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Gary’s 2015 TACtivation: FR, IT | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5205 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 9 of 187 03 January 2015 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | ||
Actually I already have that :) I bought it a while ago; I talked about it back in my 2012 log - yes, it's been years now that I've been trying and mostly failing to improve my French pronunciation. But since you've mentioned it, I think watching it again for some revision might well be a good idea, especially since I feel that my pronunciation has gotten rusty recently. I found the explanations of the prosody particularly helpful; the individual sounds are also well explained but that was mostly stuff I knew already. As always, the difficult part is putting it all into practice in your normal speech. Once I get back into the normal routine again I'm hoping to try to schedule in a period of French pronunciation focus. I did a month of daily Italian pronunciation work last year and it helped a lot (although recently I'm starting to feel that that too is getting rusty again). I'm most likely going to be visiting the South of France at the end of April, so before then if possible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4045 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 10 of 187 03 January 2015 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ciao @garyb,
in bocca al lupo con i tuoi studi! Se sei interessato ad avere qualche conversazione su Skype fammi un fischio ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sooniye Diglot Groupie Sweden Joined 3895 days ago 44 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Spanish, Danish, Turkish, Japanese, Croatian, Hindi, Hungarian, Albanian | Message 11 of 187 04 January 2015 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I wish you best of luck with French and Italian this year!
And concerning the magic number, I started thinking, and it seems that you areon to something. I have experienced the same many a times. Will consider it in the future. Happy journey in 2015! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4005 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 12 of 187 04 January 2015 at 2:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Bonjour Garyb! I'm looking forward to following your log and see how you tackle the road from B2-C1 -- with
the hopes that one day I will follow in your footsteps and have learned from your journey! Best of luck for a productive 2015! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5205 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 13 of 187 05 January 2015 at 10:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Again thanks! The road from B2 to C1 is certainly a long one for active skills. I feel like I've been on it for years now for French and the end still isn't in sight. But hopefully I'll get a bit closer this year.
As I said I'm trying to use Skype more, so I'll add those who've mentioned it soon. Netflix I signed up for Netflix a few days ago, mostly to have another easy way to access some native material. The foreign film selection isn't exactly huge (around 30 films for French, 12 for Italian, and I've already seen half of them) but there is some interesting stuff. So far I've watched La vie d'Adèle and Io e te (based on the Ammaniti book; I didn't know they had made a film of it, I thought I had already seen all the Ammaniti book films). Both are modern films with lots of conversation. Another unofficial selling point is the ability to use a proxy/VPN to access content from other regions, although they're apparently cracking down on it now so it's one to enjoy while it lasts. I tried it for France and managed to watch an episode of Fais pas ci, fais pas ça, a decent family sitcom, again with lots of conversation. The selection isn't exactly the crème de la crème of French media but there is enough to keep me interested. Language exchanges Since I've been using iTalki a lot recently to arrange lessons, I've also been getting some messages about exchanges. As per my first post, I'm not actively seeking them out but if someone offers I'll consider it. So far I have to say that the people on iTalki seem a little bit more serious than those on Conversation Exchange. I've spoken with a few Italians who seem keen, although as I know by now that's not always an indication that it'll last. Even got a message from a French-speaking Belgian. We'll see; hopefully I'll get at least a few conversations out of all this and not just waste time, something that I have less of now that I'm back at work. Update: Reading and Music Challenges I signed up for the Goodreads reading challenge (I chose 30 books, which gives enough for one per month per language plus a few English ones that are on my list) and Serpent's music challenge as I'm always keen to discover new music in my target languages. Edited by garyb on 05 January 2015 at 4:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 14 of 187 05 January 2015 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
Thanks for bringing that to my attention! I've signed up too. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elenia Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom lilyonlife.blog Joined 3854 days ago 239 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto | Message 15 of 187 05 January 2015 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | ||
Aha, another Goodreads Challenge participant. I've signed up for fifty books this year, which might be a bit ambitious considering that last year I managed a grand total of six. I'm aiming for a mixture of languages, but I'll honestly be happy if only three from the fifty are in languages other than English. Good luck with that challenge, too! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5205 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 16 of 187 07 January 2015 at 3:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good luck, fifty books is almost one per week! My one per month idea was a bit of a guess really, I get through some in a couple of days like Extension du domaine de la lutte, while with others like Il gattopardo I can take several months, so it probably all averages out.
I did a French lesson yesterday evening, from which I mostly concluded that evening lessons aren't a great idea, especially straight after work. At that time I'm tired, hungry, and I might not even be back from work on time. That said, it still went OK; I felt that the teacher was a bit too lenient with me, maybe because I was clearly tired, but I suppose if I want more strictness (not only with mistakes but also more natural ways to say things etc.) then it's up to me to say so. Moreover, in the real world and in immersion, you often have to use a language at times when you're not exactly in the mood, so doing a lesson/exchange in these situations, instead of saving them only for when you're feeling nice and awake and relaxed, is perhaps good practice. Still questioning how much I'm getting out of tutoring as opposed to self-study, but it's early days yet. If nothing else, having a guaranteed hour of conversation at a guaranteed time is definitely worth something. Language exchanges and conversation groups are free but nothing is guaranteed. Time versus money. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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