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TACkling German and French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 9 25 May 2008 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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German and French for the new world. Here I will set out my goals and methods for annihilating these two not wholly dissimilar languages.
At first thought I was opposed to the idea of logging my quest as idle time wasting, but the more I consider, it seems possible for it to inspire me to learn more and more quickly. And also by writing this, I am setting concrete goals to accomplish. I will be able to use German and French in a basic conversational capacity. I have a basic understanding of the main grammatical features of both of these languages, so my focus will be on absorbing vocabulary. Over the years I have collected a few books on both languages. Most important are both of the William Rowlinson grammars from Oxford Press, the Concise Larousse, and the Webster's New World Concise German dictionary. My main course of study at first will be the analysis and comprehension of podcasts Slow German and Français Facile. I hope to amass a list of vocabulary items that I can compile into a large trilingual (Chinese, German, French) study list. I plan to begin to compose in both languages, as well as translate between the two. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 9 30 May 2008 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been reviewing past lessons of French and German in preparation for my official June 7th kick-off date. I've identified some areas that may cause potential problems, and I feel the smooth pronunciation of French may be foremost. Perhaps it is my personal timbre but I seem better suited (at least in my own head) to the hard stress of German. I wonder if other English speakers often share this opinion.
Other areas I need to be aware of are the order of French pronouns, the proclivity of both towards the reflexive construction, and genders. I had the thought that by triangulating the vocabulary of French, German,and English I would be sure to find a cognate or loan at every turn. This turns out to be not as true as I had hoped, but I still maintain that these two in tandem can be picked up for the cost of one Russian. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 9 10 June 2008 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ok. Already four days in, two weekdays. My internet has not been consistent and I've been busy. I reviewed the transcript of the podcasts Sunday night and listened to them on Monday at work. For French I have found that writing out the entire lesson is a great aid, while I feel this is unnecessary in German. Spoken French is quite something, yet already after only two real days of listening I have a much better grasp of it. Spoken German seems like it will not require very much effort to fully understand.
I have been reviewing some lessons to brush up on grammar points. I have Berlitz Essential German (which I do not love but definitely serves a purpose) and an old Teach Yourself French. It really helps to be introduced to aspects of grammar one bit at a time. While you may be aware of each, by focusing on one and slowly adding more it helps, at least it helps me, to better internalize the rules. I like the format of the French book because it has you translate into French and has the answers in the back. This is a worthwhile exercise. The problem is the sentences are often in no way practical. I am able to say that the workers have crossed the river to eat the fruit of the woods while the birds sing. Still I like this book and wish I could find a similar one for German. Some areas I feel will cause me difficulty are French pronunciation, irregular verbs, and German nouns' plurals and genders. I should find a way to test my progress at the end of the week. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 9 12 June 2008 at 7:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Wednesday didn't go smoothly due to the fact that I rushed my preparation Tuesday. I worked doubly hard yesterday to make up for it.
At one moment I find French so frustrating that I want it be damned and to give up. But then I'll find myself locked into a French Connection (forgive me) where I can't go wrong. I get a feeling of hope and decide to go on. Today is the morning of day six. Only eight days left of limitless free time (outside of work) and then this experiment will get tricky. Yesterday I found a site for French learners of German. www.allemandfacile.com this looks to be fun and useful. I should try to find more like this. I looked at a few French-Mandarin websites but found nothing great. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6264 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes  1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 5 of 9 12 June 2008 at 10:26am | IP Logged | ||
Perhaps it's too early, but at rencontres you can find excellent German-French parallel texts with audio in both languages. Good luck with your studies! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 9 13 June 2008 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Vielen Dank!" This site definitely looks interesting.
It's never too early. Edited by 石安竹 on 13 June 2008 at 5:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 7 of 9 18 June 2008 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Didn't do much over the weekend. Did one lesson each on Monday. Then I took Tuesday off. Today's lessons reminded me why I am doing this.
I wrote a letter to my German grandmother who corrected it for me. I wouldn't say it was good, nary a sentence without a comment. Some due to risks I took, others not. Still I was able to make myself clearly understood. A success? Only if I can take her critiques to heart. I enjoy the construction of German grammar. I enjoy understanding a sentence of French, but I enjoy more creating a sentence of German. Studying one language can be a joy. Studying two; a task. And three; a chore. I plan to spend more time on German without completely eliminating French. It remains to be seen what kind of schedule I will be able to maintain daily. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 石安竹 Newbie United States Joined 6119 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 9 20 June 2008 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am satisfied with my improvement in listening comprehension over the past two weeks. After looking up any unknown words and reading through the lesson, I am able to listen and follow along for meaning. French remains more difficult in this regard, but if I pause the audio, or it is repeated I can usually pick it up. This should simply be a matter of becoming more familiar with the sounds. I've already noticed a marked improvement from understanding none to understanding some.
If I am diligent, I will be able to prepare a lesson for each day in the half hour before work, leaving me three breaks and ample down time to listen through them while actually there. I can also schedule one day a week, Thursday or Friday depending, to write here about my progress. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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