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Anomi’s French Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Anomi Newbie Austria Joined 4531 days ago 20 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 5 30 April 2014 at 7:32am | IP Logged |
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I apologize for the mammoth first post!!
:P Don't feel you have to read all/any of it. Alright, so here we go :) My Story: As a Canadian, I've been studying French in school for almost longer than I can remember. As many of you know, however, studying at school doesn't necessarily translate into an ability to use a language to any degree of effectiveness. So despite 'studying' French in school for 10+ years, it wasn't until maybe two years ago that I actually developed any passion for learning the language and decided to take advantage of the resources I had available to me. Unfortunately, I had this epiphany at an inconvenient time in my life so I did my best to sustain my reading and writing skills until I would be able to actively pursue my language learning goals, aka. NOW. My Motivation: I am three months away from going to France to participate in a month long French program sponsored by my university and the provincial government here. So, ya-da ya-da, I want to improve my French level over the next few months for two main reasons; 1) To sustain my French. I'm minoring in French Studies, so normally I would be taking French classes at university, but I'm officially out of school for the summer and will therefore have to take things into my own hands over the next three months (I will also no longer be busy with school work and therefore have no excuse not to be more disciplined in my foreign language learning). 2) To get the most out of my time in France. I want to improve while I'm in France, and I think that I will (I'll have to), but one month isn't a terribly long time. I want to be able to push myself to get the most out of my time there. As well, I think the more I study before I go, the more comfortable I'll be once I get there. That may seem an intuitive thing to say, but as I've never been overseas before, and definitely not on my own, comfort is something I am desperately seeking already :P My Level: My reading and writing skills are probably that of a low intermediate (perhaps higher, I don't really know). My speaking and listening-comprehension skills are closer to that of a beginner, though I can tell I'm improving all the time. On top of that, I don't feel my vocabulary is incredibly large either and it never hurts to know more words anyway. My Goals: My main goals for the next three months are; 1) To work through Assimil's New French with Ease. I think that a lot of the issues I'm having would definitely be solved, or at least chipped away at, by a method such as Assimil's. I don't really want to focus on grammar, I've had my fair share of drills in school. I'd like to focus on my listening skills, vocabulary and also speaking in a more naturally French-way (less Anglicisms). I know that this course is intended for beginners, but I honestly feel that due to my 'checkered past' with this language, I've probably missed some very important beginners' lessons along the way and I'm rather desperate to fill in these gaps in my learning. I don't think I'll be able to complete Assimil the way it's intended to be used before I go (I believe that takes closer to 5-6 months, though I'm not certain) but I believe any work I do will be of use so I'm doing it anyway! 2) To watch French movies and tv shows without subtitles. In the past I've watched French media with French subtitles, but since my reading ability far exceeds my listening comprehension, I definitely didn't get as much out of the experience as I could have. I'll be watching the tv show 'Les Revenants', which was recommended to me by my French professor earlier this year, as well as a number of French movies (I don't have a list right now, but I have some in mind already). This 'goal' also includes listening to French music, which I do a lot of anyways, and singing along :) 3) Reading assorted native materials. I have a large collection of native materials, both novels and BDs. Even though my reading level isn't the area I'm most concerned with, I'd like to keep myself entertained while perhaps picking up new words and being exposed to more natural french expressions. I plan on just picking up whatever books interests me the day of and reading until I get bored and/or frustrated with looking up words. 4) Logging in French. I'd like to update this log every once and a while in French so that I can get some feedback and constructive criticism from other forum members. I'll try my best to write without using references too much, but it will definitely be difficult to know something isn't right and post it anyway. 5) Dabbling in other languages. This isn't really a goal per-say, but since it's going to happen anyway might as well add it to the list :) I won't be actively learning anything other than French, but I'd like to learn different phrases and vocabulary in other languages I may want to study in the future (ie. Finnish, Italian, etc). Alright, so that's the plan! I'd like to update this log once a week, or more frequently if I'm feeling up to it. I am looking for a job however, so if I succeed in obtaining one anytime soon that may dictate when and how frequently I update. The idea is, though, that this log presents me with a little bit of accountability and since I'm definitely not a very disciplined student, perhaps it will push me to do at least *something* every day. I am, however, going rather easy on myself since the main goal throughout this process is to expose myself to a lot more native materials, especially those which involve listening, and to get myself pumped for France! Edited by Anomi on 30 April 2014 at 7:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Anomi Newbie Austria Joined 4531 days ago 20 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 5 30 April 2014 at 9:15pm | IP Logged |
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Day One:
I said I would update this weekly, but I definitely won't limit myself if I feel like logging something, especially right now since I'm at the beginning of this journey and obviously not worn down quite yet, so here we are... :) - I did the first lesson of Assimil's New French with Ease, I'm felt very odd, since it's so easy at the moment and the lesson was obviously very short. I don't really understand if I'm suppose to read the notes and do the exercises now or wait until the active phase... Not much else can be said for today, it took me maybe 5 minutes to do the lesson, but I shall trust in the process ! :) - I completed the first three 'lessons' from the book Easy French Reader. They were very easy and therefore a little tedious. I think the later sections of the book look much more interesting, but I'm determined to go in order. My method is to listen to the passages twice in a row without looking at the text, which ensures I've understood all of the conversation/all that I can understand without peeking and then I read the text as I listen to the audio again, and finally I listen to the audio again, pausing after each sentence to repeat the phrase as accurately as possible. In the future I may try to transcribe the audio before looking at the text, since I've seen that mentioned before on this forum and it's seems like an effective method, though one I don't find necessary at this level. - I downloaded Anki, which I've never used before. I just put in a few new words in a French deck, nothing fancy. Undoubtedly as the deck builds it will become more useful. - I also listened to Yannick Noah - Mon Eldorado (Du Soleil) and sung along while I followed the lyrics. I don't know how much help this is, but I enjoy it! Edited by Anomi on 30 April 2014 at 9:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Anomi Newbie Austria Joined 4531 days ago 20 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 5 30 April 2014 at 10:09pm | IP Logged |
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I've also decided to post a list of some French music I listen to, from numerous
genres, as I remember near the beginning of my French learning I found it difficult to find music I liked or that wasn't Champs-Élysées or sung by Edith Piaf (not that I don't love both of these, I just wanted some diversity). Now that I find it easier to discover music, I can be a little more selective with who I listen to, but even if they're not to my taste maybe somebody else here will like them. They are French (from France) unless otherwise stated. My personal favorites are marked with an * :P Anaïs Croze Arcade Fire - Québecois Babylon Circus Bensé Black M Brigitte Bardot Camille Carla Bruni Coeur de Pirate - Québecois Daniel Bélanger - Québecois Edith Piaf Emmanuelle Monet (Dolly) Féfé Grégoire Joe Bocan - Québecois Indila Indochine Ingrid St-Pierre - Québecois Jean Leloup - Québecois * Julien Doré Karkwa - Québecois * Khaled - Algérien Kyo La Chicane - Québecois * -M- (Matthieu Chedid) Marie Laforet Marie-Mai - Québecois * Mes Aïeux - Québecois Mickael Miro Mika - Belge Mister You Noir Desir Pauline Croze Radio Radio - Acadien Shy'm * Stromae - Belge Swing - Franco-Ontarien William Deslauriers - Québecois * Yannick Noah Zaho - Algérien Zaz ZPN - Canadien Francophone Edited by Anomi on 01 May 2014 at 3:00am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Anomi Newbie Austria Joined 4531 days ago 20 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 5 09 May 2014 at 12:15am | IP Logged |
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Day Nine:
I've made it past my first week :) I've been pretty consistent with one Assimil lesson per day, though I did miss a lesson on Saturday because I went on a trip to Toronto. I finished review lesson 7 yesterday and did lesson 8 this morning. I'm feeling pretty good about the first week with Assimil. I can always understand what is being said by different conversation ques after a second listen of the audio (without looking at the text) but I find it hard to pick up smaller words at times when they're rushed in speech (which would only be 10x harder at a native-speakers speaking pace). I think that's pretty common and perhaps I should try transcribing the text prior to reading it (I mentioned that before but maybe I should actually do it!). In addition I've been adding to my anki decks every few days and 'studying' those decks every day after an Assimil lesson, which I believe has been beneficial even if I'm just using the absolute basics of the program :) I also tried to watch Amélie without any subtitles yesterday (I've seen it before and I really liked it) but I got a little frustrated since a lot of the humour/charm is in quick talking narrator and random scene changes/plot point which is making me very difficult for me at my level. Unfortunately my copy of the DVD doesn't have French subtitles, only English, and so I may try watching it online with French subtitles later this week. Edited by Anomi on 09 May 2014 at 12:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Elenia Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom lilyonlife.blog Joined 3696 days ago 239 posts - 327 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto | Message 5 of 5 09 May 2014 at 10:56am | IP Logged |
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I don't know how much you'll enjoy these, or if you've seen them before, but two of my
favourite French films are A Bout de souffle and Une Femme est une femme by Godard. I remember finding A Bout de souffle quite easy to follow without subtitles at a time when my French listening skills weren't very good, so hopefully that helps. Bonne chance! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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