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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
Joined 5226 days ago

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

 
 Message 337 of 451
07 April 2015 at 11:35am | IP Logged 
luke wrote:
Viva la PM!

I'm glad you are doing well Peter. Keep up the good work.


Merci monsieur le président :)

Toi aussi ! Tu continues à faire beaucoup d'études... alors... bonne continuation !
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 338 of 451
13 April 2015 at 12:30am | IP Logged 
Just a warning first before I post this message- it's yet another declared change to my study plan.

This one is almost unexpected but its been building for some time, and if I'm honest with myself it needs to be
adressed. I realised that my dream of owning French property is simply not going to happen without some
consistent daily effort. Thus I concluded I must sacrifice something to create the potential to realise this
dream sooner rather than later. I also despise the rat race and feel that the majority of the human population
(myself included) are not educated but indoctrinated (or 'trained') into a life of consumerism in which we are
chasing their tails in a seemingly endless cycle of debt... all the while the cost of living teases with heading for
the clouds and almost at every moment someone is trying to sell us something. So i'm best to act sooner
rather than later in an attempt to break free and in the process realise my dreams.

so I'm going to cut my French study roughly in half. And rather than adding another language I'll be adding
time to research and apply changes to improve my finances. Learning languages on my own has taught me
than you can learn a lot of things independently. I see both French language and financial 'studies' as
essentially both working towards the same goal. The sooner I realise this goal the sooner I will be able to use
the French I am learning and if this plan goes really well I'll be creating more time to learn more languages in
the future.

PM
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Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
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2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 339 of 451
13 April 2015 at 4:05pm | IP Logged 
As always, it seems you have a sound plan, even if it's quite a revision of what you've been doing. Have you thought of anything to combine these two things, e.g. books on finance in French? I know you don't need another course, but have you seen this book: Buying a Home in France Book/CD Pack (Teach Yourself)? I had a flick through a copy in a used book shop and it looks pretty good. It's about 60% buying guide, 40% language guide from what I remember, but it obviously covers vocabulary & conversation rather than grammar. I know I'm a b**** for introducing you to another book, but it seems appropriate!

Anyway, when you do finally move to France, make sure you buy a house with a visitor's flat or at least a guest room so I can come and visit!

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eyðimörk
Triglot
Senior Member
France
goo.gl/aT4FY7
Joined 3849 days ago

490 posts - 1158 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French
Studies: Breton, Italian

 
 Message 340 of 451
13 April 2015 at 5:01pm | IP Logged 
Personally, I wouldn't recommend a "buying a home in France" book unless you're looking to buy today. There are new editions every year, because of changes in laws. Also, it's all available for free online in the language of your choice, including specific glossary lists. As someone who has passed a B1 test, you're linguistically qualified to become a French citizen so you don't need the language training, just the glossary.

But that might just be me. I'm a cheapskate, both with my money and my time.
2 persons have voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
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2237 posts - 6729 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 341 of 451
13 April 2015 at 6:04pm | IP Logged 
PeterMollenburg wrote:
...I'm going to cut my French study roughly in half. And rather than adding another language I'll be adding time to research and apply changes to improve my finances. Learning languages on my own has taught me than you can learn a lot of things independently. ...

I agree with Jeffers, in that you could combine your French-language study with books, podcasts and videos about personal finance en français. Now is a perfect opportunity to pare down your courses, learn about how you can better organize your financial affairs and use French to do it.

There are a ton of self-help books and videos in English (mostly American) on the subject and I'm sure all the popular ones have been translated into French. I'm certain there is also native literature on the subject. Your knowledge of French is more than adequate to read such books in French at your level. These type of non-fiction books are much easier to read than novels. As a bonus you will learn a lot about French while at the same time you learn how to better organize your finances.

Since you have announced that you'll cut your formal study time in half, it's probably the only way to move you to add more native-literature, listening and extensive reading into your studies and ease you out of your "crazy" language course focus. :) I believe you will learn more French this way, help your financial IQ and feel less guilty all at the same time. This is an opportunity, seize it! You may have to change the name of your log to PM's sane French mission, though ;)

I would think seriously about an ocw university type course in personal finance in French or, have a look at the video series ecole des finances personnelles. Good luck, monsieur le PM.

Edited by iguanamon on 13 April 2015 at 6:06pm

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luke
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
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3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 342 of 451
13 April 2015 at 6:28pm | IP Logged 
My two cents...

If you are going to continue studying French AND use a course, I'd drop them all but Fluenz, which it sounds like you have gotten a lot out of.

If Fluenz has lost its luster AND you already have Assimil Business French, that's a good choice for a single course.

If you are going the native materials route, others and your heart have better suggestions than I can offer.
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 343 of 451
14 April 2015 at 5:20am | IP Logged 
Hi guys,

There are some really considerate replies here. Thanks everyone for your input. I think I need to clarify things
a little...

* I want to buy a property in France that my family and i can spend a considerable amount of time in.
* My current financial situation does not allow for this to occur.
* I am very typical when it comes to finances to the average Joe- I pay them little attention.
* I have some experience in share trading as I attempted to make a living from it a while back and concluded
after a bit over a year that without super substantial capital to deal with its incredibly difficult to rely on share
trading as a primary source of income- and day trading is not for the faint hearted.
* My father has built houses, painted, can do plumbing is great with electrical work, can plaster, has done
house extensions, built his own in-ground pool.
* The Australian property market has grown in value more than any other country except Norway- some
suggest it's seriously over-valued (bubble anybody?)
* One of my first ideas was to read the information in French. However French language information on
finances will not apply to Australian real estate- or at least very little of it will (assumption)
* I already own many books of whih I've read not even one in full (and I intend to buy more at some point-
provided they are relevant)

Conclusions:
I'm not going to get rich easily trying to dive into the French property market any time soon. I believe there
could be ways to make money out of it but that's making an already large undertaking a little stupid in my
opinion, given everything I need is in my own backyard. Thus although i'm open to any French property or
French language information on 'finances' (now clarified to be mainly real estate in Australia- and possibly
some share trading again). I will remain open to reading French material as it is certainly beneficial from a
language perspective I agree.

So my father is looking more and more likely to be selling his one investment property in a year maybe two. I
hope it's sooner. We (my wife and i) are working slowly through (stupid) accumulated high interest credit card
debt- the going is slow but steady. We need to rid ourselves completely of that and avoid the trap in future,
build some equity/capital and find a property for renovation in Melbourne. My father can (and is definitely
open to this) teach me the tricks of the trade while we work together to 'flip' a house, and if all goes well
another house and another..

Sounds like fanciful stuff really and only really action will get this happening. The initial stages will involve
clearing debt, building capital, reading/learning/researching as well as getting everyday finances in order,
cutting down expenses and so on. If I don't do all this now it's only going to get harder with financial pressure
building from all directions (we want more children, cost of living here is going up and up and up, real estate
could be peaking?- careful research required).

So perhaps this paints a clearer... or more rediculous picture?

I really do want to study more French but I must realise the end goal here, if i study 90min a day i'm still well
ahead of many in how much time they can allow for language study. Perhaps i'm going down the snail path
with a course heavy schedule but so be it I think- i'm keen on working my way through these courses.

PM

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 344 of 451
14 April 2015 at 10:31am | IP Logged 
That does make it a lot clearer. I have also been in difficulties with a lot of credit card debt so I can feel your pain. The company has no interest in you getting out of debt because you have become a nice steady source of income, so it's up to you to do it. Well done taking the first step.

I do see one language related positive to your plan to work on and flip houses. When you are doing mindless maintenance/improvement tasks (e.g. painting) you could listen to stuff in French. You might need to avoid that when doing something noisy or more dangerous like electrical work!

Good luck with your research and your plans.

Edited by Jeffers on 14 April 2015 at 10:31am



2 persons have voted this message useful



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