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Tags: Brushing up a language | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4435 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes  Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 9 of 16 01 August 2014 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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A while back I spent 1 summer in Taiwan brushing up my Mandarin. They assigned me to an advanced
class with a story to read each day and dictation for the following morning. I'm not in a course at this point but is thinking of joining a class later next year. What I'm trying now is to watch some learning videos online with subtitles. Watch these a few times then switch the video portion off and only listen to the audio for personal dictation. My focus would be to listen to an audio clip as many times as necessary and try to piece a conversation back together. After the dictation, I'd be able to judge how much of the material I can pick up by listening alone. There is a series on YouTube I'm using with subtitles: "Victor Learn French". What I found was some of the captions may have been mistyped but shouldn't be too problematic for learning. The French title is "Français pour débutant" which is French for beginners. The entire sequence is in French with no English subtitles. Getting through the tutorial is where I need to get to the intermediate level even if I have to look up every other word in an online dictionary. I actually learn more in 2 weeks getting through a few video lessons than an entire school term when I was taking French. Back in my school days I failed because I didn't spend enough time listening to the language especially during my summer holidays when there was practically no exposure to the language until the following September. Edited by shk00design on 01 August 2014 at 10:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 10 of 16 01 August 2014 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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You can listen to some very simple French by looking on YouTube for TroTro in French.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No9hmeo-R0Q It is a childrens program and the language is very simple. There are no subtitles but it shouldn't be difficult for you to pick up. (Or any French learner) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kszegosz Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 4628 days ago 17 posts - 20 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French | Message 11 of 16 10 August 2014 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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One more time thanks for all your advices. I'm reviewing french with easy (41 lesson) now, trying to read some graded readers, singing songs of ZAZ with polish transcription right beside me, and I'm getting kind of tutoring from my aunt who lived in France. I have bought assimil using french yesterday from bookdepository(Highly recomend this shop). I'm thinking also of my language log with French and English to keep me going, and maybe get more of me, especially with English.
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5000 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 12 of 16 10 August 2014 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think I may have waited too long before looking into this thread and responding, even though I may be the Queen of Rusty Languages Resuscitation ;-)
I think these ideas might be helpful: 1. When reviewing, do not dwell too much on every detail. The point is to freshen your memory, not to bore you to death by redoing everything. Of course you are still going to make mistakes, especially if you left earlier than you got things right the first time. But from my experience, it is much better to further drill and improve on the go while progressing in different areas than to get stuck, stubbornly keep smashing your head against the wall of exercise 2 on page 96 of your old textbook, and not allow yourself to continue. Forgive yourself you have forgotten some things. 2. If point 1 isn't too easy, get another resource of the same level. It helps not feeling "oh, I used to know this, :-(" 3. Or you may find out you don't need a course anymore. Things like a grammar and vocabulary book with exercises may prove more flexible for your needs. Grammaire Progressive or something like that is a great companion on every level. 4. At least for me, it's usually the ears that forget more than the eyes. But both need to get used to seeing the language again. Emk gives great advice as usual. Get some BDs or easier books. And even more importantly, listen a lot. Zaz is a good start. Get music, audiobooks, easier tv series or whatever you want. Some tips on tv series are on the htlal wiki. 5. Remember, even during the darker times of language reviewing, that there is much more hidden inside your brain than you realize at first. :-) And the positive thing is that all the parts that you can still remember after a short review are very likely to be well saved in your longterm memory. 6. Get a good goal. Review is a process but not a goal by itself. This is a mistake I used to make. It lead to several repeated abandons of the language. Get a goal and preferably different than the last time. To overcome the memory of "failure" or "loss" that might (or might not, you may be totally different from me) be hidden inside your head and heart, redefine your "read Hugo in French" to at least "read Dumas in French" ;-) It helped me keep going a few times already. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4038 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 13 of 16 12 August 2014 at 2:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I found this immensely helpful and effective this winter to resuscitate my French -->
http://www.dailyfrenchpod.com/ Since now, my favourite podcast of all times. Actually, I should restart listen to it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4435 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 14 of 16 12 August 2014 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another French Lesson series I found on YouTube is under "YouLearn French". These are like flash cards
with pictures on top, French caption & English subtitles at the bottom. A native-speaker would say each word/phrase and you repeat after. You can change the playing speed to -.05, +1.5, +1.25, etc. The first time I'd look at the picture and the caption. The second time I'd run through a video by listening and repeating the sounds. The problem of learning in a class is not enough focus on conversation. If you listen to the sounds of a language every day, it'd be much easier to get into conversations later. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kszegosz Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 4628 days ago 17 posts - 20 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French | Message 15 of 16 15 August 2014 at 10:15am | IP Logged | ||
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Cavesa you're have a point! I used to spent 45-60 minutes reviewing one lesson ( I've been doing 2 per day) which was quite boring. I did translation from Polish to French, and correct it, but I found that I made only minor mistakes, like wrong accent for exemple. After I read your post, I decided that I would spend maximum 20 minutes per lesson and It's kind of exciting when I review lesson with timer. That help me focus more. And I have enough power will (and time)to do other thinks, which is great. Thanks to tristano I start to listening podcast in French while doing sth else.You're great guys : )
What is BDs? Cavesa mentioned it at 4 point. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5523 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 16 of 16 15 August 2014 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | ||
Bandes dessinées, or French graphic novels. They're awesome, with something for pretty much every taste. They're especially handy for people learning French, because they have pictures, and quite a few of them are actually quite good. You can read them online at Izneo, which gives away one free BD per week, and which has a 9.90€/month "all you can read" plan. It's worth getting on their mailing list. I also have lists of interesting BDs here and here if you're looking for suggestions. Anyway, I hope that's enough to get you started, but if you like any particular genre, don't hesitate to ask for more specific recommendations. HTLAL readers know a lot of BDs. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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