THRILL of speaking French for 1st time (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

THRILL of speaking French for 1st time
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aaronfan Newbie United States Joined 4928 days ago 14 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French	Message 1 of 3 03 July 2012 at 1:13am \| IP Logged
	...and to a native speaker who lives in Paris, at that. So my new job is not so intellectually stimulating, so I decided to start a new hobby, the learning of French, at home, mostly on my own, using self-study materials, a lot of materials (namely, 1 Assimil, 2. French in Action, 3. Michel Thomas, and 4. the FSI French Phonology Course, with a bit of Fluenz and a tinge of Pimsleur). So I'd been studying on my own evenings after work for four weeks, when I made some contacts in France, via a language exchange website or two, and voila! the opportunity for me to open my mouth and utter my first utterance in French, and to a native speaker. I was crzay (sic) nervous, mostly because my self-study material advances on its own through dialogues and vocabulary and syntax... but it is not conversational, so I barely knew how to say "My name is... I am from... I am xx years old,... I work as a... in a..." And of course I was nervous that my pronunciation would be horrible. And that I would make mistakes. So suddenly now I am in the position (again) of the language learner (rather than teacher), who knows that it is "okay" to make mistakes. So when I completed my first handful of sentences and did not get laughed off the planet, then, wow, it was INCREDIBLE. Because, as i said, whereas I had been studying for a month, Id not spoken one word to anybody. And there's a big difference in studying my material and actually speaking the language. That same day (I think Saturday), I spoke to another guy in France, this one in the Ardennes in NE France. So I wasn't as nervous. The first conversation with the first guy had been cut short due to a bad skype connection(s). So we didn't actually finish our conversation. THE EFFECT on me was that I suddenly desired to speak French every day. Because it was such a head rush and to be able to express oneself in another language and be understood, and listen and learn new words, well the communicative function/purpose of a language is where it is at. So anyway, Partner 1 and I had a much better Skype connection today and we talked almost an hour. Now he wants us to flip flop and have alternate conversations, one in which only English is spoken and one in which only French is spoken, This is his idea. C'est bon idee. He thinks I have made a lot of progress. And that I must have a "facility" for language learning. I was rattling off longer sentences, remembering some of the Michel Thomas vocabulary & atructure, today, and guessing at half the words.. Anyway, the best way to proceed, I think, is to keep studying what I am studying and to speak as much as possible. I really would like to find someone to speak with everyday. I have a conversation date lined up for 4 July with une femme who lives, I think, in Paris. And Partner 1 wants to meet up tomorrow or maybe even the 4th. So my goal of speaking daily is starting to come to fruition. Alas, now I must continue to study on my own and I feel pressure to learn, whereas before I was just taking it easy and reading the material and mostly absorbing it. Although I am doing rigorous pronunciation exercises using the FSI course in French Phonetics (the so-called prelude to the FSI course proper). The RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR is not an R. That's all I have to say. And the nasals and not sounding half the ending consonants, yet sounding them when they "liaison" with a following word (sometimes, that is), oy, it all just takes practice. Also, there is French meet-up group in our fair city which is, well you can guess what it is. At least when I do meet up with them, I will have spoken some French. I watch the French Newscast everyday; that also helps. Partner1 says the language of newscasts is very different and he suggested watching movies [which I do], but I also think the hour-long newscast is okay, because I am still hearing the sounds and pronunciation and rhythm, and with the visual cues, can at times get 10% of what's being said and 80% of whats being reported on. Well, and I found I can read and get at least 50% of a French magazine, like La Presse of Quebec. So, well, self study is fine, but it's all in the talking. Repeated and regular speaking is a fast and necessary route to fluency, however I may wish to define that. adapted from a blog post Edited by aaronfan on 03 July 2012 at 1:15am 5 persons have voted this message useful
ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5813 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German	Message 2 of 3 03 July 2012 at 5:43am \| IP Logged
	Great post. I hope you keep up this log 1 person has voted this message useful
Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5852 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, Dutch^C1, English^B2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map	Message 3 of 3 03 July 2012 at 7:28am \| IP Logged
	Is this thread really a language learning log? Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful

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aaronfan Newbie United States Joined 4928 days ago 14 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French	Message 1 of 3 03 July 2012 at 1:13am \| IP Logged
	...and to a native speaker who lives in Paris, at that. So my new job is not so intellectually stimulating, so I decided to start a new hobby, the learning of French, at home, mostly on my own, using self-study materials, a lot of materials (namely, 1 Assimil, 2. French in Action, 3. Michel Thomas, and 4. the FSI French Phonology Course, with a bit of Fluenz and a tinge of Pimsleur). So I'd been studying on my own evenings after work for four weeks, when I made some contacts in France, via a language exchange website or two, and voila! the opportunity for me to open my mouth and utter my first utterance in French, and to a native speaker. I was crzay (sic) nervous, mostly because my self-study material advances on its own through dialogues and vocabulary and syntax... but it is not conversational, so I barely knew how to say "My name is... I am from... I am xx years old,... I work as a... in a..." And of course I was nervous that my pronunciation would be horrible. And that I would make mistakes. So suddenly now I am in the position (again) of the language learner (rather than teacher), who knows that it is "okay" to make mistakes. So when I completed my first handful of sentences and did not get laughed off the planet, then, wow, it was INCREDIBLE. Because, as i said, whereas I had been studying for a month, Id not spoken one word to anybody. And there's a big difference in studying my material and actually speaking the language. That same day (I think Saturday), I spoke to another guy in France, this one in the Ardennes in NE France. So I wasn't as nervous. The first conversation with the first guy had been cut short due to a bad skype connection(s). So we didn't actually finish our conversation. THE EFFECT on me was that I suddenly desired to speak French every day. Because it was such a head rush and to be able to express oneself in another language and be understood, and listen and learn new words, well the communicative function/purpose of a language is where it is at. So anyway, Partner 1 and I had a much better Skype connection today and we talked almost an hour. Now he wants us to flip flop and have alternate conversations, one in which only English is spoken and one in which only French is spoken, This is his idea. C'est bon idee. He thinks I have made a lot of progress. And that I must have a "facility" for language learning. I was rattling off longer sentences, remembering some of the Michel Thomas vocabulary & atructure, today, and guessing at half the words.. Anyway, the best way to proceed, I think, is to keep studying what I am studying and to speak as much as possible. I really would like to find someone to speak with everyday. I have a conversation date lined up for 4 July with une femme who lives, I think, in Paris. And Partner 1 wants to meet up tomorrow or maybe even the 4th. So my goal of speaking daily is starting to come to fruition. Alas, now I must continue to study on my own and I feel pressure to learn, whereas before I was just taking it easy and reading the material and mostly absorbing it. Although I am doing rigorous pronunciation exercises using the FSI course in French Phonetics (the so-called prelude to the FSI course proper). The RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR is not an R. That's all I have to say. And the nasals and not sounding half the ending consonants, yet sounding them when they "liaison" with a following word (sometimes, that is), oy, it all just takes practice. Also, there is French meet-up group in our fair city which is, well you can guess what it is. At least when I do meet up with them, I will have spoken some French. I watch the French Newscast everyday; that also helps. Partner1 says the language of newscasts is very different and he suggested watching movies [which I do], but I also think the hour-long newscast is okay, because I am still hearing the sounds and pronunciation and rhythm, and with the visual cues, can at times get 10% of what's being said and 80% of whats being reported on. Well, and I found I can read and get at least 50% of a French magazine, like La Presse of Quebec. So, well, self study is fine, but it's all in the talking. Repeated and regular speaking is a fast and necessary route to fluency, however I may wish to define that. adapted from a blog post Edited by aaronfan on 03 July 2012 at 1:15am 5 persons have voted this message useful
ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5813 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German	Message 2 of 3 03 July 2012 at 5:43am \| IP Logged
	Great post. I hope you keep up this log 1 person has voted this message useful
Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5852 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, Dutch^C1, English^B2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map	Message 3 of 3 03 July 2012 at 7:28am \| IP Logged
	Is this thread really a language learning log? Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful