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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 1 of 48 10 August 2011 at 11:32pm | IP Logged |
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I'm two months into my drive to reach a passable level of French proficiency by the end of the year. I don't think I'll be updating this as a regular log; instead I'll use it to post occasional updates on methods I've used and how they're helping. Or not helping.
Goal: To be proficient enough in French by Dec 31, 2011 that I can move on to using original sources. i.e. - that I can read and listen to French daily without actively studying the language. Pourquoi? I want to be fluent in seven languages by the time I turn 50. Background: Two years in the University back in the 80s. I failed my third semester, but made a comeback in the fourth. Yardsticks: I'll listen to a podcast of RFI, Journal en français facile to measure my progress. And this coming Spring I intend to spend a week each in Tunisia, Marrakesh, and Paris. That will be my real test! Materials: So far I've used Pimsleur, FSI, Assimil, and Anki, and I just checked out French in Action textbook from the library. Edited by kanewai on 11 August 2011 at 12:22am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 2 of 48 10 August 2011 at 11:43pm | IP Logged |
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The Warm Up: Two months with Pimsleur 1 and 2
I became a Pimsleur believer last year, when I used it to prep for a trip to Mexico. After doing 1 & 2 I landed feeling pretty confident of my abilities, and was able to travel to places where no English was spoken. The system worked. I wasn't fluent, but I could get around. So I started using Pimsleur French 1 earlier this Spring as a way to warm up, and refresh my memory. It worked, it was great, I bought Pimsleur 2. I enjoyed the first half, but became increasingly frustrated by the second half. I realized that Pimsleur could help a great deal if I wanted to learn decent 'tourist French,' but it wasn't helping one bit in understanding my podcast. By the latter half of the second series I was close to hating Pimselur. Every single lesson seemed to revolve around a game of tennis. It was excruciating. Just a tad more variety would have been nice. I had intended to finish Pimsleur before starting a new system, but Assimil looked fun, so I jumped the gun and started it (next post). I was also becoming increasingly frustrated by the incompetent digital coding on the Pimsleur CDs. I would try to import them into iTunes, so I could play them remotely, and each episode would be labeled differently. I spent long afternoons hunting and searching for each lesson, and trying to group them together onto one playlist. This was almost inexcusable. And yet ... Pimsleur is still a great system to use while commuting, and I do appreciate how one learns the 'sound' of the language. I would use it again if I needed a quick intro to a language. Say, if I took a trip to Greece or Italy, and wanted to speak with the locals but wasn't aiming for fluency, I would absolutely consider investing in the course. (It really isn't that expensive if you buy used, and return it using Amazon buy-back). I don't think I would use Pimselur for a language where I was aiming for any kind of professional fluency. Onwards ... Edited by kanewai on 11 August 2011 at 12:23am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 3 of 48 11 August 2011 at 12:20am | IP Logged |
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The First Month: FSI (Lessons 1-6) and Assimil (Lessons 1-30)
On July 4 I could listen to an episode of Journal en français facile and understand the topic, but not the content. i.e., I could catch "riots" and "Greece" and "euro," and a few other scattered nouns and prepositions, but that was about it. I hit the ground running, using a combination of FSI and Assimil. I would average one lesson a week of FSI (each lesson is divided into about six 30" sessions), and would do about two lessons of Assimil at a time. Assimil is fun, and I like that it has short lessons. It really is hard to judge how much one is learning in the passive phase, though. My method has been to listen to the dialogue once or twice. I usually comprehend nothing. Then I listen to it while reading it. Then I try to talk along with it. Then I'll listen to a sentence, hit pause, and mimic the sentence a few times. I might do this twice, until I am comfortable with it. I can do a lesson in about 20 minutes. FSI is a grind, and I've avoided pattern/drill systems in the past, but ... it works. And I'm even starting to enjoy it somewhat. Each lesson starts with a lengthy dialogue. This I need to study at home. The next five segments involve very repetitive lexical, grammar, and substitution drills. I like that I can do the lessons in my car (except for the initial dialogue). The sound quality is poor, so that's a challenge at times. However, it also trains my ear to really, really focus on the sounds. This is probably a benefit. There is also a lot of vocabulary, which is a nice change from Pimsleur. The biggest benefit for me, though, is that it's burning the way French pronouns behave deep into my brain. This was the hardest thing for me to internalize in school, especially once one starts getting multiple pronouns alongside negative and interrogative statements. I don't think even Assimil would be as effective as these endless FSI drills. On July 25 I made my first ever Anki deck, using all the vocab that has been covered to date. This has been helpful, although I think I entered too many 'easy' words. I had downloaded a pre-made French deck, but did not find it useful. The flashcards really did have to be "my" words. This morning I tuned into Journal en français facile. I could understand the topics, and more of the content, but still can't work out the details. So I know that the topic was the assassination of the rebel general in Libya, but still couldn't catch why it was being discussed today. I would say that my comprehension doubled since last month, though it started low. Onwards: want to finish the passive phase in Assimil by Labor Day (lesson 50), and would like to do two more FSI lessons (Lesson 7 looks like a long one!). Before I leave I want to make a separate "reverse-Anki" deck (English to French) to complement the active phase in Assimil. I also checked out the French in Action textbook from the library, and watched the second lesson online. This was fun, and I like hearing natural, casual Parisian French. I need to integrate this system into my studies! I'll stick with the video/textbook for now. The audio/workbook portion gets rave reviews on here, but it's $420 and I think I'm doing enough audio work for now. Until Labor Day, then, mes copains! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| MrFrenchFox Newbie United States Joined 4853 days ago 18 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 48 11 August 2011 at 5:35am | IP Logged |
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I am planning on using a similar method as you. Great to hear some solid reviews on the
programs. If you were able to do it again, would you have incorporated more material while going through Pimsleur level 1? I am beginning on Pimsleur level 1 and was planning to start Assimil with level 2. Now that you have reviewed level 2 I am debating FSI and Assimil after Pimsleur 1. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 5 of 48 11 August 2011 at 7:40am | IP Logged |
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If you have a background in French, or any of the Romance languages, then I think you could move on
after Pimsleur 1. If not, go ahead and do 2. My original plan was to do FSI first, then Assimil. Or vice versa; now I forget. But I find that I can do FSI while commuting, or cooking, or doing laundry, but can't stay awake long enough to do a whole lesson sitting down. Occasionally,, though, I'll have to do a lesson twice: audio, then I go back and look at the manual if I missed alot, then repeat the audio. Assimil isn't good for that. You need to sit down, have the book handy, and rewind and pause constantly. It's perfect for a 20" coffee break, but not practical for commuting. So I do both! 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 6 of 48 11 August 2011 at 7:49am | IP Logged |
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missed your whole question! I would do Pimsleur 1 solo; that way you get the pure "a-ha!" moments when
things start to fall into place 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 7 of 48 17 August 2011 at 12:22am | IP Logged |
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Week 9: FSI Volume 1 (Lesson 7, parts 1-9), Assimil (31-38), French in Action (Lessons 2-4)
I've been commuting a lot lately, so I've been doing the FSI drills more than I expected. FSI Lesson 7 starts off rough: an extended dialogue on telegrams, air mail, and parcel post. It's like a time capsule from a lost world. However, it also introduces new tenses, covers adjectives in depth, and has more drills on those horrible yet elegant French pronouns. I couldn't exactly skip it. I'm actually getting a bit obsessive over FSI. I enjoy Assimil more, but FSI is more rewarding in that I can measure my progress. I've gone from thinking that I'll just do a couple chapters to thinking, I could finish this volume. Maybe even both! I also watched a couple of French in Action videos. They are also quite dated, but I'm digging the 80's styles. I hope to "catch up" with these - i.e., be at the same place in Assimil, FSI, and French in Action as I move forward. It's a nice trifecta: FSI for the drills, Assimil for the narratives, and French in Action for the casual day to day speech. I'll keep pushing forward with the FSI for now, and use Assimil for days when I don't have the time for a full FSI lesson. French in Action is more an add-on, something I'll watch passively at the end of the week. At some point I see reversing this: tapering off with FSI, and moving Assimil to the fore. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4887 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 8 of 48 23 August 2011 at 12:09am | IP Logged |
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Week 10: FSI Volume 1 (Lesson 7 finish; 8 parts 1-3), Assimil (39-47), French in Action (Lesson 5)
FSI has turned cruel. Imagine having to work through this:
But I persevere! FSI continues to pound information into my brain. It's brutal but effective. I still don't feel like I'm retaining as much with Assimil, but I'm going on faith that the system works and that I'll assimilate it in the end, like the name says. I've been inputting all new vocabulary and idioms into Anki, and there hasn't been much crossover between FSI & Assimil. But then again, FSI is more concerned with the weather at my villa en Normandy, which I've rented for the season, or whether I've read le discours from the president yet. With Assimil I've admired Degas with a droll colonel, and waited outside a night club in the rain. Both FSI and Assimil have introduced the past tense this week, which is nice timing. Synergy at it's best. French in Action is still at the super basic level, but le professeur Capretz is captivating and the boys are cute, and I'm resisting the urge to jump ahead to a more challenging level. Journal en français facile - This morning I could understand the first two or three sentences of each segment, and then I get lost in the tenses. Still, I can sense that I'm making progress. I feel pretty confident that I'll be functionally proficient by Spring ... if I can keep this pace up! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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