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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 17 of 101 10 May 2012 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just finished Passive 73/Active 24 today and I'm about to start the 15th Linguaphone lesson tomorrow. Assimil is starting to get a little bit demanding as of now. I was doing French Without Toil along with it in parallel but because time does not always permit, I might have to put a hold on it. Also, doing two Assimil lessons a day is starting to stress me out a little bit. I've been doing about 45 minutes of study a day between Linguaphone, Assimil, and sometimes reading a grammar book which takes up 10-15 minutes, plus listening to songs and reading articles and stories which I do not count as studying.
Everyday I learn more, but everyday it also gets more aggravating because there is so much I don't know. But in the end, I know it will all be worth it when I finally get to visit a Francophone country! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 18 of 101 21 May 2012 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Woah, it's crazy how far I've gotten in Assimil and I've just realized it. Seems like yesterday it was dropped off at my door and I started the first lesson.
I wonder if I'm going to finish Assimil or Linguaphone first. Hard to say because I'm on lesson 17/30 on Linguaphone and I only do one audio file a day, but then again for Assimil I have a little more than 20 lessons + the rest of the active wave. Just finished the review lessons, 85/35, for Assimil. I'm a little more than halfway complete Linguaphone. I'm going to miss that course too because there is some great character development. Also, the story line is pretty cool. Paul is my favorite character. I've tried to watch French in Action again, but besides the conversations in the beginning, it's kind of boring. I like the idea of finishing all of my Assimils and Linguaphone then referring to the conversations for the story line and comprehension. I mean, it's not like FIA teaches anything other than what New French/Without Toil/Using/Business/Linguaphone does. I can't imagine learning a language without Linguaphone or Assimil. I probably could, but I wouldn't enjoy it and don't think I would have enough motivation to learn more than one. Dialogues with translations is such a simplistic idea but it works wonders. Anyway, I'm taking an Elementary French II course in the summer in university, so I'm thinking that's going to be a breeze. Then comes Intermediate French in the Fall. I hate the way schools teach languages. I've read about majors in languages that only learned through school and got their degree but couldn't even communicate basic sentences! Maybe that just happens in North America. After Intermediate though, I'll be able to sign up for Literature and Conversation classes and I'm quite excited for that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4657 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 19 of 101 21 May 2012 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
Good luck with French and with your courses. :-)
I've never had a university-level language course, but I remember taking Spanish for three years in high school and coming out with next to no ability to understand full-speed native Spanish or have a normal conversation. The classes were practically all about learning verb conjugations and translation! When I have the money, I think I will get Assimil for French. Seems to get quite good reviews around here. Edited by tastyonions on 21 May 2012 at 7:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 20 of 101 21 May 2012 at 8:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you.
I also have a similar experience. I took a German class in middle school and the only thing I could remember before I started a university course in German was "Rot" and "Sprachen Sie Deutsch" Then I took a university course last semester in German alongside French, and our professor made us memorize plurals, genders, and vocab lists. It was the stereotypical classroom based learning experience you hear about. Between Middle School and last semester, they kind of left a bad taste in my mouth with German. I'm very happy I decided to take on self study alongside university courses. I'm learning at a 100x higher rate. Also, definitely get Assimil. This website is the reason why I ordered it and I love it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Roman Diglot Groupie Spain Joined 5444 days ago 42 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Italian, French | Message 21 of 101 22 May 2012 at 6:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Wow, sillygoose!
It looks like you are doing pretty well. I'm interested in learning French too, but first I want to learn German once and for all. :) I became a fan of Assimil books too because of this forum... I have the Assimil German and I'm still in lesson 15, I think. And you, when you got to the active wave, you could translate everything from English to French without any trouble or did you have to re-do some lessons? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 22 of 101 22 May 2012 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you very much. Like you, I am hoping to tackle German sometime in the future.
Every lesson I usually miss something small like the wrong article or no article at all. Sometimes I would forget a word. I usually do each active lesson two times, the initial attempt to see how I do, then once I see the translation and correct my mistakes, I go through it once more to make sure it's solidified. Also one thing I didn't do when I first started the active wave was that I neglected to re-read the notes and re-do the exercises. I recommend to do so because it reinforces everything and some notes contain words not mentioned in the dialogues. Good luck with your German and French! Edited by sillygoose1 on 22 May 2012 at 9:08pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 23 of 101 13 June 2012 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Haven't posted in almost a month! Let's change that right now...
So as for progress, it's been great. It doesn't take as long for me to internalize a lesson anymore. Rather than trying to experiment with different ways to do Assimil, I that simply doing what they suggest does in fact work the best. I do what they suggest until I can listen to the dialogue and understand all the words without looking. In other news, tomorrow I will do 110/61!!! I'm almost done already! Well, besides the active wave, but that doesn't take me long. My method for the active wave is that I translate while reading the notes, listen/read at the same time, then translate. By the third time, it's easy as pie to complete. I start lesson 22 in Linguaphone soon. Linguaphone really makes me laugh when the characters Georges and Paul get mad. Great voice actors. Also, one thing that surprised me is that I can understand simple interviews given in French. The ones I understand better are the ones who speak French as a second language though which leads me to believe the hardest part about French listening comprehension is simply the accent the speaker uses. Well, that's all for now. I will try to give an update when I finish either Assimil or Linguaphone first. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 24 of 101 16 June 2012 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have just completed the passive wave of Assimil!
At this rate, I will be finished with Linguaphone as well as fully finished with Assimil before the start of the Fall Semester! So most likely, I will be at the very minimum a high B1 if not almost B2 come that time. This works out great because as it turns out I decided against going to the 4 hour French II night class in the Summer so French II will be a great GPA booster during Fall Semester. I got really excited so I obtained up some shows in French as well as a lot of movies. Movies: Amelie The Double Life of Veronique Incendies (French Canadian I believe) Le Chat du Rabbin A Prophet Seraphine I Killed My Mother (Also FC) Monsieur Lazhar (FC as well I think) Some TV Shows: Braquo - Season One/Two Fortier (FC) - Season One/Five It turned out great that I will be getting a lot of Canadian French practice in as well because I was thinking of taking a road trip to Montreal or Quebec City next Summer then I hope to graduate and just get lost in France/Switzerland. Here's to high hopes. ;) So in a little under two months it will be time to go right into Using French which will be the only studying I do, then Business French. Other than that, I plan to listen to radio, but no other formal study. The movies and shows will not come until I am finished all of my course materials. I wanted to do French Without Toil but it would take longer than I need. I'm not sure if I should try sharedtalk/lang-8 until after I'm done Using/Business or not. For anyone reading this, what do you recommend? Edited by sillygoose1 on 16 June 2012 at 9:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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