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Aiming for French B1 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| frankgore Newbie Korea, South Joined 3457 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 15 12 November 2014 at 4:05pm | IP Logged |
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I had been studying French for a while and as a
chronic procrastinator, got nowhere. About two weeks ago I sat the Delf A2 and have hopefully passed (lowest score in speaking is expected). I would love to push on to B1 and eventually B2. The next exam here is in March for B1 and May for B2. Hopefully aiming high - B2- will focus me and let me use B1 as a test. I am still struggling to do some SRS stuff like Memrise because it's so boring. I've started L'etranger and lots of A2 books I've picked up from the local Institute Francais. Hopefully native materials will come in handy and the plan all goes well. Edited by frankgore on 13 November 2014 at 5:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5321 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 15 12 November 2014 at 4:21pm | IP Logged |
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Good luck with your plan! Don't hesitate to keep looking around until you find native materials that are both easy and fun. This is a bit tricky in the beginning, but here are some places to look:
- Buffy contre les vampires is available as a DVD box set and transcripts are available online. - If Buffy isn't your thing, we also have a list of French movies and series with accurate subtitles. - For making Memrise cards, try finding amusing, one-sentence stories on VDM and pasting them onto the front of a card. Add translations for any unknown words on the back. This is way more fun than regular vocabulary cards, and it works at least as well. Plus you'll improve your conversational vocabulary. - For an interesting short story which isn't too hard, take a look at L'Homme qui plantait des arbes. This is in the public domain, and an English translation is available as a PDF. - And of course, don't forget Izneo, which will often make a graphic novel available for free every week. This week, it's Le Scorpion. There's lots of good stuff out there to keep you amused in French. :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4798 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 15 12 November 2014 at 4:53pm | IP Logged |
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I totally agree with emk it is high time to start using native material and have more
fun. However, I recommend not to neglect the grammar and such studies even during this stage of learning. 1. BDs are your friend. Izneo is a very good option but there are others. L'Institut Francais in Prague offers many in the library. And other books as well. other ideas for books suitable for intermediates: -children/younger teenagers aimed books by authors like Erik l'HOmme and Evelyne Brisou-Pellen. These two can write things that are not primarily for adults but still aren't boring. -translations of books like the Harry Potter, or the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris -l'Etranger is good, if you enjoy such kind of literature (it was my first book in French as well and I wasn't that excited), but there are many other authors. For exemple some policiers could be accessible, I like Fred Vargas for exemple. 2. There are many more options than Buffy, there are two lists on the wikia, both may give you some ideas, I think the link for the other one is on the page mentioned by emk. But if you do not like tv series, not everyone does, you might try some documentaries. Those tend to be even more accessible to intermediates. 3.Music! A nice activity for short breaks during the day. You can find a lot on youtube (for exemple Indila, Maitre Gims, Zaz, Stromae, Joyce Jonathan and many many others represent current pop but there are many others). For some listening practice with fill in the gaps exercises, you can try lyricstraining.com 4. italki.com is one of the places where you can have your writing checked. 5. http://www.litteratureaudio.com/ contains over 4000 of free audiobooks. Audiobooks tend to be slower than the real life or tv series speed and can therefore make the learning curve less steep. And it is fun to listen to books while you don't have free hands for learning or if you don't like to listen to music much. 6.For grammar, I can't recommend too much Gramaire Progressive de Francais series. There is a Vocabulaire Progressif series as well and both are excellent. There are other alternatives as well but these by CLE are probably the most popular and for good reasons. 7.If you plan to try DELF B2, I highly recommend getting a preparatory coursebook and going through the exercises, common topics and so on. You can pass even without this specific preparation (I did), but it is tough and you are unnecessarily making things harder for yourself. The more advanced a formal exam is, the more it tends to require skills specific for the exam. 8.Have fun, you have the most difficult part behind you :-) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| frankgore Newbie Korea, South Joined 3457 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 15 13 November 2014 at 5:22am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the tips.
I've just seen that the next Delf exams in Korea are in March and May. I'm wondering if I should aim for the B2 in may and do the B1 exam along the way in March as a tester. Not really a Buffy fan but I may look into it just for listening and comprehension practice. There are very few native French TV series that seem to be very good (maybe Grenages and Un village français). I've just started the Niveau Intermédiaire grammar book from Cle and am enjoying it. Still issues with articles and partitives though. I think listening will be the biggest problem going forward but hopefully the Rfi newscasts will help along with TV shows and movies. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| frankgore Newbie Korea, South Joined 3457 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 15 14 November 2014 at 4:26pm | IP Logged |
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Apparently I'm sleep talking in French. Can only be a good thing I guess.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fireballtrouble Triglot Senior Member Turkey Joined 4313 days ago 129 posts - 203 votes Speaks: Turkish*, French, English Studies: German | Message 6 of 15 14 November 2014 at 5:04pm | IP Logged |
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Passing from A2 to B2 in 6 months is indeed possible but
it's more of a question of ambition and willingness,maybe dedication. The gap between B1 and B2 is quite bigger than that of A2 and B1. You simply need to boost your vocabulary. I'd go for B1 if the only interest is passing the exam. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| frankgore Newbie Korea, South Joined 3457 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 15 15 November 2014 at 5:57am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the reply.
What's the biggest difference between B1 and B2? Is it mostly the range of vocabulary? I'm quite happy to keep plodding away for as long as it takes to get to B2. The tests would be nice but not really necessary, they just help to focus me when I know I have a deadline. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fireballtrouble Triglot Senior Member Turkey Joined 4313 days ago 129 posts - 203 votes Speaks: Turkish*, French, English Studies: German | Message 8 of 15 15 November 2014 at 8:29am | IP Logged |
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For B2 you need to prepare argumentative text and
speech. In other words, you would be able to not only express your opinion but also defend it and beat the disadvantages of the counter thesis. You must be able to feel yourself at ease in the language. They require a certain level of automatism. I think it's more than improving your vocabulary, but especially having a well built "active" vocabulary 1 person has voted this message useful |
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