Self-Doubt? This Is Your Competition

[Andreas Thiel]

Based on my experience with a paid course, I can recommend mini stories. The course has audio files that tell short stories which start very straightforward and become more challenging.

For example:
The mother is wearing a black shirt. She is cooking chicken ... and so on.

Then the sentences are repeated along with questions:
The mother is wearing a black shirt. Is the mother wearing a black shirt? [Pause] Is the mother wearing a red shirt? [Pause]

The pauses allow you to squeeze your responses in. At first you might just be able to reply: "no! black!" ... as you get more comfortable you might reply "No, the mother is not wearing a red shirt. The shirt is black."

It should be possible to use elevenlabs.io along with ChatGPT to create customized mini stories with vocabulary that is relevant for you.

She also simply shows pictures and lets one talk for one minute about what the picture shows and what the story might be.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Ich bin 16 Jahre alt und möchte neben meiner Ausbildung Geld verdienen.
Ich möchte nicht der Rest meines Lebens einen 9 to 7 job haben und möchte deswegen finanziell unabhängig werden.
Ich lebe in der Schweiz und kann mir gerade nicht sehr gut mit den Gesetzen aus gehen.
Es soll kein Dropshipping, Trading oder Affiliate-Marketing sein, denn dass alles sehr schlecht im Online-Geschäft anzufangen ist.
ich hoffe jemand kann mir helfen.

From this thread, here's what I came up with:

I am 16 years old and --- --- --- --- --- ---.
I --- not --- --- --- live an 9 to 7 job have and --- --- financial --- ---.
I live in --- --- and --- --- --- not very good with --- --- from ---
It --- no dropshipping, trading, or Affiliate-Marketing ---, --- --- --- very bad in online---- ---is.
I --- --- --- --- help.

Compared to the translation someone else posted (below):

I am 16 years old and would like to earn money alongside my education.
I don't want to have a 9 to 7 job for the rest of my life and therefore want to become financially independent.
I live in Switzerland and am currently not very familiar with the laws.
It shouldn't be dropshipping, trading or affiliate marketing, because it's all very bad to start in online business.
I hope someone can help me.

 

[Andreas Thiel]

From this thread, here's what I came up with:

I am 16 years old and --- --- --- --- --- ---.
I --- not --- --- --- live an 9 to 7 job have and --- --- financial --- ---.
I live in --- --- and --- --- --- not very good with --- --- from ---
It --- no dropshipping, trading, or Affiliate-Marketing ---, --- --- --- very bad in online---- ---is.
I --- --- --- --- help.

Compared to the translation someone else posted (below):

I am 16 years old and would like to earn money alongside my education.
I don't want to have a 9 to 7 job for the rest of my life and therefore want to become financially independent.
I live in Switzerland and am currently not very familiar with the laws.
It shouldn't be dropshipping, trading or affiliate marketing, because it's all very bad to start in online business.
I hope someone can help me.

This sentence is just not correct:
Ich lebe in der Schweiz und kann mir gerade nicht sehr gut mit den Gesetzen aus gehen.

Should be something like "Ich lebe in der Schweiz und kenne mich gerade nicht sehr gut mit den Gesetzen aus."

That sentence also has many issues and should be fixed (I'm not even sure what the author wanted to say ... can only guess):
Es soll kein Dropshipping, Trading oder Affiliate-Marketing sein, denn dass alles sehr schlecht im Online-Geschäft anzufangen ist.

Have not checked out the link. Just thought I'd point that out.

The complete translation is pretty good, but education in "alongside my education" is a somewhat loose translation. "On-the-job training" would be closer to the original. According to dictionaries "Ausbildung" can mean education, but in practice we usually use "Bildung" when we talk about education and "Ausbildung" for on-the-job training.

I agree with ChatGPT:
There are a few grammatical and phrasing issues with these German sentences:

1. Ich lebe in der Schweiz und kann mir gerade nicht sehr gut mit den Gesetzen aus gehen.
   • Correct grammar: "Ich lebe in der Schweiz und kenne mich mit den Gesetzen gerade nicht sehr gut aus."
   • Explanation:
     • "kann mir ... aus gehen" is incorrect. The proper phrase is "sich mit etwas auskennen," which means "to be familiar with something."
     • "mit den Gesetzen aus gehen" is not a proper construction. The phrase should be "mit den Gesetzen auskennen."
2. Es soll kein Dropshipping, Trading oder Affiliate-Marketing sein, denn dass alles sehr schlecht im Online-Geschäft anzufangen ist.
   • Correct grammar: "Es soll kein Dropshipping, Trading oder Affiliate-Marketing sein, denn das ist alles sehr schlecht, um im Online-Geschäft anzufangen."
   • Explanation:
     • "denn dass alles" should be "denn das ist alles." "Dass" is a conjunction meaning "that" in English, used for introducing a clause. Here, the correct word is "das," which is the neuter article or demonstrative pronoun.
     • "sehr schlecht im Online-Geschäft anzufangen" is awkwardly phrased. A better way to express this might be "sehr schlecht, um im Online-Geschäft anzufangen," which translates to "very bad for starting in online business."

These corrections would make the sentences more grammatically correct and clear in German.

 

[MTF]

This sentence is just not correct:

The guy is from Switzerland. Isn't the Swiss dialect almost like a different language compared to German from Germany?

Swiss Standard German is fully understandable to all speakers of Standard German, while many people in Germany – especially in the north – do not understand Swiss German. An interview with a Swiss German speaker, when shown on television in Germany, will require subtitles.

Swiss German is intelligible to speakers of other Alemannic dialects, but largely unintelligible to speakers of Standard German who lack adequate prior exposure.

Just curious about this.

 

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[StrikingViper69]

I don't think they are mutually exclusive, and they actually complement each other almost perfectly. I can't imagine being able to work for several years on a project without sustaining very high levels of motivation, but I also can't see any success being created without a very disciplined structure and action plan.

What most people don't understand (in my opinion), is that motivation leads to action, but action also leads to motivation.


People who give up too early, which by all statistics is at least 95% of the population, are not necessarily lazy and hopeless, but they've failed to learn how to wield the sword of motivation.

Use discipline to follow the schedule and do the hard work, and motivation will come.

A lot of things like this are two way streets.

 

[Andreas Thiel]

The guy is from Switzerland. Isn't the Swiss dialect almost like a different language compared to German from Germany?





Just curious about this.

Can't rule this out 100%, but I have briefly worked for Swisscom in Switzerland and would be surprised if these issues can somehow be explained with dialect peculiarities. Like most people can probably say if something they read looks like irish dialect English, the same is true for de_CH ... to some degree. Not sure what the story is, but I think there must be a different explanation for the horrible grammar.

The issues Germans have with the dialect have more to do with pronunciation and rhythm when speaking, plus some vocabulary differences.

 

[Raedrum]

@MTF félicitations pour ton apprentissage du Français. C'est une langue difficile, et peu d'anglophones l'apprennent. Mais les femmes la trouvent très sexy, hahaha. C'est aussi la langue officielle de l'escrime, et des textes diplomatiques grâce à sa précision.

(Congratulations on your learning of French. It's a difficult language, and few english-speakers learn it. But women find it sexy, hahaha. It's also the official language of fencing, and of diplomatics texts, because of it accuracy.)

 

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[MTF]

@MTF félicitations pour ton apprentissage du Français. C'est une langue difficile, et peu d'anglophones l'apprennent. Mais les femmes la trouvent très sexy, hahaha. C'est aussi la langue officielle de l'escrime, et des textes diplomatiques grâce à sa précision.

(Congratulations on your learning of French. It's a difficult language, and few english-speakers learn it. But women find it sexy, hahaha. It's also the official language of fencing, and of diplomatics texts, because of it accuracy.)

J'ai compris presque tout. L'escrime n'est pas un mot commun

Le vocabulaire n'est pas autant difficile, mais la prononciation et l'orthographe sont très difficiles.

(I understood almost everything. Fencing is not a common word

The vocabulary isn't that difficult but pronunciation and orthography are very difficult.)

 

[EquinoxS]

@MTFs original sentiment has really appealed to me: is your competition actually that tough?

I have created my intro thread in this forum about 2y ago and ever since I have been bouncing forth and back between "I will never be able to do this (= entrepreneurship, convince customers that my service/product is good enough for them to hand over their money)" and "how smart can this guy be? If he can do it, so can I!".

I explained in my intro thread how I learned web development and I have continued to do so. I have done the Webflow courses, the Framer courses and I even know how to code with NextJS. But still, I'm afraid to finally offer my services to someone because of my fear to disappoint.
When I check Fiverr, there are a gazillion web developers offering their services. How good are they? How good am I compared to them? Have they also put in the same amount of time and effort as I have? Or even more? Would I disappoint my would-be-customers?

 

[TKLyte]

I recently started learning French.

To build the basics, I started with Duolingo which is a very fun and effective gamified platform for learning languages.

It's so well-designed and addictive that learning feels like playing a game.

It takes very little effort to study. You look forward to it every day. It's hard to stop once you do one lesson because you get rewards and want to continue.

In the first week, despite traveling and having much less time than usual, I've been studying with Duolingo at least 30 minutes a day.

I just received my first weekly progress report. Take a look:

View attachment 53105

It completely blew my mind that 97% of people quit after less than 4 hours of studying. Of course, some may have decided to use another language learning software or work with a tutor or study in a different way. But most likely the majority quit because they just gave up.

They gave up despite using the easiest, most entertaining, game-like language learning software that makes it so easy that it feels like playing and not studying.

Learning a new language is infinitely easier than building a successful business. If you're not sure whether you can make it, remind yourself that this is your competition.

If you do the bare minimum, you're already ahead of 97% of people and your competition shrinks dramatically.

Out of 1,000 people pursuing the same business idea, a year from now only a few will remain. Will you be one of them?

That was super inspiring. I've been working on my business for almost 2 years now. For almost 20 years, the longest I ever stuck with a business idea was a 2-3 months before getting distracted by shinier objects. What a waste of time that was. Here's another tit-bit. The average new podcast uploads 3 episodes before quitting. To become a 1%ter in the podcast arena, all you need is to upload 21 episodes. How about that.

 

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[Two Dog]

View attachment 53116


Just like Duolingo...

It looks like about 1% of students remain after six weeks. Probably true for any kind of open enrollment course.

• 90% drop out in the first two weeks (14 days total)
• 90% more drop out in the following four weeks (42 days total)

 

[freek]

Another stat that fits right into this thread: Out of all podcasts, 90% don't make it past episode 3, and of those that do, 9 out of 10 don't make it past episode 20. This means that if you make 21 podcasts, you are already in the top 1% of all podcasters.

 

[MTF]

@Lex DeVille are you still learning German? How's your progress?

I'm still learning French, still as much as before. 131 days of an unbroken streak with Duolingo, Anki, and private online classes (up to 4x a week). On my good days I can talk in French for one hour without any problems. My teacher is a native French speaker and she doesn't change her speech/accent for me.

I still sometimes ask my professor to give French equivalents of specific English phrases or words but I can explain most of it in French now. I find it crazy how fast you can learn if you only keep up with 1-2 hours a day for a few months.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

@Lex DeVille are you still learning German? How's your progress?

I'm still learning French, still as much as before. 131 days of an unbroken streak with Duolingo, Anki, and private online classes (up to 4x a week). On my good days I can talk in French for one hour without any problems. My teacher is a native French speaker and she doesn't change her speech/accent for me.

I still sometimes ask my professor to give French equivalents of specific English phrases or words but I can explain most of it in French now. I find it crazy how fast you can learn if you only keep up with 1-2 hours a day for a few months.

I'm still using Duolingo. I'm on a 120 day streak, but I've decreased time spent on the app over the past two weeks. I've plateaued in speaking progress. I can read German fairly well, but responding verbally is very difficult because I don't practice it. Eventually, I'll need to work with a tutor to go further. It's just not a priority right now.

 

[Paul David]

@Lex DeVille are you still learning German? How's your progress?

I'm still learning French, still as much as before. 131 days of an unbroken streak with Duolingo, Anki, and private online classes (up to 4x a week). On my good days I can talk in French for one hour without any problems. My teacher is a native French speaker and she doesn't change her speech/accent for me.

I still sometimes ask my professor to give French equivalents of specific English phrases or words but I can explain most of it in French now. I find it crazy how fast you can learn if you only keep up with 1-2 hours a day for a few months.

I might look into this for Spanish. DId "dabble" a while back but that's not enough.

 

[The-J]

@Lex DeVille are you still learning German? How's your progress?

I'm still learning French, still as much as before. 131 days of an unbroken streak with Duolingo, Anki, and private online classes (up to 4x a week). On my good days I can talk in French for one hour without any problems. My teacher is a native French speaker and she doesn't change her speech/accent for me.

I still sometimes ask my professor to give French equivalents of specific English phrases or words but I can explain most of it in French now. I find it crazy how fast you can learn if you only keep up with 1-2 hours a day for a few months.

Trouvez que Duolingo vous aide? Pour moi c'etait pas le cas, trop traduction et les phrases n'etaient pas tres utile pour comprendre des contenus que je regarde sur YouTube. Mais je l'ai remplit completement il y a ~6 ans, il y en a des nouvelles lecons sur Duolingo et je suis pas sur si ca vaut le temps

(imagine this sentence has accents and cedilles in it lmao... and better grammar)

 

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[MTF]

I might look into this for Spanish. DId "dabble" a while back but that's not enough.

Duolingo is okay as a base but if you do only Duolingo, that's still dabbling. I highly recommend private classes. For Spanish, you can easily find a tutor even from Spain for 10-15 euros per hour. A few classes a week, plus studying vocabulary with Anki and supplementing with Duolingo, and after a few months you can achieve basic fluency.

Trouvez que Duolingo vous aide? Pour moi c'etait pas le cas, trop traduction et les phrases n'etaient pas tres utile pour comprendre des contenus que je regarde sur YouTube. Mais je l'ai remplit completement il y a ~6 ans, il y en a des nouvelles lecons sur Duolingo et je suis pas sur si ca vaut le temps

(imagine this sentence has accents and cedilles in it lmao... and better grammar)

As above, Duolingo is just a base for me to have some practice every day. My main progress comes from having a few hours of speaking with a native speaker each week (and from memorizing and reviewing vocabulary using Anki).