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Can speak fluently, but can’t understand! | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Goindol Senior Member United States Joined 6072 days ago 165 posts - 203 votes  | Message 17 of 24 26 March 2015 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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In addition to all the helpful advice given in this thread, I'd like to suggest subs2srs as a possible resource, which
is a program for Windows to split a video and subtitles into discrete audio-enabled flashcards of sorts. It took a bit of effort for me to learn how to set it up, but once everything is in place, you can make a full deck of these cards in a few minutes. To make and use these cards, you need: A PC running Windows A computer program called Anki, which is more or less a fancy flash card program A French video (either ripped from a disc or a downloaded copy) Subtitles for the video, in French and English/your mother tongue I also use free programs called Aegissub and Subtitle Edit to make the process a bit easier. Optional is a tablet or a smart phone, on which you can run Anki. It kind of sounds like a pain, and that's why I stayed away from trying it for a few years after learning about it, but the results are very good. I believe a few posters here have used it. If anybody wants to give it a try but is intimidated, I can try to help them through the process. Also, I have a few decks in French. If you want to give it a try with the premade French decks, all you need is Anki, either the PC or mobile version. I can't post them in public for copyright reasons, but send me a PM if you're interested. Edited by Goindol on 26 March 2015 at 3:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5007 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 18 of 24 26 March 2015 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think the "diglossia" is quite an exageration, the trouble lies elsewhere. OP, if you have only used Pimsleur
and Michel Thomas so far, you are simply not advanced enough to understand normal speech and to speak without looking for words. You've got some nice basics, which is an achievement I am not trying to put down, I congratulate you! But there is a long path and lots of good advice was given on this thread that I recommend you to try and choose from. Many courses, MT and Pimsleur including, make wild promises of making you fluent and name their second or third volumes "Advanced". But while they are good at doing their job, which is teaching you the basics, you cannot expect them to get you that far. You are just having a crash with reality which can either destoy your motivatin or strenghten it and inspire you and it is your choice. I recommend trying the intermediate listening resources listed here, progressing to the native media (despite what many people think, many tv series and even books use the normal, spoken language and will therefore prepare you for speaking with real people, I've experienced it myself) and don't forget further grammar and vocabulary acquision as those are the roots your real skills grow from. I wish you lots of success and fun on the way. You might like to read logs by some of our members who have succeeded at learning French, such as emk, garyb and many others. And perhaps make your own log to make your own reference of the progress and get further advice and encouragement during the long path before you. 12 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7236 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 19 of 24 27 March 2015 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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This has been my big problem in the past... I can read something but not understand it when it's spoken. After much fumbling around I've found the best thing to be transcribing audio, replaying as much as needed, and then checking that against a transcript. I don't know why I don't see more about this technique.
6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5764 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 20 of 24 27 March 2015 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | ||
I like it, it helps me a lot, but I'm not as cool as many people who prefer reading already existing transcripts with their audio. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5469 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 21 of 24 27 March 2015 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | ||
There is such a course. It is called Smart French It has been a few years since I bought/used this but I recall it contains a number of natural native dialogs along with an educational style reproduction of each. You start with the simple "Assiml like" dialog and in several steps (with explanations) progress to the original native recording. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6863 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 22 of 24 28 March 2015 at 8:37pm | IP Logged | ||
Sounds like you have focussed too much on one of the four main skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) at the expense of the others. Its a bit like going to the gym for months and only working your leg muscles; you'll have strong legs, but can't use your arms 1 person has 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 23 of 24 30 March 2015 at 10:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I learnt basic French at school, then when I picked it up again I used courses like MT and Assimil. I had some familiarity with the formal written language, and could mostly understand very clear speech like news broadcasts, but struggled with everyday spoken language. What helped me bridge the gap was TV/film with French transcripts and subtitles.
I watched a bunch of dubbed Simpsons episodes and followed the transcripts, as well as a few films (check out the List of movies and series with accurate subtitles). Emk did a similar thing with Buffy and had good results. Les Revenants could be a good choice if you want something genuinely French rather than dubbed: the language is fairly clear and normal (relatively speaking, of course!) and it has accurate subtitles. Edited by garyb on 30 March 2015 at 10:57am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4666 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 24 of 24 30 March 2015 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Watching tv is the best way to boost your comprehension skills.
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