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PMs TAC 2015 crazy? French course mission

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PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 105 of 451
01 June 2014 at 3:20am | IP Logged 
Summary for May

French

Courses: 5 hours
Audio only: 1 hour
Reading: 34 hours
Watching: 48 hours 7 min

May total: 88 hours 7 min (2nd best month in 2014)
May avg/day: 2 hrs 50 min

Current year total 2014: 437 hours 53 minutes
Current year average/day 2014: 2 hours 53 minutes

French flashcards entered in total: 7649
estimated % of cards that I would recognize meaning if come across in context (not
isolation via the cards themselves) prob at least 90%. I try to 'learn' the cards but
if anything they at least bring familiarity to me so that when I do come across the
words in context they are for the most part recognized and understood.

Super Challenge
Films: 2603 minutes
Reading: 376 pages

Other observations

I started the SC this month and soon began to doubt the value of watching films etc.
There are some claims that it is less valuable than other methods of study. I'm
inclined to agree. However it seems to be an essential part of learning based on other
forum members anecdotal evidence (ie how much/what they gained from watching a lot). In
reaction to my thoughts I decided to watch less. However now with a baby and often
multitasking while doing other things (eating for example) I have found that the
watching component of the SC will not be difficult to complete in any way whatsoever as
it seems i put something on to watch nearly every day anyway as I try to expose myself
to more French while doing other things, or when not wanting to do some 'real' study.
In the last 2 days i've noticed a bit of a jump in my listening comprehension. It could
just be the movies I watched were easier to comprehend or that while not doing much
'real' study in the last couple of days or more that I relax and stop being so
analytical while watching (which can slow my comprehension down).

The reading component of the SC will be trickier to complete. As I play around with my
study schedule (and annonced it here) and have since reworked it again and again. I'm
realising that I still need to get through my courses, so in short I won't be reading
as much as I use my courses but i certainly will be reading- I've certainly learned the
value in that now :)

All in all a good month, although I have distracted myself a little too much in the
last week, but ah well on with the show!

Dutch

A pitiful month for Dutch as I began the SC and my motivation was focused on that
(French). Then only a couple of days back I began to question where I was going with
Dutch- what are my actual goals, do I want to learn this?. My emphatic response to my
own mental dialogue is yes. Anyway I'm back at it. I only managed 4 hours and 19
minutes of Dutch study for the entire month. This won't happen in June. I'm up to 1696
flashcards entered, and I'm continuing to use Dutch VocabuLearn (in the latter stages
of level one) and Hugo Dutch in 3 Months (currently up to week 10 out of 12). I've used
these courses before and completed them some years ago, so this is not outstanding by
any means, but it is bringing my Dutch back!

Edited by PeterMollenburg on 01 June 2014 at 3:49am

1 person has voted this message useful





songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4959 days ago

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

 
 Message 106 of 451
01 June 2014 at 3:25am | IP Logged 
PeterMollenburg wrote:

Thing is I passed B1 in French in March and I'm aiming to pass a B2 asap and beyond B2
after that. I'm a slow mover too (I study a lot but make slow progress particularly
when it comes to French).

Anyone care to share any thoughts?


Well, I'm nowhere near your level, so can't offer any advice about advancing beyond that, but from where I'm
sitting (well, reading) you actually don't look like a slow mover; in fact you seem remarkably diligent
and consistent. - My thoughts? - Keep up the good work, and give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back
from time to time!
2 persons have voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5226 days ago

821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 107 of 451
01 June 2014 at 3:42am | IP Logged 
songlines wrote:


Well, I'm nowhere near your level, so can't offer any advice about advancing beyond that,
but from where I'm
sitting (well, reading) you actually don't look like a slow mover; in fact you
seem remarkably diligent
and consistent. - My thoughts? - Keep up the good work, and give yourself a well-
deserved pat on the back
from time to time!


Thanks songlines *smiles* Yeah for once (this year) I seem to be doing it right, I will
pat myself on the back so to speak :) I appreciate the positive feedback :)
1 person has voted this message useful



napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 4766 days ago

543 posts - 874 votes 
Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 108 of 451
01 June 2014 at 9:42am | IP Logged 
Hey Peter!
Love that you're watching Engrenages. I'd watch it too but I don't think I'm ready yet.
Bye the way, someone wrote in the update thread that for extensive reading, the trashier the book, the better. I couldn't agree more. :)
2 persons have voted this message useful



Suzie
Diglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 3979 days ago

155 posts - 226 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Dutch

 
 Message 109 of 451
01 June 2014 at 11:05am | IP Logged 
Just wanted to stop by and tell you how much I admire your progress and efforts! For a young father (congratulations to that as well), your stats are amazing!

And I wanted to thank you for having shared your thoughts and the links on extensive listening/reading vs intense practice. After thorough reflection I came to the very same conclusion and try to combine extensive and intensive activities now, and already feel that it is of great help. I am glad you are noticing improvement of your listening skills. I watched the 100 films last year, and could shift my comprehension from absolute zero to about 50%. That might not be much to others, but means a lot to me.
2 persons have voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5226 days ago

821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 110 of 451
01 June 2014 at 3:24pm | IP Logged 
napoleon wrote:
Hey Peter!
Love that you're watching Engrenages. I'd watch it too but I don't think I'm ready yet.
Bye the way, someone wrote in the update thread that for extensive reading, the trashier
the book, the better. I couldn't agree more. :)


Tnx Napoleon. I wasn't impressed with the first season (altho it wasn't rubbish), 2nd
season is more interesting to me so far. Yeah I'm not into reading trashy stuff, but it's
worth keeping in mind for sure. I noticed you overtook me on the 'leader board'. Keep up
the good work!
2 persons have voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5226 days ago

821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 111 of 451
01 June 2014 at 3:30pm | IP Logged 
Suzie wrote:
Just wanted to stop by and tell you how much I admire your progress and
efforts! For a young father (congratulations to that as well), your stats are amazing!

And I wanted to thank you for having shared your thoughts and the links on extensive
listening/reading vs intense practice. After thorough reflection I came to the very
same conclusion and try to combine extensive and intensive activities now, and already
feel that it is of great help. I am glad you are noticing improvement of your listening
skills. I watched the 100 films last year, and could shift my comprehension from
absolute zero to about 50%. That might not be much to others, but means a lot to me.


Well I had the entire month of May off work so my stats should be decent. I was able to
attend to my baby girl here and there while simply studying in between. That's not a
liberty many people have so I guess that explains my good numbers to a degree.

Tnx for the tnx! I'm going to stick at the intensive/extensive combination like
yourself. I think it's excellent. It's nice to read quicker at times and be exposed to
more words to learn through contenxt, and nice to really knuckle down and focus on
every single word other times. I think my listening comprehension with films has
probably realistically risen by around 10% from prob (guessing) 25-35% (that prob
contradicts other statements of made before, but hey that will do for today's
estimate). Thanks for your support Suzie and veel success met je Nederlands! Bonne
chance avec ton français !

Edited by PeterMollenburg on 01 June 2014 at 3:31pm

1 person has voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5226 days ago

821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 112 of 451
07 June 2014 at 3:13am | IP Logged 
Barron's Mastering French Level One (2nd ed) by FSI
(replica of FSI units 1-6) completed


Thoughts: Downside- if not motivated perhaps a little dry.

Upside: Excellent drilling for mimicing/reproducing common sentence structures in
various conjugated forms. Allows for gradual recognition through repeated drills that
sink in more effectively than a lot of other methods. One's mind becomes prepped and
'ready to go' with common French sayings brought more to the forefront of your mind
more so than other courses can do so, simply because the course contains drill after
drill after drill. Can be used solely as audio course as a lot of ppl do.

Next course: review of Colloquial French (completed it a number of yrs ago).l

Edited by PeterMollenburg on 07 June 2014 at 3:14am



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