Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#71

Post by thiago_fm » Thu, Dec 27, 2018, 1:17 PM UTC

borncrusader wrote: post #24

thiago_fm wrote: post #17

Improved my German considerably. Can definitely deal with any situation by now, but I still have much to improve. Also learned a lot of Elixir. Both are things which in the past year I've commited to learn. Learning is a constant process, next year I expect more of the same, but a higher mastery level! Also learned a decent amount of management things, better organization skills etc, but that I didn't plan for.

Kudos! What do you think are some good resources to learn/get better at elixir?

If you did web development before, just try to use phoenix and write a route, then something with db calls, read docs and so on. Get any elixir book if you like learning from books.

I also did the whole "learn Erlang for greater good" like 5 years ago. It is much easier to understand elixir if you know Erlang, at least to the basic level, as in the end, it is just Erlang.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#72

Post by thiago_fm » Thu, Dec 27, 2018, 1:18 PM UTC

thomas93 wrote: post #22

thiago_fm wrote: post #17

Improved my German considerably. Can definitely deal with any situation by now, but I still have much to improve. Also learned a lot of Elixir. Both are things which in the past year I've commited to learn. Learning is a constant process, next year I expect more of the same, but a higher mastery level! Also learned a decent amount of management things, better organization skills etc, but that I didn't plan for.

Out of curiosity, what steps did you take for improving your German?

Normal classes, duolingo, self-study, talking to people(I live in Germany)

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#73

Post by thiago_fm » Thu, Dec 27, 2018, 1:24 PM UTC

escape-effect wrote: post #37

thiago_fm wrote: post #17

Improved my German considerably. Can definitely deal with any situation by now, but I still have much to improve. Also learned a lot of Elixir. Both are things which in the past year I've commited to learn. Learning is a constant process, next year I expect more of the same, but a higher mastery level! Also learned a decent amount of management things, better organization skills etc, but that I didn't plan for.

even I am trying to learn a new language and basically finding it a bit harder. can you let me know the process you have followed and how did you practice and tips on getting better

Normal classes, duolingo, self-study, talking to people(I live in Germany).

If you don't live in a country where they speak the language, I suggest you learn it in a class, for a long period of time and do your homework. There are no secrets imho. The more time you dedicate, the more you learn. It is really like learning an instrument, there is no short way of becoming good at it as some might claim. Your brain needs a lot of time to do the bit flipping it needs to get accustomed to the language.

Some tips that worked for me for learning German: Join some Discord where people speak the language, use some reddit sub in that language, read the news and so on. Today using the web I think somebody can learn how to speak it fluently as they can talk to other people online. You don't really need to move to that country in order to learn it.

To be honest, even though I live in Germany, people would rather almost always just talk in English with me. Only when I go to the doctor or some government agency I have the chance to speak German. Discord and internet friends/people made me learn much more than in real life. Maybe it is my personality type, check what works better for you. As long as you have exposure and you feel challenged by what you are studying, I think you are learning as good as you can.