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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 78 05 July 2008 at 1:49pm | IP Logged |
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So, where to start?
I have recently moved to Paris, well the end of April actually, but that is still recent. I have just finished my first week of classes and found them to be adequate, nothing amazing but great at renforcing everything and expanding upon what I know. Yet, as I am not quite satisfied I will very much be continuing on my own and use the course to suppliment what I learn myself. I will use this log to, well log my progress over the coming months. The classes I am taking are aimed at attaining B1 qualification, but I dont really see the point of paying €140 just for the lowest level certificate so my overal goal is to attain atleast a B2, but hopefully C level by the end of the year. I know this is a broad goal, but well, with six months to go. We shall see. The smaller, and more realistic goals are the main point of this post, and are: 1. Working comprehension of all conjugational tenses. 2. Intense broadening of my vocabulary *EDIT 19/9/08* ATTAINED 2.a To be able to read newspapers with a greatly reduced number of unknown words per two page spread. Currently at anywhere between 2 and 30 depending on the topic. *ATTAINED* 2.b Putting that vocabulary into use verbally.*getting thereµ 2.c To be able to express myself sufficiently in French, without needing to resort to English.*ATTAINED* 3. Improving my written communication skills. 3.a To be able to write emails without need to refer to anything else. 3.b To be able to express my thoughts sufficiently in French,*Reasonably well* without needing to resort to English *ATTAINED* 4. Get a better grasp of slang. *ATTAINED, far from perfectµ 4.a Verlan, atleast figure out a few more words besides Chemar et Meuf.*Added to* 4.b Stop myself using the slang words in class, links back to broadening my vocab.*ATTAINED* My written, and listening comprehension skills aren't too bad *EXCELLENT FOR B2 LEVEL*, but need to be improved. This is done by constantly listening to the radio, or when the missus is home, the Tv. and reading the afore mentioned newspapers, also music, Grand Corps Malade, is my favoured method for this, but I am going to have to broaden my tastes I suppose. And more or less just absorbing what goes on around me. *DONE AND DUSTED* That's all for now I think. Time to hit the books. Thom. Edited by ExtraLean on 19 September 2008 at 9:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 2 of 78 06 July 2008 at 11:25am | IP Logged |
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Went to my girlfriends parents apartment last night. Spent a bit of time talking to them. Reasonably happy with my performance, vocab failed when I really wanted to get indepth, but that is to be expected. Happily, they are encouraging and understanding.
Today, went for a walk with some friends, forced myself not to speak English. Worked well enough. I still need to talk more. Slowly forcing my girlfriend to talk french at home. She is worried she will lose English. Might try to force an alternate-day regime. Aquired Pimsleur French Basic-Advanced over the weekend. Currently going through the lower levels just to reenforce what I understand, and perfect my accent. I am told it is pretty decent, but there is always room for improvement. I am also hoping to aquire some nice phrases to facilitate conversation in the every day. I noticed last week that it is much much easier to understand someone who speaks with a fluidity approaching fluency, than the stoppy starty manner of the majority of my class. I think this is important, I remember reading that rythm is as important as pronunciation. This is proving to be true. Today I did a bit of grammar, and I am about to go translate a bunch of vocab I discovered the last few days. Might review the tenses too. Until next time, I remain, Thom. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 3 of 78 07 July 2008 at 10:40am | IP Logged |
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Lundi, 07/07/2008
Today I had class from 8hr-16hr. It wasn't too bad, covered some new stuff, recovered some old stuff. I am happy with how I am going. We had a new grammar professor, who covered the same stuff we covered last week, l'articles, which was even less fun than the first time. I've done them before, got them pretty well sussed I think. Unfortunately, I got bored. Before I commenced the lessons, I had resolved not to spend my time sitting in class doing nothing. So I translated a bunch of vocab I found over the weekend, and I am happy that that is done. I still need to transcribe them into my personal dictionary that I keep at the back of my notebook, and will probably do that tomorrow. I havent memorised them yet, but they are there, and I should recognise the majority of them. I spent lunch with the German girl. Spoke pretty much only in French, even though she speaks English fluently. Had a nice Parisian lunch, of Italian pasta. The only problem being that it lasted fifty minutes, instead of the thirty we are given. But still, wine and actual conversational speaking, though not with a native, but someone at my level, is better than sitting there silently listening to a recording of a poem I have already read. It turned out that I didnt miss much, and I feel like I gained a fair bit. I don't particularly feel like doing much more today 7+ hours isn't too bad, but I am happy I only do it one day a week. I will just do my homework and then some more vocab then call it quits I think. I wont bother putting the vocab in this log, I am finding far too much, but I recommend that Firefox users download and add Quicknote to their browser, as it makes it quite simple to 'jot' down new vocab/phrases whilst reading sites in your target language. For those poor souls who don't use Firefox, well, you can only help yourselves. Until next time, I remain, Thom 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 4 of 78 08 July 2008 at 10:29am | IP Logged |
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I wish she hadn't done that!
Class today went well enough, the professor asked me if I wanted to move up to the next level of courses that the school offers. Stroked my ego nicely, and goes to show that you don't need to pay for courses such as Assimil and what not to impress folks. But then I am gifted with circumstances that many of you may not have. I am in the class aimed at attaining the B1 level qualification. It is called Intermediate 2. Thus, she asked if I wanted to go try B2 level stuff. Honestly, I think I could wing it, but I declined as I do not think that I am well enough advanced to not flounder in the Advanced class. I put lots of effort into my classes, and I do a fair amount of work on my own. I am proud of what I have attained in a relatively quick timeframe. However, my understanding of the more advanced forms of grammar is poor, and rarely utilised, and I still find myself missing important things, or not fully comprehending. It is this which the course aims at teaching. So I am content to stay were I am. And considering that I am learning so much everyday with and without the class I do not want to miss out on having a strong base on which to build my massive hulking tower of french mastery. I don't know if this is the main point for these logs, but I needed to hash that out and think the situation through. Nevertheless, my avid readers, I believe I am well on my way to attaining that B2 level French, and the thought that is creeping through the back of my head is 'can C1, or even C2 be all that difficult?'..... More on topic, I found some nice Ebook sites, which should help nicely, and I found some audiobooks of some of the books that my girlfriends family gave me. So I have another avenue to improve my french. I think I have typed enough for now, got my English fix for the day. Thus, I remain, Thom Edited by ExtraLean on 09 July 2008 at 12:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 5 of 78 09 July 2008 at 1:05pm | IP Logged |
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I had a relatively lazy day today. Didn't have that much work ethic. Surfed the internet this morning, I spend too much time on it, but well, I will survive.
Went to class,as per the norm, it was productive got a few things wrong, which supports my choice to stay at the level I am as stated in the post above. I also sussed out 'les pronoms relatifs composés'. I have found that my main weakness is that I understand what I read, but still have difficulty using the same level of understanding, and having it come through in my written and spoken language(though to a lesser degree). I am however seeing results, and that is what counts. Gradatim ferociter ou peut-etre « Pas à pas, courageusement ». By the way if anyone knows how to get the french quotation marks, without copy/pasting, on a french laptop keyboard, let me know. I have searched but to no avail. This afternoon I reviewed when to use the imparfait, plus-que-parfait and did a bit more subjonctif, not much, but some. I also took a look at some sample DELFand DALF exams, I am confident that at the moment I could probably pass the B1 exam, though not with full marks, and possibly also the B2, though it would be touchy. If these example tests are to be believed, and I think that they can be, then I am more confident in my ability to get atleast the B1 level, and it goes to show that the work I am putting in is paying off. I also started reading Montesquie's 'Lettres Persanes'. Which is a test for my subjontif, but I am getting there, not too much that I dont understand per page. The best thing is that because they are letters they are short, anywhere between half a page, to 3 pages long. So I can do it in short bursts. I am thinking that I will write some out, and try to encorporate some the things I find into my own writing. Au revoir, cher internaut, sois assuré qu'en quelque lieu du monde où je sois, vous avez un ami qui comprends les horreurs d'apprendre une langue étranger. Thom. Edited by ExtraLean on 09 July 2008 at 1:08pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 6 of 78 11 July 2008 at 3:24pm | IP Logged |
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Another week down, 10 to go.
The last couple of days I have just been working through my work for the class. Got 90% for the exam today. 5% better than last week, so I am happy. Nearly finished with 'the ultimate french verb review and practice' which I have steadily been working through. Once I have done that, I will finish off my Intermediate Conjugation work book. Apparantly, reading the Letters that I had mentioned above paid off. As my tutor remarked that there is a significant difference between my writing last week (which basically reflected how I spoke) and this week, which was more structured and gernerally better. Still not perfect, but I am not fussed. Making progress is what matters. I also started reading Boule de Suif par Maupassant. It is pretty heavy going, but I am enjoying it so far, more for pleasure than for work, but hopefully it will improve. Going to try Prof Arguelles approach, and not use a dictionary, and see how I go. So far it isnt ruining the book too much. But we will see. Last night I went to the pub with my girlfriend and her friends, went ok. Missed alot, but I think that was mostly because it was too loud, not because I didnt understand. Best thing was that I was understood. Progress, I love her. Thom. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 7 of 78 15 July 2008 at 5:13am | IP Logged |
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I turned 22 today.
I didn't get too much done over the long weekend. Bastille day parades, fireworks, partying. Dinner with my girlfriends family led to a lot more speaking on my part. I have been making a concerted effort to talk as much as I can. I think people interpret my lack of talking for a lack of understanding. I am not someone who needs to talk a lot, but I am trying to change that. It will only result in positive benefits to my speaking skills. I am happy to be able to follow pretty much everything I hear. I may miss some of the more complicated phrases, but I am noticing an improvement. Still need to broaden my vocabulary, and increase my grammar comprehension. But I am getting there. Lets see where I will be at 23 years of age. School this afternoon. Gotta get ready to go. Adios. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 8 of 78 16 July 2008 at 10:52am | IP Logged |
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I suppose that the best thing about learning a language on one's own is not having to deal with people that get on one's nerves.
I need to do more work on the usage of plus-que-parfait. Thom. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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