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 Language Learning Forum : Members profiles |  | |
| asistrial Diglot Newbie United States Joined 3530 days ago 3 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 1 of 12 25 March 2015 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi everyone! I'm Leah, and I'm a high school student from the United States.
I've been studying French for the past 3 years both at school and on my own. I didn't have any particular reason for picking French, but I'm so glad I did. French class was the thing that first got me interested in languages. :) This past school year, I ended up testing out of my French III class because I got tired of how boring and slow it was. No one else in my class really wanted to learn or speak French (they just saw it as an easy grade), and the only thing we had done for months was review. Anyway, I passed the final exam with a 92%, and I'm currently taking French IV online through my school's virtual academy. It's not quite what I expected, but so far it's alright -- honestly, I'm just happy to be challenged again! Outside of school, I read books in French and occasionally write journal entries to help me practice. Last year I got to go to French immersion camp for 2 weeks, and that was absolutely amazing. I'm going back again this summer, and I'm even going on a trip to Quebec in June! This year is going to be wonderful in terms of progress. :) I'm also currently learning Norwegian with my parents, as some of my ancestors came from Norway and since all three of us are interested in Scandinavia in general. We're hoping to plan a visit sometime in the next few years, which should be interesting. :) There are so so many other languages that I hope to learn someday. At the moment, I'm most interested in Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, and German, but my list goes on forever! I really enjoy learning about different cultures, and I think that being about to speak to other people and connect with them in their native language is a very special thing. I believe that education and connection is essential in sustaining peace and understanding throughout the world. It really brings people together, and honestly, there's nothing better than being about to make someone smile by speaking their native language. I know you've all probably heard of Nelson Mandela's quote: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." That's probably one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I truly believe in what he said. I also really love the science behind language learning; I think it's incredible how symbols or sounds that once mean nothing to you can slowly turn into something you are able to understand. Anyway, hello everyone! I'm so glad I found this website, and I can't wait to start talking with all of you! None of my friends are at all interested in seriously studying a foreign language, and that can be really frustrating at times. It will be so nice to talk to other people who share the same passion! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5234 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 2 of 12 25 March 2015 at 9:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome aboard! Good luck with your studies. Have a look around the forum and you'll find tons of advice and resources. You can spend weeks here finding out new stuff.
:) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kc2012 Diglot Groupie South Africa Joined 4471 days ago 44 posts - 65 votes Speaks: English*, Afrikaans Studies: Dutch, Mandarin, Russian | Message 3 of 12 26 March 2015 at 6:59am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm glad you found this site too. Hopefully it can give you as much insight and
motivation as it has given me. Good luck :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tangleweeds Groupie United States Joined 3573 days ago 70 posts - 105 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Irish, French | Message 4 of 12 26 March 2015 at 8:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome! Congratulations on your initiative on testing out of the class where you weren't
learning anything. School is so much more interesting when you're actually learning stuff, particularly stuff you want to learn. What is the online French course at your school's virtual academy like? I'm interested in educational software, particularly what makes it interesting or frustrating to use. What would you change about it if you could? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 5 of 12 26 March 2015 at 12:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome to the forum. Always nice to see people learning Norwegian, but of course there are almost as many Americans of Norwegian descent as there are Norwegians living in Norway. Do you take classes in Norwegian or just study it on your own? Anway, good luck with your language learning.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| bryanpeabody Groupie United States Joined 4983 days ago 48 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 12 26 March 2015 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome aboard! There are lots of great posts on this website and lots of great people. I hope
you enjoy it here :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| asistrial Diglot Newbie United States Joined 3530 days ago 3 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 7 of 12 26 March 2015 at 10:04pm | IP Logged | ||
Thank you! I completely agree. The online French course that I'm taking is though Michigan Virtual School, and it's worked pretty well so far. It's mostly writing and composition (writing essays and short paragraphs), and occasionally they'll throw in a dictation or speaking exercise as well. It can be a little weird to navigate at times, but it's nothing that I can't handle. The one thing that annoys me the most is the way tests and exams are set up. For example, if I had previously written an essay in that chapter, it will often ask me to rewrite it off the top of my head for the chapter test. That can be annoying at times, considering I've already written the same thing previously and turned it in for a grade. They'll also ask me to conjugate verbs that oftentimes I haven't conjugated a certain way before. But other than that, it's an okay class. My teacher is nice and always very helpful if I have any questions. It does feel like a lot of the assignments are repetitive, and the topics can be a bit boring at times, but I'm glad that it's making me write. I guess my only complaints really have to do with how French class is taught at my school. I would much rather be in a classroom setting and have a teacher in front of me while I'm learning (and other students, for that matter), but it just wasn't working out. I just have to remember to supplement my course with other resources on my own time to make up for that -- my latest projects are Le Petit Prince and Harry Potter in French, as well as working on more listening and speaking. It can be frustrating at times though, especially when I want to speak French with other people but no one around me wants to speak French. I'm hoping to fix that soon now that I've signed up for italki. I hope that answered your questions! :) If you're still curious about how the course works, I have a link to a tutorial video that shows you how to navigate the site. I'm not sure if I can post links here, but just let me know if you'd like to look at it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| asistrial Diglot Newbie United States Joined 3530 days ago 3 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 8 of 12 26 March 2015 at 10:15pm | IP Logged | ||
No, unfortunately I'm not taking any Norwegian classes at the moment. I live in a small town, so I'd be lucky to find a language class for anything other than Spanish. Right now I'm teaching myself through Memrise, and hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on some textbooks and other materials soon! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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