The Procrastination War

Tweet by Old Picture of Dorianna @/blurbette "The Oklahoma School for The Deaf has free online ASL courses this spring. Self-paced. Open to everyone! Donations encouraged." Image embed: (screenshot of website) Oklahoma School Of The Deaf. American Sign Language I. This is an 8 lesson self-paced course. You will have access to these lessons from February 12th, 2024 until June 30th, 2024.

Disclaimer: I haven't used or tested all of them. All resources have different strengths, e.g. Drops being designed for vocabulary. They often aren't full alternatives for Duolingo or formal classes. I just wanted to compile resources for all languages on Duolingo to make the switch easier, especially for the less popular languages.

Feel free to also check out my collection of free textbooks

If you want a more detailed resource list for any of these languages (or perhaps one not listed here) you can send me an ask and I can see what I can do.

1. Install anki. It's a flash card program that uses spaced repetition. Essentially, it optimizes study by showing cards you struggle with more frequently while showing easy cards less frequently. It's amazing for learning vocab. It's web and computer versions are free, the iphone version costs 25$ but there are alternatives. There is also an android version made by a 3rd party thats free.

2. Find a deck. There are plenty of free shared decks on ankiweb. Ive also heard good things about Xefjord's Complete Language Series which features over 100 different languages. Refolds premium decks cost money, but they are high quality. It can take time to find a deck that works best for you and I highly reccomend switching to a deck that you made yourself eventually. I highly encourage picking a deck with native audio if you can.

3. Grammar. Here is a collection of resources for a variety of languages. Here is another one that has more on linguistics.

4. Misc resources.

this is a site that let's you listen to radio stations around the world

this let's you make anki cards from TV and movies in your target language

this is a list of easy to comprehend materials in various languages

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

It's okay if it takes a little longer than you thought.

hbomberguy: Vaccines and Autism: A Measured Response

As this video runs, little numbered boxes appear in the right corner:

If you go down to the video's description, you'll find a link to the sources:

Open it, and you'll find a list of links, each one clearly numbered and titled. The screenshot above has [24] in the corner, let's go look it up:

This method isn't too dissimilar from the way traditional papers cite their sources. I'll be honest, I think he could have done a better job by using one of the citation formats, which give more information (most notably, the creator(s)' name(s)). That said, it's still a good effort. The referenced sources are all marked in the video, the source list is available in the description (where people are likely to find it), and the source list is easily referenced and tells you what each source is.

It is worth also noting the extra attention that Hbomberguy gives Brian Deer, whose research provided the backbone of his video. He repeatedly references Deer throughout the video, recommends him to his viewers at the end, and includes a link to his book about Andrew Wakefield's scam in the description. This isn't necessary, but it's a good sign. Hbomberguy is clearly grateful for Deer's research, and he shows that gratitude by spotlighting him.

Speaking of proper citation, let's look at someone who does use a proper citation format:

Lindsay Ellis: Mel Brooks, the Producers, and the Ethics of Satire about Nazis

Now THAT is what a good bibliography looks like. We have the titles, the creator names, the publisher names, page numbers, and in the case of the online articles, the date accessed. Admittedly, she doesn't put footnotes in the video like Hbomberguy. However, the amount of information her bibliography gives still makes it easy to fact-check her--or to look for copied passages. In addition, she does include on-screen references when directly quoting someone:

Or when showing clips from movies:

Neither of these are perfect, in my opinion, but they both show a distinct effort to make sure people can check their sources. And that effort is a demonstration of genuineness. A plagiarist isn't going to make it easy for other people to find the original source.

Right now citation, verification, etc. for video essays is still a new method. Go back a few years, and you'll find that even trustworthy essayists have sparse bibliographies, if any at all. Since citation in video essays is so new, I don't think we should expect every single video to roll out a pristine, perfectly formatted bibliography. Instead, you should look for the effort:

Easily found source list

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Cooking with flavor bootcamp (used what I learned in this a LOT this year)

Beekeeping 101

Learn Interior Design from the British Academy of Interior Design (free to audit course - just choose the free option when you register)

Video on learning to read music that actually helped me??

How to use and sew with a sewing machine

How to ride a bike (listen. some of us never learned, and that's okay.)

How to cornrow-braid hair (I have it on good authority that this video is a godsend for doing your baby niece's black hair)

Making mead at home (I actually did this last summer and it was SO good)

How to garden

Basics of snowboarding (proceed with caution)

How to draw for people who (think they) suck at art (I know this website looks like a 2003 monstrosity, but the tutorials are excellent)

Pixel art for beginners so you can make the next great indie game

Go (back) to school

Introduction to Astronomy (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Principals of Economics (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Introduction to philosophy (free college course)

Computer science basics (full-semester Harvard course free online)

Learn a language

Japanese for Dummies (link fix from 2022)

Ukrainian

Portuguese (Brazil)

American Sign Language (as somebody who works with Deaf people professionally, I also strongly advise you to read up on Deaf/HoH culture and history!)

Chinese (Simplified)

Let’s play a game. I’ve added you to a groupchat for studying. Something you ALL AGREED TO DO. Your challenge is that you must consistently reply to groupchat for the whole semester. If I am left on read I get to hunt you all for sport with my baseball bat.

guess, what @rovermcfly​?

First Assignment

As the semester starts it's easy to neglect our mental health in order to focus on school, work, errands, and a million other things. It's important to take care of our mental health.

Your first assignment is to talk a walk outside!

Walking, especially outside, has many benefits on the body. And studies show it can help improve our mental health.

Take 5 minutes. Take 30 minutes. The important part is taking the time to do something for your mental health by taking small steps.

Sometime over the next few days log off and go touch grass (affectionate).

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