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Evilado TAC14 - Fr 2ème(+ Es & Zh)

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Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4668 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 33 of 60
10 June 2014 at 5:25pm | IP Logged 
That's awesome that you felt comfortable using your French on your trip. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

You may have mentioned it before, but what podcasts are you listening to in French? I'm on the verge of wanting to start listening to podcasts alongside audiobooks, but I'm not sure what to start with. Ideally, I'd like something interesting, but with pretty clear narration. Any suggestions?
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evilado
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United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3765 days ago

64 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 34 of 60
10 June 2014 at 11:20pm | IP Logged 
With the exception of the first podcast, these are all available with the rfi app on my
android phone. I tend to like history and current affairs/news because I understand the
context and there tends to be lots of dialogue, discussion, and explanation. Everything
on France Culture seems to be a little more sophisticated and academic than France
Inter, but with the app and websites I am sure you can find something that appeals to
you.

Europe1:
Au coeur de l'histoire - The host speaks lightning fast, but speaks very clearly with
lots of humor and emphasis. Definitely pitched at a lay audience, I pick and choose
among the topics available, there's a longer version "Le récit" and a shorter one
"L'intégrale"

France Inter:
La marche de l'histoire - Similar to the above, but the host speaks more slowly and
with less enthusiasm. More guests, which can be hit or miss but often include people
who speak French as a second language, who are much easier to understand.

France Culture:
La fabrique de l'histoire - More in-depth with each week having 4 shows around a topic
M-Th and a current affairs edition on Friday. Same deal with foreign guests.

Culturesmonde - Similar to the above except more dedicated to ideas and current
affairs.

Les enjeux internationaux - Quite short, 12-15 minutes, dedicated to international
affairs.




Edited by evilado on 10 June 2014 at 11:23pm

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Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4668 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 35 of 60
11 June 2014 at 8:07am | IP Logged 
Thank you, that's very helpful!
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evilado
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64 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 36 of 60
16 June 2014 at 6:06pm | IP Logged 
Not the best week of language study this week. I was sick, so much so that speaking was
difficult. Plus my girlfriend started her internship 14 hours away. While couple time
is usually not language learning time, my days had a lot more structure and motivation
when language learning was a now or never proposition. I also reliably got up a couple
hours before work and studied while she taught online classes, now that it's just me,
the snooze alarm is much more tempting. Which is to say, I've got some work to do to
build a new routine. Managed to catch up on all my memrise and log my Super Challenge
stuff on twitter.

Spanish Finished Diane Uribe's history of France. Really entertaining, highly
recommended, I'll definitely be picking another of her series. Trying to wrap up
Historia de la revolucion francesa before starting any new books, had a fun language
exchange that made it clear that I'm rusty. No problems communicating, just took me a
bit to think of words and had to speak around stuff more than I like. And I don't count
it for the Super Challenge or anything, but Univision offers free streaming of the
World Cup, so I spent quite a bit of time this weekend listening to Spanish.
Mandarin Started FSI, currently on Module 2, Unit 5. While the content is
nothing new, FSI drills everything I thought I knew so that it is automatic. Had two
italki lessons and a little bit on Verbling, too much English altogether, but it's
always a little difficult with a new tutor. Looking to increase my number of sessions a
week to 2-3. Shopping around with CLO and ChineseClass101, thinking of doing the latter
because the website and app seem more intuitive.
French After the big trip, not much this week, a couple italki sessions that
went well despite "ma voix assez rock-n-roll", got started on Harry Potter et le
prisonnier d'azkaban and watched a couple episodes of Buffy. As much as I enjoy
podcasts, I still have to focus on listening to understand enough, so it makes
listening while playing video games or doing chores a bit counterproductive. Spanish is
no problem in this sense, so I'd love to get my French comprehension up to this level.
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evilado
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64 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 37 of 60
23 June 2014 at 3:48pm | IP Logged 
Spanish Finished Beve historia de la revolucion francesa, started Diana Uribe's
history of Spain, lots and lots of World Cup coverage. Maybe it a novelty thing, but I
genuinely like the Univision commentary more than the ESPN team, who I listened to for
the USA-POR game last night. Not sure which book I'll be picking up next, but I need to
focus more on movies and TV anyway.
Mandarin Went ahead and did the ChineseClass101 buy, I really like the hosts, I
like the vocabulary word bank thing, and it's a nice contrast to my FSI. Just starting
Module 2, Unit 7. Went to the Chinese grocery and didn't work up the courage to speak
any, but successfully bought some sichuan peppercorns with only chinese writing, and
several items that I would have no clue about without knowing the Chinese on the label.
I'll be back there.
French Not much again, a few more italki lessons, though lately it's been a
hour-long chat about the world cup, lots of specific vocabulary. Read "Le Horla" by Guy
de Maupassant and it gave me nightmares, need to spend more time on movies and Buffy.
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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 38 of 60
29 June 2014 at 11:35am | IP Logged 
evilado wrote:


Europe1:
Au coeur de l'histoire - The host speaks lightning fast, but speaks very clearly with
lots of humor and emphasis. Definitely pitched at a lay audience, I pick and choose
among the topics available, there's a [shorter] version "Le récit" and a [longer] one
"L'intégrale"



Yes, doesn't he..! (quote above edited for minor typo) I've been going for the recits, so that I'll have time for a
greater variety of topics.

evilado wrote:

France Inter:
La marche de l'histoire - Similar to the above, but the host speaks more slowly.... More guests, which can be
hit or miss but often include people who speak French as a second language, who are much easier to
understand.



The slower pace and FSL guests sound promising - will have to check it out.

Many thanks, fellow Deuxièmiste!

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evilado
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64 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 39 of 60
03 July 2014 at 4:16pm | IP Logged 
@songlines I never feel like a good teammate, but I enjoy reading all the logs and
gathering tips and experiences. Thanks

The big takeaway is I'm having trouble managing all three languages. My current system
is each day has a focus/secondary language, with Chinese always being the focus and
French getting M,T,Th,F, Spanish W,Sa,Su. It's mostly that I am spoiled for choice as
to what I can do, and end up skipping around too much. Ideally I should be writing more
in every language, but it's like pulling teeth.


Spanish A couple conversations, lots of podcasts, started Cuando los chinos
hablan de Ana Fuentes. Nothing amazing so far, but a nice read. Picked up La invención
de Morel de Adolfo Bioy Casares, but got distracted by other stuff.
Mandarin FSI Module 3 Tape 5. A few more italki sessions, about halfway done
with cc101 Elementary 1. Each italki session produces about 50 key new vocab words,
plus with FSI, cc101, and the HSK4 list, memrise takes up a big chunk of my Chinese
time. Picked up "I really want to find her", a Chinese Breeze 300 word level book that
I put down a while ago.
French A couple sessions with tutors felt a little off as my French studies have
slackened to focus more on Chinese. I plan to continue regular tutoring sessions and my
Super Challenge of course, but I find it hard to squeeze in grammar drills. Now reading
both Harry Potter et le prisonnier d'Azkaban and L'etranger. Over half done with the
Camus, not as in love with it as when I was 18, but it's an easy read and a nice change
from the rather repetitive opening section of every Harry Potter.



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evilado
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Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3765 days ago

64 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 40 of 60
03 July 2014 at 4:18pm | IP Logged 
Also, I'm considering a trip to Montreal in October for my fall break, that should be
motivating and an opportunity to learn some new vocab, accents, and expressions. Might
try to add another tutor to the mix, as I am a little bit behind on the italki world cup
challenge.


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