Understand completely the lack of time with young kids. At least get DuoLingo on his phone so his bathroom breaks are productive!
With a recent newborn it sounds like passive learning (tv, radio, etc) is the only feasible option for daily learning. If he can handle it, speak to him only in German. If his employer offers language courses, absolutely take advantage of that because it should be during working hours (e.g not parenting hours!).
With all painful things in life (learning German included), people only really do things when they're truly needed. Little steps outside one's comfort zone need to be taken for change to occur. But it sounds like you have time until his permit needs renewal so just plan accordingly and hold him accountable daily for some German progress.
The 'no zero days' approach is a good mindset to have when learning a language: https://flow-e.com/blog/no-zero-days/
I can never resist your great tips PG (there used to be a tea brand called PG Tips 😊) and so I had a little google myself and found this
https://flow-e.com/blog/no-zero-days/
just in case anyone else is interested also. It sounds so simple but I reckon it's like building a muscle - little and often does the trick.
Re: learning curve. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Don't try to do it ALL at once. Start simple and tactical. Look at something like this flowchart for a quick overview (there are better representations out there if you don't like this one).
Read the book for a quick overview and the "why" factor (basically your description of your life is the "why"). Use the tactical system for a while until you get into the flow (2-6 months). Then go re-read the book. You'll get a bunch more the second time through. I re-read it every time my life gets more complicated (bigger project, promotion, job change, whatever). My big "oh yeah" this time through was the section on planning - I've been using GTD for over a decade and never paid it any mind before, but it'll be useful now.
Yeah but..I'm here right now because I'm using another Inbox replacement called flow-e. I was happy with that and didn't know about Darwin until now, but a few weeks back their team posted this on their blog:
https://flow-e.com/blog/personal-kanban/gmail/important-announcement-the-future-of-flow-e-for-gmail/
Basically due to a new GDPR compliance check requirement they would have to pay a lot of money just to be certified by a third party and they decided it was not worth the financial risk. I had spent a lot of time getting used to their system and now in 5 days I'll lose everything, AGAIN. I'd happily pay the 25$ for your product, which I'm checking out right now and it's shockingly similar to inbox, so I'm ok with it, but I just need to know if this is going to happen again, or if the GDPR compliance thing is not going to affect your product's availability in any region..
>Inbox Zero
I just Google it and it was the fifth link. I still never can understand, why people can't Google and find things. But when I Google I find it in 3 seconds.
Folders for Outlook and Labels for Gmail are must for achieving the Inbox-Zero dream. Here is hot to set them (easy like a peanut with Flow-e) - https://flow-e.com/blog/gmail-labels-outlook-folders-from-flow-e/
<strong>Name:</strong> - Flow-e <strong>URL:</strong>- https://flow-e.com <strong>Location of Your Headquarters:</strong> Sofia, Bulgaria <strong>Elevator Pitch/Explainer Video:</strong>Flow-e treats your emails as tasks without leaving your Gmail/Office365 inbox. Flow-e is just a visualization of your inbox; we don't store your data. The best part? Whatever you change in Flow-e, changes in your email too.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBCNxzDLf_g
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