Tag: learning

A voyage of 9 years on Grammarly

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Nine years in Grammarly
Happy Grammarversary!

I don’t belong to a book club. Never have. But I have been using Grammarly for 9 years. There’s a voyage of learning English. In Finland, we start to learn English in the 3rd or 4th grade. It depends on which school you go to or which year. It was in 1987 or 1988 when I learned English for the first time. I was at least 10 years old, so it’s a long time. I even got a diploma for my improved English. I’ve learned a lot since then.

In Finland, we have English-language subtitles for movies and TV shows, so we learn from them. English has almost become my 3rd language, besides Finnish and Swedish. I listen to English music and read English books. I don’t belong to a book club, but I do belong to a Grammarly club.

I’ve used the Pro version, but I had to cancel it for a while. But now I have it again. The Pro version gives so much more. It checks the spelling and grammar. It’s a good way to learn English. Grammarly is not only useful when writing this blog, but it also works on mobile (Android, iPhone, iPad), Windows, and Firefox. It’s really useful, and it has helped me a lot.

I didn’t realise I’d already been using Grammarly for 9 years. I could almost put it in my resume 🙂 I know more about English than I did 10 years ago. If I hadn’t learned English, this blog would not exist. Not other writing in English, for that matter. I only wish I could learn other languages as easily as this. Those lessons don’t stick in my head as well as English does. And I thought I was good at learning languages, but I guess it’s only English. So far, I’ve managed fine. My dad didn’t speak any language other than Finnish, so my mother and I were guides when we were abroad.

The voyage to another level of English continues.

Not much new on the horizon

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Photo: Mia
Daily writing prompt
What skills or lessons have you learned recently?

Recently, I haven’t learned new things. Only repeat old skills and lessons. So not much new on the horizon. Oh, except that there is no Pullquote block on WordPress anymore, so the quote gives me nightmares. The font is too big, and you can’t change the size. It just looks terrible on the post.

Now, when I think about what I’ve learned recently. I’ve learned that no matter what I do, I can’t seem to find graphic design clients. My savings are soon gone, and no money is coming in (except welfare). If I sold my flat, I could get money. But I can’t afford to hire a cleaner or moving people. Being unemployed blows. I only get bills, bills, bills.

Another thing I’ve learned, but it isn’t recent. It doesn’t matter what I post on Facebook, not even my relatives, no one reacts. But I post anyway just for myself. It’s nice to look back at the memories. People’s lives are so busy that they have no time to care about what I do. If I weren’t used to being alone, I would probably be depressed and distressed. Luckily, that’s only Facebook, and who takes that seriously?

There are always new things to learn. For example, you’re never ready to be creative because you can always get better and realise something you haven’t before. I’ve used Canva for 10 years, but I’m still learning. It gets updates, and new things come up. Then you learn the latest tools. The same goes for any app you use.

Learning new things is fun, and it makes life worth living. Especially if it’s something you love doing. It’s good for the brain to stay active.

Learning is a marathon, not a sprint

Mia2 Comments
study learn know book cover
Made with Canva

Remember when you were a kid and wanted to learn quickly? You wanted things to go smoothly, and you had no patience at all. Learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Most of us want to learn and expect to be experts at once. But life doesn’t work that way. You need to take time to learn, and that’s what’s so fascinating about life. You live and learn all the time and don’t graduate from life.

I love learning new things and even things I already know. There is no harm in repeating what you learned in the past because people have different teaching styles and opinions. You might even get excited again about something you didn’t like when you were younger. In 3rd grade, we had to learn to play the fipple flute (also called recorder). I wasn’t excited to learn the instrument then. But when I got older, I took it up again. I taught myself to play music notes, and now I can play songs by heart. I even learned to play ‘Soft Kitty‘ (the song Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory sang). I just played with the flute some tunes, and then suddenly there the song was. I can play a tune by listening to the sound, and there’s a song. The instrument is easier to play than the piano. I’ve learned the easier music notes, and on the Duolingo app, you can learn music notes on the piano. I’m also learning Norwegian there. It sounds like Swedish but is spelled differently, so it isn’t so hard to learn for me.

I’ve been learning social media marketing lately, which is why I haven’t blogged as often recently. Writing in Finnish has been challenging because I’ve been writing in English so much. I get more written in English than in Finnish. I’m better at writing fiction than about real life. I’m like that little kid who wants to learn, but the results take ages. It feels like I’m wasting my time trying to write something and not getting anything in return. It makes me doubt that I will ever make it as an entrepreneur or that I can’t do anything right. Or that I’m too dull and no one cares. Learning to be patient and not giving up despite feeling disappointed. You also need some luck to make it. But the most important thing is that you learn things you want to learn and not what others want you to. Life is much more fun when you do.