luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 185 of 439 19 March 2014 at 7:40pm | IP Logged |
Mohave wrote:
I don't have access to an FTP server, but if you are able to find one to upload the files, I would be very interested in having a copy. I plan to start
FSI... Thank you so much for your willingness to share! |
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Someone has to have one.
I also have a bunch of FSI Basic Spanish drills broken up into neat little pieces as well. It would take a little effort to make sure there is no Platiquemos mixed in, but I can imagine that being a goldmine for someone who wants to take their Spanish to the next level.
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 186 of 439 23 March 2014 at 10:34am | IP Logged |
I was looking back through the log here and wanted to note that the recent trip through Using French was the fourth at a pace of about one lesson per day.
My parallel text project with Petit Nicholas is up to chapitre 15. Creating an http://translate.google.com document with a few manual edits is very helpful for learning the text faster.
I finished up my first pass through Pronounce It Perfectly in French. I want to spend some more time with it so I can write a better review.
I watched through lesson 52 in French in Action. It still counts if I slept through a few episodes, doesn't it? I got credit in high school although I slept through movies in Earth Science class. Who says you can't sleep learn?
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 187 of 439 29 March 2014 at 7:40am | IP Logged |
I found a delightful video in French L'homme qui plantait des arbres (The man who planted trees) . It's 30 minutes long and subtitles are available in a lot of languages, so, along with animation, the story is very easy to follow.
I also found the text to L'homme qui plantait les arbres and a letter from the author introducing it.
This is a perfect find for a 30 minute study session.
Here is an mp3 of the story.
And another mp3 of L'homme qui plantait les arbres.
There is a set of flashcards for the book as well.
Edited by luke on 01 April 2014 at 2:50pm
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 188 of 439 02 April 2014 at 10:25am | IP Logged |
luke wrote:
Assimil Business French ... My telephone and commute "listen" tracks are at lessons 32 and 38 respectively.
The track with the book wrapped up a few days ago.
French Without Toil ... at the beginning of a wave from the end to the start. I'm doing a week or more looping
lessons 134-140. They are tightening up.
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Hey Luke,
I'm getting the impression you choose to do audio/repetition in preference of sitting down at a desk with a
course book + audio. Is this correct? Is that because you've done most of these courses before so you're
repeating them without the texts?
You seem to be a lot like me in repeating courses more than once. My reasons are generally due to stopping
my studies for months or even years and then beginning from the start again with courses I've done before- a
habit I'm striving hard to break now. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on repeating the same
courses for you personally. One major difference seems to be that you're a long way in front of me. For
example, I'm still using Assimil NFWE L76, as I went back to review earlier lessons and haven't progressed
much in that course lately. Whereas you're using Using French and even Business French).
How are you finding Assimil's Business French?
I'm sure I can speak for others as well as myself when I say we appreciate the discussion/links etc in regards
to the resources you use and have discovered/shared.
PM
Edited by PeterMollenburg on 02 April 2014 at 10:27am
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 189 of 439 05 April 2014 at 1:27am | IP Logged |
PeterMollenburg wrote:
I'm getting the impression you choose to do audio/repetition in preference of
sitting down at a desk with a course book + audio. Is this correct? Is that because you've done most of these
courses before so you're repeating them without the texts? |
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I do a lot of my studying on my feet or in the car or waiting for something. Listening to an mp3 is perfect for
that.
I take listen-only passes at Assimil courses for review and subconsciously consolidating or mastering the
audio. I've been through all the courses with the book. French Without Toil I did the 3 suggested waves with
the support of the book. I looked at the book when I did the lesson 140-120 "begin with the end in mind"
wave.
With NFWE, I did at least the 2 suggested waves with support of the book. I'm certain I've looked at the book
outside of that.
I also did preview listen/read passes through NFWE and Using French and FWT and Business French as
well. For me, that's a good way to get started. It also goes with the approach of multiple passes. No single
pass is expected to get every aspect of every lesson down once and for all.
Quote:
You seem to be a lot like me in repeating courses more than once. My reasons are generally due to
stopping my studies for months or even years and then beginning from the start again with courses I've done
before- a habit I'm striving hard to break now. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on repeating the
same courses for you personally. One major difference seems to be that you're a long way in front of me. For
example, I'm still using Assimil NFWE L76, as I went back to review earlier lessons and haven't progressed
much in that course lately. Whereas you're using Using French and even Business French). |
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Each time I run through the course, I may not spend too much time on each lesson. For instance, I'm in the
middle of a NFWE listen-only wave on my smartphone. The lessons are short so squeezing in one or more
lessons on a short walk or break is easy. For me, there is some enjoyment in listening to a course and
realizing, "this is where I first learned 'le lendemain'", or noticing, I see how they are teaching a verb like
"avoir" or an article like "son" here. It's silly, but there is satifaction in the realization that I'm understanding
the course at a deeper level.
I picked up a detail in the lesson where the woman rents a car yesterday while I was walking up 5 flights of
stair to get to a meeting. That was fun.
Some of the passes I make through a course are inconsequential enough for me that at times I don't record
them. If I didn't make a log entry for 3 weeks, I might not have noted a listen-only pass through NFWE, as it's
just a "hidden moment" study track. I.E. The 2 hours and 15 minutes I spend on that course may occur in 50
different sessions over the course of 3 weeks.
Quote:
How are you finding Assimil's Business French? |
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I'm just getting ready to take another pass at it with the book. My goal is to do the supplemental readings as
well. Business French is neat because it's several courses in one for me.
1) Normal Assimil Listen/Read course.
2) A Reading course. There are non recorded readings.
3) A topical course. Business. I imagine this will be helpful if I ever get interested in listening to the news.
4) Colloquialisms and realism. Business French tells a story solely through dialogues.
There is more audio in Business French than in the other 3 Assimil courses.
Quote:
I'm sure I can speak for others as well as myself when I say we appreciate the discussion/links etc in
regards to the resources you use and have discovered/shared.
PM |
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Here's one I found and used today.
Madame Bovary Bilingual Text (over and under).
http://apprendre-anglais-avec-les-livres-bilingues.weebly.co m/
Edited by luke on 05 April 2014 at 12:42pm
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 190 of 439 05 April 2014 at 2:17am | IP Logged |
This week was a business trip. My main goal was to listen/read Petit Nicholas in French/French and I did that (except the last chapter, which I listened to in the airport while waking towards my car. I also listened my way through the audio while working out.
I had the "L'Homme qui plantait les arbres" discovery this week. I watched the video, listen/read in French/English, listened to the audio, listen/read in French/French. I probably listened one more time too. :) I also watched the video a second time. Those links are just a few posts above. It's a great story. All of those trips through in just a few days have probably taken this off my radar for several weeks. I'm satisfied with the experience for now.
About 1/2 way through the work week, insomnia and the desire to be alone conspired to get me started on Madame Bovary. It's a good book. There is a lot more description of the environment or "realism" than is perhaps normal in a modern novel. I used a bilingual text of the book with the audio in English from Librivox to help me get through the book this first time. When I was taking a shower, I would listen to the chapter I'd just finished in French (also on Librivox). I wish I could say I finished it, but I've only gotten about 1/2 way through. The book with audio is 13+ hours. I've only listened to a few of the chapters in French. The narration is good. The book is more challenging for me than non-fiction. A lot of that is due to the extravagent descriptions.
In summary, I'm happy with my progress with Petit Nicholas. I've had the book for a long time. Several months ago I thought I'd read it while taking a bath. Although I could get the gist of it, it wasn't fun enough to continue. Now the book mostly comprehsible. There are still some words I want to learn in it. One of them was rater, which I've just learned :)
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 191 of 439 05 April 2014 at 2:39am | IP Logged |
PeterMollenburg wrote:
I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on repeating the same courses for you
personally. |
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I used to do that in various studies, not just language learning.
One thing I learned during the transition to single batchelor to married man was that I can no longer afford to
waste time as I once did. Now, ignoring the notion that learning French or Spanish or any foreign language
could be deemed a waste of time for me, at least I no longer spend much time going through really easy stuff
over and over again. One difference is that when I listen to New French with Ease over the course of a few
weeks during "hidden moments", it is
a) A review
b) Used time that would have been otherwise unproductive.
That's not to say I couldn't be studying something better for my career.
On the bright side. One of our vendors are French Canadian. Another is French. Someday I may be able to
form a subtle bond with a business partner as fruit of my study. This is one of those intangible benefits a
manager might not see the value proposition in, but I will not be surprised at all if speaking French gives me
the inside track with a key technical resource.
And it's fun too.
Edited by luke on 05 April 2014 at 4:33am
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7198 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 192 of 439 17 April 2014 at 10:58am | IP Logged |
I finished up my first trip through Madame Bovary. It was a combination of listen/reading in English/French and French/English. I'm aware of 2 recordings in French. I prefer the one at Librivox.org over the one at litteratureaudio.com. I also put the recordings on my phone for listening while working out.
Madame Bovary showed up during an interruption to my normal daily life. Doing something different while on a business trip is helpful. I also wrote about finding L'homme qui Plantait des Arbres during a recent trip. That's a nice 30 minute story. Message 187 above has links to the audio and text.
On the FSI Basic French track, I'm on tape 7.7 in wave 1 and 4.4 in wave 2.
I'm putting together a modified approach to FSI French. I pulled the 20 dialogues out several weeks ago. I occasionally preview them. Tape 1 is a buildup of the dialogue. Previews of the dialogue alone help with that. Most of the dialogues are about 1 minute, so a review or preview doesn't take much time.
The new tactic is preview Tape 2 of each lesson (excluding lessons 6/12/18/24, which are review lessons). Tape 2 magic is do is as another type of preview wave. Tape 2 is the vocabulary and lexical drills, which are variations of the sentences in the dialogue. By getting the dialogue and Tape 2 under my belt, I pick up most of the vocabulary and structure in the lesson, without drilling into the grammar drills. Those may come in a later "new approach". I mentioned that once, of pulling out the Grammar "learning" drills, which are meant to be simple. The only difficulty without pulling out "learning" drills is the time to edit the audio. I imagine someday I may feel compelled to do that when "new approaches" that don't involve editing the audio come up short.
In a nutshell, here's what I'm currently doing.
Wave 0 is FSI dialogue familiarization. It extends out to the end of the course. There are 20 dialogues in total. This wave starts with the book so everything is understood. This type of wave is repeated when I run out of stuff to study, which isn't very often.
Wave 0.5 is the "Tape 2 Magic" described above. I did tape 8.2 yesterday morning with the book sitting at the computer. My plan is to do tape 8.2 in the car today. The tape 2 track can continue out several lessons in advance of wave 1.
Wave 1 is the normal plodding through the course. I do this while commuting in the morning. Tapes are taking 2-3 listens. If I feel I'm about 90+% correct on the responses, I usually move on to the next tape.
Wave 2 is follow-up review. This is some weeks behind wave 1 and is concurrent with it. I do it during the commute home. Most "Wave 2" tapes have only needed 1 review so far. They are usually easier than the morning "Wave 1" lesson, even though I may be fatigued. That's a good sign that learning has taken place.
Another trick I came up with today is to use Audacity to "truncate silence" out of Tape 2 and listen to it while posting here at the forum. I note that this could also be used to shadow the response. At some point, I can imagine doing that as a "Wave 3" styled review. Simple Audacity commands like "Truncate Silence" can be put in a "chain", so editing 187 files doesn't require much effort.
I've also started a more thorough pass through Assimil Business French. Today was lesson 2 (of 40).
Another extensive track is Du Contrat Social by Jean Jacques Rousseau. I'm listen/reading on that track. One nice thing about this book is the chapters are very short, which makes progress flexible. The book is much shorter than Madame Bovary as well, which makes it easier to finish :).
There's also a reading Le Petit Nicolas track that is already up to chapter 2. This is helpful for slowing down a bit and noticing and marking unfamiliar words. When I finish the reading, I later listen to it in the car or on my phone.
Edited by luke on 17 April 2014 at 8:27pm
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