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PMs TAC 2015 crazy? French course mission | ||
Tags: TellMeMore | Fluenz | Linguaphone | Flash cards | Michel Thomas | Self-Study | Spaced Repetition (SRS) | Diploma/Certificate | Study Plan | Fluency | Dutch | Pimsleur | FSI | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Assimil | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 97 of 451 13 May 2014 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Hey Jeffers, Like yourself I'm finding it not overly impressive, nor is it necessarily rubbish either. I hope it doesn't go down the path of the American series "The Wire" , and "Breaking Bad" for that matter too- they held my interest somewhat for a 2 and a half season run, but then it dawned on me, it wasn't getting any better so to speak and I just didn't feel like watching anymore really. I'm hoping Engrenages becomes more intriguing, but it's likely to hold my interest for longer than the American series purely because it's European, but mostly because it's French, and as you may or may not know, i'm learning French. In fact I'm a member on this forum website called How to learn any language. You should go there some time, good discussions take place about language learning..... I also have the series Kaamelott which I've read good things about but I'm holding that one off for a long time as I have no subtitles for it for at lease the first four seasons. Although I wanted to back off the watching, pick up my Dutch again (well over a week has passed now since doing any Dutch) and get back to my French courses... well I'm still watching things, and despite kind of hinting that i'm not that competitive, I think i'm realising that I deny my competitive nature, or don't admit to it, because I'm watching the surrealix's list every time I post to the twitter bot. Ah well I guess it's keeping me motivated :) One film I was really impressed with was Feux Rouges. Really well done I thought, and dialogues were a good range of pace. It feels like a film I could watch a few times over and definitely catch more of the dialogue. Oh and for Engrenages I'm follwing around 15-20% of the sentences I think on first watch, and prob 30% second time around. It's not easy for me to follow. Thanks for you inquiry Jeffers, please call by again ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 98 of 451 18 May 2014 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Okay I'd better do some sort of an update since i'm 2 weeks into the Super Challenge...
After citing an article regarding the effectiveness of watching films for language study over other methods of study and having the input of others that feel watching foreign films in your TL is very useful indeed... well after all that and stating i needed more balance in my studying I still went on a 'watching mission' to see if I could climb up the leaderboard somewhat. So I have manage to hover somewhere between 4th and 7th position after recalling a long clawing to the top from 41st position. Wow I deserve a trophy of something. I'm the comeback king. Hmmm... I know this ego fulfilling BS is just that BS, nothing more than mental games, but it's certainly kept me motivated however petty i feel it might be to my own mind. Let's face it most things in life if not all that pop one up on some kind of pedastool are merely ego-stroking activities. Nevertheless I buy into them, and for the SC i've taken the bait hook, line, and sinker. So I haven't gone near a French course in a couple of weeks, nor any Dutch in that time. I am still craving to get back to that 'balance' - ie i want to stop neglecting those areas, but i'm getting too involved in (could you believe it? yes) a silly leaderboard. Okay some further thoughts on materials used thus far: Watching Engrenages has been a main stay of recent watching. I have concluded it's probably too far beyond my current level to be of substantial benefit but nonetheless still beneficial i'm sure. I've watched all of series one, most episodes twice. Second time around is always better for listening comprehension, but without the English subtitles i'd be lost a lot of the time I think. Les feux rouges- great movie! Must watch it a few more times down the track. Un secret - same as above. Yabla- this online 'program' of sorts is bloody awesome in my opinion. I haven't used it heavily but it's fantastic when I have used it. You basically watch short clips between say 3 and 5 min. You opt for subtitles on or off in French, English or Both and can loop segments. There's an in-build dictionary and a game which goes sth like this: You get segments of the clip you're currently using played back to you with subtitles below in French (this system also avail in other lang's) a word will be missing from each 5-10 sec segment playback of the clip. You basically go through and enter the missing words (you hear them but you have to type them in below in a blank spot within the rest of the subtitles). Clips are garded 1 being easiest through to 5. There's different interests and even music clips. Great system that I def plan on getting more out of! 'Play and pause' - I used episode 1 of the first series of Girls to use French subtitles and went through it a couple times or 3 (can't remember) to read the subtitles and look up odd words here and there. It took me over an hour to get through a half hour episode esp as I entered some flashcards too. It's ok as another option and nice to hear the English equivalent spoken in the background. Reading Reading is harder, obviously more active, but I feel I get more out of it. I always speak out loud unless out of the house somewhere (not often), and I often look up words and add to my FC deck. il fait beau A 3 part easy reader, which was relatively easy. I found the story intersting enough to want to find out a little more, but for obvious reasons a little 'simple' not necessarily difficulty, but childish. That's not so bad, but just stating the characteristic I guess. It helped get me started and since it was relatively easy I looked up every word i was unfamiliar with. Vivre sans vaccins I started this book some months ago and would only pick it up occasionally. So I went back to the start and read right back up to where i was up to. I basically read every page twice. Usually on the first read of a page i'll make a decision which single word I want to look up (allowing myself to look up one word per page). I then add that word to my flashcard deck, re-read the page and move onto the next. The book is about vaccines and gives many first hand accounts of the good health of those that have not had them compared to the seemingly worse health of those who have. A VERY controversial issue and not sth I want to get involved in discussing on this forum if at all possible. Like religion or politics it can be a 'dangerous' topic. As I'm a nurse it's good to pick up some medical terminology, but not so much that it's overhelming (like a text book for ex), and in fact since it's all anecdotes of ppl from around the world the language is for the most part very common language with, as mentioned some medical terminology as well. I'm really enjoying the read. In general i prefer to use reading as a way of getting informed instead of reading fiction. Mind you I have a lot of French fiction books, not sure how I'll go with them. Le petit prince The version I have on my iPhone I read a bit of here and there. It's language is just as complex as the vaccine book it seems as I'm finding myself needing to look up a word each page (at least, but I hold back from looking up more). Haven't read enough to make a decent judgement but it's 'okay' Plenty of hours done this month so far... I need to restore balance... must catch Jeffers again, must get to number one position, then everyone will love me so much and i'll be remember foreeeeeverrrrr!!!! All in all the SC is serving me well :) Edited by PeterMollenburg on 18 May 2014 at 2:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5210 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 99 of 451 18 May 2014 at 2:40am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Fourth and seventh! - Well done! I don't think of myself as a naturally competitive person, so found it quite surprising, the first time I took part in a challenge, just how motivating a leaderboard could be. Like you, I had brief thoughts along the lines of, "Songlines, you can't be so shallow and egoistic, can you...?" And decided I could, and it was a good thing indeed. <smile> Of course, the flip side is that if one falls by the wayside, then one's ego takes a bit of a damper. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 100 of 451 18 May 2014 at 3:02am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yeah funny huh, when we self-analyse what we come up with. Thanks for keeping in the loop Songlines, hope all is well with you :) If I slip outside the top 10 I might fall into a deep dark depression, but that's ok, i can start a rock band or write some hip-hop lyrics about my hardcore struggle on the HTLAL SC leaderboard, or I could toughen up, get some street cred and still hang with the likes of Jeffers, Kerrie, Vivian, Isa and Anna, i know i'm name droppin, but hey all I'm really doing is giving those ppl credibility straight outta the likes of MC Petermollenburg's mouth, peace out 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4910 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 101 of 451 18 May 2014 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It's been fun and motivating competing against you. Unfortunately, I'm doing three languages, so no doubt you'll be able get ahead of me and stay there sooner or later. But until that time, I'll keep you on your toes.
On a completely unrelated subject, I'd really encourage you to get back to your courses. They're not going to finish themselves! EDIT to say, if you like mystery/thrillers, check out Ne le dis à personne. A man's wife was murdered years ago, and the crime was never solved. Now he begins to get mysterious messages, and new events cause the police to suspect he was the killer. Edited by Jeffers on 18 May 2014 at 9:00pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 102 of 451 18 May 2014 at 10:33pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree, it's been motivating, but I'll disagree on me getting in front and staying there....
This is why I will fall down the leaderboard, my courses and Dutch need attention, so I need to get back to my rotational plan of study.
Sounds interesting, will check it out. Tnx Jeffers for dropping by and saying a line or two. PM 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 103 of 451 20 May 2014 at 11:18pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Finally got onto my rotational study plan, back to Dutch and my French courses (one at the mo.). Decided I
may as well count the pages of the French learning magazines I read towards my SC, as let's face it, it's reading! Only did one hour of study yesterday as I got distracted with renaming and transferring a heap of audio files to audio files for my Think French learning mag to my smart phone. Good work PM procrastinating again! Not today, not today ! ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5477 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 104 of 451 30 May 2014 at 10:59am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Currently struggling with language wanderlust and revamped study ideas...
I haven't been studying much Dutch lately and almost feel like dropping it to focus on French only again for a while... If you hadn't noticed I've been distracted from my study routine for the last couple of days posting about political ideologies, language dominance, English spread and Americanization... Ironically I'm also having urges to return to studying Spanish. Thing is I passed B1 in French in March and I'm aiming to pass a B2 asap and beyond B2 after that. I'm a slow mover too (I study a lot but make slow progress particularly when it comes to French). Anyone care to share any thoughts? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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