Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5695 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish
| Message 33 of 42 28 August 2012 at 11:49pm | IP Logged |
Hey Adrean, how's it going? Still studying, still Freutsch-ing? :)
Edited by Jinx on 29 August 2012 at 12:11am
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Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6170 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1
| Message 34 of 42 12 September 2012 at 7:52am | IP Logged |
A long time between drinks,
I have put the German aside and done very little French.
I will be landing in France in approximately 10 days and I'm going to count on the immersion getting me up to speed. Not exactly a good method but it's a little late to start cramming now. I will be in Bordeaux for approximately 8 months.
I have been to about 4 or so meet-ups since my last post. Seen a couple of films.
I hope that my visit to France will get back that eagerness to learn and all things Francophile.
Will keep you posted.
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Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6170 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1
| Message 35 of 42 21 October 2012 at 12:06pm | IP Logged |
I’ve recently watched some videos by Steven Kauffman showing him having an immersion
experience in the Czech Republic. It was quite inspirational to see how much energy and
focus went into this exercise. The results speak for themselves. I am a long-time fan
of his and have played around with LINQ a few years ago and found it to be an
interesting and worthwhile method. I don’t work well from computers so it’s not ideal
for me.
I am having my own immersion experience and have been living in Bordeaux France for the
past month. I am teaching English in a high school. In contrast to Steven I have not
made a conscious effort to submerge myself in the language. I have been spending most
of my time with other English assistants and even after being here a month I don’t
think I’ve had a great improvement.
There are several steps I could take to improve and that would be to speak French with
the teachers at my school who are more than happy to do this (actually at the moment
they speak in French and I respond in English). I could also to pass more time with my
room-mates who are both French. I think I could do with a bit of study too, especially
in terms of vocabulary. Most importantly I have to suck it up and face that yes I have
an accent and I’m a foreigner but that does not mean I should shy away from
communicating with people, I should be proud of my French.
I still have 6 more months here so I don’t know how my motivation levels will be. I
think I’m just trying to get this teaching thing sorted and have a good social circle.
Just writing this message is motivating me a little.
In terms of exposure to native materials I have had a good deal. I've seen several
films, I’ve watched a play (Waiting for Godot), I've been reading papers, watching
youtube clips, the t.v occasionally and of course podcasts. So I've been quite the
passive learner but I need to turn this into active participation.
I will post back soon and let you know how things are going.
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songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5211 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map
| Message 36 of 42 21 October 2012 at 5:34pm | IP Logged |
Bonne continuation, Adrean! I enjoyed your blog and reports from the period of your immersion studies, and am
looking forward to reading about your further adventures with French and in France.
Edited by songlines on 21 October 2012 at 5:37pm
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Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5558 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona
| Message 37 of 42 02 November 2012 at 10:52pm | IP Logged |
Following your language logs in French has always been a pleasure, mate! Your posts offer learners a real window on the whole learning process, from beginner through intermediate to advanced, and I can only imagine your immersion over the next 6 months in Bordeaux will be enlightening.
I know that teaching and settling in can be quite demanding, however, so best of luck with making the most out of your time, having fun, and connecting with native speakers and forming a good social circle.
I enjoyed Steve's previous videos on preparing in Czech, but have been out of the picture for the last couple of months whilst moving and settling in myself, so I'm looking forward to hearing about Steve's immersion experience too. I think I'll take a little look now... :)
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 38 of 42 03 November 2012 at 6:29am | IP Logged |
I'm currently in China teaching English and like you i've found that the environment is mostly English, though in my case i came here knowing next to no Chinese. I think for an immersion to be successful, it's best to have a basic conversational ability (so you don't have to always slip back into your NL). People here are quick to complement me on my Chinese, however they're also quick to point out that it's still not very good ;) I would much rather have a different job if my aim is to learn the language, even as a dishwasher you'll have to spend the whole day actually using the language. Anyway, i hope you can find a way to fit in more French (and stop worrying so much about speaking perfectly!) into your daily life there.
EDIT: Grammar mistakes, err...
Edited by Crush on 03 November 2012 at 6:34am
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Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6170 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1
| Message 39 of 42 11 November 2012 at 12:36pm | IP Logged |
Thank you for the supportive messages. I haven't written as much this year as previous
years so it's good to see some familiar faces on this log.
As for the past few weeks there has been more of an active effort on my part. I have
had four exchange meet-ups which went quite well.
I have seen several films over the past few weeks, notably I saw Le Palme d'Or last
night 'Amour'. I was able to follow the story quite well and there were few words or
turn of phrases which I did't understand.
I am thinking over the idea of doing an evening course at the Alliance Francaise here
in Bordeaux. I am also going to attempt to play with a website called Verbling which
connects you up with others through video. Perhaps there are others that have heard of
this website?
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Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5695 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish
| Message 40 of 42 11 November 2012 at 4:00pm | IP Logged |
I just heard about Verbling myself from the review on Benny's site. I haven't used it, but it seems like a very cool idea. I'll be interested to hear your experiences of it!
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