Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

PMs TAC 2015 crazy? French course mission

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
451 messages over 57 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 24 ... 56 57 Next >>
PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5226 days ago

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

 
 Message 185 of 451
01 September 2014 at 1:40am | IP Logged 
Summary for August
----------------------------------
French

Audio: 26hrs 48min
Courses: 19hrs 5min
Flash cards: 18hrs 53min
Watching: 5hrs 51min
Reading: 2hrs 16min
Skype conversations: 55min
Meet ups: 1hr 40min

Aug total: 73hrs 56min
Aug average: 2hrs 23min / day   

Super Challenge
Films (min):     47
Pages:           15
----------------------------------
Dutch
I have decided to withdraw from Dutch and focus only on French for a while.

So during August I did 11hrs and 23min of study using courses.
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 186 of 451
05 September 2014 at 2:42am | IP Logged 
Colloquial French completed!

Another course down!

Here's my list of completed courses:

COURS FINIS:
First Thousand Words in French
Usborne Fr Dictionary for Beginners
Michel Thomas Total French
Michel Thomas Perfect French
Michel Thomas Masterclass French
Pimsleur French I
Fluenz French 1
Pimsleur French II
French all talk - Linguaphone
Learn French with Paul Noble
Rocket French Premium
Fluenz French 2
Hugo French in 3 Months
Mastering French 1 (equivalent to FSI units 1 to 6)
Pimsleur French III
Colloquial French

Current studies:
With Colloquial French done with I'm back to Assimil New French with Ease in its place (lesson 79 +
reviewing older lessons).
I'm also going through Living Language Essential French
and my third hour of studies involves extensive reading (now only adding one word per session of reading to
speed it up and enhance wider vocabulary exposure)

Word up

2 persons have voted this message useful



Mohave
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
Joined 3757 days ago

291 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 187 of 451
05 September 2014 at 7:55pm | IP Logged 
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Colloquial French completed!

Another course down!


Awesome achievement! Congrats! I think you are slightly ahead of me in capabilities, etc. Is this a course
you would recommend? Or is there a course on your list you would recommend more? Thanks as always! :)
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 188 of 451
06 September 2014 at 2:38am | IP Logged 
Mohave wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Colloquial French completed!

Another course down!


Awesome achievement! Congrats! I think you are slightly ahead of me in capabilities, etc. Is this a course
you would recommend? Or is there a course on your list you would recommend more? Thanks as always! :)


Thanks Mohave... i've been meaning to comment on your log... will get to that in a tic...

I realised I hadn't said much about Colloquial French after posting, so here goes...

If you like courses I'd recommend it. I always found the colloquial series excellent companions to the Hugo in
3 months series. The Teach Yourself series are probably on a similar level. Hugo is much more methodical
than Colloquial. Colloquial is a nice supplement as it feels about the same level except the subjunctive is not
covered in as much detail. Colloquial has shorter conversations but more of them, and not as daunting
grammar, but still has its fair share. Colloquial has more units/lessons but they are much shorter, which
makes for more enjoyable, less daunting progress as you arrive at each new lesson. Enjoyment wise
Colloquial French is a 'nicer' more pleasant course simply because I find the journey less pragmatic and not
loaded with massive grammar rules in huge lists. Teach Yourself courses from my experience in the past
(less experience with them than Colloquial and Hugo) are more haphazard, and sometimes contain a few too
many errors. If I was to advise one of the three platforms/courses only I'd advise using Colloquial French as
it's not error prone, not haphazard like TY, but not overburdened with a LOT of grammar in a short period like
Hugo. Colloquial is a nice balance with really good quality audio. If you like hefty grammar then it's prob not
for you. All in all a pleasant course that still make you work to get through it. For most people in the A1-B2
range it would certainly be of some use. Perhaps B2 you'd mainly be exploring new vocab and reinforcing old
material in different contexts, examples. 4 out of 5 from me.

PM

Edit maybe B2 is a stretch but I still found it useful and i'm sure i must be very close to B2 level. Ideal if you're
at a A2-B1 level I guess.


Edited by PeterMollenburg on 06 September 2014 at 2:41am

5 persons have voted this message useful



Mohave
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
Joined 3757 days ago

291 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 189 of 451
06 September 2014 at 10:56pm | IP Logged 
Great rundown! Thank you very much for the review!   I think I might look into this once I complete Pimsleur
III and pick back up and finish Using French.
1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4659 days ago

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

 
 Message 190 of 451
07 September 2014 at 11:32pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for the review. I notice there's also a Colloquial French 2. Stop tempting me with new courses! LOL.

Edited by Jeffers on 07 September 2014 at 11:32pm

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 191 of 451
08 September 2014 at 2:30am | IP Logged 
Jeffers wrote:
Thanks for the review. I notice there's also a Colloquial French 2. Stop tempting me with
new courses! LOL.


De rien :)

Oui c'est vrai, il y a une deuxième partie qui existe auissi. Je l'ai... naturellement hein? Je ne l'ai pas encore
utilisé, mais bien sûr c'est sur ma liste!

Edit:
Au fait, hier j'ai failli acheter un cours ou même deux ! Ici, hier, c'était la fête des pères. J'ai reçu un ?chèque-
cadeau? pour iTunes. Heureusement j'ai décidé d'acheter deux livres (un en anglais, l'autre en français) à la
place des cours !

Edited by PeterMollenburg on 08 September 2014 at 2:37am

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 192 of 451
09 September 2014 at 11:45am | IP Logged 
Course completion & review : Living Language French: Essential

Another course complete, and to go with it a review.... This time Living Language's Essential French, or
French Essential if you prefer.

I've never used a Living Language course before. This was the first. I have read on here amongst other
threads that some people hold the opinion that the quality of Living Language material has definitely
plumeted or been dumbed down. This Essential French course that I have is actually part of a "Platinum
Edition" which contains Intermediate French and Advanced French as well, plus some online access thing (I
won't bother I don't think) and an accompanying note pad.. no steak knives tho...

So I didn't get much out of this course simply because I'd rate it appropriate for levels A1-A2, and certainly
not beyond that. I kinda knew this was the case before starting but me being me I wanted to complete it
simply because it's been purchased and I'm on a mission to get through all the French courses I have
purchased (don't hold me to it!).

So if I rate it fairly (taking into account it's A1-A2 targeted students), then I think this course does a good job
for beginners. It's audio is very clearly enunciated and definitely spoken at a slow pace in general. For my
8000 plus flaschard deck I only managed to literally add a handful of new words to my deck. Still I worked on
my pronunciation and well, got the course out of the way. It wasn't horrible, but for me at my level it wasn't
exactly time well spent. Still it wasn't a complete waste.

I think the course lacks a little character. It's no Assimil or FIA!. I wouldn't exactly call it dry, but it doesn't
have much 'flare' about it, in fact to me it barely feels like there's much French culture coming out of it's
pages. Just a pragmatic approach to lessons fo beginners with good audio and of cours some French thrown
in. It just gets the job done for a beginner in an easy step by step process like your hand is being held with
plenty of audio explanations.

I got through it in a couple of weeks ensuring i listened to every segment of audio and did every exercise out
loud. I didn't write anything down during exercices as pretty close to nothing was new and i'd really be
wasting time if I did that. A reviewer on amazon points out there is no use of past or future tenses. There may
have been one or two examples perhaps, but otherwise that's pretty much the case.

For me i'd rate it 1/5 for usefulness given my current level. That 1 for simply reinforcing pronunciation and
basic French and adding a handful of new words to my vocab.

For a beginner I'd say 4/5 for getting the task of learning a new language moving, but 2/5 for inventiveness
and style. So overall 3/5 for a beginner. If you want a course to hold your hand in a pragmatic fashion, this is
the one for you! And it does that well, so it may suit some ppl out there.

PM

PS I know I know I'm a bit of a fool for doing it, but expect more foolish things from me for sure! Rest assured
I'm reading and working on a more difficult course simultaneously.

And just to stroke my ego... here's my completed course list:

COURS FINIS:

First Thousand Words in French
Usborne Fr Dictionary for Beginners
Michel Thomas Total French
Michel Thomas Perfect French
Michel Thomas Masterclass French
Pimsleur French I
Fluenz French 1
Pimsleur French II
French all talk - Linguaphone
Learn French with Paul Noble
Rocket French Premium
Fluenz French 2
Hugo French in 3 Months
Mastering French 1 (FSI units 1 to 6)
Pimsleur French III
Colloquial French
Living Language Essential French



3 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 451 messages over 57 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.4531 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.