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French in 3 months? | ||
Tags: Time to learn | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4914 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 9 of 26 25 October 2014 at 12:22am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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If money is a huge concern, don't forget to visit your local library. Mine provided me
with Pimsleur, French in Action, and Michel Thomas (and many others) all for free. If it were me, I'd take the "love the one you're with approach" and forget all the expensive stuff, but that's just me. I suggest that whatever you do, do it now. Start listening to music in French, when you watch movies either use the French subs or the French dubbed track (probably not both at once unless you know the movie very well) while you're deciding which program to follow. Bonne chance! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3568 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 10 of 26 25 October 2014 at 3:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Thank you everyone for being so generous! I'm sure that you always have newbies like myself asking for help on what materials to get, so I greatly appreciate your time, wisdom, and passion!
I'll cut to the chase: Thank you so much emk! I am currently considering purchasing Assimil New French with Ease, along with Essential French Grammar (only $2!). I have heard before that one of the only 'downsides' to Assimil is that the grammar explanations are not as thorough as they could be (so the course requires more self-discipline); I quite enjoy learning about the way different languages actually work, so I think a grammar guide will be invaluable to me. For some reason I thought that Assimil would be very expensive (I guess because I had seen how much Pimsleur costs, and thought that Assimil would cost similar), but on Amazon it's only $50 as you said! If it's true that Assimil can get one to a solid B2 level then that's amazing! I have usually considered myself more of a visual learner, so it'll be interesting to see how this method goes for me... it sounds like there is a nice balance though between visual and aural content. (Now I'll just talk in more general terms) Thank you also for the suggestion to check out the local library... just having a quick look then, unfortunately it doesn't appear as though I am in much luck! I live in one of the most Asian (Chinese) areas outside of Asia, so there are thousands of books, videos, and other native resources in Mandarin, but nothing (or hardly anything) in any other language! Although, there is '15-minute French', an audio CD by publishers Dorling Kindersley (DK). The French in Action stuff looks like a really good supplement to using Assimil, especially if I've had a long day and just want to relax! I see it's all up on youtube and whatnot, and the script and other materials have also been put up online for free (I'm not sure if it's been done legally though!). [EDIT: nah, I don't know what I was looking at, but the materials don't seem to have been leaked. Some of the materials are fairly affordable on Amazon, but the audio CD's (which sound like one of the most important components) cost an absolute bomb! So I may end up just using French and Action as a way supplement my listening skills once my French is at a pretty good level) To clear things up, my pen pal's English is fine, although full of weird grammatical errors (which I always find amusing) and occasional use of a very strange word, perhaps a synonym to another word which doesn't quite work. Although, she says that since she's been to Spain before on a language exchange trip (just recently actually) her Spanish is better than her English. I assume her sister's English is also fine, but I know that her parents can maybe say 'hello' and 'goodbye' but not enough to be able to communicate effectively at all! Then again, they don't have a need to learn much more than that. To answer a query I got, I don't need to be fluent in French by any means haha, I just need to be able to communicate with the parents of my pen pal, like say things such as "the bathroom is this way", "the cups are in that draw", "where would you like to go today?", "Bondi Beach is too crowded for my liking, but tourists love it!", "It's about a twenty minute drive", "do you have twenty dollars?", or "which restaurant do you want to go to?" Obviously the more I know the better, but it's not as if I have to be able to hold a conversation about philosophy in French! (except perhaps for, "life is very mysterious...") My pen pal will prove to be an invaluable resource for me as I study French. I will try and write to her as much as I can in French, and have her also write simple sentences for me in each message, getting progressively more complex. ANOTHER QUESTION:: For my purposes, and at this stage, should I invest in a good English-French/French-English dictionary? If so, any ones that stand out above the crowd of thousands of such dictionaries? I will definitely let anyone interested know how I'm going... I may just make a quick post here at the 1 month, 2 month, and 3 month checkpoints to let you all know how this method is working for me. Also, it gives me even more motivation and accountability! Thank you all again! :D Edited by liam.pike1 on 26 October 2014 at 2:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3568 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 11 of 26 25 October 2014 at 3:41am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Also, for tristano, here is why I recommend Esperanto for all beginner language learners...
I started learning Esperanto on the 1st of September of this year... I have so far totalled about 27 hours studying Esperanto. How do I know? Because I have been keeping a piece of paper, roughly tracking how much time I've been spending learning Esperanto. I have been doing this mainly for the purpose of 'testing' whether peoples claims about Esperanto are true, and also to be able to show people 'hard evidence' of the effectiveness of Esperanto. My learning of Esperanto has been done quite consistently: each day I've usually been doing at least 45 minutes, but many days I've done an hour, hour and a half or even more, as well as some days where I've only done 20 minutes or so. I had lots of 'free time' at school then, so I would often spend my free periods learning Esperanto (hey, everyone else was just playing Halo or COD anyway! :P) I have only used Lernu!.com. I started with the 'Bildoj kaj demandoj' course, and having done others since then, I'd definitely recommend starting with this course. The last thing I did on Lernu! was completing the course 'Ana Pana'. I meant to make flashcards and notes for myself to maximise my learning, but I have been lazy and have not done so yet. And with my French challenge it is unlikely that I'll go back to Esperanto for quite a while (or at least not focus on Esperanto for a while). The last time I used Lernu! was on the 10th of October. I am currently doing my HSC Exams (any Australians will know what this means), but in brief, these are the big final exams which are done at the very end of high school. Consequently, I have pretty much stopped learning Esperanto, but I am really just putting it on hold, so to speak. However, now I will start learning French, so Esperanto will be further put on hold haha THE IMPORTANT STUFF: After around only 27 hours, I already know pretty much all the basic grammar which anyone needs to know. It is super easy. I simply love the logical nature of this language, and that's coming from the mouth of someone who doesn't even do maths or science at school! It really makes one feel smart whilst they're learning it; in saying that, it's still a new language and does require input. It's not some magical language which is learnt regardless of one even trying or wanting to learn it! :P My vocabulary is fairly limited, in fact, very limited. However, I have only studied the language for a total of about 38 days. The fact that I already know how the language works so well is what I really think matters. Vocabulary will come with time and usage, so I'm not fussed about that. However, most people who start learning Esperanto (I am just assuming) have already at least got the basics of another language. Having studied (or being a native at) a Romance language will help the most. If I hadn't learnt a bit of Spanish beforehand then I wouldn't have picked up a lot of stuff quite as quickly. There are a lot of Esperanto words which resemble Spanish words (for example, but this applies to any Romance language) so I could guess what the words meant, something I couldn't have done only knowing English. In saying that, there are a lot of words which resemble English words. To say 'yes' in Esperanto is 'jes' (pronounced the same... the j in Esperanto is pronounced like a y in English). So the language is biased towards speakers of Romance languages, along with Germanic languages, and to a lesser extent speakers of Slavic languages, but I don't see this as a downside at all. It makes the language easier for most of us to learn! If you have any more question, or would like to clarify anything with me, just let me know! :) Edited by liam.pike1 on 25 October 2014 at 3:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5346 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 26 25 October 2014 at 4:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't remember anybody at HTLAL who actually reached B2 using an introductory Assimil course. Assimil's good, but I don't know of any courses that would get you to B2 on their own, not without a lot of native materials and speaking practice. Most people who use Assimil seem to make it to at least A2, and a few seem to make it to B1. But I wouldn't worry about it—once you reach A2 or B1, you can get better by talking to people, reading books, and otherwise using the language. Besides, A2 is "more-or-less conversational", B1 is "can travel without much need of my native language" and B2 is "could probably pass high-school level classes taught in the language, with enough work." Any of these levels are quite nice. :-)
WordReference is an excellent online dictionary, and it's free.
This is one difference between Esperanto and French: You can treat Esperanto like a tidy, logical system. With French, the rules are more complex. The good news is that if you hear and understand enough French, your brain will eventually get used to it, and the correct way to say things will sound "right," and the incorrect way will sound weird. You'll see this even with Assimil—certain things will just feel natural, even if you can't always explain them. Good luck with your project! And feel free to create a log in the "Language Learning Log" section for your updates. Edited by emk on 25 October 2014 at 4:22am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5050 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 13 of 26 25 October 2014 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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If you have a non-apple smartphone I highly recommend you download Google translate because it will allow you to see the words, search for it, and to listen to it as well. It is very quick and free as well.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3568 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 14 of 26 25 October 2014 at 1:06pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Firstly, I am going to take the suggestion to make my own little language learning log, I think it sounds like a brilliant idea! It won't be much, but I hope to post at least once a week, or whenever I feel the need to say something! Currently, I think this log will just be for this project. It will hopefully be of great interest to all of you who wonder whether it is possible for someone to learn enough of a language in 3 months to at least communicate 'effectively' in it. In saying this, I am already at an advantage, having a decent knowledge in Spanish (well, maybe not quite yet), a tad of knowledge in Esperanto, and also the fact that French is a fairly easy language to learn from English anyway. When I make the log I will put a link to it here (it'll be my first log!)
Sorry, I don't know why I thought that Assimil was advertising that their course 'New French with Ease' can get one to a B2 level... I checked back on the product description (on Amazon) and it says nothing of the sort. I must have been hallucinating haha... nevertheless, it is good to know that it is possible to reach a B1 level using mainly Assimil. For my purposes, even getting to an A2 level would be more than fantastic! Oh hang on... this is where I saw the whole 'it'll get you to a B2 level' thing: http://www.lingholic.com/reviews/assimil-review/ Wow, your description on how one learns to 'feel' French is very nice; I will take note of this as I learn French through Assimil :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3568 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 15 of 26 26 October 2014 at 2:23am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well, I've had a day to think about all this, and unless some radical new proposal comes to me, I will purchase both the Assimil course and the Essential French Grammar book sometime today. I'll then receive them in the post just after my final exams have finished (so no distraction before then!)
By the way, has anyone heard of this little resource? A family friend suggested it to me... just do a google search for 'French Word-A-Day' or the URL is: http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/ Take care, and I'll put a link here to my language learning log once I make it (in a few days or so). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4723 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 16 of 26 26 October 2014 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hi Liam, and welcome to the forums.
I can add very little to what other have suggested. My one bit of advice specific to your situation would be to remember the sorts of things you and your friend have written to each other. I assume you will have similar conversations in person, so keep them in the back of your mind as you study. When you learn new things, think of how you could use them in conversation with your friend. If I were in your position and knew what I know now, I would definitely use Assimil as the cornerstone of my learning. Do the daily lesson, and spend a lot of time reviewing previous lessons. I wouldn't have any expectations about gaining X or Y level, but you should be able to communicate pretty well with your friend. People keep saying FSI is boring, I disagree. I think it's a bit like jogging or biking: it doesn't sound exciting but the more you do it the more you enjoy it. I usually work on FSI while taking a walk or a bike ride. Since you don't have much money to spend, you might want to try Duolingo. It isn't as great as they say, but it isn't as awful as some people here say either. Duolingo can be a bit addictive, and I find it becomes a bad experience when I do more than 10 or 15 minutes a day. (EDIT: I just noticed you are the one who started the recent thread on Duolingo, so you are aware of it). Edited by Jeffers on 26 October 2014 at 9:45pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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