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songlines
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729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 41 of 243
08 October 2011 at 6:51am | IP Logged 
Transcripted French podcasts: Service protestant

I don't think this podcast resource has been previously mentioned on the HtLAL forums: The
Service protestant
from France Culture.

They're thirty-minute sermons, all fully transcripted! The older ones (approx. before Sept 2010) no longer
have audio available - just the texts; but that still leaves dozens of others to use for listening-reading.

The sermons are all by different people, so you get a variety of voices, subjects, and content. Of course, your
interest (or otherwise) in this resource will depend on your tolerance for religious (or more specifically,
Protestant) sermons (and the occasional prayer). I tried a couple of programmes, one on John Wesley (a
more traditional approach, as far as sermons go), and protestant-etre-temoins-de-l-evangile-aujourd-hui-44-2010-09 -12.html"> another on the German pastor Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
which was more interesting.

The language itself probably wasn't particularly difficult, but some of it was certainly more specialized,
and definitely a stretch for me, at my current level of French. It took me approximately fifteen minutes to do
intensive reading of each page. But if I continue using this resource, things should get easier as I learn
more of the vocabulary: l'Evangile, la louange, and the like.

One nice bonus: there are lovely little musical interludes at intervals.

This is one resource I'll be adding to my L-R roster.

Updated to add more recent link:
2013

Edited by songlines on 08 October 2013 at 7:17am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 42 of 243
11 October 2011 at 7:55am | IP Logged 
The past week's tally, up till and including Thanksgiving Monday:

Flashcards: 70 minutes
News (Audio or video): 96 minutes
Listening-Reading or Reading: 115 minutes
Reading (no audio): 246 minutes
Assimil: 50 minutes

Total: 577 minutes; 9 hours, 37 minutes.

Current TadokuBot rank: #47, with 174.35 pages read. (This figure includes re-reads, however.)

Edited by songlines on 11 October 2011 at 8:01am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 43 of 243
19 October 2011 at 6:32am | IP Logged 
One more addition to my list of online French-language news sources : Euranet.eu.   A not-quite-transcripted source, with broadcasts in other EU languages. A search tip: to get the Advanced Search options type any text into the small search box. This will then get you the next screen, thereby allowing you to set parameters for language and theme (e.g. environment, economics), among other things. Leaving the keyword field blank should then pull up the full list of French broadcasts.

Reading:
As a fast and voracious reader of English language fiction, I'd found it somewhat frustrating, and frankly a bit of a slog, reading French fiction. The interruptions as I consulted the dictionary, or the confused stumbles if I didn't consult one, meant that I couldn't get absorbed in the story in the way I might with an English book. But with Harry Potter à lécole des sorciers, I tried a different strategy. First, I breezed through the English text a chapter or so at a time. Then, with the English original handy, I read the French version. The pre-reading helped to ease my way through the French text, so much so that - for brief periods here and there - I found myself reading eagerly, as I do in English. There was still a fair bit of (usually later) looking up of new words, and reconsultation for full comprehension, but I nevertheless managed to experience a bit of that joy I usually associate with reading. Of course, I couldn't manage to sustain it through the whole book, but at least it gave me a first taste of the possibilities. A small but very happy milestone.

Summary for the week, up to and including Monday Oct 17th:

Flashcards: 20 minutes
Assimil: 80 minutes.
News : 40 minutes. (A mixture of France 24, Euronews, and Euranet)
Reading: Harry Potter: 415 minutes (approx); The Golden Compass: 370 minutes (approx). I kept track of some reading times, but forgot to do so on others.
Total time: 925 minutes; 15 hours, 25 mins.

Pages: Harry Potter: 138 pages; Golden Compass: 123 pages. Total 261 pages.

Tadoku Bot ranking: #32, with a total of 457.35 pages.





Edited by songlines on 19 October 2011 at 6:53am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 44 of 243
26 October 2011 at 7:54am | IP Logged 
A brief summary for the week, up to and including Monday Oct 24th:

Flashcards: 20 minutes.
Assimil: 50 minutes.
Reading: approx. time, 435 minutes.
Philip Pullman, Les royaumes du nord: 78 pages;
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter et la chambre des secrets: 67 pages.
Total time: 505 minutes; 8 hours, 25 minutes.

Tadokubot ranking: #33, with a total of 602 pages.

In my Tadoku-focus on reading, I've had almost no audio exposure this week (a few minutes, but not really enough to count). I rather miss it, and hope to swing back the balance a little to more "listening".

Edited by songlines on 26 October 2011 at 8:07am

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songlines
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Studies: French
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 Message 45 of 243
27 October 2011 at 4:03am | IP Logged 
For anyone who loves cooking, baking, food, Paris, and the French language, - and especially all of them together! - try Chocolate and Zucchini, Clotilde Dusoulier's blog.

It's been mostly bilingual since late 2007 (click on the French/ American flags on the upper right to toggle between French and English language homepages; on the flags at the bottom for individual posts). In addition to a large number of recipes, there are also short posts on travel, kitchen technique, restaurants, and the like. Of particular interest to foodie/French language learners: a series on French idioms related to food - currently at 53 entries. (For obvious reasons, these entries aren't translated to/written in French.)

Enjoy. - Just don't blame me if you gain weight as a result of following the blog, okay?



Edited by songlines on 27 October 2011 at 6:56am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 4968 days ago

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Studies: French
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 Message 46 of 243
14 November 2011 at 5:00am | IP Logged 
A quick and belated summary of my efforts.

Oct 25th to October 31st, inclusive:
Continued the Tadoku-challenged-inspired focus on reading, with 16 pages of French news; 12 pages of Phillip Pullman's Les Royaumes du nord; and a big push for the final week of the Tadoku Bot, with 152 pages of Harry Potter et la chambre des secrets. I don't remember how long it took me to read the news pages, but the books totalled approx. 504 minutes (8 hours, 24 minutes). The Pullman was harder for me, and I typically spent around 4 minutes per page on it, vs. 3 minutes per page for the Harry Potter (vs. under 1 minute per page for the English versions).

Finished the Tadoku Reading Challenge in 34th place (out of 120), with 776 pages read. The majority of them (93.7%) were from books, with the rest from graphic novels and news.

November:
Signed up for the 6 Week Challenge, in (gulp) Mandarin. Still also trying to maintain my French.

Had a number of different Mandarin resources I could use:

Chinese for Today, from the Beijing Languages Institute, bought almost a decade ago in a fit of self-improvement, and, as Amazon listings say, still "like new!". Indeed.

New Practical Chinese Reader, the full set including CDs. A second-hand copy, acquired almost for free. Unfortunately, the Pinyin seems to peter out as the series goes on, and even in Book 1, there are sections (such as the notes, pattern drills, and conversation practice, which are entirely in Chinese characters).

Berlitz Mandarin Chinese in 30 Days. From a remaindered bookstore, in mint condition.

Ultimate Mandarin Chinese from Living Language. A library copy.

I also tried a number of the podcasts mentioned in this Htlal thread, and signed up for Chinese Pod.

In the end, I decided to focus (for now, anyway) on both Chinese Pod and the Living Language course, the latter because of its strong Pinyin focus. (I don't wish to learn to read or write; certainly not at this early stage.)

November 1st to November 7th, inclusive:
Chinese: Living Language 90 minutes; Chinese Pod 35 minutes. Total: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes).

French: Flashcards 30 minutes; L-R news 40 minutes; reading 304 minutes. Finished Harry Potter et la chambre des secrets. Total: 374 minutes (6 hours, 14 minutes).

Finished this week with a 6WC ranking of 44 on target language hours, and 36 on total language-learning hours.



Edited by songlines on 14 November 2011 at 6:32pm

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Studies: French
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 Message 47 of 243
18 December 2011 at 10:58pm | IP Logged 
Well, I finished the 6WC at a decent, though not remarkable, ranking of 34 of the participants. Spent 40+ hours
on French, and 18+ on Mandarin.   

French:
Finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; and began and finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkhaban
. Read Guillaume Musso's Parce que je t'aime; not great literature, but happily right at my
reading level, so it was a smooth and enjoyable read. Also started (in the print version) Yann Martel's
What is Stephen Harper Reading, or
Que lit Stephen Harper.   Martel's book has the advantages of
being: written in short snippets (it's a collection of letters sent to the PM), available in both of our official
languages, available online, and also - best of all - all about books and reading. Well written, and
recommended.

Also had some of the usual flashcard work, listened to some of the RFI transcripted podcasts (and others), and -
thanks to a recently installed new TV antenna, was able to also once again receive my much-missed
Radio-Canada captioned broadcasts.

Chinese.
Unfortunately not as successful (and nowhere nearly as enjoyable). I decided to start off with the Living
Language Ultimate Mandarin, and Chinese Pod. Initially, things didn't seem too bad; listening to the lessons, it
all seemed vaguely familiar, and I was blithely thinking, "Oh yes, it'll come back to me; it doesn't seem tooo
hard."   

Alas, as the weeks went by, I realized that although my comprehension was okay while actually listening to the
dialogues, my active recall & production remained stubbornly hopeless. As mentioned in one of my tweets,
it all seemed to go in one ear, and out the other. But, now that I've started, I'll keep plugging away at it in the
new year.

Thanks again, Sprachprofi, for organizing this challenge.
-----

Have flown home for the holidays, but have two copies (one in French; another English, borrowed from my
nephew) of Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire, so am still reading en français .    

Happy Christmas to all those who mark and celebrate the occasion, and a very Happy New Year to all.
---

Sorry about the formatting above; I can't seem to clear up the extra spaces.




Edited by songlines on 19 December 2011 at 7:34pm

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 48 of 243
19 December 2011 at 8:06pm | IP Logged 
Just trying to see if I can still create external links, such as this one to the canada.ca/">CBC/Radio Canada site.

And I guess the answer's no.

Edited by songlines on 19 December 2011 at 8:08pm



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