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Too Much Studying? French and Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| pakiboy Newbie United States Joined 5465 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English | Message 1 of 20 01 June 2009 at 8:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey guys.. I am new to this forum.
I am currently learning 2 languages and plan to learn a total of 8 more over the next 4 years. I am fluent in Urdu, English and Hindi. Currently I am learning French and Mandarin Chinese. However, I am concerned whether my self-study method is comprised of material "too much to consume within the given time period?" I am learning English and Mandarin Chinese concurrently. Here is the schedule: French - June 2009 to January 2010 : 8 months (to DALF C2 level and including Business French.) Chinese Mandarin - June 2009 to August 2010 : 15 months [HSK Level 3 (Proficiency)] And here is my Self-study method: (The no. of pages are "per day"] ====================================================== >>>FRENCH - Jun 09 to Jan 10<<< ACADEMIC: Elementary I: Vis-à-vis – Beginning French I *8 chapters 1 unit per day 30 days – June Elementary II: Vis-à-vis – Beginning French II *8 chapters 1 unit per day 30 days – July Intermediate I: L’Etranger by Albert Camus 5 pages 30 days – August L’Exercisier *Chapters 1 – 15 4 pages 45 days – 8/1 to 9/15 Supplements reading - &nbs p; 30 days – August Intermediate II: L’Exercisier *Chapters 16-24 4 pages 45 days – 9/16 to 10/30 A vous d’écrire: Atelier de français *115 pages 3 pages 30 days – 9/16 to 10/15 Supplement reading - &nbs p; 30 days – 9/16 to 10/15 Advanced I & II: Poèmes, Pièces, Prose ;- 30 days – 10/16 to 11/15 Réussir le Dalf : Niveaux C1 et C2 5 pages 45 days – 11/16 to 12/31 Le Résumé, le compte rendu, la synthèse 5 pages 30 days – 11/16 to 12/15 Business French: Affaires.com (Cengage) / French for Business - 45 days – 12/16 to 01/31 Parlons affaires! 5 pages 45 days – 12/16 to 01/31 FSI Units *966 pages 5 pages 195 days ASSIMIL French with Ease I *113 lessons 5 pages 113 days – 06/01 to 09/23 Using French *70 lessons 5 pages 70 days ROSETTA STONE Level I *92 units 1 unit per day 92 days Level II *118 units ½ unit per day 236 days ----------------SUPPLEMENT MATERIAL------------------- VOCABULARY Mastering French Vocabulary 2 pages per day 240 days GRAMMAR Barron's 501 Verbs 15 verbs per day 240 days ------------------------------------------------------------ -- ====================================================== >>>Mandarin Chinese - Jun 09 to Aug 10<<< ACADEMIC: Elementary IA: Integrated Chinese Level I – Part I 5 pages 56 days Elementary IB: Integrated Chinese Level I – Part II 5 pages 63 days Elementary 2A: Integrated Chinese Level II – Part I 5 pages 65 days Elementary 2B: Integrated Chinese Level II – Part II 5 pages 65 days Intermediate I: Communicating in Chinese: R & W 5 pages 50 days Intermediate II: Beyond Basics 5 pages 55 days Adcanced I & II: Chinese Scene 5 pages 55 days Business Chinese: Open for Business I & II 5 pages 41 days FSI Units *313 tapes – 1878 pages 4 pages 420 days ASSIMIL Chinese with Ease I *49 lessons 4 pages 98 days Chinese with Ease II*56 lessons 4 pages 112 days ROSETTA STONE Level I *92 units 1 unit per day 92 days Level II *118 units ½ unit per day 236 days --------------SUPPLEMENTARY WRITING RESOURCE---------- Tuttle *3000 characters 8 characters per day 375 days ------------------------------------------------------------ -- ====================================================== So guys please tell me if you think WHETHER I NEED TO CUT BACK ON SOME STUFF? Edited by pakiboy on 01 June 2009 at 8:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5487 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes  Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 2 of 20 01 June 2009 at 9:34am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi,
Welcome to the forums. I would consider dropping the Rosetta Stone part of your study unless you feel that it is actually helpful. While everyone is different, it is my understanding that most people find it to be a very inefficient system. Also, I don't mean to discourage you but learning languages takes a bit of time. By that I mean that is unlikely that you will be able to reach a C2 level of French by January (unless of course you are already fairly advanced. Likewise, learning 10 languages over the next four years is somewhat unlikely. Aside from that I think you've selected good resources. If you feel like adding an audio component you can consider Pimsleur or Michel Thomas. Edited by Paskwc on 01 June 2009 at 9:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pakiboy Newbie United States Joined 5465 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English | Message 3 of 20 01 June 2009 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
Hmmm... interesting. But i will disagree. If 1 level of language is taught over a summer semester (2 months long) at any given university ... then how is it not possible to reach advanced level by 6 months...(I actually extended it to 7 to allow for any disruptions).? Also provided that I will be spending 2 hours per day on both languages during weekdays and 3 hours per day per both language on weekends. Moreover, with a comprehensive self study method... I don't get how? So please tell me. Also ... I have natural pronunciation skills and can pretty much imitate accents of languages that I don't even know yet. (I can almost perfectly read French) Since Urdu has all the sounds, consonants and vowels of any language in the world, it has given me an extra edge in making sounds that most non-Urdu speakers might find difficult to make. Also...yes I was dubious about Rosetta stone.. they indeed have stupid phrases... so yeah I might replace it with Pimsleur. Thanks a lot for ur comment! Edited by pakiboy on 01 June 2009 at 10:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6713 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 4 of 20 01 June 2009 at 11:00am | IP Logged | ||
I don't know about the US but at the European universities I know one level definitely takes more than 2 months. Well, in my opinion 7 months to reach C2 level in French and learn business language too (learning another language in the same time) - may just not be enough. I'm also not sure if you'll be able to reach C2 level with the sources you're going to use (it seems to me that there isn't enough original texts there, and definitely audio component is not big enough - which is listening comprehension is not that important to you). If you're not going to actually pass the DELF exam, you may consider leaving out the preparation book. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pakiboy Newbie United States Joined 5465 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English | Message 5 of 20 01 June 2009 at 11:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Julie... thanks for ur response.
Normally, in US to pass a level for instance both Elementary 1 and Elementary 2... it takes 8 months which is equivalent to two big semesters (Fall and Spring). However, as we all know... these r just money making techniques used by the universities... Ironically, US universities offer the same entire 1 level (Elementary, Intermediate or Advanced) in the 2 month long summer semester. I passed the entire elementary level of Spanish during the 2 month long semester back in 2007. The same is true for any level. As far as the resources, I am so surprised to know that u think they are insufficient? I thought they were way too much. Academic book + FSI + ASSIMIL + Rosetta Stone/Pimsleur + Grammar + Vocabulary + Literaty Texts. They are insufficient? Also you said that listening component is missing? Have u tried FSI, Assimil? or the Academic books... All of them have listening components... and the preparatory books for DALF C1 & DALF C2 have gigantic amount of listening and oral components. For literary, those "Supplemental Readings" are actually literary texts. Also, the two books Poem, Prose, Piece (600 pages) and french novels like L'Etranger are good literary texts. But i will try to read as much native text as possible... However, I would agree with learning both languages concurrently might be difficult as I am already attending full time college. Thats why I thought that this was too much of study. I will most probably drop Chinese for now... and concentrate on French... Guys please provide more feedback! My schedule is starting from tomorrow! Edited by pakiboy on 01 June 2009 at 11:19am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6713 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 6 of 20 01 June 2009 at 11:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I have tried Assmil (I haven't tried FSI and I don't know what the Academic books are, though). I didn't know that the book "Poem, Prose, Piece" has so many pages :).
What I meaned by audio component were original recordings. In my opinion it's quite difficult to reach the C2 level without listening to, for instance, audiobooks, podcasts, radio. There's a huge gap between C1 and C2 level (actually, the differences between levels are getting bigger as you're progressing), and here the language exposure is usually deciding. Moreover I don't think that literary texts are enough. I would definitely read e.g. some magazines and popular science texts. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pakiboy Newbie United States Joined 5465 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English | Message 7 of 20 01 June 2009 at 11:44am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the response... As far as the radio, tv, magazines and newspaper are concerned... I forgot to write these in my method above. Of course, to be proficient you have to go through all these modes...
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5575 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 8 of 20 01 June 2009 at 12:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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hi there pakiboy... I feel I should put that in inverted commas! What's with the username?
1 person has voted this message useful |
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