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French in the making | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5585 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes  Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 34 02 February 2009 at 1:26pm | IP Logged |
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Hello everyone!
I have been lurking around this forum for a few weeks, and figured that it might be time to become a member myself! I started studying French around the 15th January 2009, so I am definitely a beginner! I live in Aabenraa, Denmark with my girlfriend. Here I am taking a "HF" (Higher preparatory course) which compared to the American system is something like a mix between college and high school. After finishing the course (this summer) I plan to move to Aarhus, DK and study architecture! (And I am very excited about that) I have wanted to study a third language for quite some time. Back in elementary school, I had the opportunity to study German, but chose not to.. (Such a shame, when you think of it..) So I never learned to speak nor understand German. So I started thinking about signing up for a beginner course in a language at school, but found that the ours didn't fit my schedule, and that the course would teach my the language at a very slow rate (3-4 years before I would reach the intermediate level) I then decided to look around on the net for self-study methods, and found that studying a language on your own might not be as difficult as I first thought! In stead of German, I chose French as my first (third) language. German would probably be more useful for a Dane living close to the German border, but negative school experiences really have an effect on that choice! So I signed up for frenchpod.com's free trial, but found that it was more useful as a supplement than as a primary source for language learning (it consists of a lot of dialogues in different levels, but isn't really structuralized in order to teach a language from "one end to the other". Maybe I will return to these pod casts when I have finished pimsleur, which was my next choice. Pimsleur seems to be a really effective method, and I am pretty much doing one lesson a day (with about 3 play-through of each lesson) I'm at unit 16 in pimsleur 1 right now, and progressing nicely! Besides from that I just downloaded super memo (the freeware 98 version) and have been adding phrases from the pimsleur program to it. I read somewhere on the forum that assimil's "French with ease" would be a very nice supplement to pimsleur when I have finished pimsleur1 (apparently, assimil is a little more difficult) - so I ordered assimil too, and can't wait for it to arrive. (The version I found on amazon.co.uk appears to be sold out). That's pretty much my progress so far! The log will probably be both monotone and boring at times, but I suppose this is how it is meant to be ;) I'd happily receive and answer any comments, questions, ideas and corrections. Could be about my English too - I consider myself to be fairly good in English (though I do appreciate word's spell-checker), but I am still learning! That is all for now! - Thomas 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6822 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 2 of 34 02 February 2009 at 5:47pm | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your French!
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| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5585 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 34 04 February 2009 at 3:06am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the welcome, DMG :)
I finished unit 16 yesterday and listened to unit 17. It will probably need a few more play-throughs before it sticks though. We visited some family in the evening, and I was too tired to do any studying in the evening, but 1hour+ isn't too bad anyway. One thing I have had trouble getting used to is the word "some" or "en" which was introduced in unit 15. J'en ai and je n'en ai pas are not that hard, but used with other verbs it gets more difficult. I suppose it's just a matter of getting used to it ;) I also added some data to super memo. I use sentences in stead of just words as ordinary flashcards because I benefit more from knowing the words in a context, than just having a large vocabulary of single words I do not know how to use. I suppose that was my status of yesterday.. Now to repeat unit 17 again :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5585 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 34 08 February 2009 at 3:35am | IP Logged |
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I see that the post I made two days ago did not make it to the board. I must've clicked the wrong button.
I just finished this morning’s lesson. I'm at unit 20 now. I paid a visit to my brother from Friday to Saturday, so I didn't study much those days, but now, I’m at it again! I've found that after I started using super-memo I have remembered the keywords faster. Not just because I study with it (I haven't had time for that much super-memo repetition), but because I take notes when listening to the lessons, so I can add all new words and phrases. Now I’m going to work a little with super memo. - Thomas 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5619 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 5 of 34 08 February 2009 at 9:24am | IP Logged |
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Keep up the good work!
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| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5585 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 6 of 34 10 February 2009 at 2:41am | IP Logged |
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Thanks ChiaBrain, i'm doing my best ;)
Yesterday i finished lesson 21 and started number 22 which i am going to repeat in a minute :) - Thomas 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5585 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 7 of 34 11 February 2009 at 4:03am | IP Logged |
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I finished lesson 22 yesterday, and have just done my morning-listening of 23 today.
It is still going ok, but I find that I sometimes make some annoying, pretty basic errors. For instance confusing the word genders, forgetting the "n'" before a "not" sentence and when to say "essence, d'essence or de l'essence" I suppose that these are all minor problems, and that I will pick it up eventually. I just got my new assimil french with ease! I'm 21 years old, but still excited like a little kid every time I order something off the internet ;) Now, I think, I’ll throw myself in the hammock, and do the first assimil lesson. What a neat little book. - Thomas 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5585 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 8 of 34 12 February 2009 at 2:27am | IP Logged |
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Yesterday I finished 23 and did 24 once in the evening. Besides from that, I received my Assimil course! Then I did three lessons.
I suppose that there is no single way to use Assimil, so i might have to experiment a bit before finding a method that suits me. I have been reading some discussions on the topic "shadowing" and i have, as many others, trouble figuring out the essence of the theory. In a way, it seems irrational that you'd be able to learn anything from a tape when you speak at the same time (and therefore are unable to hear the lesson correctly) But on the other hand, shadowing probably strengthens the rhythm and speed. I tried shadowing along with the recordings a couple of times yesterday and it actually felt like my speech improved. I just can't figure out why ;) I anyone has any opinions or thoughts about shadowing, and would like to tell me how it works for you, please do so :) - Thomas 1 person has voted this message useful |
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