Month: January 2017

During their Black Friday Sale, I purchased the complete course of Fluenz French, which encompasses five levels worth of lessons. This allowed me to grab the program at the discounted $278 price, which naturally helped to make sure that I will actually stick with the learning, since I have some cost to actually doing so. Did I just all of the sudden want to learn how to speak French? No, I had been doing the free program on Duolingo for a month or so, when I broke my laptop with the functional microphone and never got it replaced to continue. Despite the price difference between the two programs, I actually prefer the Fluenz method to this point, and feel that I am retaining much more of the information that I learn. In this post, I want to give a basic overview of my experiences thus far with Level 1 of Fluenz.

 

Why Learn a Foreign Language?

In both high school and college, I took Spanish as my foreign language elective. I spent thousands of dollars to get the credits in Spanish and ultimately my degree, yet I speak and comprehend almost none of it. That is from a combination of lack of use, practice, and the fact that I don’t think the typical classroom environment is very conducive towards learning a new language. The opportunity cost of those classes were pretty damn high, considering I have retained very little. I didn’t want to jump right back into Spanish, so, I thought that’d French would be a nice change of pace.

Also, needed the structure and ease of access that is presented by an online or desktop program that is professionally done like Fluenz is. I also feel that I will usually get through learning something, if I pay for it. For example, I wanted to learn accounting, so I’ve been doing online classes. Yes, I’ve read general accounting and finance books to supplement my education, but I also know that I probably won’t work my way through problem sets unless I have paid into, have a structure, and will derive some future benefit from it (higher salaries, graduate degree, etc.).

 

The Program

The complete Fluenz French program is split up into 5 Levels. These five levels are further broken up into 30 individual daily lessons which build upon each other and present a new aspect of the language. Now, you can also buy each level separately but I just went ahead and picked up the entire series to save some cash…so, I’ll have a busy 4-5 months of Fluenz it seems.

What I especially like so far about this program is how useful it is for someone looking to travel. You learn how to conjugate verbs and structure sentences while picking up useful phrases and commands for ordering in a cafe (lessons 1-7 in Level 1). You don’t get taught things like the alphabet and numbers right from the start, it is much more practical for eventual use within the real world. Ordering food, asking questions, getting to where you need to go, etc.

Each lesson starts with an introduction video with a presenter. In Level 1, it is Fluenz co-founder Sonia Gil, who is walking you through things. This is usually only a minute or so long before you get into that lesson’s conversation. It’s mostly just to present the topic for the day and offer encouragement.

There is then the conversation which is done by actual native French speakers, who provide the voice acting for the particular situation. This can be anything from talking to a cab driver to shopping at the store or order from a restaurant. I run through this conversation 3 times, as is recommended by Fluenz. That way you get to see the conversation text with translation, without translation, and then just listening to the conversation audio. Keep in mind that learning this conversation is important, as you will encounter many phrases and indeed the conversation later in the workouts.

After the conversation, you go back to Sonia where she explains in detail what you’ve just listened to. She breaks down what was said, what words mean, pronunciation, and introduces any new vocabulary.

The next workout presents a list of new vocab words for auditory practice. The words are presented individually which is great for hearing exactly how a word is supposed to be pronounced and then repeating it aloud to yourself.

Then comes the first matching exercise, where you match the French phrase with its English translation. There is also a vocab matching section, in which you match each French word with it’s photographic representation.

Fluenz also includes plenty of writing, which is actually a good thing because you actually get to learn how to structure sentences. Not only that, it is very helpful to see the differences in spelling between two different words that can sound quite alike when listening to a conversation. There is plenty of repetition but I find it helpful to really help drill the language into my head.

Beyond the normal lessons, there are also flashcards and two sets of podcasts, one reviewing pronunciation and the other comprehension. These are very good ways to review the material, as each covers different aspects of the lessons and provide further insight into the language.

So far, I have to say that I really enjoy using Fluenz to learn a new language. Everything seems much easier to conceptualize and remember than when I was learning Spanish in the classroom. I’m actually retaining much more information than I did in that setting. Now, I still have to finish Level 1 and get through 2-5 as well, but I feel very inclined to stick with it and see this one through to the end.

 

I have known about 5-HTP as a mood enhancing supplement for a long time now but had never gotten around to trying it. Three weeks or so ago, it popped into my head and I picked up a bottle of Nature’s Way 5-HTP at CVS, in order to give it a try and see how it would work for me. I wanted to write up a quick report or review of my experiences using this supplement and provide detail on any benefits I’ve noticed (if any) while using it.

Here’s the Wikipedia description of 5-HTP for some context as to what it is: 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), also known as oxitriptan (INN), is a naturally occurring amino acid and chemical precursor as well as a metabolic intermediate in the biosynthesis of the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin from tryptophan.

My 5-HTP Experiences

I wanted to do a comparison of taking 5-HTP vs not taking anything vs ingesting caffeine through coffee or energy drinks, in the morning. I figured this way I would get a noticeable variance of moods and mental states that was different each day. A few days of each could accentuate the effects and establish a more noticeable pattern, in my opinion.

Obviously, the effects of caffeine are highly noticeable to me. While it does provide that energetic feeling, I find myself much more impulsive and often unable to focus on work or reading. It actually takes more effort for me to want to do things or to have the concentration to do anything efficiently. On low doses of caffeine, it’s much more manageable but with energy drinks that have 150+ mg of the stuff, it’s a constant battle.

The days that I don’t take anything, I am much more rational than when on caffeine. The problem is that I need to ween off of the caffeine for a day, so that I don’t experience any withdrawals that will make me feel completely drained for another day after quitting. My mood is quite baseline during this time period. Some days, it is elevated and I’m quite social. Other times, I feel completely stifled. Of course, I don’t identify with these positive or negative stories about myself, and while I do still experience some of the low energy moods associated with depression…I haven’t been ‘depressed’ in like 6 years now. That’s the power that meditation, philosophy, and mindfulness has had on my life. I still have days where my brain doesn’t seem to have the right chemical mix or whatever but it doesn’t send me into a tailspin. I can just sit back and be aware of my experience.

The first time I took 5-HTP, I started with half a pill, just in case there was any adverse reaction to it. Normally, side effects can include gastrointestinal upset, but these specific pills are coated to help prevent any of that. I didn’t notice anything with the first half a pill dose, either positive or negative. Now, the bottle says to take 2 or 3 pills with food but honestly 3 probably overkill and unnecessary (at least for me). I should also note that this particular brand also contains vitamins B6 and C, which is supposed to help with the production of serotonin. I don’t know the validity of these claims or how this may react with other things people may be taking, I can only speak for myself and the effects it has on me personally. I will say that I do avoid taking in more vitamin B6 through things like energy drinks or other sources.

The second day, I upped the dose to one pill and that’s when things got interesting. About 45-60 minutes after taking the pill, I started to feel really positive about things. It was like a sense of joy for just being alive. I can only relate it to being completely present to the moment, such as how I feel after a meditation session, except that I didn’t need to do anything…I just was already in the perfect mood. This feeling lasted for the rest of the day and while I slept, I seemed to have really vivid dreams throughout the night. Awesome!

The next day, I boosted it up to 1.5 pills and got a similar result in terms of amazing mood, etc. No side effects had occurred at all and I was extremely impressed by how well this elevated my baseline mood level. I felt no anxiety. I felt really social and I wanted to be around other people all day long. There was no stifling of my personality and work wise I never felt distracted or unable to get things done efficiently.

After this initial test run, I went back through a cycle of caffeine days, and days where I took nothing. Again, I experienced the usual caffeine craziness, but on my all-natural days I felt normal to slightly above average during that three day span.

When I started taking the 5-HTP again, the results were still mostly positive. Most of the days I simply felt relaxed but not super upbeat. On these days, it was just calmly observing the world around me, and staying in the moment. A few of the other days, I again experienced the super positive moods, where the world just seemed bright and amazing. Then, on other days, I noticed absolutely no difference in my mood after taking the pills. On some of those days, my mood was low, and there was no elevation from the 5-HTP.

Overall Impression

5-HTP has been a really great supplement for me thus far. I’ve taken other supplements in the past that have had no effect on me, despite their claims, but this one does amp up the serotonin and give me a positive mood enhancement.

Now, sometimes, this is a huge and noticeable difference. Other times, it is only slightly above average. Finally, there are days where it does nothing at all. I try to cycle on and off of it to help prevent it from losing its potency by adaptation. I will say that, it does have a beneficial effect 80+% of the time for me and no effect the rest of the time. I have experienced no negative side effects during my use.

None of this is to say that others will have the same experiences as me on 5-HTP and it is obviously not for everyone. I can’t advise the reader as to whether or not they should take it or what side effects or interactions it may have with any meds you might be taking. I can only share my experiences with this product.