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French by any and all means | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 41 of 48 01 November 2012 at 8:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Month 16
I finished the second Harry Potter, and made it through the first half of Les Misérables II [Cosette]. Les Mis has been like a roller coaster, with exciting parts and horribly slow parts. The first half of Cosette went like this: - A digression on the battle of Waterloo. There were side digressions within this digression. Some of these had their own digressions. Fifty pages or so. Slow but interesting reading. - A few chapters on the myths surrounding the devil and a rumored treasure in a haunted woods, and a stranger who's been seen lurking around town. Easier to read and more interesting than the earlier part. - A few chapters on life in the inn. We meet 8 year old Cosette, Eponine (briefly), and our first real villains, the Thenardiers. I had forgotten how evil and vile the couple has. Again, easier to read, perhaps because there was now a story to follow. - Jean Valjean's rescue of Cosette. This was epic. I couldn't put the book down. - A long digression describing the poor neighborhoods of Paris. Not compelling, slow reading, and I struggled with the vocabulary. I felt like a beginning student who had never read a book before. I'm getting the urge to do some formal studying again. I think it will help; I feel like I should be able to read more independently (i.e. without the dictionary or parallel text) than I do. I'll also be using a French-based Assimil for the experiment. I don't know when I'll have the time, though! For now I've downloaded a Public Anki deck containing all the lines from French with Ease, and have set it for English > French. That should keep my challenged for a couple months. Edited by kanewai on 01 November 2012 at 9:16pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| liammcg Senior Member Ireland Joined 4602 days ago 269 posts - 397 votes Speaks: English* | Message 42 of 48 01 November 2012 at 8:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Kanewai, how do you find the language in the Harry Potter books in terms of difficulty?
They could be just the thing I'm looking for in order to progress with my French. I'm thinking about putting them on the wishlist for Christmas ;) Good log by the way! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 43 of 48 01 November 2012 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks. And the language in Harry Potter has been perfect for my French level. I use a
kindle, so I can look up words quickly, but for the most part I can read them without stumbling or having to look up so much that it interrupts the flow. They're an excellent place to start! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 44 of 48 01 November 2012 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||
Very interesting post. I would think if you can slog your way through Les Mis, then you would be light years beyond the vocabulary in French with Ease. I follow your thread with great curiosity. Edited by luke on 01 November 2012 at 10:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 45 of 48 02 November 2012 at 11:06am | IP Logged | ||
It's nice knowing that people follow this; thanks! What I am finding is that I can infer the meaning of a word when there's a strong narrative, but that I get lost during other passages. If there are too many words I don't know, or that I should know but can't quite remember, I stall. Inference stops working. I'll read the French, then read the English, then go back to the French again. For a lot of this I'm using the parallel text as a major crutch. In a way I'm beyond the vocabulary of French with Ease, but in another way I don't have it fully internalized. I want to be able to access it quickly, without having to think about it so much, and I'm hoping that Anki will help with that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 46 of 48 03 November 2012 at 8:29am | IP Logged | ||
We have to do what we have to do. For me, I find listening a lot of times is helpful, kind of like a song that you know all the words to. I guess we have to find what we like or can at least stomach. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| liammcg Senior Member Ireland Joined 4602 days ago 269 posts - 397 votes Speaks: English* | Message 47 of 48 03 November 2012 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the feedback, I'm heading into town later to get a copy.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 48 of 48 20 December 2012 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I spent the past two weeks working my way through FSI French, Lesson 18. This is a review
lesson, with a heavy focus on compound tenses and pronouns, and a little bit of subjunctive. All me reading has definitely paid off - back in July Chapter 18 felt hard, and I haven't done any active studying of French since then. I have the final section to go: six lessons, 46 tapes, 20 hours of drills. It doesn't sound like much when I put it that way. I've been working on FSI French off and on since July 2010. Who knows if I'll finish it this year! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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