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Team EN - TAC 2010 - Goal French Fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5475 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 17 of 119 09 February 2010 at 1:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Adrean
I just finished reading your 09 log. I also have been studying French for just over 3 years and am now somewhere between the B1 and B2 levels. I use mostly self study (about 80-90%) but have taken several courses at the Alliance Francaise, which like you I find useful occasionally. I also did a month long immersion in France at a school in Montpellier which was fun but I did meet mostly other students at the same level rather than native speakers. Maybe I should start one of these logs. Anyway thanks for the link to french.yabla.com. I decided to subscribe for 6 months to try it out after I saw that they also have a number of french Canadian videos. Good luck with the test results and Bonne Continuation. 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 18 of 119 09 February 2010 at 7:19pm | IP Logged | ||
Microsnout, I would like to give you a formal invitation to join team E if you are going to start a log. We have a missing member and we are only two now. It would be fantastic to make it 3 so it feels like a proper team, not a tag-team Liam is also roughly at the B1-B2 level. He posts regularly enough. I think he will be attempting the B1 or the B2 exam some time soon. He like you has spent some time studying in France. He has already suggested several resources to me which are fantastic which I use very often. I have shared some resources as well with him. I think we would make a fantastic team. Three people learning French for just over 3 years each. All very roughly at the same level. What do you think? Edited by Adrean on 09 February 2010 at 9:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5475 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 19 of 119 11 February 2010 at 8:34am | IP Logged | ||
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Ok, thanks.
I will start a log tomorrow and post some of my progress so far. I have been stuck at this level for a while and need the motivation to push further - to a least advanced. I have the added difficulty of studying both international French and Canadian/Quebecois french at the same time which has slowed me a bit I think. Update: I created the log. It is "Team E - Tenter de devenir bilingue" Edited by microsnout on 12 February 2010 at 6:58am 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 20 of 119 15 February 2010 at 12:50am | IP Logged | ||
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Just an update to mostly say what I've been working on.
Finished listening-reading L'assommoir by Zola. It was an 19.5 hour audiobook. I've read four books by Zola now using this method, fairly heavy books too. I'm very much looking foward to going onto a different kind of novel, maybe something light, something more modern. I've had enough of classics. I've seen two films which were nothing to be too excited about. One of them an early Chabrol film called Le tigre aime la chair fraiche and the other with Daniel Auteuil called L'adversaire in his archetypal role (middle aged wealthy man in crisis). This guy is in SO many films. Interestingly Angelo Badalamenti composed the music for this film. It's the same composer who has worked with David Lynch, especially in regards to Twin Peaks. The music is instantly recognisable and I was not the least bit suprised to learn that it was in fact Angelo Badalamenti who was composing the music. Unfortunately it was not David Lynch who was directing the film. Both films can be skipped! As always watching Tout le monde veut prendre sa place religiously. The current champion is from Belgium and has got 16 victories. He is really very good. Lots of lots of questions asked are related to French music or Bande Dessine, so I can watch and enjoy but cannot really participate and answer the questions. There seems to be a string of Belgium contestants and the previous champion was also from Belgium. So it's really very funny to see the reaction. Have begun watching Season 7 of South Park and watched 3 episodes so far. Absolutely essential vocabulary learned from this show. Words you won't find in your Larousse. The usual time spent with Anki and a phone call over skype. As you can see it's a very relaxed approach to study. Actually time committed to study has dwindled since my exam and I'm doing a little less each day. It's amazing how many little distractions there are that prevent you studying. Last and not least welcome to the team Microsnout. Anki: 15 Hours TV: 20 Hours Movies: 5 Hours Listening-Reading: 20.5 Hours Text Book Study/Grammar study: 28.5 Hours Skype conversations: 14.5 Hours Class: 14 Hours Fluent French Audio: 7 hours 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 21 of 119 23 February 2010 at 11:22am | IP Logged | ||
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So just a quick one to update.
Have seen two films since the last post. La Tourneuse de Pages and Le Boucher. Both incidentally were thrillers which I didn't know before hand. Normally I flick on a film stop it about half way and watch it later but this time I put on a film watched it the whole way through, came back put on the second and watched it the whole way through. This week I'm indulging in trying a new form of study. The idea of the study is to mix-it-up as much as possible. So what I'm trying to do is to gather hundreds and hundreds of audio resources from Linq or especially podcasts from Itunes. They can be on the subject of anything, interviews, academic lectures from universites, the daily news, film reviews, film trailers, philosophy, tourism etc.etc. I will gather all these on my ipod in no certain order and listen in no certain order. If it's not intereseting I will move onto something else and if it's interesting well....Have already stumbled upon several things of interest. In particular an interview on the act of conversation. If you would like to try this, go to the apple store, click on the podcast section, click on power search and then search by language French. Voila. It's free. Also if you do have an ipod many of the free podcasts are actually videos. Anki: 16 Hours TV: 22.5 Hours Movies: 8 Hours Listening-Reading: 21.5 Hours Text Book Study/Grammar study: 28.5 Hours Skype conversations: 14.5 Hours Class: 14 Hours Fluent French Audio: 7 hours 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 22 of 119 01 March 2010 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||
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I saw a film yesterday and I felt compelled to write about it here and recommend it to you all. It was a real discovery for me. How a film with such a large budget and made as recently as 1996 can escape my intention until now I don't know. One thing is for sure is that I will track down more films from the director Bertrand Tavenier, who I can put alongside other directors I've come to love such as Godard, Bresson, Truffaut, Rohmer, Miller, Chabrol, Renoir and a few others.
The film is called Capitaine Conan. It's set towards the end of world war 1 in the Eastern front. A group of troops finds itself in Bucharest following the war and boredom sets in as they are not sent home. Later they will fight the reds. That's to sum up things very briefly and poorly. I began to watch another film but could not get past the first ten minutes it was so poor. It was called Ne Touchez Pas La Hache. It was a master class in poor acting. So besides films I've spent most of my time with podcasts. I'm listening to lots of podcasts from the France Culture radio station. I've also listened to several podcasts of lectures taken from college de France, on subjects like Qu'est-ce que'un livre?, or Qu'est-ce qu'un systeme philosophique?. I'm finding these particulary hard to understand but I think I would have some trouble in trying to understand what is being said in English. The language is very academic and reminds me of my time back in university when I tried to decipher those lecturers whose goal it was to be indecipharable. So I think I will quit these live recordings of lectures. Anki: 17 Hours TV: 25 Hours Movies: 10 Hours Listening-Reading: 21.5 Hours Text Book Study/Grammar study: 28.5 Hours Skype conversations: 14.5 Hours Class: 14 Hours Fluent French Audio: 7 hours Podcasts: 9 hours Edited by Adrean on 01 March 2010 at 10:32pm 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 23 of 119 12 March 2010 at 12:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey all,
I've been occupying myself with my upcoming trip to France. I'm going to be spending a month in an intensive program, between 20 and 25 hours a week! I left everything very very late, so I'm rushing to find an excellent school in an excellent location at an excellent price. It's proving to be very very difficult, there are a lot of schools out there but not all of them can fit my strict critera. I can elimate most of the schools right away because I've decided not to study in Paris nor Nice, nor Lyon, because I've passed a little time in each before. Whats left? Well I'm really decided between three locations and they couldn't be any more different. There are a few schools in Tours in the Loire valley one hour away from Paris by TGV. I've heard of a school previously on this forum which is in a Chateau which is supposed to work miracles. It's a little pricey and I'm concerned with the class sizes of up to 15 but the Loire valley seems to be a wonderful place to live. Then there is Montpellier on the Riveria in the sunny south. There are a whole hosts of schools which are all very well priced. I'm getting the sentiment that they may be a little impersonal because they are mostly in the city centre and there are dozens to choose from. Having the sea nearby will be nice though! So there is the possibility of staying in the campagne, by the beach or finally in the Alpes. I have spotted a very reasonably priced school in Annecy. There are lakes, mountains and plenty of hiking to do. It's a little far away from everything though which is a concern. Also the city is not big in itself. I imagine there will be extra costs involved once I get to France in order to get to Annecy. It's close by to Switzerland and more specifically Geneva. I have made a lists of requirements and top of the list is that I will be living in a homestay with breakfast and dinner each day. I imagine that this will be an excellent chance to speak French. Also if the school offers excursions or not is very important to me. I want to keep very busy and active while I'm there. I must say that I'm feeling a little nervous about making a decision. I'm investing a lot of time and money so I really want to make the right choice. Of course with more money and time I could perhaps try several schools in different locations. I've heard of live in total immersion schools, for example one is in a former monastery, but these are usually very expensive and for older people. After my period of study I intend to find a job which will permit me to stay in France. This may mean catching the train back to Paris and looking for a job there. It didn't feel like so long ago that this trip to France was only a far off dream or idea but the time is approaching and I intend to be there in early May. I will keep you updated. -------------------------------------------------- As for my studies I've seen three films. The first Pauline a la page by Rohmer, the second L.627 by Tavernier and the third Micmacs by Jeunet. The Rohmer film and Tavernier film were both superb. The Jeunet film is currently in cinemas. He is most famous for Amelie. This was a great dissapointment. The cinema was suitably empty. Been working a little on Anki. Been watching Tout Le Monde Veut Prendre Sa Place fairly regularly. Mostly have been listening to podcasts from the France culture radio station. Had a short conversation in French with a woman who has recently returned from there after a number of years and a skype phone call. Anki: 19 Hours TV: 27.5 Hours Movies: 15.5 Hours Listening-Reading: 21.5 Hours Text Book Study/Grammar study: 28.5 Hours Skype conversations: 15.5 Hours Class: 14 Hours Fluent French Audio: 7 hours Podcasts: 18 hours 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5385 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 24 of 119 12 March 2010 at 1:45am | IP Logged | ||
Wow! I'm so jealous you can use Yabla! It looks like such a great tool!!! I'm learning Japanese, you see, and I don't know of any such resource for Japanese... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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