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French Summer Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| jae Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5670 days ago 206 posts - 239 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Latin Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, French | Message 1 of 3 19 June 2013 at 1:14pm | IP Logged |
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Welcome to my French log!
Background/Goals: Although I am currently studying in Germany (trying to pass a C2 test), I have a decent amount of free time every day, so I've decided to start learning French during my summer as well. I have a decent background studying Latin/other Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish), but absolutely no prior experience with French, so this will be something quite new for me. I don't have a terribly specific goal in mind (there's not any specific level I'm hoping to reach); I'm just going to try to learn as much as I have time to before the end of August. Materials: I recently acquired Assimil's New French with Ease, which I have started working with (I've only completed one lesson so far). The format is somewhat different than what I'm used to, since I've become accustomed to either using Pimsleur or using a course with a greater emphasis on vocab lists and grammar rules. Assimil has neither, making it a slightly unusual experience for me, but I am going to continue using it while supplementing what I learn with other material. I've also decided to use Pimsleur at the same time since I've always been quite satisfied with the progress I'm able to make in actually speaking the language (and having a better accent) when I've used it for other languages. Lastly, I have a copy of Schaum's French Grammar that I intend to use as a grammar reference and for exercises with new grammar concepts. Hopefully I'll be able to get through all of Pimsleur (I, II, and III) by the end of the summer and at least a decent amount of my Assimil couse as well. So excited to start! Edit: Any and all tips are of course welcome as well! Edited by jae on 19 June 2013 at 2:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jae Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5670 days ago 206 posts - 239 votes Speaks: English*, German, Latin Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, French | Message 2 of 3 24 June 2013 at 11:13am | IP Logged |
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So far, my studies have been going well, although French is definitely more difficult
for me than other Romance languages I have studied such as Portuguese. I find the most difficult aspect to be the spelling and pronunciation, since so many words have silent letters in some contexts but these sounds are actually pronounced when surrounded by different neighboring words. Progress Update: ASSIMIL -- So far I have only completed one lesson of Assimil, but I am going to try to get into a more regular pattern of doing 1-2 lessons per day. It's been a bit tough to really get motivated for this program (clearly, since I've only done one lesson!) because I'm not really used to the method they use. But onward and upward, I will persevere! PIMSLEUR -- I have now completed all the lessons through Unit 7. What I like about Pimsleur is that you immediately learn some useful phrases and start speaking. This isn't an unusual or profound comment, but I think that Pimsleur really helps me get a feel for the language. GRAMMAR -- I haven't really started to tackle any major grammar yet, since I mainly want to use grammar books as a supplement to the grammar I come across in other lessons (where it isn't as thoroughly explained). Today I actually found a great Youtube channel that is full of lessons for French (both vocab and grammar). The username is "imagiers" and I think I'm going to use a few of these lessons just as a basic intro to grammar and vocab, especially to cover bases such as alphabet pronunciation, numbers, etc. that I think would be good to know from the start. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jae Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5670 days ago 206 posts - 239 votes Speaks: English*, German, Latin Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, French | Message 3 of 3 16 July 2013 at 10:55am | IP Logged |
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Long time, no see! I've been a bit absent from the forum lately since I've been
traveling and haven't had much time on the computer. That said, my studies have also been a bit slow but I've tried to keep doing a bit each day. Progress Update: ASSIMIL -- I have now completed 8 lessons of Assimil. Still definitely far behind my target of one per day, but it's just been a bit more difficult to get around to Assimil since it's a bit of a slower process (and also it's difficult to stop in the middle of a lesson if something comes up). I'm still hoping to finish with the passive way of the first fifty lessons in the next few weeks though. PIMSLEUR -- I have just finished lesson 14 and am beginning on lesson 15 today. Although I took a bit of a break from my studies, I have been able to keep up about 2 lessons per day without a problem now. I'm hoping to complete French I in the next week or so at this pace and be able to move on to the next level. GRAMMAR -- I finished watching the Youtube video that I found for introductory grammar and actually found it quite useful. It helped introduce a lot of basics that I otherwise would have had to wait longer to learn in Pimsleur/Assimil. Things I covered included present tense for regular verbs and a few common irregular ones, learning the numbers (cardinal and ordinal), using adjectives with nouns (masculine, feminine, plural), and other related information. I still want to continue to review this grammar so that I don't forget it. VOCAB -- Recently, I've also been working through a list of about 500 common words and expressions that's also available through the same Youtube user. He repeats each word four times, so I'm also able to practice pronunciation (which is very helpful for me since I have no background in French pronunciation). I'm also planning to learn some regular verbs since I've learned the present tense conjugation for each type. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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