I’ve been working on German with Clozemaster for quite some time now, exclusively using the “Fluency Fast Track”. I’m now at level 131, and I’ve mastered over 25% of the sentences and been exposed to over 28.7%.
Prior to starting Clozemaster, I had been to Germany three times, and had completed Duolingo’s and Lingvist’s courses. But Clozemaster is taking me even farther, both by being very fast and efficient, and by exposing me to even more words.
Some of the benefits that I’ve noticed:
I can now follow abstract talk programs on TV for the most part. Previously, I was okay when watching news about something more tangible, but when it was just a program where people would sit around and talk about something abstract, I would get lost. This has opened up to me and it’s really exciting.
My pronunciation has improved a lot. I used to have problems with pronouncing “r’s” and for some reason I’m getting better at this. I also notice that I’m pronouncing the vowels more accurately and hearing them better too, especially the tricky ö and ü. One thing that I’ve noticed I’ve gotten much better at is the distinction between long and short vowels. Also my pronunciation of final “g’s” and of L’s in the middle of words is improving.
I’m remembering noun genders more and only rarely forgetting or messing up case endings or verb endings. I’m internalizing a lot of the patterns to where I don’t think of them and they just “sound right” (or wrong if something is wrong.)
I’m starting to learn more about subtle connotation things and idiomatic usage. I think a lot of this is just due to the sheer volume of passive exposure.
How about others? Have you noticed major benefits from using Clozemaster? About when did you start noticing the benefits?
I started noticing these things kicking in around the 10% mastered mark, but I am still getting a huge amount out of stuff. Many of the words I’ve been learning, I end up actually hearing, so I feel like I’m still learning stuff that is essential for fluency.
Hi cazort. I’m only level 108 Italian at 177 days, don’t know about percentages etc because I dip in and out of all the goodies on offer. However, my Listening in particular has improved but then so has everything else. I just love the ClozeM structure and pacey learning, all of which is enhanced by the encouragement of other learners. Wish I’d come across sooner!
So glad you’re also noticing the benefits, and I wish you lots more happy learning!
Edit: I sometimes wonder if I spend too much time on Reviews (I like to keep them under control), perhaps I should move on more. I need the repetition (specially Clitics) but need to progress too, so finding a happy medium is good. Any advice is appreciated.
I’m at 27% mastered in Spanish, so a similar level (I’m only at 25% through German at the moment, not mastered).
I can read fairly well in Spanish, but CM hammered vocab and sentence structure, which I like. Overall I’m very satisfied. I plan on completing as much as possible before July, then working with tutors/friends for Speaking/Listening practice until December, which is when I’m going to C1 (hopefully) I’m doing German as well, I’d like to go for my B2 in December.
Anyways, back to the point.
I think CM sets a very good foundation and it’s up to us to use native material/improve odd skills (I suck at idioms/slang…but who doesn’t.)
The trouble I have is knowing if I’m doing it right/what’s the best way.
Right now I do vocab multiple choice first (I don’t know wtf I’m doing) then text input, then listening text input.
Overall to put it bluntly, I love the program and am glad I bought the lifetime membership.
It seems like there’s a little case of Much Love for Clozemaster going around on the boards just now … must be Mercury’s approaching conjunction with Jupiter…
But yes - same here. The languages are sticking like no other method could ever achieve.
If you need to review, review Seriously, rack those numbers up and knock them down again and again until it’s boringly easy. You’ll need no prompt to move on then.
Rack em up, knock em down… luv it. I too find that vocab and grammar really do stick well with ClozeM and the variety of ways to use it mean that boredom just doesn’t stand a chance. Cheers all… Floria7
I’m just a newbee at a little over 4% of those 20,000 words, but I can already feel a difference. Just repeating each sentence as close as possible to the audio feels they way real speaking should feel, conditioning my brain for better German. I particularly like puzzling out how the translation matches the German, working the subtleties, so to speak. I get Deutsche Welle on my cable subscription and it’s the default background TV running, so I get a lot of opportunity to be in the presence of German in action, and I feel Clozemaster is getting me closer to ‘participating’ in those TV programs I’m still a spectator at.
… must be Mercury’s approaching conjunction with Jupiter… 
Seriously, rack those numbers up and knock them down again and again until it’s boringly easy. You’ll need no prompt to move on then.