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Napoleonic French | ||
Tags: Workbooks | Comic Strip/Cartoon | Native Materials | India | Measuring Progress | Anki | Spaced Repetition (SRS) | Movies | Podcast | Music | TV | FSI | Assimil | Grammar | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes  Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 129 27 August 2012 at 5:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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French learning log
Background: I have always been a bit apprehensive about writing a language log. Especially, one that can be read by anyone. My inspiration is none other than our beloved admin Francois. His account of his experience with FSI Spanish instilled in me a passionate desire to tackle the FSI French Basic Course. I must confess that I am not a complete beginner. I have completed the FSI course on French Phonology. I have also done some Assimil and some FIA. I can get the gist of most podcasts and news bulletins. I can also follow french movies if I have the subtitles turned on. On a side note, I usually prefer french subtitles because I feel that using English subtitles would just be a crutch holding me back. Although I can read the news, I have not had much success with novels. Week 1 Saturday, 18th August, 2012 I completed the first unit of the FSI French Basic Course this week. Professor Arguelles' shadowing technique really helped me to memorise all the dialogues very quickly. Week 2 Saturday, 25th August, 2012 I completed the second unit on the FSI basic course this week. While everybody seems to think that FSI courses teach very stilted and formal language that only old diplomats can use, I encountered a gem: «La femme de chambre est jolie» (The maid is pretty) I feel that I have hit a glass ceiling so this week I will only be reviewing the previous weeks' lessons. Edited by napoleon on 01 September 2012 at 6:44pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 2 of 129 29 August 2012 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 3
Wednesday, 29th August, 2012. Although I did not intend to start any new lessons this week, I bit the bullet and jumped straight into Unit 3 of the FSI FBC. It took me about half an hour of shadowing to get a decent grip on the dialogues. I also had to look them up in the book which I did not have to do for the first two units. Up till now, I have not given the book more than a cursory glance. I refer to it only when I get stuck somewhere and am unable to understand the audio. Sunday, 2nd September, 2012. Today, I completed Unit 3 of the FSI French Basic Course. If my calculations are correct, as of now, I have completed 1/8th of the course. This translates into a precentage figure of 12.5 %. I am surprised by my progress although I realise that I still have a long way to go. Edited by napoleon on 01 September 2012 at 9:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4820 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 3 of 129 29 August 2012 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Super log title! :-)
I wish you much success with your French. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 129 30 August 2012 at 4:37pm | IP Logged | ||
Thanks for dropping by. Best of luck with all your language learning efforts. Edited by napoleon on 30 August 2012 at 4:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 129 01 September 2012 at 10:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Random Rambling:
A couple of weeks back, I was having trouble remembering French numbers. I found an Anki deck of French numbers (1-100) with recorded audio. So I have been basically drilling myself since. I don't translate the numbers into English. I write it down in indo-arabic numerals while saying it out loud in French. This self imposed immersion has really been helpful for me. The numbers like quatre vingt onze, quatre vingt douze, soixante onze, soixante douze, and so on, were the ones that gave me the most trouble. The drills seem to have have produced noticeable results. I am a lot more comfortable with French numbers now than I was earlier. Edited by napoleon on 03 September 2012 at 9:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7197 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 6 of 129 02 September 2012 at 10:26am | IP Logged | ||
I found that when I was writing out the page numbers to Assimil New French with Ease, it made me focus more on the numbers and I learnt them more quickly and could spell them more accurately. This was a slow and steady approach as a typical lesson has only 4-6 pages. As you know, many parts of the numbers repeat as you count. That also helps with review. Good luck in your French studies! Edited by luke on 02 September 2012 at 10:27am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 7 of 129 03 September 2012 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 4
Tuesday, 4th September, 2012. Its 12:49 AM IST and I just completed Tape 2 of Unit 4 of the FSI FBC. I would like to thank emk for introducing me to the Seinfeld calendar. Its has really improved my productivity as far as FSI is concerned. In the past, when I was doing the FSI Course on French Phonology, I was not very focussed. I did lessons only when I felt like doing them, which wasn't often. As a result, it took me nearly a year to get through what is supposed to be a 2 week course. This time, I used a Seinfeld calendar from the very begining, and it keeps me on track. Every night, I feel obligated to finish an FSI FBC Tape before I go to bed even if its 4 in the morning. Enough for now. Gotta hit the sack. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 8 of 129 07 September 2012 at 9:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Week 4
Friday, 7th September, 2012. I was making too many errors in Tapes 4.1, 4.2, 4.3. So I decided to review tape 4.1. I skipped ahead to the participation drills and had to do them a couple of times to internalise all the dialogue. Two steps forward, one step back. :-) This time, my responses to the participation drills were very spontaneous. Edited by napoleon on 07 September 2012 at 9:58am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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