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JennW’s language learning log (TAC 2015) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| JennW Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3562 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Polish | Message 1 of 6 02 April 2015 at 2:30pm | IP Logged |
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I've posted a wee introduction over in the members' profiles forum but to summarise briefly here: I'm a 29 year old maths teacher, native English speaker, from Scotland, living in England, and married to a wonderful (though heavily dyslexic and therefore much less keen on languages than me) man.
The languages I'm actively trying to study at the moment are French and Polish, though there are others I'm keen to add, namely German (which I've studied before) and any of Czech/Swedish/Iceland/Russian/...! French: Current level: probably good B2 with reading as my best skill. Goal level: solid C1 in all skills. Previous study: studied at school to Standard Grade (about 3 or 4 years) then took a couple of modules at university. This probably took me to a strong B2 level but it was about 7 years ago now so I've been trying to get back into it. Resources: CLE Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Perfectionnement, Teach Yourself "Perfect Your French" (spotted in the library and thought: why not?). I'm intending to focus mostly on "native" materials (although I include in that redubs of films/TV shows I'm already familiar with). I have also been using Anki. Polish: Current level: a wobbly A1! Goal level: B2. Previous study: I did an evening course a few years ago in beginners Polish but found it really dull and incredibly slow! Since taking it up properly myself, I've worked through the A1 Universitas textbook (Cześć, jak się masz?) and the first 6 lessons of the Oscar Swan first year Polish course, as well as the A1 modules on Busuu.com. Resources: rest of Oscar Swan course, A2 Universitas textbook and I think one at B1 as well. I would like to get into using native materials here too, and have also been using Anki. At the moment I'm trying to work out how I learn best and what will be most effective for me. I try to study most days (although often for drastically variable amounts of time) and am currently experimenting to see whether I'm better splitting my time between both languages on each day or whether I'm better having "French" days and "Polish" days and maybe just reviewing my Anki deck for the other language. I know I'm a very visual learner so I'm inclined to play to my strengths and go for lots of reading/using written resources to expand my vocabulary, learn grammar points, etc. and to make use of audio resources more just to strengthen my listening skills. Things I have tried which haven't worked well for me: * I have previously tried out a language course for German where you listened and repeated with nothing really written down (I can't remember which one exactly - possibly Pimsleur?) and quickly felt my brain melting out of my ears! * I read a suggestion to avoid using other than your L2 in Anki decks to try and help your brain not have to translate everything via your L1. I tried this for a bit but quickly got tied up in knots (especially with Polish) as I didn't feel able to do anything other than the real basics! I realised also that I learned French via translation to my L1 and I can pretty happily "think" in French so I've decided not to bother with this. Any suggestions about things to try, resources to use/avoid, etc. will be gratefully received! In particular, if anyone has any advice about how they use sentence cards on Anki that would be great. I've got example sentences (chosen fairly randomly) on most of my vocabulary cards but I'm not too sure how to use them effectively. Edited by JennW on 04 April 2015 at 10:21am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5474 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 2 of 6 04 April 2015 at 12:11pm | IP Logged |
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Hi JennW,
I'm popping by to say welcome and good luck! I use a flashcard system (not Anki but similar) and I kinda hate it almost but I can't stop using it, albeit much less than I had been. So no help from me there sorry. Nor am I great on using native materials. My personal course recommendations from my experiences so far are French in Action, Assimil and FSI but much of this material could be too easy for you. Bien-dire is an excellent French learning audio magazine produced in Lyon. It's released every second month and has a range of graded articles on all things francophone from A1 to C2 with translations of trickier vocab in the side columns (and of course the accompanying audio of the text on an audio CD). Sounds like a hard sell, but it's a personal favourite :) ... I'll be following your log and good luck with your Polish too- my vote is to do as you suggested focus mainly on one language each day but still get some exposure to the other (Anki if you like as you mentioned) on the days where its not your main language of focus. PM Edited by PeterMollenburg on 04 April 2015 at 12:12pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| JennW Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3562 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Polish | Message 3 of 6 06 April 2015 at 4:57pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for your advice Peter. I've just got a copy of "Polonaise sans peine" (to learn Polish from French) so I'll see how that goes. I suspect the French version would be too easy although I think there might be a more advanced course that I may look into later on. I've checked out Bien-Dire too - seems good but perhaps a little pricey for me at the moment.
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| JennW Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3562 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Polish | Message 4 of 6 06 April 2015 at 5:13pm | IP Logged |
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I spent Easter weekend with some of my husband's family and had a lovely, relaxing time. I therefore haven't done loads of language learning but this is what I've been up to recently.
French: I'm reading "Une année chez les français", which I picked up from my local library. I'm going very slowly at the moment because I'm reading a chapter, or half a chapter as the length is very variable, and underlining all the words I don't know (maybe 5 per page), as well as any interesting phrases I come across. I get a good understanding of the story by reading through it without stopping to look things up as I go but then I'm also learning the new vocabulary (which I tend to look up and put in my Anki deck). A phrase that stuck out for me: telle ou telle personne (such and such a person) I've also just started trying FrenchPod101 for the intermediate/advanced lessons. I've only really had a quick listen so far but it seems like it might be at a reasonably appropriate level for me and will maybe help improve my listening, which is definitely a weaker skill for me currently. Polish: I've done the first 11 lessons for Assimil "Le Polonais sans peine", though without all of the suggested steps as I have already studied the majority of this material so used it just as a recap. I'm hoping this will help to improve my listening comprehension as I'm worried about starting to lag behind in this area if I don't address it specifically. I also just started lesson 7 of the Oscar Swan course. I've been really enjoying it up to this point and found it reinforced a lot of what I learned from the Universitas A1 textbook I used before but this lesson (covering imperfective and perfective verbs) I've found really difficult. I knew from my brief encounters with imperfective vs perfective that this would be an area I would need to work on but it's hard going at the moment! Hopefully I'll improve with more practice... At the moment, my aim is going to be to do one Assimil lesson per day (or possibly more until I reach material that isn't revision any more) or one section of an Oscar Swan lesson for Polish. For French, I'm going to aim to listen to a FrenchPod, to do a chapter of Perfect Your French (Teach Yourself) or to read a chapter/half chapter of my book. If I have more time, I'll do more. I'm still on holiday for this week but I have loads of work to do so I'll see how it goes... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| JennW Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3562 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Polish | Message 5 of 6 13 April 2015 at 10:24pm | IP Logged |
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I've been busier than I expected for the last week getting ready to go back to work after the Easter break. Here's what I've managed for each language I'm currently working on.
French: I've listened through a season of intermediate level podcasts from FrenchPod101. I found them pretty easy, though I learned a few new words/phrases, so I'm going to give the upper intermediate ones a go next. I read another chapter of "Une année chez les français". I've also finished up to the end of Chapter 4 of the Perfect Your French book. It claims it will get you to level C1, although I feel that's very unlikely! The more I study, the more I feel that I understand and can use most grammar (especially verb tenses) reasonably effectively and that what I really need to work on is my vocabulary. It turns out I really like using Anki so I keep throwing vocab at that and hopefully some will stick! I'd like to mix in some more reading of Le Monde, as I enjoy getting my news fix every morning from the BBC. Polish: I've now done the first 21 lessons of "Le Polonais sans peine". The first 15 or so were pretty much a breeze as they were recapping what I already knew but now I'm hitting some new words and phrases too, which is nice. I've only moved on to 7C of the Oscar Swan course so I'm not making huge progress there! Continuing to use Anki too. It seems I'm really focusing on input, rather than output, for the moment. I think I will probably continue this way for a while and hope that my output - when I choose to work on it later - will improve as a result. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5474 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 6 of 6 25 August 2015 at 4:58am | IP Logged |
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Hi JennW,
I'm just touching base to see if you're still on the French learning journey, or wanting to get back to it. If so you can continue here, or drop on over to the new alternative website " how-to-learn-any-language.org " (created due to increasing technical problems with this website) where many of us French learners have migrated to. Hope you're going well! PM 1 person has voted this message useful |
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