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French: Consuming Massive Input | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 9 of 31 18 September 2014 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I know that this has been mentioned many times on this forum, but give Le Petit Nicolas a try. My adult French
learners (most of them male) have all loved that book! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rlnv Senior Member United States Joined 3944 days ago 126 posts - 233 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 10 of 31 18 September 2014 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thank you all for your responses and interest in my log.
I've found that I don't like struggling to read too far beyond my current level, as I did initially with Le Petit Prince. Struggling is not enjoyable or overly productive for me. It was for that reason that I set out to find graded readers more in-line with my skills. The graded readers I've read so far have provided me with comprehensible input plus a controlled amount of new vocabulary and structures. emk and others have discussed the benefits of comprehensible input, or comprehensible input plus N. I am very much in agreement having witnessed my own recent breakthroughs! My approach is to leverage this incremental growth one day at a time.
Yes! I have both Le Petit Nicolas and Le Petit Nicolas et Les Copains on my shelf waiting. I have three CPLI books that I'd like to finish first, one on hand and two in the mail. That will likely put me about a week away from starting Le Petit Nicolas
Thank you, but I can assure you that I am very much a grasshopper - so be careful! Edited by rlnv on 18 September 2014 at 11:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5002 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 11 of 31 20 September 2014 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Awesome log! I wish you lots of fun and great results. I am one of those proofs of how much can lots of input help. A few ideas you might like (apart from reading emk's log, I really recommend it):
-BDs. There is much more than the few well known ones, such as Asterix. If you have the opportunity, visit your nearest library at Alliance Francaise. There are BDs of all the genres and kinds, you will surely find something interesting for you and there is no better ladder between the graded readers and real novels, in my opinions. -translations tend to be easier than originals. Harry Potter is a classical exemple but I've had great experience with the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. Unless you find them too stupid (but give them a try, they are the best among the girly vampire literature, I can't stand others but this author is good), they will give you not too dificult reading with tons of everyday language. -tv series. Again, dubbings are usually easier than originals, I recommend the wikia list for more information. I started with Grimm, emk started with Buffy. -As you are obviously open to the options of books for children, there are two authors for bigger kids or younger teenagers that I liked. Évelyne Brissou Pellen and Erik L'Homme write books for kids that surely follow many of the "rules of the genres for this audience" but they are still fun and original, in my opinion. You might like to give them a try. I found them easier than books for adults. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5255 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 12 of 31 20 September 2014 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Massive input has worked for me, well, massively. Just don't forget to add in some grammar input along with the output skills of speaking and writing. The balance can lean heavily towards input but devoting some time to output helps to consolidate what's learned, in my experience.
As to dubbed series, one advantage of using them is the ability to get subtitle files easily in both the TL and the original language- usually English. Just search for "name of series + subs". It's a little work, but you can make your own bilingual texts from them in a word file by opening the .srt file in your word processor and copying and pasting into a word/open office document with a one row, two column table inserted- TL to the left, English to the right. The English can also be used as a check for your comprehension. Popular series have reviews and synopses available online in both the TL and English. Good luck, rlnv! Edited by iguanamon on 20 September 2014 at 4:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5002 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 13 of 31 20 September 2014 at 4:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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From my experience, it is usually hard to find accurate subtitles. There may be exceptions but there is often a whole universe of difference between French subtitles and French dubbing to an american tv series.
I believe you don't need to turn everything into the massive all in one package audio+text in t1 + text in t2. If you can get rid of subtitles at all as soon as possible, you are going to make awesome progress. You can read elsewhere. But I totally agree about the balance. I am now trying to catch up on the grammar side. The tons of input had great impact on all my skills, including the active ones, but I think it is beneficial to keep building the "theoretical" base to your skills as well. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5255 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 14 of 31 20 September 2014 at 5:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree, Cavesa, they are almost never accurate for dubbed series. Accuracy isn't necessary to use the subtitle text files as a check against comprehension, confirming the understanding, if not the word by word accuracy, of what is said, and to make one's own bilingual texts to read dialog and learn everyday speech. It's a good, free, and underutilized resource to use for this purpose. In fact one doesn't even need the video. They can be used solely as a reading exercise. Edited by iguanamon on 20 September 2014 at 6:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5002 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 15 of 31 20 September 2014 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I understand your reasoning but I just can't agree.
Comparing the language used in the dubbing and in the subtitles, the dubbing is usually a translation of better quality, with richer and more natural language. And a precise transcript can be used for much more than just a check. I've read about the telenovela method (a guy learnt Spanish through going in detail through a telenovela, repeating after the characters, finding all the vocabulary and grammar points and so on) and you need a precise transcript for such things. I could imagine several awesome uses for precise transcripts alongside the text but they are usually not available. For a more approximate comprehension, I'd recommend rewatching the piece of video and using a dictionary. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5002 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 16 of 31 20 September 2014 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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But to not turn the log into a more theoretical discussion: on the wikia, there is a list of tv series with accurate subtitles available. It might be useful to you, rlnv :-)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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