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Team EN - TAC 2010 - Goal French Fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6169 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes  Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 57 of 119 02 August 2010 at 11:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Spending quite a bit more time then usual reading. Just finished an exciting book by Jules Verne called Michel Strogoff. It's a story of a messenger who has to travel from Moscow half way across Siberia to deliver a message in a Tatar infested Siberia, truly exciting stuff. Recentely have read a book called 'Si c'etait vrai?' by best selling French author Marc Levy. In any metro you will always see somebody reading one of his books. Both Verne and Levy were a walk in the park compared to the three short stories I read by Flaubert, lots of cryptic vocabulary and high French, very difficult.
Have been doing by best to meet people in Paris by conversation exchange. Whilst a little draining it can be a wonderful chance to meet people who would like to learn. I learned one thing and that is I can be absolutely woeful when trying to explain English grammar. Also everybody has a very different approach to how these exchanges should be carried out. I feel a little sorry in that I'm here in Paris and living with a French family so I get loads of chances to practice, so normally I leave a little more time for English when having an exchange. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6169 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 59 of 119 15 August 2010 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
NOOOooo... I kind of should be at a 'high' level but I feel like I'm regressing as I'm progressing if that makes any sense. Having started work in an immersion environment the gaping holes are all too apparent. First and foremost my accent gives me away instantly, it's very hard to disguise. It's difficulty to respond quickly to questions. Keeping up with banter is next to impossible. On a positive note my ability to understand is pretty good. Hopefully with a bit of time there will be an improvement, fingers firmly crossed. Lately I have been meeting native speakers 2,3 or 4 times a week for language exchanges. Overall as I mentioned in a previous post it is a satisfying experience. I would like to share just a few links with you here if you if anybody is interested. The first site is completely free and easy to register. I haven't explored too much the possibilties but it seems global with many languages available. If there is not a native speaker who speaks your language in your area you can search for someone who speaks French in Paris for example and who uses skype. This is a wonderful site called conversation exchange. The second site is something I just discovered from this video in French on youtube. I haven't gone through the site a whole lot but it ressembles the first site above mentioned except it brings larger groups of people together for exchanges. The site is called polyglot club, a very appropriate name for this forum. I haven't been to one of these meetings but the idea of bringing a group of people together and having an exchange is very appealing. In terms of study very little next to nothing being done. I'm making procastinating a fine art. Does watching Professeur Arguelles videos on youtube count as study? Yes? Well then I've done hours of study today. Now with I'm free time I'm gonna watch some more. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 60 of 119 15 August 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
Only if you march outside and shadow along. ;) But all jokes aside, you're intuitively right about what seems to be the often retrogressive nature of progressing in languages. The first few miles start off great, but soon after this the novelty wears off and the linguistic lactic acid starts to set in. Then it becomes more like a bumpy backseat ride in the Pennines, where some days you don't know whether you're coming or going, and the journey begins to resemble a formulaic romantic comedy with its twists and turns, beset with several frenzied downhill failures before the inevitable big win at the end. But that's the thing here...you will win in the end...so long as you try your best to keep pushing forward every day. The plot and scene are set, and in this particular movie script or mountain marathon (oh, I really wish I'd stuck to just one metaphor now), that simply means pushing continually forward in French to achieve what you really want out of this all. In this respect, language exchanges are a good way to help surmount the dips and climbs, and that Polyglot Club sounds like a wicked idea - I haven't checked out the site yet, but I will later when I get back to UK (it would be so cool to be able to arrange meet-ups like this in a nearby town)! Edited by Teango on 15 August 2010 at 10:04pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6169 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 61 of 119 15 August 2010 at 11:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
Oh what a badly timed metaphor....I just watched a kind of romantic comedy where I was convinced they were supposed to come together and they didn't. Why why why. She tried really really hard too, almost to the point of stalking. Well there's more fish in the sea, Dutch maybe? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 62 of 119 15 August 2010 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
Here comes the groaner...I guess they were just lost in translation. Now somebody come and steal my brushes before I paint any more grievous analogies... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6169 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 64 of 119 20 August 2010 at 11:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
Good luck with that. It is a fantastic resource. I met someone just this morning and if I don't have any cancellations I will have three exchanges next week! (cancellations are rudimentary) :-P ------------------------------------------------------------ -------- In terms of study I'M BACK - sort of. Well I've started doing a bit of L-R after a very very long pause. I'm half way through yet another book by Jules Verne called 'Les cinq cents millions de la begum'. This time I'm listening and reading in French only. I purchased and downloaded audiobooks for two more books Le Petit Chose by Alphonse Daudet and Une Page D'Amour by Emile Zola. Hopefully I will get through those some time this century. It's good to be back using this great method and reading stories at the same time. I've thought about joining the Francois Truffaut film library here in Paris. They have a DVD collection probably unmatched in the world, lots and lots of great directors to discover or re-discover. There is a painful membership fee. Inevitable late fees to come later. Turning and the tossing the idea over. @Buttons No I'm not taking up Dutch, it was something Teango said which was badly time :P 1 person has voted this message useful |
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