My solo Scrabble surprise

Goes to show that regular practice does work.

The last several weeks have been busy, making it tricky to do as much French training as I’d like to.

So I changed my daily minimum viable activity from active copying in the morning to playing solo Scrabble on my iPad in the evening.

And was chuffed to see my score rising steadily and games going faster.

The other day I decided to play solo Scrabble in German — which is one of my heritage languages and much better than my French — and got a surprise.

My score was lower and the game took longer in German!

What gives?

Well, in French I was now:

trying to spell words I only vaguely knew > expanding vocabulary
using a wider variety of verb endings > practising tenses
remembering tiny words for awkward letters > bolstering memorisation

But most of all, I was playing every day.

A daily game in under 15 minutes made my Scrabble skills in French overtake my skills in German.

Not what I expected yet amusing confirmation that regular practice leads to progress.

Need a hand to set up and stick to your DIY language project? I can help.

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