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Finished French in Action Videos

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Farley
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 Message 1 of 10
02 March 2006 at 10:41pm | IP Logged 
I just finished watching lesson 52 of French in Action, Robert and Mireille’s “planes, trains, and automobiles” tour of France. It may not sound that impressive, just watching 52 videos, but just over a month ago I was stuck on the audio for lesson 14. I could not get past the lesson for the imperfect tense and had hit a brick wall on verb conjugations.

I always try and remind myself, when you find yourself banging your head against a brick wall, stop and try something else. Then, thanks to Maxb, there was the post on “Listening Before Speaking”, and that reminded me of how I listened my way to basic fluency in German. I started following John Walker’s plan of watching one French in Action video a day until – there is nothing left of improve. Well I still have plenty to improve but I was able to get 80% of last lesson. A couple of things stood out after watching this last lesson:

I was able to understand 80% of the dialogs. Back in July 2005, I previewed a few minutes of lesson 52 to try and get an idea of the end level of French in Action. I understood 0% back then; it is nice to see the progress.

I was able to understand Mme Courtois “qui parle trop vite”(who speaks to fast), those who have watched the series will know what I’m talking about.

I was able to recognize and understand all the basic verb conjugations including the subjective.

I’m excited with the progress. I will re-watch the whole series again over the next 2 months. I also start the audio lessons again and shoot for completing lessons 14-26 with the next viewing. So tomorrow it is back to “Nous allons apprendre le français”(We are going to learn French) in lesson 2 and I’ll start the audio with lesson 11 and practice Jean-Pierre’s pick lines to “draguer une fille en passant” (pick up a girl in passing).


Edited by Farley on 02 March 2006 at 10:43pm

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morprussell
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 Message 2 of 10
02 March 2006 at 11:46pm | IP Logged 
Well done. I'm happy to hear about your progress. I'm also working my way through the FIA videos, but I'm only on lesson 11.

After I listen to a FIA video I've been listening to Le journal en français facile to get even more exposure. I've be surprised that I can understand enough to figure out what is going on.

Keep us updated on your progress your second time through the videos, "parce que çe va être utile pour apprendre le français" (Because it will be useful for learning French).


Edited by morprussell on 02 March 2006 at 11:48pm

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Andy E
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 Message 3 of 10
03 March 2006 at 4:21am | IP Logged 
Farley wrote:
...practice Jean-Pierre’s pick lines to “draguer une fille en passant” (pick up a girl in passing).


John,

Bearing in mind Jean-Pierre's total lack of success, are you sure that's wise? :¬)

I also had trouble with some of his speech (as well as Madame Courtois!) and in the end I had to review the transcripts and then re-listen to those parts to catch everything. Does using the audio-only stuff help at all with comprehension of the more difficult speakers or is it more geared to helping you produce French?

BTW - congrats on completion.

Andy.

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luke
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 Message 4 of 10
03 March 2006 at 5:00am | IP Logged 
Farley wrote:
I was able to get 80% of last lesson. Back in July 2005, I previewed a few minutes of lesson 52. I understood 0% back then; it is nice to see the progress.

Way to go. Excellent!
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Farley
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 Message 5 of 10
03 March 2006 at 8:41am | IP Logged 
morprussell wrote:
I'm also working my way through the FIA videos, but I'm only on lesson 11.

Are you just using the videos, or are you also using the textbook/workbooks etc? Just curious.

It amazing how much the videos do for your listening comprehension.

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morprussell
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 Message 6 of 10
03 March 2006 at 9:04am | IP Logged 
Right now I'm only using the videos. I plan on using the textbook and audio lessons the second time around. Although I might glance in my textbook if there is something that I really don't understand.

So far I'm very happy with the videos.
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Farley
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
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Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French
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 Message 7 of 10
03 March 2006 at 9:13am | IP Logged 
Andy E wrote:

Bearing in mind Jean-Pierre's total lack of success, are you sure that's wise? :¬)

No, but it is part of the audio lesson. This seems like something very French to me. Dr. Capretz seems to think the product of good French training should include how to say some good pickup lines, and then leave to your discretion about which ones to use.:)

Andy E wrote:

Does using the audio-only stuff help at all with comprehension of the more difficult speakers or is it more geared to helping you produce French?

The audio is geared to helping you produce and practice French; better comprehension comes as a side result. The strategy in FIA is similar to FSI, but approach is totally different. FIA has you master the lines to dialogs similar to the way you would memorize the lines to your favorite movie by watching it and talking about it over and over again. If you are looking for something to brush up on your French, just buying the textbook would probably do the trick. But if you want learn how to “draguer des nanas comme Jean-Pierre” (pick up babes like Jean-Pierre) you will have to get the audio.:)

Edit: For all the girls out there I should add that Dr Capretz is also teaches you how to tell the pick up artist to shove-off.

Edited by Farley on 03 March 2006 at 9:50am

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Farley
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
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681 posts - 739 votes 
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Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 8 of 10
03 March 2006 at 1:11pm | IP Logged 
morprussell wrote:
Right now I'm only using the videos. I plan on using the textbook and audio lessons the second time around. Although I might glance in my textbook if there is something that I really don't understand.

So far I'm very happy with the videos.


That’s a smart plan. Let the video do the difficult work for you. I think the next best part of the course is all audio “mise en œuvre” or assimilation of the text, it a lesson in vocabulary grammar and pronunciation. The only drawback is the second half of the audio CD’s is dependant on the workbook, making it next to impossible to review “on the go”. Right now it seems that watching the videos and using the audio text workup is the best way around the problem.


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