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Fluency in French - unrealistic for me? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Footnoted Newbie United States Joined 4858 days ago 35 posts - 42 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 27 05 October 2011 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was reading a blog by a French-language maven who described his/her (can't remember which) path to fluency as including 6-7 years of high school, college (French major) and postgraduate study, including a year spent in country. Then there is the French teacher at my wife's school who says he has been honing his French for 25 years. Meanwhile here I am in my mid 40s doing Assimil and supplemental self study for around an hour a day and imagining a time in the not-too-distant future (two years? three at most?) when I too may say I "speak French." I know that fluency is relative and you never really stop learning but am I simply being unrealistic in terms of the time it will really take?
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| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5670 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 27 05 October 2011 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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It is certainly realistic to speak French reasonably well within two to three years,
spending an hour a day. That doesn't mean that many achieve it, since most give up early. Of course, you have to be realistic with the level you can achieve - but there should certainly be no problem with being able to read newspapers or listen to the radio within that time frame. What is almost certainly unrealistic, though, will be the ability to sit at a dinner party or in a pub full of native french speaker and be able to participate in their conversations (unless they are adjusting their level to accommodate you). That kind of fluency takes many years for most folks. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 27 05 October 2011 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course it is possible. Sure, as Splog says you won't be perfect after the two or three years but it is perfectly possible to get basic fluency by then. The year abroad is a huge difference but there is not that much to envy about language at school. You need to be lucky to have a really good teacher at highschool (and at university often as well). And at university, you may as well study a lot of theory which does not lead to the fluency much. If you keep to an hour a day for two or three years, you will get far. And when you are done, you are still quite likely to have the 25 years for honing your skills like the French teacher you mentioned.
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| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 4 of 27 05 October 2011 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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You can't presume that since someone has been honing their skills for 25 years, that speaking well has taken them exactly that long. In 25 years, they'll tell they've been at it for 50 years, but will they be noticeably better? Probably not. Are they noticeably than 10 years ago? Probably not. There comes a time where most of the effort is spent maintaining the skill, not improving it.
A determined man in his mid-40s can most likely achieve a certain of degree of comfort in French before he hits 50. Make it your goal, and you'll no doubt reach it. Edited by Arekkusu on 05 October 2011 at 10:01pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 5 of 27 05 October 2011 at 10:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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You never know until you try. I don't know where you are up there in the land of the big PX, but it doesn't matter where you are when you have the web. Get into a language exchange with a French speaker who is learning English over skype. Use French whenever you can. If you live close enough to Quebec, definitely pop over for a visit.
I'm near your age and I'm learning Portuguese right now. At times, I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Still, I know that I am progressing. I know that I'll never be Fernando Pessoa, but, that's not my goal. I'll be happy if I am able to chat with people about a variety of subjects, read books and watch films. Once I felt the same way about Spanish. Using and speaking Spanish was what helped me to reach my level of Spanish. I still learn something new everyday. That just keeps it interesting! The definition of fluency is a frequent topic here and it varies quite widely. Don't get discouraged, you will get somewhere if you persevere. You've got to keep at it. People are your best feedback. Assimil ain't goin' to talk back to you! It'll only take you so far. Speak, even though you're not perfect, even though you make mistakes. You will make mistakes and errors aplenty but that is how you will be able to move that language over to the "speaks" column- or, you can just keep doing Assimil. Have you checked out the recent thread What to expect from a language course? Bon chance mon ami! Edited by iguanamon on 05 October 2011 at 10:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Le dacquois Diglot Groupie France Joined 5648 days ago 54 posts - 69 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, German | Message 6 of 27 06 October 2011 at 2:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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I believe that with hard work, you could 'learn French' in two to three years. However,
I would include a year abroad with that and if that's something you can't do then I'd say that in a couple of years you could learn to read and write at a good level. Speaking however, that might be difficult. To speak well, you have to speak and to understand you have to listen, but this goes even more so for random situations than the scripted dialogues of language courses. So, if you can find a way to speak and listen regularly during that time, off the cuff as it were, then there is no reason you can't do this. I highly recommend French radio for listening and if you have no other opportunity to speak, try speaking to yourself! The truest thing I can say is that learning French means putting yourself into awkward situations with French speaking people. At first it's very ugly, but afterwards, it's like riding a bike. As for the 25 years thing, don't worry about that. That's just super-ultra refinement. You could speak your own language for a 100 years and not know the half of it. It matters not. Good luck. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 27 06 October 2011 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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to Arekkusu's response: just on a sidenote, the last sentence from me was not meant as "25 years are the way to fluency", I should have added :-) to the end. (I didn't because it's not used much on this forum, I just hoped it will be taken as it was meant-partially a joke)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Haldor Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5616 days ago 103 posts - 122 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish Studies: French, Spanish | Message 8 of 27 06 October 2011 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
That all depends on you! I studied it on my spare time for a year, without really achieving much, then I went to do a language school in France, and obtained a B1 diploma in seven weeks. After a year of studying in France, I'm quasi- fluent. So it all depends on you really, how fast you will obtain fluency. But my advice to you is to go to a French- speaking country to study French or work. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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