|
 |
Using French - Basic Fluency? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Monte Cristo Newbie United States Joined 5021 days ago 26 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 8 18 September 2010 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I just bought Assimil's Using French, and the book claims to take you the fluency stage upon completion. Flipping through the book it looks very well made and an all-around excellent book. I plan on starting it once I've completed New French with Ease. Has anybody completed this book? If so, where would you say your ability to understand French media is at (such as the news)?
Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6008 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes  Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 2 of 8 18 September 2010 at 10:08pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Hey haven't used the book but I am 100% sure that if you use exclusively that book alone you won't reach fluency and you won't be able to understand French media. Those are the facts.
I agree that it's a fantastic layout and I'm dying to go through an assimil book when I begin a new language, it's a little late for my French. However like any other course you have to combine it with numerous numerous other resources. If you incorporate L-R, Podcasts, films, Michel Thomas, French in Action, Pimsleur, Learn in your car french, Simpsons in French, read books, newspapers etc.etc, you may be a little closer to reaching fluency,(don't be suprised if you're not fluent after all that though). Most important just get an idea of resources that work for you and stop looking. You can waste a lot of time searching for the perfect method. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Monte Cristo Newbie United States Joined 5021 days ago 26 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 8 19 September 2010 at 1:07am | IP Logged | ||
|
I was just planning on using Assimil as my only "language-learning" method, and at the same time using real-world content such as French news and movies. It seems to me that reading French is not that difficult, and I think Using French should be able to let me read and understand most anything, but listening comprehension seems the most difficult part of French.
I know that there is no single program that could be considered an end-all solution to language learning, but I hope that simultaneously using Assimil and real-world content (news, movies, etc) can suffice. I have read on this forum that some people have used Assimil as their sole language-learning method, but I am also presuming that they used real content as well. I would like to go down this route, and not have to use MT, FSI, Pimsleur, and the thousands of other products out there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 6986 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 4 of 8 19 September 2010 at 3:59am | IP Logged | ||
I used the French Without Toil (140 lessons) and it took me to a good level of fluency. I did use everything I could get my hands on as well but I would not say that Pimsleur would improve your level of fluency. I would recommend French in Action for further practice. I found my major problem was that I could easily read a French text but had trouble recognising what I was hearing. I found that Assimil was probably the best tool for practising my listening skills. I found some radio programs easy to understand and some not so easy. The more I listened, the better my understanding improved. Pimsleur, Michel Thomas and French in Your Car don't help so much as there is too much English. You need to listen to French to improve your listening skills which you will need to understand French news broadcasts or French movies. Listening to just French will encourage you to think in the language, which you need to do to really follow a French news broadcast. Watch DVDs in French for practice. You can listen to French soundtrack and have English sub-titles or the other way round while you are learning. Then graduate to French dialogue and sub-titles and then just French dialogue. Edited by fanatic on 19 September 2010 at 4:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gatsby Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6002 days ago 57 posts - 129 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch | Message 5 of 8 19 September 2010 at 5:17am | IP Logged | ||
|
Don't forget oral production. If you're wanting to reach basic fluency, you're going to need to find some native speakers for conversation practice. Using Skype for language exchanges is a great way of doing this if you live in an area without easy access to anyone.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6943 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 6 of 8 23 September 2010 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | ||
I have the book and have completed it. It's an excellent course. However, to reiterate some of the other comments, it won't get you to a high level of listening comprehension alone. The rate of speech is simply too slow and there's not enough of it. Take heed of some of the recommendations - French In Action (at the time) was my number one resource and remains a favourite, although I've gone through it too many times to use it any more. I've recently spent a few months brushing up my French listening comprehension using Yabla (http://french.yabla.com/) - it's not free but excellent. Another useful resource is the archive at http://www.laguinguette.com/ - lots of native language material with transcripts there. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6855 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 8 24 September 2010 at 12:52am | IP Logged | ||
|
Monte Cristo, some very good advice given by other forum members, you should heed it.
I'd just like to add that if you want to understand media, try listening to French radio, watching French TV and read French newspapers. In other words, use as many native materials as possible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BartoG Diglot Senior Member United States confession Joined 5287 days ago 292 posts - 818 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Latin, Uzbek | Message 8 of 8 24 September 2010 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | ||
|
When I lived in France, I bought Using French. You know what they say about never hearing a word before and then hearing it a dozen times the week after you learn it. The book was a gem and I rarely finished a lesson but what the lesson was put to use in succeeding days. That said, I didn't learn a whole lot from Using French, per se. Using French prepared me to learn a lot from life.
If you have access to French movies, French radio and television and, best of all, French people, Using French will help you catch a lot of things that have been going by without your noticing them. But learning the expressions in this book and dropping them into your conversation will not make you an idiomatic speaker. Being aware of those expressions so that you can follow idiomatic conversation at a higher level and get a sense of how real speakers use the language will. No book will teach you to speak a language at an advanced level - only active use of the language in real life can do that. But Using French is a great tool for getting to where your real life encounters with French will be more meaningful and some of the nuances will mean something to you. Maybe it should be called Gateway to Using French. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
