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Mutant’s French/German log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4074 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes  Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 9 of 13 18 October 2014 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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Now would be a great time to cover the first 5 chapters or so of Hugo German in 3 months. The first few chapters are golden. The book is really inexpensive to boot.
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| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4901 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 10 of 13 19 October 2014 at 9:17pm | IP Logged | ||
It's especially good if you can find a used set of Hugo Complete, which also includes the "Advanced" course. Unfortunately, sellers have realised this is a good course, and prices are pretty steep on Amazon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mutant Groupie United States Joined 3903 days ago 45 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German | Message 11 of 13 20 October 2014 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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@Gemuse, Jeffers Danke for the suggestions. I may check into that later.
French Last night I read First French Reader for about 30 minutes before going to bed. I haven't slept well for the past few days so I turned in early. I really think reading - especially reading aloud - is helping me with my production skills. I am also going to make it a mission to think and talk to myself as much as possible in French throughout the day. I may even start keeping a diary in French. Two days ago I wrote a short piece in French on italki, my very first notebook entry, and I didn't make too many mistakes, so I was fairly pleased. I am going to try to write more often, at least once a week. I'm still speaking with my French friend/tutor via Skype, although she is busy with work so sometimes our conversations are brief. Many times we'll leave each other offline messages, so at least I get a little extra writing practice throughout the day. Since I finally got enough sleep last night, I worked on FSI for about an hour this morning. I'm about halfway through Unit 5. It's true: FSI can be deadly boring, but I think it's helping me develop automacity in my speech. German On lesson 25 of Assimil. I really love this language. I wish the lessons were longer, but I've been supplementing Assimil with Essential German Grammar, and I find German grammar fascinating. A bit more complicated than I thought, but I find it very fun to study. I'm still playing with Duolingo, Memrise, and LingQ whenever I have time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mutant Groupie United States Joined 3903 days ago 45 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German | Message 12 of 13 31 October 2014 at 12:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Long time no post lol, so here goes
German I'm on lesson 36 of Assimil. I have to say, while I like this course, I very quickly realized how badly I needed supplementary material to cover grammar. When I worked through New French With Ease, I had an easier time since French grammar (at least the basic French grammar presented in that book) isn't too complicated, and since I took Spanish from middle school until college, I was somewhat familiar with another Romance language. But German grammar is a bit more complex, and so I picked up a copy of German Made Simple, and I have to say so far it has proven itself very useful in breaking everything down into manageable chunks. Right now I'm working on mastering the Nominative, Dative, and Accusative cases of nouns and articles. French I started reviewing Assimil, especially the grammatical index in the back of the book, to perfect my knowledge of verb tenses. I finished my first run through Units 1-6 of FSI, but I didn't do the written exercises so I'm going back through and completing those. I have to say, the first four units were not terribly difficult, but units 5 and 6 didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, so I plan on re-working them before I move onto unit 7. I'm still reading First French Reader, and while some of the excerpts are tough going, I'm pleased with my progress. The advantage of having the bilingual text for me is that I can check that I've understood some of the more complicated structures and vocabulary. I usually try my best to read a sentence without the aid of the translation, and then I check how close my understanding was. Again, it dépends on the particular story, some are much easier than others. I am very anxious to get started with actual, full translations such as the Harry Potter series, but I know I need to get a little bit more familiar with French reading before I attempt even something as "simple" as young adult fiction. I've also been reading articles from French newspapers and my comprehension is much higher than with literature. I Watch French TV when I can, although I've noticed that some of my dubbed DVDs (especially Les Simpsons) are dubbed with a very heavy Québec accent that makes it difficult to understand. At any rate, it's good to familiarize oneself with different variations of the language. I still Skype with my French teacher when possible, although with school and work it's been hard to find time. That's all for now! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mutant Groupie United States Joined 3903 days ago 45 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German | Message 13 of 13 03 November 2014 at 1:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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German
I am really enjoying my German studies. I look forward to each new Assimil lesson every day, even though I fear that, as the active wave approaches, I may not fair as well as I did with New French With Ease. But we'll see. I'm currently on lesson 40. If I had one gripe about the course, it would be that, even as a beginner, I can tell that the translations don't quite match. It really isn't a huge deal, but it does sometimes make comprehension a little difficult. I find I have to spend more time working through each lesson than I did with NFWE, but since I like the language I really don't mind. I'm also working through German Made Simple. I really like this book. I wish I had used it when I started French...in fact, I still may pick up the French edition and work through it just to review some grammar and vocabulary. Right now I'm on lesson 12, which is a review of the first 11 lessons. I'm working on memorizing the cases, the plurals of some nouns, and which prépositions belong with which case. It's sometimes daunting but I really don't mind. I like to mentally review the cases in my head when I'm at work. I also signed up for the 6 Week Challenge, so I'm going to try to get some more resources and put more effort into German than French. French I'm reviewing units 4 through 6 of FSI, and also reviewing the grammatical index at the end of Assimil. At some point I will get a proper grammar book, but right now I want to work on FSI some more and really internalize the structures. I'm also trying to read from First French Reader every evening before bed. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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