Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 17 of 58 04 January 2015 at 2:26am | IP Logged |
Welcome to Team Français, Sillygoose. It will be nice to see the progress of an advanced learner such as yourself, and I hope I'll get good ideas for future studies.
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Tiy Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3678 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German
| Message 18 of 58 05 January 2015 at 6:51pm | IP Logged |
Hi Sillygoose, I am also in Team Français and I will be following your log. I am at a
lower level than yourself (B2-ish) so I look forward to finding out about the resources
you use for French.
I noted that you and some other team members cited "Engrenages" as one of their favourite
TV series. Well, I watched some episodes from Season 1 online and I have to say I am
hooked! The only issue is that I can understand only 70% when I would like to understand
it all, and I cannot find episodes with French subtitles. Any idea of how I might be able
to find some?
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sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4634 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin
| Message 19 of 58 05 January 2015 at 11:07pm | IP Logged |
I've tried looking everywhere for French subs myself when I was around that level and I remember having absolutely zero luck. Your best bet is to just use English subs or watch it raw. 70% isn't a bad level of comprehension. You may even advance faster at this point not using subs at all.
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sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4634 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin
| Message 20 of 58 07 January 2015 at 4:24pm | IP Logged |
French:
Some light reading and song listening. It's about time to start a new novel soon. I was thinking either Dossier 64 by Jussi Adler Olsen or Michel Houellebecq's new, controversial(standard word for his work) novel Soumission. I'd also like to start on a new series soon. French is a language I always put off doing things with because I feel comfortable with my current abilities and I don't see any immediate need to fine tune anything at this moment in time. But if I want to progress to where I truly want, I'll have to find ways to push myself even more. I'm just not too sure how to do that without living in a francophone country.
Spanish:
I'm about halfway through El tiempo entre costuras which, as far as storylines go, isn't awful but it isn't necessarily something I'd watch for pleasure in English either. For me, it's good for what it provides. Spanish practice. They do have an Andalusian character which is pretty hard to understand at times. Speaking of which, that accent is hard for me to get alot. Even the series Malviviendo can get difficult at times. I'm not at a place that I'd like to be in regards to listening, so I'm going to be focusing more on that than reading for a bit. I find myself missing too many little words here and there.
Italian:
I gave Amnesia a break. It isn't as suspenseful as other books by the same author and I find myself not getting into it as much. I suppose as far as literature goes, I'm ready to start with 1Q84. Murakami, or his translators, manage to convey such wonderful imagery using rather simple vocabulary. I think his works are great for intermediate-upper intermediate learners. I'm not reading his book in Italian so much for the purpose of learning as much as I just want to read it and figured, "why not in Italian?". Besides, reading isn't something I need, like Spanish, immediately. At this point I need heavy listening practice. I plan to start rather light with a bunch of old Italian gialli films then work my way up bit by bit. Since I haven't found any decent radio programs besides La zanzara, I had to skip right to film. Even though La zanara is ok, it can get repetitive if I listen too much.
German:
Besides Harry Potter, I've been doing a bit of Memrise. All of those gaps that I'm missing will need to be filled sooner or later. Since I chose the route of alternating Harry Potter chapters between German and Portuguese, I had to keep myself doing something while it wasn't time for a German chapter.
Portuguese:
Like I said, I've been alternating Harry Potter chapters with German. This is mainly because I can't find many good books translated into Portuguese. In other news, I finished going through Assimil. I still need to get my hands on an audiobook in order to get the pronunciation to a T, so that will be my next step.
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5474 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 21 of 58 13 January 2015 at 4:42am | IP Logged |
Hi sillygoose1,
I'm envious, so young and such a decent level of multiple languages. Well done! I want to
welcome you to our French team, so welcome! Good luck with your 2015 TAC and one
question...
...Are you going to sit a C2 exam in French? You'd be a pretty rare person to be able to
pass a C2 exam without having lived in a francophone country.
PM
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sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4634 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin
| Message 22 of 58 16 January 2015 at 2:29am | IP Logged |
No, I don't think so. I mainly do this as a hobby. If I take it too serious I'm afraid that I would get burned out and not find it fun anymore. Besides, I'm totally not expecting to reach C2 this year anyway. It's just something to strive for.
French:
Nothing.
Spanish:
Started season 2 of El internado. I got goosebumps towards the end of the premier episode. This means a few things. One, my Spanish is better than it was months ago if I could get goosebumps from this show and two, despite budget problems that Spain is facing they can still manage to make things exciting.
I tried watching an Argentine movie based in a heavily urban area of Buenos Aires and things didn't go as I had expected to say the least. Very little comprehension.
Italian:
Just finished chapter 3 of 1Q84. The language isn't presenting itself to be a huge problem. I'm learning a few niche words and conjugations are starting to become easier for me to automatically identify and associate. Alot of irregular Italian verbs actually follow their own somewhat regular pattern.
German:
Reading some Harry Potter. Nothing much.
Portuguese:
Watching Youtube videos and podcasts. Comprehension is still low. I think I just need to get a grammar book. Reading Harry Potter in Portuguese was a bit boring because I had no problem with it. The conjugations are still somewhat foggy to me.
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sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4634 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin
| Message 23 of 58 18 January 2015 at 8:42pm | IP Logged |
French:
Honestly, I'm starting to think that subconsciously I'm getting a little bored with French. I think I need to keep it out of my mind for a bit and focus on other languages. I have so much work to do in my other languages anyway + I've been doing a bit of dabbling in a few others. Everytime I tell myself to start up a season of a series or watch a movie, I end up putting it off. I think a break will do some good.
Spanish:
Found some really solid Spanish hip hop. Dano & Emelvi and ZPU. I'm surprised at how well I can understand it. I've heard many good things about Mexican rap so my mission will be to keep my eye out for some. In other news, I've been watching some more Casados con hijos which is an Argentine (and Chilean) remake of Married with children. It's got that goofy Latin American vibe to it which makes it fun. It doesn't even compare to the original so don't think that going into it. :P I used to have problems understanding it but I started watching it again randomly 4-5 months later and I can get so much more. I really like the rioplatense accent so I think I'd like to head in that direction.
Italian:
Some more 1Q84, more La zanzara. Comprehension is getting better everyday. When I go to my family's house, I can even understand their dialect much better. I'm really excited about Italian and I can definitely see my goals changing from what I originally outlined in the first post.
German:
Still on Harry Potter. I'm thinking about adding the audiobook to my routine but last time I tried that I couldn't get out of the habit of continuously pausing to look up a word or to rewind it because I didn't catch it. I mean, I already know the pronunciation. I guess I'll try it again and see how it goes.
Portuguese:
Got a hold of Aesop's Fables book + audio. I'm going to start it tonight or tomorrow.
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sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4634 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin
| Message 24 of 58 24 January 2015 at 8:39pm | IP Logged |
French:
Still break time
Spanish;
Finished the 3rd episode of the 2nd season of El internado. Like I've said before, it's nothing great but it's decent for what it is. If it were the same exact thing in English however, I don't think I'd watch it.
Italian:
About to start chapter 9 of 1Q84 then start Romanzo Criminale La serie soon. With English subs. I'd like to watch this and Gomorra before I take the subs off. More to come later on.
German:
Despite me being able to get the gist of Harry Potter, I finally came to the realization that it wasn't going to work for me like it did for French. I need to put more studying time in so I will be proceeding with Teach Yourself Further German + some graded readers. My main problem is that the vocab I know can get me by, but I cannot assimilate new vocab too well at the moment.
Portuguese:
My plans came to a sudden halt after I discovered the lack of readily available audio resources. I'm going to have to skip right to movies w/ PT subs to get my audio in.
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