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[FRENCH] Balancing Methods / Tight Day | ||
Tags: Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5531 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 13 13 November 2012 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | ||
I was curious whether your masters program demanded C1 or only B2, because I'm personally finding it challenging to reach C1 while studying part time in the USA, despite speaking French at home. The problem is that I have too many responsibilities in English, and only so much time to spend on French. When I can really focus on French, my speech gets faster and my listening comprehension gets better. But with work and children, I just can't put in the hours that would allow me to push through to C1 quickly. Given another year, sure, I'll probably make it. But I could get there a lot sooner if French were my primary responsibility. Now, this doesn't affect everybody the same way. But personally, I really crave the focus. Fortunately, you want to study for an advanced degree in France, which is one of the best ways to reach C1 or C2. You'll have papers to write, lectures to follow, opinions to defend, and a thousand opportunities to use your French. So even if you were to arrive in France as a strong B2, I'm sure you'd make enormous advances in your first year of school. But I see that you really have 6 or 7 years, and not just 2, which gives you lots of time to work towards the higher levels using whatever approach suits you best. So good luck, and I hope that you're happily enjoying French books and movies by this time next year! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tibbles Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5190 days ago 245 posts - 422 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean | Message 10 of 13 15 November 2012 at 6:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Isn't the rule of thumb that a speaker of one Romance language can learn another within 100-200 hours? French and Portuguese are rated as 75% lexically similar. For this reason, I wouldn't even consider something as basic and simplistic as Pimsleur and would go straight for the more intensive courses first such as Assimil or FSI. Get those out of the way and then work with native materials, conversation practice, etc.
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| Caminhante Newbie Brazil Joined 4396 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: French | Message 11 of 13 25 November 2012 at 2:40am | IP Logged | ||
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emk: It would be far more benefiting if I could learn French to a good degree and then begin to focus on another language — the things I want to do in my life demand knowledge of Latin, Italian, Romanian, German and some basic Greek. So, if I can do fine with French in two years, great! But, yes, French is far more important than anything else right now, and if my results after this period don't satisfy me, well, this is the language that will have precedence over the others. By the way, thank you for your help.
tibbles: Actually, I believe they share +-50% of lexical similarity. Anyway, you gave me a nice advice. It's basically what I'm planning: FSI and Assimil, but keeping Pimsleur on the schedule as well, before going to the native material you mentioned. Maybe, yes, I can learn French within a 200 hours period, but since I need a good degree of proficiency on the language, I have to include in my plan the possibility of this span of time not being enough. In time, thank you for your answer. Edited by Caminhante on 25 November 2012 at 2:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 12 of 13 25 November 2012 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | ||
From a purely grammatical point of view, I agree with tibbles, but my suggestion is not to discount the benefits of Pimsleur. Yes, the grammar and vocab covered is negligible, but I think the potential boredom of that is balanced out by the pronunciation practice it provides. Portuguese and French may both be Romance languages, but their pronunciation is markedly different, and I've heard that good pronunciation is particularly important if you want to impress the French. ;) So I suggest working through Pimsleur near the beginning of your studies, while focusing primarily on the pronunciation practice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Caminhante Newbie Brazil Joined 4396 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: French | Message 13 of 13 25 November 2012 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||
Ah, no doubts. And we can't forget about FSI - French Phonology — this one is not heavy as the French Basic Course but, at the same time you don't take long to finish it, it's a nice introduction. I'll start with Pimsleur (just waiting it to be delivered) and FSI - Phonology, before starting with Assimil. Well, good luck to us on our studies. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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