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My Adventures in French (TAC15) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5530 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 41 of 163 02 March 2014 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Congrats on finishing the passive wave of Assimil FWT! That's a serious chunk of work.
I started Using French immediately after NFWE. I found that the first 15 lessons were easier than the end of NFWE, though a bit longer. But starting around lesson 15, the difficulty and the length of each lesson both took a big jump, and my "one lesson per day" routine became far too difficult to maintain. So if you encounter similar difficulties, don't hesitate to change how you use the course. Also, if you're ready for Using French, you could almost surely profit from introducing some native reading. There's lots of good ways to do this, but if you'd like one possible step-by-step roadmap, my usual advice goes something like this: 1. Look for 3 or 4 really interesting books in French, and try to find ones which aren't too hard. Non-fiction books may actually be easier for English speakers. But it has to be really interesting, because you'll be fighting the inertia of reading in an L2. Why 3 or 4 books? This gives you more changes to finding an unusually easy or agreeable book; your first choice may simply be too difficult. 2. Try reading your new books and see which one "clicks". 3. Expect the first couple hundred pages to be a bit opaque. Feel free to look up words using a popup dictionary, or just underline them with a pencil to look up later and keep reading. After, say, 300 pages in one book, things should get a lot easier. You don't want to stop reading and look up every unknown word in a paper dictionary; this will kill the necessary momentum. 4. When you start your second book, things will get harder again for a while, and then get easier. As you read more and more books, you'll eventually stop struggling through the first 100 pages of each book. The big advantage of reading actual books is that it exposes you to the raw, unfiltered language, and it gets you far more sheer volume than your courses can provide. Volume of input has a magic all its own, even if you're sloppy about looking things up: The more you read, the faster you'll solidify your existing knowledge, and the more you'll learn from context. The sad fact of the matter is that Using French can't carry you through the intermediate levels the same way that FWT or NFWE can carry you through the beginner levels. Courses are still very useful in the intermediate levels, but more as a supplement than the main course. Anyway, best of luck with your studies! 3 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 42 of 163 04 March 2014 at 9:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
PeterMollenburg - Thank you very much for taking the time to drop a note on my log!
shk00design - I have similar issues with subtitles as you.... I mainly use Netflix as a source for French language films. My French is not strong enough yet to watch without subtitles. I think I could watch using French subtitles, but sadly Netflix in the US only offers English subtitles. Like you, I can understand a fair amount of French, and can understand that I would have subtitled it differently. Some times it makes you scratch your head...... :). I am thinking about getting a VPN when the Super Challenge starts. I could then watch the Netflix Canadian catalog, which does have French subtitles.
As always, emk, thank you very much for your sage advice. I am planning to start the Super Challenge in May, but I had never thought of courses as a "supplement" rather than the main course at the intermediate level, and this is definitely food for thought on how I approach things!! Definitely a mind-set change!! 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 43 of 163 11 March 2014 at 3:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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French has been fun this month!! This is a nice change after last month where I was a little
discouraged. I felt like I studied and studied, but without little progress. This month, things seem to be “clicking”. I can read French articles on the internet easier, I can follow news shows that I watch easier, my speech for me has improved (although it is still painful for me and those listening to me!), and I think I have progressed enough that I am on the cusp of really starting to have fun with this language! I still need dictionaries, I still don't "get" things, but it has been fun.... Also, since two of my language exchange partners are from Quebec, I have decided to follow the Quebec Provincial Elections on April 7. It has been great fun watching the news every day and discussing it with my language partners and finding out more information about the different political parties and candidates – and learning great new vocabulary in the process! Here is the link to Le TeleJournal de Radio-Canada that I watch. (http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/telejournal/2011-2012/ ) ** A special shout-out to emk for the encouragement to start a Twitter account and to both he and sctroyenne for sharing their cool and fun French Twitter links!! This has definitely been an enjoyable way to get more French into my day easily. So far in March, this is what I have accomplished: Using French: Completed through Lesson 8 Pimsleur I: Completed through Lesson 19 French In Action: Completed through Lesson 27 Living Language: Beyond the Basics through Lesson 3 Language Exchange sessions: 6 thru Skype; 1 meet-up French Without Toil Active Phase: Thru Lesson 76. Two movies: Both are in the US Netflix catalog. Sadly, only English subtitles. Starbuck: This Canadian Film was a fun movie to watch. From IMDb: As his lover announces her pregnancy, a fortysomething slacker receives other life-changing news: 142 people, all of them the result of artificial insemination, have filed a class action lawsuit against him, their biological father. À Bout Portant (Point Blank) I really enjoyed this thriller! From IMDb: Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche) is a nurse who saves the wrong guy -- a thief (Roschdy Zem) whose henchmen take Samuel's pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) hostage to force him to spring their boss from the hospital. A race through the subways and streets of Paris ensues, and the body count rises. Can Samuel evade the cops and the criminal underground and deliver his beloved to safety? Edited by Mohave on 11 March 2014 at 3:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5389 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 44 of 163 11 March 2014 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
You're welcome! I have a lot of organizing to do but I hope in the meantime you find something interesting!
This movie came out in France right before I was about to leave. I was totally broke yet I was still tempted to go see it. I didn't know it had come out on Netflix - I'll definitely have to check it out! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4663 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 45 of 163 12 March 2014 at 11:05am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Au sujet de la lecture : si tu aime les livres "classiques", tu peux trouver gratuitement le texte original et une traduction en anglais ; ainsi tu peux créer ton propre texte bilingue que rendrait ta lecture beaucoup plus facile. Mais tout dépend de ton goût, bien sûr.
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 46 of 163 25 March 2014 at 10:51am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Netflix seems to have quite a lot of French-language films in the US Catalog. I wish there was an option for French subtitles! My French is just not strong enough yet to go without subtitles yet!
Bien sur, j'aime beacoup les livres classiques! Merci pour ton idée de créer un livre bilingue! C'est parfait pour le Superchallenge! 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 47 of 163 25 March 2014 at 11:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Only 5 days until I arrive in Guadeloupe! I am both excited and a little anxious hoping that my French is
strong enough to survive for a week! My experience in making inquiries and setting up reservations (in French) is that there is some, but not much, English spoken. My husband does not speak French. Since my last update approx. 10 days ago, this is what I have accomplished: Using French: Completed 8 more lessons - through lesson 16 Pimsleur I: Completed 2 more - thru Lesson 21 French In Action: Completed 3 more - thru Lesson 29 Living Language: Beyond the Basics completed thru Lesson 5 Language Exchange sessions: 10 additional sessions thru Skype, for a total of 18, and 2 meet-ups A few notes: - in preparation for the SuperChallenge, I started reading Harry Potter à l'école Sorcier. I intended to buy the regular version, but somehow ended up with the Jr Folio version aimed at 10 years old. It is actually about a perfect level. I've read about 1/2 of the 300 pages using the extensive method. I am truly surprised how much I can figure out by the context, or just because I had read this book before in English. I am clearly reading much slower than I do in English, but this has been fun, and I do wish I had started reading sooner! I plan to read this book again when the SuperChallenge begins. - I met two (separate) francophone women who were kind enough to have conversations with me in French. In both cases, I was able to have a conversation, make myself understood, albeit with some verb tense mistakes, and without switching to English, so I was proud of myself. Vocabulary and grammar continue to be my Achilles Heel! - Living Language Beyond the Basics was a great course that I audited a few lessons from using an interlibrary loan. It was very similar to Assimil in many ways. I like the longer dialogues, and idioms/grammar explanations, but since I currently own Using French, and do not own Beyond the Basics, I am going to continue only with Using French. I may pick up Beyond the Basics down the road after I complete Using French Depending on where I am. - I signed up for April's Learning Based Challenge. My goals: 1. Complete 20 FWT Active lessons 2. Complete 15 Using French lessons (one every other day) 3. Complete 15 Units of Pimsleur French 4. Memorize 15 irregular French verbs in the follow tenses: present, passé composé, imparfait, future, conditional., subjonctive, plus que parfait Doesn't sound like too much, but I will be travelling for 2 weeks in April and this will be a challenge for me! Edited by Mohave on 25 March 2014 at 4:41pm 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 48 of 163 04 April 2014 at 12:22am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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For March's Update:
What a difference one month makes in the life of a language learner! In February, I was quite frustrated with my progress, and even fleetingly toyed with giving up French! I was truly banging my head!! And then almost over night, I feel like my French has made significant strides -- and it is enjoyable and FUN!!! Even two of my three French partners made comments on the difference! Don't get me wrong, I still have a long ways to go, but I think I am finally to the point, that I am having fun. I am more at ease talking, but my speech still has grammar errors, and/or masc/Femine mistakes and verb conjugation errors, but I can more easily read articles on the internet and my listening comprehension has greatly improved! So if anyone else is reading my log, don't give up when you hit a speed bump! Just around the corner, you'll see the rewards! Lessons Completed Using French: Completed lessons 1 - 16 Pimsleur I: Completed lessons 1 - 27 French In Action: Completed thru Lesson 29 Living Language: Beyond the Basics completed thru Lesson 5 (Interlibrary Loan returned) Language Exchange Skype/ Meet-ups: 24 + 2 Reading: In prep for the super-challenge, I completed Harry Potter à l'ecole du sorciers -- my first complete book in French since college -- more than 25 years ago! While this was the abridged Jr Folio edition (that I accidentally purchased) and only contained 300 pages, it used a variety verb tenses including: present, passé compose, passé simple, plus que parfait, future, near future, conditional and subjunctive. I used extensive reading, and was really surprised how well it worked even though there was vocabulary I didn't know and or unfamiliar grammar structures, and/or because I had read the book in English!I was quickly able to figure out many words just by context and/or repeated usage. I loved reading in French and seeing words used in different ways, etc than in lessons, and I wish I would have included more reading earlier in my studies! Doesn't sound like too much, but I will be travelling for 2 weeks in April and this will be a challenge for me! - I signed up for April's Learning Based Challenge. My goals are below, but I really wanted to focus on coursework and solidifying verb conjugations prior to starting the SuperChallenge. 1. Complete 20 FWT Active lessons 2. Complete 15 Using French lessons (one every other day) 3. Complete 15 Units of Pimsleur French 4. Memorize 15 irregular French verbs in the follow tenses: present, passé composé, imparfait, future, conditional., subjonctive, plus que parfait 1 person has voted this message useful |
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