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How long does it take to learn French? | ||
Tags: Time to learn | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5335 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 21 14 August 2012 at 6:17pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Well, yes. :-) I did try to communicate that fact, though not very clearly:
But sadly, the same sorts of things happen outside of Bic ads. For example, France recently instituted a cultural test for new citizens, and Europe 1 decided to quiz some lycéens. The results were predictable and a little sad:
And this certainly isn't unique to France. As the US press is fond of pointing out, 6% of US students can't find our country on a map, and 12% can't find Mexico. Which brings me to my larger point: It's easy to imagine that all university students can write eloquent and persuasive 20-page term papers in their native language, using appropriate academic vocabulary. But in reality, lots of students would have trouble meeting that standard, at least here in the US. Anyway, I hope I've explained my point semi-coherently this time.
There's a lot more details in my log, but basically I studied French for two years, and maintained it consistently for two years. During the maintenance time, I had passive exposure to about 1,000 hours of repetitive, comprehensible French. At the end of this period, I could read a non-fiction book in a month with a dictionary, carry on a rudimentary conversation and passively understand "household" French around B1. My grammar was pretty atrocious, I couldn't understand easy news radio, and I would have flunked the DELF B1. But it's definitely possible to learn French quickly from scratch. The US Foreign Service Institute takes students from zero to ILS 3/3 (about C1) in 24 weeks. That involves 7 to 9 hours per day of classes and homework, 5 days per week. To be fair, FSI classes can be pretty brutal: 500+ vocab words per week, students breaking down in tears, and all that stuff. But this suggests that going from beginner French to B2 in 5 months is definitely possible, with a lot of work. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4481 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 18 of 21 14 August 2012 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Oh, I had missed that point, and was rather surprised that you could have missed that. :) Honestly, I don't know when the slavery has been abolished in France (now I know...) but this question is clearly not as central to French history as it is to the USA's one (or at least not perceived as such), and I don't think it's even ever been taught. But for the rest, indeed you can easily find what in French we call "perles du bac" (pearls) with astonishing answers from ignorant students. Edited by vermillon on 14 August 2012 at 8:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Tsopivo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4274 days ago 258 posts - 411 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Esperanto | Message 19 of 21 31 August 2012 at 12:12am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I don't know if this will apply for Belgian universities and if it will be any help for you but in France :
- Foreign students can usually identify themselves as foreign during the exams and the correcter will usually be more lenient on both the level of French that is used and the content; - It could be very hard to take notes during a lecture but I believe you could easily get someone else's notes; - I don't know if this widely applies but Quebec law students coming to France can choose to take only "minor subjects" which also happens to be the ones in which you will not be required to produce advanced papers, which require very little (if any) work and in which you can get better grades (though not always). Edited by Tsopivo on 31 August 2012 at 12:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4712 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 20 of 21 10 September 2012 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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My sister did something very similar to this way back in 1983, but very much on the spur
of the moment. We were travelling in Belgium during the summer, and someone we were staying with convinced her to enrol in a masters programme in language translation (conducted in French) with only about 6 weeks to go. She was fluent in Spanish, and knew a little French. I don't know all the details, but she got a tutor and studied French the whole time. She didn't have access to podcasts, srs software, DVD's, etc, etc. She just immersed the old-fashioned way, along with the help of her tutor and friends. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5759 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 21 of 21 29 September 2012 at 12:06am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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How long to learn French? A kingly long time. And not a near king.
Yes, that's right: a Far King Long Time. (Don't listen to me - that is just personal bitterness speaking, plus I recently watched Johnny Dangerously.) 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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