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My Adventures in French (TAC15) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5234 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 97 of 163 06 October 2014 at 11:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Congratulations. I've noticed the same thing myself. The level of comprehension and reading speed has gone right up and comprehension for audio as well. Although personally I've noticed that listening comprehension has increased more slowly than reading comprehension for me. Have you noticed anything similar? Or do you think your levels are increasing in parallel? I'm very impressed with your double challenge. I'm finding it a struggle to keep up the workload personally.
Keep up the good work! 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 98 of 163 06 October 2014 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm impressed Mohave,
it's evidence enough for me to lean more towards SC activities and a little away from courses again. I wax and wane but this is reason enough for me right now to just change things up a little as I had already noted in my log I wanted to do so. I'm dropping one course (focus on one only, instead of two) which as a result will see me progress more in the course and enable me to read slightly more simply by not using two courses but one in my rotation of study activities. PM 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4005 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 99 of 163 10 October 2014 at 4:33pm | IP Logged | ||
@rdearman. Thanks so much for stopping by log and your kind words. I am glad to hear that you too are also seeing increased levels of comprehension. I was truly surprised that I saw results already! I agree that I achieved better reading comprehension much more quickly than listening comprehension. I signed up for the double challenge because I read in past participants logs that at about 8,000 pages they saw a pretty significant improvement. But doing double the movies is going to be the death of me! I was impressed to see on your log you are doing SCs in two different languages! Wow - impressive and definitely harder than my single challenge! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4005 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 100 of 163 10 October 2014 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||
After 5 months effort, I am a believer in the Super Challenge, and really focusing on the SC and not course work happened more by circumstances for me. I think Native materials at our levels is always a good thing. Having said that I really need to get re-focused on my courses as I know that I will get a deeper level of understanding when I watch and listen. Clearly what you have been doing has worked for you! I really enjoy reading your log and seeing what you accomplish each week! You always seem so motivated which helps keep me motivated! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4005 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 101 of 163 27 October 2014 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Super Challenge Update – October 27
October has been a very productive month for Super Challenge! Also, I invested in a VPN that will allow me to watch the Netflix French Catalog and other French-language content now that I back in the US. Books: Goal EOM October: 60 books; Actual EOM October: 53.2 - about 7 books or ~350 pages short. I made up approximately 300 pages of my previous shortfall this month! I hope to be completely on track by the end of December. Films/TV Series: Goal EOM Oct 60 Films: Actual EOM October 65.5 films - approximately 5.5 films ahead thanks to binge-watching Un Village Francais. Books I finished Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azakaban. I've read the entire Harry Potter series in English a few years ago mainly because my niece and nephew were such huge fans. I've read the first three books again in French. Enquête au Collège: Le Professeur a Disparu. The Enquète au College is a detective series and is written for children ~ 8 years old and has been recommended by many here on HTAL. This series of books is on the same level as Le Petit Nicolas. Three students win a contest at school to accompany their professor to Venice. During the train ride to Venice, the professor disappears in the middle of the night, and the children find a secret encoded message. Will the children find the professor and solve the mystery? You’ll have to read the book to find out! Le Petit Nicolas a des EnnuisThis series continues to be a favorite French read. I love them all. This book really resonated with me and is probably my favorite after the original Le Petit Nicolas book. L'Homme qui Plantait des Arbres par Jean Giono This short story has been mentioned on HTAL quite a bit, and I read it while trying to decide what to read next. I found the language rich with description, and yet a fairly straight forward read. Another favorite read in French. Films/TV Series Un Village Français Seasons 1-5 with French subtitles. Available in the French Netflix catalog. Its hard to say whether Engrenages or Un Village Français is my favorite, but this may be the winner! Watching all five seasons with French subtitles really helped my listening skills. Un Village Français is a French television drama series that centers on the people of Villeneuve, a fictional subprefecture, in the Jura, in German– occupied France during the Second World War. The series starts with the German invasion of France. Critics say the ambitious miniseries offers an unusually honest account of the moral ambiguities confronting ordinary people living under German occupation. Le Ballon Rouge . From Wikipedia: is a 1956 fantasy featurette directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. The thirty-four minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris. It won numerous awards, including an Oscar for Lamorisse for writing the best original screenplay in 1956 and the Palme d'Or for short films at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The film also became popular with children and educators. This is the only short film to win the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay). I only counted ~ 2 minutes of dialoge in the movie so my logging of it was really just to capture that I had watched this French classic. Available on youtube. Le Papillon Julien, an aging widower, is a passionate butterfly collector. Elsa, an eight-year-old girl, with her mother, a very young woman named Isabelle, just moved into his apartment building. The mother is usually away, leaving her daughter alone for long periods of time, and Elsa starts visiting Julien. One day, Julien decides to go to the Vercors plateau in search of a rare butterfly called Isabelle which can live for only 72 hours. Elsa decides to join his adventure without telling him, and hides in his car. Most of the language is slow and not to difficult. I did not watch this with any subtitles. Available on youtube. Les Hommes de l'Hombre Season 1 I am really enjoying this political French drama. Some of the dialog is very quick, and difficult to understand though. Sadly there are only six 45 minutes episodes in Season 1, but it is available in the Netflix French catalog. From wikipedia : Le président de la République française, en visite à Saint-Étienne, dans la Loire, dans une usine gréviste, décède, victime d'un attentat à la bombe. Le monde politique s'agite : une élection présidentielle anticipée doit se tenir dans les trente-cinq prochains jours. Il ne fait aucun doute que Philippe Deleuvre, le Premier ministre, sera candidat à l'Élysée. Mais ce que peu de gens savent, c'est que le chef du gouvernement sait bien plus de choses qu'il ne le prétend. Ce mensonge d'État provoque le retour aux affaires de Simon Kapita, un ancien conseiller en communication (spin doctor) du défunt président. Soucieux de préserver l'honneur de son ami décédé et une certaine forme d’éthique politique, cet homme de l’ombre se fixe désormais un objectif : trouver un candidat qui sera capable de battre Deleuvre. Belle de Jour. I recently borrowed a copy of Roger Ebert's book "25 Great French Films". Belle de Jour was on the list, and in the Netflick French catalog. Belle de Jour is a 1967 French drama film directed by Luis Buñuel and starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, and Michel Piccoli. Based on the 1928 novel Belle de jour by Joseph Kessel, the film is about a young woman who is compelled to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute while her husband is at work. The title of the film is a pun in French. The phrase "belle de nuit" is best translated by the English phrase "lady of the night", i.e. a prostitute. Séverine works as a prostitute during the day, so she is "belle de jour". The language is fairly straight forward and mostly slow, but as a surrealist film, jumping between the daydreams and reality, I think I missed a few things. Please note this was a fairly racey film. Six Week Challenge. In a moment of weakness, I registered for the Six Week Challenge starting November 1. What was I thinking? My thought process at the time was I several goals that I would like to complete prior to December 31 such as: 1) Completing Assimil Using French, and 2) Completing Pimsleur III. Both of these have been on the back burner since June and its times to finish them to start the new year off clean. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4005 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 102 of 163 27 October 2014 at 11:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Duplicate Post - will use this space at a later point Edited by Mohave on 27 October 2014 at 11:16pm 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 103 of 163 04 November 2014 at 1:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Mohave,
Seems you're doing very well with the SC. The 6WC can only assist with that. It seems we all get a little wide- eyed at the prospect of either changing our study methods, undertaking challenges, or adding new languages. The latter is the most dangerous in my experience, the other 2 won't do much harm if any and likely only add to your enthusiasm for continued learning, and at the least just keep you regularly learning. Keep learning Mohave, solid work there making up ground! I'm a long way down the list in the SC and a long way behind on my schedule. Time I clawed my way up a little a think ;) PM I'm not so sure the term 'wide-eyed' applies here. I'm very bad when it comes to English language expressions/idioms. My father grew up in a non-Australian household and my mother would either use only a handful of expressions, thus I think that results in me being often perplexed at the meaning of idioms in my own language. Hopefully I got this one correct, otherwise throw me to the dogs! Edited by PeterMollenburg on 04 November 2014 at 1:40am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4005 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 104 of 163 10 November 2014 at 3:02am | IP Logged | ||
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As always PeterMollenburg, hanks for your notes of encouragement. :). You'll get caught up on the SC. Just
try to do a little each day, and you'll be caught up before you know it. I really do think it is making a difference. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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