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TAC09 French-Goal Listening fluency (LR) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6172 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes  Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 89 of 98 15 December 2009 at 1:37am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've finally done it!!
I finished my first public Anki shared deck. It's called French Intermediate Sentences. I pulled the sentences from a seperate resource. I had envisaged a deck of long and complicated sentences but unfortunately it did not turn out that way. It's mostly short sentences but nevertheless useful for French learners. I've really spent a lot of time on this deck. I had planned to complete it in the new year but I've put all studies aside and focused on it. I have not used the deck myself as yet and I look foward to doing so. It's just over 1000 cards. If you would like to use the deck but don't have Anki go to http://ichi2.net/anki/. I think it would be useful for the French learner becuase it provides: -sentences with prepositions -frequently encountered vocabulary -synonyms -sentences which cannot be translated word for word from English -All the tenses I strongly encourage you to read the English card first and guess the French, that is how I intended the deck to be. For a lot of you advanced and intermediate learners some of the sentences will seem basic but it's a good chance to review. Ok so that's bascially what I've been doing the past couple of days. I did see one little unknown film which is called 'La comedie du travail'. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6172 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 90 of 98 17 December 2009 at 1:08am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well only a few more posts in this log and it will be closed. I think I'll finish up just before Christmas and jump straight into the TAC10 challenge which I'm so excited about. I have to start thinking up some goals before then eh? Well I was just looking back over the log and the past year. There has been a few personal highlights or noteworthy events which I'd like to point out. Anyone that followed the log will know in about the middle of the year I undertook Listening-Reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. It took me about 3 months to finish the 52 hour audiobook (I was doing other things besides) and it's with a real sense of achievement I look back at having completed that goal. Just to put it in perspective Pimsleur is approximately 45 hours long for the 3 levels! I've done very little listening-reading since. I think I'm scarred for life. But the rewards and benefits are there to be seen; I have made a considerable improvement in listening comprehension since the beginning of '09' and I'm sure this exercise had something to do with it. This is probably the goal that I set myself which has given me the most satisfaction. I am also the uncontested L-R champion of the world.. Other highlights were 3 short trips to France. Once in May, July and November. Twice to Paris and once to the south - Cannes, Nice, Monaco. Had some good oppurtunities to converse in French. A real boost to my esteem and I guess a highlight was during my last trip to Paris. I got to watch loads of French tele and some shows that I had watched earlier in the year. My overall comprehension it was apparent had improved by leaps and bounds. I can't say that I can pick the day or the event in the year when this happened but it just happened because of lots of hard work. I was seated with my brother (who knows no french) watching a game show, a question is asked and I answer 'larynx', he turns to me and cannot believe that I understood the question. A real highlight indeed! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6172 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 91 of 98 18 December 2009 at 12:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I would like just to talk a little about the resources I used in '09' and what new and interesting resources I have found throughout the year. Well I had used plenty of resources I expected to use. Of course there was L-R but also movies, seasons of t.v shows, Michel Thomas, Learn in your car french, classes and many many things I dabbled in not worth pointing out.
But in the search, in the neverending search for resources I constantly am, to find the ultimate learning resource which really doesn't exist however I did find several resources which I stuck with and which have been very beneficial. I really did have a fling with many different resources but you find out very quickly if they are worthwhile or suitable for you. Here are my top 5 worthwhile resources I have discovered this past year. 1. Your French Library - If you live in a good sized city chances are you will possibly have an Alliance Francaise. For a small fee you can borrow DVD's, music, textbooks, literature, bande Dessine, magazines etc. etc. Just use it, OK!? 2. Fluent French Audio - Brilliant brillant resource which I have only discovered very recently. Just interviews with very interesting people about interesting things about all things French in French. Each issue is 1 hour audio and accompanying transcript in French with English translation directly underneath French sentence. Unfortunately no longer published. You can try and and find it online. 3. Learn French by Podcast - The best podcast for french handsdown. If your going to try just one, try this one. Approximately 10-15 minutes long audio and if you choose to, an accompanying PDF which is really really fantastic. If they could turn the PDF's and the audio into a course and put it on the shelves I would bu y it straight away. It would certainly be an improvement on whats out there. 4. Free French Films on Youtube - This is one I have not exploited a whole lot. But if you don't have a French library there is little chance of finding french films unless you want to pay extortion prices they charge for foreign films. There are really a lot of films up there now on Youtube. Just type in the name of a film you would like to see and it may be there. 5. Anki - I was using Mneysonmne (sp) last year but I found Anki to be a much better SRS program. The best feature is shared decks. I found a deck of 3500 French cards and only recently I have added my own deck. These 5 resources I used a lot and will continue to do so. There is one thing in common with the 5 and that is they are all basically free and very very good at the same time. Edited by Adrean on 18 December 2009 at 12:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6172 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 92 of 98 21 December 2009 at 2:02am | IP Logged | |||||
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It's time to pull out the caculator and see just how many hours of study I have done this year. I'm not going to count minutes or recall every second. I did many hours of things French related that I didn't bother to record such as watching French T.V, reading, surfing the net, listening passively, revising old audiobooks and courses, French music, FIA, etc etc.. but I just want to count the meaty hours of study.
I guess this is the reward for having kept a log. I'm very very pleased that I kept a log especially for a record for the films and the audiobooks I studied. I watched 64 films in French this year! I would never had guessed that had I not kept the log. The big winner in terms of study time is the Listening-Reading method though I don't think this pattern will continue next year. I think next year a lot more time will be spent in class. I will try to continue on with movies and T.V shows as before however. So total hours for 2009 is: 491 hours Below is why Listen Reading - 175 hours 20000 Leagues Under the Sea - 15 Jane Eyre - 19.5 hours Ivanhoe by Walter Scott - 18.5 hours Persuasion - 4.5 hours Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - 3.5 hours Contes de la Becasse - 4 hours La Mare Au Diable - 2.5 hours La Logeuse - 3.5 Un armour de Swann by Proust- 8.5 hours Bel Ami by Maupassant - 11.5 hours Germinal by Zola- 20 hours Le Comte de Monte Cristo - 52 hours L'etranger - 3.5 hours Movies - 96 hours Cache Le Rayon Vert Bob Le Flambeur La Vie En Rose Last Year at Marienbad Belle De Jour Love Me If You Dare Delicatessen Triple Agent Therese Raquin La Captive Un long dimanche de fiançailles Pierrot Le Fou Lady and the Duke La Chambre Verte Bel-Ami L'armee des Ombres Jeux Interdits La Mariee etait en Noir La Pianiste Fareiheit 451 La Bete Humaine La Testament D'Orphee Les Miserables City of Lost Children Leon Morin, Pretre Zazie Dans Le Metro Black Moon Je L'aimais Le Papillon Les Enfants Du Paradis Le Voleur Les Triplettes de Belleville La Grande Illusion La Haine La Peau Douce Gervaise La meilleure facon de marche Au Hasard Balthazar La Ceremonie Masculine Feminine Les Biches A Man Escaped L'ascenseur pour l'echfaud Finding Neverland (dubbed) Rubbish film! Wallace and Gromit (dubbed) Le Femme Coupee en Deux Masques Un Coeur en hiver Le promeneur du champs de mars L'Ours Team America (dubbed) Jean de Florette Chronique D'un Ete Toto Le Heros Manon Des Source L'Enfant Mon Oncle D'Amerique Garde A Vue La Petite Lili La Femme d'aviateur Coup De Torchon Le Pacte Du Silence La comedie du Travail Au Revoir Les Enfants TV shows - 49.5 hours Season 8, 10 and 11 South Park - 13 Hours Season 6, 15, 17 and 18 Simpsons - 27 hours Season 3 Futurama - 7.5 Hours Season 1 He-Man - 2 Hours Language Resources - 56.5 Learn in your car x 2 - 10 Hours Michel Thomas French Vocabulary - 6.5 Hours Fluent French Audio - 10 hours Learn French by Podcast - 30 hours Anki - 34 Hours Classes - 80 hours Intermediate 2 - Alliance francaise (2 classes per week, 2 hours per lesson for two months) 32 hours Intermediate 3 & 4 - Alliance Francaise - 48 hours (so far, still ongoing) Edited by Adrean on 22 December 2009 at 2:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6155 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 93 of 98 21 December 2009 at 10:22am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been following your log during TAC 2009, and I'm really impressed by your results. You put it a huge number of hours and stuck with it until the end. I'm looking forward to your TAC in 2010.
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| Jase27 Newbie United States Joined 5673 days ago 21 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, French | Message 94 of 98 21 December 2009 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Adrean, how did you like Alliance Francaise? I'm thinking of taking the one in Washington DC in February - I would
be in one of the beginner classes though, not intermediate. Is it a good complement to your self-study? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6172 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 95 of 98 22 December 2009 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks DaraghM for the encouragement. Many thanks for your contributions throughout the year.
Jase. For me Alliance Francaise is great because it puts me in an enviroment which I normally wouldn't put myself. The lessons are conducted solely in French I believe right from the beginning level. I think of it as more of a place where I can go to apply what I have already have learned and also some worthwhile revision. I'm sure that you have to put in lots of hours at home because there are some people for who the Alliance Francaise is their only means of study and they quickly fall behind. I think the enjoyment and benefits are better as you progress. Why? Because when you get to the intermediate levels you really are beginning to communicate in an effective manner. This is where the real satisfaction come from for me; the ability to communicate. I imagine at the beginning levels it would be hard to sustain a conversation on a sprecific topic. So yes I do think it gets better the higher you go. Just one more observation which is a bit off topic about the Alliance Francaise which I talked about with a fellow classmate. There's a real difference you can see between the beginner class and the intermediate/advanced classes in terms of students. The beginner classes are usually larger and ehm kind of louder. It's more of a mixed bag in the beginner classes and I would say a younger group of people. As you go up the levels you find a more subdued class with a higher average age. I think these are the people that have made the commitment and have stuck at the language for 1,2,3 or 4 years. I think really out of all the people that pick up a language course or who attend a beginner level how many actually go on to one day speak the language?? Is it 1 in 10, 1 in 50 or even 1 in 100. I think for the most part that people start out with good intentions but fizzle out along the way. Sad but true. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------- I made that big long list of movies in the previous post which probably doesn't mean a thing to a lot of you. I thought then I could make a list of my top ten from my 09 for your '10. So if you want to watch some French cinema but don't know where to start this may help. At the beginning of the year I only knew a handful of directors like Godard, Bresson, Truffaut, Rohmer etc.. but just by experimenting I learned some new names like Chabarol, Miller, Resnais, Haneke, Renoir. In no order then - The best 10 from the previous year Le Rayon Vert - Rohmer Pierrot Le Fou - Godard Jeux Interdits - Clement La Pianiste - Haneke Le Papillon La meilleure facon de marche - Miller Au Hasard Balthazar - Bresson Mon Oncle D'Amerique - Resnais Masculine Feminine - Godard Gervaise - Clement La Femme Coupee en Deux - Chabarol The bottom 10 Love Me If You Dare - I love to hate this film Chronique D'un Ete Toto Le Heros La Mariee etait en Noir - I didnt know I could put a Truffaut film in bottom 10 Finding Neverland (dubbed) Rubbish film! Le Voleur Un long dimanche de fiançailles / City of Lost Children - I know two Jeunet films in bottom 10 very naughty Last Year at Marienbad - Probably my own fault but I just did not enjoy this classic. La Grande Illusion - Another well known classic. I should rewatch but I don't think it justifies all this attention. Some people did give me recommendations throughout the year for films and I did go out and track the films down and watch them. So if you have any suggestions please go ahead. Edited by Adrean on 22 December 2009 at 2:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6172 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 96 of 98 24 December 2009 at 12:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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This will be the last post in this log for me.
Thanks to everyone that made a contribution throughout the year and thanks for dropping by. This is what I wrote at the start of the year.
I didn't quite get there but I almost have almost full comprhension. Hopefully by this time next year... Cheers everyone 1 person has voted this message useful |
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