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TAC 2009 - DaraghM | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 145 of 177 05 August 2009 at 5:01pm | IP Logged |
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French
There are many different things which motivate me to learn a particular language, but I'd place travel as my number one. As I'm heading to the south of France, at the end of the month, this has driven my French revival. As I'll be mainly in tourist situations, I'm quite willing to subject myself to the phrase book type courses, which cover restaurants, bookings and shopping. In this regard, the All Talk course has proven more useful than I expected, and it also has some of the clearest audio I've ever used. It has also helped me remove that fossilized error where I was mixing up du and de. The course is strong on vocabulary, but unfortunately very weak on grammar. Its key strength has been rounding out all the basic vocabulary I otherwise lack. It also covers the language in easily manipulated phrases and sentences. I've also been using Assimil, which is good for grammar, but not great for speaking fluency. My last attempt at French used it as the primary resource after MT, but it didn't lead to confidence in speaking the language. I've also been L-Ring with a bit more L'Étranger, and also Le Comte de Monte Cristo. I'm not sure why I decided to tackle the latter, as I'm unlikely to keep it up after the end of the month. However, I do like the story of Edmund Dante, as a lighter alternative read to L'Étranger. I'd be very tempted to continue it in Spanish if I could find a decent audiobook. Unfortunately, all I could find was a really bad computer voiced version. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 146 of 177 13 August 2009 at 10:21am | IP Logged |
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French
With less than two weeks to my trip to Nice, and the surrounding areas, I've concentrated completely on French. I've managed to complete one of my French TAC-09 goals, and have completed the first 50 lessons of French Assimil. :-) Now, I've decided to pause Assimil, and return to the French Living Language course for my breakfast sessions. This means I'm using this course in the morning, and also some evenings, where I'll complete the written sections. With the course, I've found you need to use both sets of CD's. The On the Go set contains a lot of the verb forms and other useful vocabulary. The All Talk course has a lot of material crammed into it's 16 CD's, and the course will probably take me all the remaining time I've left. I like that they've split the CD's into about 50 tracks, which means you're not wading through a lot of English explanations if you set it to repeat track. Regarding L'Étranger, I've discovered my own personal variant of L-R, which works better for me. However, it breaks from the one key feature of L-R, that it's probably a totally different technique. The most distinguishing feature of L-R, in my opinion, is reading L1 while listening to L2. Here's a description of the original system, Listening-Reading System My variant doesn't have this. Instead I listen to the audio first, then read the parallel text at a later stage, and finally listen to the audio again without looking at the text. I did this on both legs on a six hour journey, making twelve hours in total, and it really helped. I found if I read the parallel text, I can spend more time concentrating on the language, without pacing myself to the audio. By listening to the audio in isolation, I seem to concentrate more on the meaning and the pronunciation. Listening to the audio a second time, I understood almost everything, and it felt good. In summary, 1. Listen to a chapter in L2 audio without looking at the book. 2. Read entire chapter in L1. 3. Parallel read entire chapter L1-L2, looking closely at the vocabulary, verb forms and idiomatic contructions. 4. Listen to the entire chapter again in L2 without looking at the book. Edited by DaraghM on 13 August 2009 at 10:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 147 of 177 24 August 2009 at 11:29am | IP Logged |
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French
I've four days left before I head to the south of France, and I'm trying to cram in as much as I can. I managed to complete the All Talk course, and now I know the entire story of George et Matilde. Overall, I'd give the course a good mark, as it squeezes in about ~1,800 words in an easy to learn format. I would advise doing the French Michel Thomas course beforehand, as the course doesn't teach a lot of grammar but tends to use certain features. E.g. imparfait, passé composé. The rest of my study has been L'Étranger and the Living Language course. I'm taking L'Étranger at a very leisurely pace, going over the same ground a bit. The Living Language course has been a useful tool to further pad out some basic French. Between the various courses, the numbers are now second nature, and my tourist needs should be well covered. Fingers crossed it all goes well in the field. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 148 of 177 03 September 2009 at 10:32am | IP Logged |
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French
My tourist French study paid off, and I got by without relying to heavily on my French speaking partner. It was my first time in the south of France, and while I knew about Occitan, I didn't know about the specific Provençal dialect. All street signs in Nice and Cannes have both French and Provençal. The similarity to Catalan is incredible, and perhaps expected. I can't remember if Iversen mentions Occitan in his profile, but he already speaks it. Unfortunately, it's not a commonly spoken language even in the south. It reminded me about the use of Gaeilge in Irish street signs. I completed L'Étranger very very slowly. I think I spent too much time pondering the literally existential crisis of Mersault, and this strange Christ like figure. The book is quite dark, and not a light hearted read. As I've now returned, this means I've finished my French study for the year, and I'm changed my profile to reflect this. Languages On the return flight home, I was stuck for something to read, and picked up Daniel Tammets book, "Embrace the Wide Sky". I have to say this is the most enjoyable book about languages and learning I've read in a long time. He goes into great detail about his own methods for learning languages, his savant abilities, and also how he sees numbers. He's also included lots of references regarding the latest research concerning theories of language learning. Some of it was so familiar from the forum, I wonder whether he visits here himself. I'll probably post more about this book in due course. Edited by DaraghM on 03 September 2009 at 10:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 6000 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 149 of 177 03 September 2009 at 10:48am | IP Logged |
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Hey Daragh,
Good to see that you've had success with French. Would you recommend Tammets' book? As I'm about to suffer from one of the longest air flights on the Planet I too am thinking about things to read, and well this one sounds interesting. So, now that French is done and dusted, what's next? Back to Hungarian? Russian? Spanish? Keep up the good work, and keep on TACing. Thom. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 150 of 177 03 September 2009 at 11:44am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for popping in Thom. I'm switching my French study back to Spanish. For the moment I'm concentrating on Hungarian, and trying to crack Unit 6 of the FSI course. I'll probably jump to Russian quickly, before diving back into Spanish. I'm heading to Barcelona in a couple of weeks, so I'll revise quickly before travelling. I was considering Catalan, but don't think I'd get more than the basics.
Regarding the book, I'd pick up a copy for a long flight. It's a very light read, but covers a fair bit of ground. I've gone about half way through it now. Edited by DaraghM on 03 September 2009 at 11:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 151 of 177 08 September 2009 at 10:06am | IP Logged |
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Hungarian
Since returning, all my study has been dedicated to this language. I've completely over learnt the contents of FSI Unit 6, and the definite conjugations. One very useful drill involved replacing the pronouns in a sentence which then triggered the use of the definite conjugation. E.g. Teacher: A lanyok minket látnak - The girls see us. Cue: magat - you Student: A lanyok magat látják - The girls see you. The lesson also covered some uses of the coverb 'meg'. It didn't go into great detail, but checking the Carol Rounds grammar book has clarified some of it. 'Meg' can be used to express completed actions, the start of an action, aspects of the future, and once of actions. I think it's the latter that covers such uses as, A hölgy megnézi a házat - The lady looks at the house. A fiú megissza a tejet - The boy drinks the milk. Edited by DaraghM on 08 September 2009 at 10:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6174 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 152 of 177 09 September 2009 at 1:21am | IP Logged |
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Our studies of French have followed a very similar path I can see from your log. We have even been to the same part of France this year.
I really envy the fact that you are giving yourself the opportunity to go ahead and learn numerous languages. I'm dreaming of the day when I can start on the initial track to learn another language. So many languages are presenting themselves to me as potentials such as German, Russian and to a lesser extent Spanish. However I've firmly decided to stick with French until I come to a reasonably fluent level. It can be so hard when I have numerous resources for other languages waiting to go. I have tried the All Talk serious briefly and it did not suit me at all. I looked at FSI but this form of study is not for me at all. I have a suggestion for you for an inexpensive and I think worthwhile course for your level which is Learn In Your Car French. For me it's an excellent course for vocabulary and especially for revision. I have gone through it several times and I think that says a lot. Just one question to ask of you...Where did you find the audio for L'etranger? I would like at some point to L-R this book or just listen along. I have had trouble finding the audio however. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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