Still learning French, and now starting Russian

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Ani
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Ani » Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:03 am

I do know what you mean. It's french-authored adult literary fiction that is the problem right? I think there is just another level of idiomatic type language that needs to be learned to get to that college educated reading level. I definitely get stumped by some myself. Sometimes it is worth searching word reference or the internet in general, sometimes not. Those turns of phrase are far less common if you are reading fantasy or even policiers. Maybe pick a Fred Vargas novel for your next book :)

Happy New year :) Best of luck in 2017!
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Fortheo » Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:07 am

Ani wrote:I do know what you mean. It's french-authored adult literary fiction that is the problem right? I think there is just another level of idiomatic type language that needs to be learned to get to that college educated reading level. I definitely get stumped by some myself. Sometimes it is worth searching word reference or the internet in general, sometimes not. Those turns of phrase are far less common if you are reading fantasy or even policiers. Maybe pick a Fred Vargas novel for your next book :)

Happy New year :) Best of luck in 2017!


Yes, Exactly! It's nice to know that someone can relate haha. I have a few Vargas books on my kindle, so I'll definitely check her work out. Thanks for stopping by, Ani. Best of luck to you, too!
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Re: Still learning French

Postby PeterMollenburg » Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:21 am

Fortheo wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:I find non-fiction more interesting in general, so I don't read a lot of non-fiction except some books to my daughter. I'm still not fantastic with the passe simple. I would recommend you find a good workbook or utilise what you already own to drill the passe simple forms into your mind, so that when you read fiction and come across these conjugations, rather than shying away or becoming frustrated, you instead relish the challenge of trying to understand and facilitate comprehension- ie putting into practise what you've worked on in a textbook or two. Work on your weaknesses! Good luck in 2017!



Thanks for stopping by!

I actually don't have any problems with the passé simple. Well, I shouldn't say I don't have "any" problems because I definitely wouldn't be able to use it in my own writing, but I understand it fine. It's just all the figurative and abstract language that I encounter in fiction that throws me off sometimes—really weird descriptive phrases, similes between abstract ideas, personifications etc etc. Non fiction is a lot more direct, utilizes less artsy literary writing techniques, and it's more along the lines of actual conversational language, all be it a bit more refined because it's still a written work.

Anyways, I don't think there's any magic answer for me other than read more!


Hopefully we'll both reach high levels of French in 2017! good luck Peter!


Ah, okidoki, I now understand. I clearly need to read more (widely), honestly. Thanks fior the good luck wishes fortheo!
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Re: Still learning French, and now starting Russian

Postby Fortheo » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:53 am

Well, this log is pretty boring because all I do lately is cram french media into my head. Every time I post here it's just more of the same— I read for an hour or more a day, then I listen for an hour or more a day. I also do 20-30 minutes of grammar, but it's pretty much all review to me at this point. I've read about four more Animorphs books since my last update, and i'm also on book two in this series:

Image

On dirait que le niveau de la langue qui se trouve dans des livres pour la jeunesse me convient tout à fait.

Are any of you learners focusing a lot on output? I ask because that's really what's missing from my life these days. I'm thinking of looking at the writing prompts in the output challenges and writing a paragraph response to one of them every other day or something like that. I use to text my French friends a lot, but they're always so busy now a days and the time difference doesn't help.

Also, I find that I spend so much time learning French, that I don't really have many other hobbies lately :o, and therefore I struggle with having discursive topics to talk about with people, and that problem isn't restricted to only my French conversations but to my English conversations as well. It's strange because I'm an introvert who wants the output abilities of an extrovert.

I don't really know where I'm going with that rant.......


Anyways, for those who don't know yet, I also started learning Russian about 6 weeks ago. I only study it for 30 minutes a day, so don't expect quick progress. I'm on disk 5 of Michel Thomas right now. It's both fun and frustrating to be a complete beginner in a language again :)
Last edited by Fortheo on Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:13 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Xenops » Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:03 am

Don't be discontent with being an introvert! Without us introverts, nothing would get done but talking. ;) Check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485143993&sr=1-1&keywords=susan+cain

I think the reason I really soaked up Spanish in high school was because I did lots of output: I was writing my fantasy stories in Spanglish, slipping in more Spanish words as I learned. I'm looking forward to when I know enough French to do the same thing.
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Fortheo » Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:30 am

Xenops wrote:Don't be discontent with being an introvert! Without us introverts, nothing would get done but talking. ;) Check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485143993&sr=1-1&keywords=susan+cain

I think the reason I really soaked up Spanish in high school was because I did lots of output: I was writing my fantasy stories in Spanglish, slipping in more Spanish words as I learned. I'm looking forward to when I know enough French to do the same thing.


You're absolutely right. I actually love being an introvert. I also love the idea of being an very eloquent speaker, but then I think to myself, "wait a minute, you usually don't even enjoy talking with people in the first place. How will you become a good speaker if you're not more social?" It's one of those goals where I like the idea of the outcome, but not the idea of putting in the work haha.

Do you still write a lot of fantasies? I'm trying to think of a way to make output more enjoyable for me, so maybe something along the line of fantasies is what I need.
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Ani » Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:35 am

I just started wondering about how to get a nice native French like style of writing ibn my log. It's been on my mind a lot lately. I will continue musing over there if you want to brainstorm with me. I am actually thinking about trying to go through different French writing and mimic the style of sentences and paragraphs for training purposes. Maybe using some of the A Mots Contes books, which I have a couple of.
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Carmody » Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:22 am

Fortheo
I read for an hour or more a day, then I listen for an hour or more a day. I also do 20-30 minutes of grammar, but it's pretty much all review to me at this point. I've read about four more Animorphs books since my last update, and i'm also on book two in this series:


Congratulations on your perseverance and your accomplishments.Your schedule is very similar to mine.

Also similar is the fact that I don't do any output, which I realize is a big thing but for the moment I can't do everything and there are time limitations.

Thanks also for the heads up on the Animorph books; they are new for me. I do want to try them. I enjoyed the Harry Potter when I read 2-3 of those.
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Re: Still learning French

Postby Xenops » Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:47 pm

Fortheo wrote:
Xenops wrote:Don't be discontent with being an introvert! Without us introverts, nothing would get done but talking. ;) Check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485143993&sr=1-1&keywords=susan+cain

I think the reason I really soaked up Spanish in high school was because I did lots of output: I was writing my fantasy stories in Spanglish, slipping in more Spanish words as I learned. I'm looking forward to when I know enough French to do the same thing.


Do you still write a lot of fantasies? I'm trying to think of a way to make output more enjoyable for me, so maybe something along the line of fantasies is what I need.


I write fantasy scripts for my comics now. :) I mostly type things now, but with Frenglish I'll write in a notebook so I don't have to worry about autocorrect.
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Re: Still learning French, and now starting Russian

Postby arthaey » Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:06 pm

Fortheo wrote:Well, this log is pretty boring because all I do lately is cram french media into my head.

Not borig at all! I love it when logs mention specific titles that they're reading/watching/listening to; I take down notes for what resources I should check out when it's appropriate to my level. :)
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