so deal with it. This week, however, was different, one blog I checked out is called FluentU and it’s quite impressive. It has a seemingly endless array of great Spanish learning resources, mostly in the form of articles like ‘At Your Leisure: Discuss Hobbies in Spanish with 50+ Terms’ and ‘Ding! Level Up: 6 Spanish Level Tests to Take Your Learning to the Next Stage’. These are great and after just a few days of using them, I’d have to say they are very beneficial; I’ve definitely learned a thing or two. The blog also deals with cultural topics which is also great as I’ll be going on Erasmus (most likely to Spain) in less than a year’s time.

And now it’s German’s turn. One site I checked out was called German is Easy, while I strongly disagree with the title of this blog, some of its content is quite helpful. It’s similar in style to FluentU but it doesn’t look as pretty and so I didn’t find myself drawn back to it. I don’t have much to say about it as I didn’t spend too much time using it to be brutally honest with you lovely people.

The good news is I also checked out the Easy German YouTube channel, we’d been shown a video or two in class before and I thought they were good but I’d never properly binged on the videos until now. They feature people being interviewed on the streets of Germany, and so you get to hear authentic spoken German. At the same time, it’s very easy to understand because they speak slowly and there are both German and English subtitles on screen. The videos are funny and light-hearted so it didn’t feel at all like study when I was watching.

For the duration of this blog, I have been writing about what the internet can offer me, but what can it take away? We’re all aware of the negative effects of internet usage; for example, I’ll oftentimes find myself using one of these sites on my phone and then I’ll switch apps and suddenly, I’ve lost an hour of my time. As David Dalrymple said “filtering […] is the most important skill for those who use the internet”. It is important to think critically when using the internet and to use it wisely. (Brockman, 2011)

I’ll definitely continue reading Marca and watching Easy German as I’ve found those to be both the most fun and the most beneficial. Realistically I’m never going to so much as glance at that German is Easy blog again but FluentU has probably earned a few glances from me in the future.

Goodbye faithful readers and be sure to tune in next week as I continue to analyse and expose the truth about technology and me, a humble language student.

D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brockman, J. (Ed.) (2011). How is the Internet changing the Way you think? The Net’s Impact on Our Minds and Future. Atlantic Books, London.

Marca: https://www.marca.com/.

FluentU: https://www.fluentu.com/en/.

GermanIsEasy: https://yourdailygerman.com/.

EasyGerman YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbxb2fqe9oNgglAoYqsYOtQ.