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Learning a language over the summer | ||
Tags: Time to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| CelticBasque Newbie United States Joined 4622 days ago 18 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, French | Message 1 of 9 20 June 2012 at 5:04am | IP Logged | ||
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How can I study a language most effectively over the summer? (French)
I have Rosetta stone 1-5 FSI And a lot of time on my hands. Is there anything anyone recommends I do to study more efficiently and effectively? Any tips would be great I am willing to spend up to 8 studying each day I am a beginner but I am familiar with the basics. (Completed French 1 at my school ) Edited by CelticBasque on 20 June 2012 at 5:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GRagazzo Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4989 days ago 115 posts - 168 votes  Speaks: Italian, English* Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French | Message 2 of 9 20 June 2012 at 5:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Go through your RS courses, and I'm not familiar with the French FSI but I'm pretty sure
pronunciation is in the first lesson so I would do that before anything else. And since you have so much time maybe you could do one lesson of RS followed by one lesson of FSI. They might overlap at times but maybe that will solidify what you have learned. Also since it is summer and you might get bored easily with studying all day, I would recommend a break every 30 minutes or so and take that time to listen to french music (there are plenty of Disney songs online with the translation) But the number one thing is to STAY MOTIVATED. I don't know about other people, but I can get distracted easily and can easily get demotivated in my studies. If that happens just remind yourself how much you WANT to learn french. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Fenn Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4919 days ago 51 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 3 of 9 20 June 2012 at 10:29am | IP Logged | ||
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I truly believe you cannot self study a language for 8 hours a day (rare exceptions). Ive
tried several times and i can never make it stick for more then one or two days. If you are still a beginner pick fsi and do it for an hour or two and do some supplementary listening and reading spread out through the day 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6731 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 9 20 June 2012 at 10:41am | IP Logged | ||
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You need comprehensible texts to learn French through written sources, and there is a simple solution to this: find bilingual texts or make them yourself with machine translations (but translate from French into English because then the errors will be found in the English version). This saves you from looking words up all the time. However you will have to look words up when the translation isn't clear or you suspect an error.
As for the spoken word you should have some samples where you know exactly what is being said, and you textbook systems should give you that. And then you have to accept to listen to small chunks of speech again and again to get the details. With up to 8 hours of study every day you also have to have some activites which you can perform almost without thinking, otherwise you will experience a burn-out within a few days or so. Watch French films, Youtube clips, read French comics and listen to French music.. everybody would tell you that. Surround yourself with French and exclude books, films, TV and English speaking family members from that bubble. But let me add one thing more: copy a few lines in French by hand now and then and make sure you understand the content of those few lines. It doesn't take too much brain activity, but is a nice little concrete thing which hinders you from letting your thoughts drift away from French. You don't mention encounters with French speaking persons, but just a few encounters now and then might keep you on track and motivate you. Edited by Iversen on 20 June 2012 at 6:00pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| CelticBasque Newbie United States Joined 4622 days ago 18 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, French | Message 5 of 9 20 June 2012 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am going to spend a lot of time with my Grandfather at his house over the summer,and he is a native speaker of French. I live in America but my grandfather has a French TV channel that he said he will watch with me, along with many French movies. Currently I am lacking a French Text book I can use though. Does anyone have any advice on a particular one I should get?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6625 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 9 20 June 2012 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think over a summer you can get only two skills to a high level, any combination of them. (though listening+writing would be hard)
OR you can simply reach an intermediate level. You need to set more or less specific goals and plan your learning accordingly. See the techniques listed here for instance http://learnanylanguage.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Techniques Try sites like lyricstraining.com and http://gloss.dliflc.edu/ as well. RS and FSI are very different and neither is necessary. It all depends on what exactly you'd like to achieve. Use FSI if you want to learn a lot of grammar, though don't hesitate to stop whenever it gets (too) boring. As for RS... see the posts here. So now I refreshed the thread. As your grandfather is a native speaker and you'll have French TV, the most natural thing would be to aim for speaking and listening. Shadowing and Listening-Reading would be great for this. Also, in the long run, how would you be more likely to keep in touch with your grandfather (and other French speakers)? Phone/skype or emails? Assuming you want to be able to write in French, do some scriptorium as well to get more comfortable with the spelling. Do a lot of it if you prefer emails to skype. There are tons of textbooks, so I'd recommend going to a large bookstore or a library and checking out a few before deciding what to get. You may want to read reviews online before and after that. Though imo the methods you use are more important... I'd say in your situation something audio-based is a must - basically, try out several podcasts and see what appeals to you. If you feel it's enough, there's no need to get a textbook. And read the stuff at ajatt.com for motivation. Yeah, you'll need it to study for 8 hours a day. If you feel you're getting tired of French, do something else. Your environment will prevent you from giving up completely. Edited by Serpent on 20 June 2012 at 4:10pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Emme Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5375 days ago 980 posts - 1594 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian, Swedish, French | Message 7 of 9 21 June 2012 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | ||
I second Serpent’s advice to start looking for a textbook by finding out what resources are available at your local library. Moreover, you can have a look at Liberté by Gretchen Angelo. It’s a college textbook you can download for free and legally (it’s under a Creative Commons licence) here. Maybe it’s not what you’re looking for, but it costs nothing to check it out. Finally, if you are in the States I think you should be able to watch the French in Action series online (often referred to as FIA). A lot of forum members seem to love this series and find it very useful. Good luck with your French summer! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5290 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 8 of 9 21 June 2012 at 10:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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@Emme has great advice. Liberté is free and legal to download. Pdf's look pretty good on a tablet.
You can also have a look at the free Carnegie Mellon French Course 1. This is part of the university's "Open Learning Initiative". If you sign up (free) your work will be saved Carnegie Mellon Register. Bon courage! Edited by iguanamon on 21 June 2012 at 10:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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