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The Beginning: TAC 2015 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 1 of 28 19 December 2014 at 4:36am | IP Logged | ||
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As I've been lurking around for quite a few years, I decided it's finally time to actually
start posting and, hopefully, become a bit more serious in my studies. Every year I tell myself I'm going to seriously study something, and for whatever reason it never lasts long. *Hopefully* by actually keeping track of it this time, I won't get distracted like usual! Anyway, this (coming) year I want to focus on French. French is a bit..odd for me. For a long time I couldn't stand the language at all, but a few months ago I decided to flirt around with it anyway, and sort of ended up falling in love. For the past few months I've been jumping around between different resources, and I'm honestly not sure *how* exactly I should proceed. I recently started the Paul Noble French course, and have been enjoying that. I've also ordered the Michel Thomas course from the local library--just waiting for it to come in. I'm about halfway through Assimil French with ease (a week into the active phase) but I've sort of put it on hold for the moment. I've been using Duolingo, Lingvist and Anki decks off and on (whenever I'm in the mood really). As for goals, I'm not going to be particularly ambitious. I would like to reach about a B1 level in the next year, but of course any sort of progress is progress! So...here's to a (hopefully) new beginning? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 2 of 28 20 December 2014 at 5:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose I should probably actually treat this as a "log" and try to write something most
days. A few weeks ago I made up an excel sheet to keep track of at least some parts of my studying, and it seems to have been working fairly well for me so far (except for the week long gap that is). Anyway, I only managed about 20 minutes on lingvist today, but that allowed me to catch up on all of my review cards. I really should start using it more... I also finished part one of the Paul Noble course. I had bought the first part through Audible for a few dollars to see if I like it, rather than going for the entire course. So far, I've enjoyed it quite a bit, and I definitely think an audio only course is good for me at this stage. I'm debating on if I should buy the rest of the Paul Noble course, or wait for the Michel Thomas one to come in first...would it be worth going through both of them? I've also managed to keep up with my Anki deck pretty well lately, though I need to find some more sources for vocab for it. Overall, I wish I had done a bit more today, as I had originally planned. For that I blame the internet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Xenops Senior Member United States thexenops.deviantart Joined 3827 days ago 112 posts - 158 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 3 of 28 20 December 2014 at 7:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello there! French is high on my list of languages to learn, but I just started another Romance language, so French will have to wait for me.
Anyway, since you are familiar with Audible, you probably know that you can collect credits and purchase full sets of Pimsleur's language courses. Try a sample lesson or find Pimsleur starter sets at the library and see if you like it. While many people here find Assimil amazing, I find it best for reaffirming the grammar I am already learning, so I would recommend something to help you learn grammar and how the language sticks together. I do not know of any books specifically, but many people like the Practice Makes Perfect series; I need to look into that series myself for Italian. As for study habits, read the book "the Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg. Also found "How to Become a Straight-A-Student" by Cal Newport useful for studying in general. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4009 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 28 20 December 2014 at 9:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome to HTLAL! I absolutely believe that your goals are within reach, and it looks like you've already found some great courses! Don't be afraid to start adding in native materials now. 1) Start listening to French music. Find a favorite song and learn the French lyrics and sing along. This will help pronunciation. Google the song title and "paroles" to find the lyrics. Here is a great thread on different French songs/genres. http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.aspTI D=37274&PN=1 2) Listen to podcasts (with full transcripts) such as L'Avis de Marie which is an A2/B1 podcast with full transcripts 3) it won't be too long until you can start enjoying books such as the Le Petit Nicolas series - a favorite among French learners at HTAL. 4) Try to be consistent in doing something everyday in French and find ways to "sneak" French into your day. You'll be surprised how quickly you learn! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 5 of 28 23 December 2014 at 4:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Just a small update, since I haven't had much time to do any real studying. I should
probably just accept the fact that I won't have a lot of time until after the holidays. Anyway, I did end up getting the rest of the Paul Noble course, but I haven't had a chance to start on the second part yet. I also got a basic subscription to Frenchpod101. I've used the Spanish and japanese versions in the past, and enjoyed them, so thought I'd give the french one a try. To Xenops: I definitely agree with you about the grammar! I have the practice makes perfect complete french all in one, but honestly I'm not fond of the way it's set up--it's pretty much a bunch of vocab lists with some exercises thrown in. I plan to use it as a supplement once I'm a little farther along. I also have "easy french step by step" which I much prefer for grammar and exercises. Eventually I'll probably invest in an actual grammar book, but for now I think that's sufficient. To Mohave: French music is what first got me into french, so I definitely listen to a lot of it. I'll have to go through that thread, because I'm sure there's a lot of great artists out there I haven't heard of, so thank you for the link. I also try to get a little bit in each day, even if it's just some vocab review while I'm on break at work--every little bit counts, right? As a final note, I'm seriously considering picking up Japanese again as well. I've studied it on an off for several years, and even spent some time in Japan, but my studying was always...haphazard to say the least. I'm tempted to try starting all over and doing it much more systematically, though I'm not sure if I want to fully commit to two languages at this point. (Eventually I'll have a post about some actual progress!) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s.mann Groupie United States lang-8.com/973514/jo Joined 3640 days ago 55 posts - 76 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 28 27 December 2014 at 11:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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I assume you're on my TAC 2015 Team, although I don't know exactly how that
works yet. It sounds like you're at the same general level I am and using a lot of the same resources (Duolingo, Lingvist, Michel Thomas, etc.). I'm looking forward to seeing your updates and getting motivation from your log. BTW, I'm finding that as a data nerd, I'm really loving Lingvist in particular. I really like how it quantifies how much I've progressed. It's also already clearly supported my other learning activities, because Lingvist tends to present me with other tenses and certain cognates before Duolingo does. When I'm not skipping any days, the 150 cards they recommend takes 20-25 minutes and usually introduce me to 15 or so new vocab words each day, which I find impressive.* *Just saying this to encourage you to do it more as you already said you want to :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| plumbem! Groupie United States Joined 3635 days ago 44 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French | Message 7 of 28 28 December 2014 at 1:39am | IP Logged | ||
So both of you are using this! What is it exactly? But anyways, Hello! I am also studying French and hope we will be on the same team. 1.Michel Thomas is great for accelerated (if unsustainable) grammar knowledge. I really recommend taking some time and focus with it. 2.Curiously, which Anki decks are you using? I really liked this one https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2803610639 3.I also use Duolingo as a supplement. my name on there is edwardplum if you want someone to make sure you are keeping your streak up! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 8 of 28 29 December 2014 at 3:25am | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't signed up for a team, though I probably should-- I tend to be a bit hesitant
committing to something when I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to follow through on it. However, it is definitely nice to see some other people around the same level as me (or maybe higher in plumbem's case? (which, by the way, I've followed you on duolingo-- hopefully now I'll actually keep a streak up)). So note one: I've just started the Michel Thomas Total course, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I've only finished the first disc, but I don't think it'll take me long to get through all of it--I'll probably end up going back through a couple times as well. Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to do the advanced course, as my library doesn't have it, and neither do any in the library network. After I finish with the Total course I plan on picking Assimil up seriously again. Note two: As for Anki, I mostly use my own deck--I find it helps me a lot when I encounter the words in a text first, then imput it into Anki, rather than just learning from a premade deck. That one you linked does look pretty interesting though plumbem, so I might have to give it a try. Otherwise for anki, I've sadly fallen behind on my reviews the last few days. They shouldn't take very long, so I honestly have no excuse for it, but I am going to blame the fact that I've recently started a novel and end up reading instead of reviewing. Not a whole lot of progress, but now that Christmas is over I'll hopefully be able to focus more. I'm definitely making French study one of my new years resolutions, and hopefully one I'll actually stick with! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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