Slow Learning: French and Hindi

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jeffers
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
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Re: Slow Learning: French, Hindi, German, Koine and Sanskrit log

Postby jeffers » Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:08 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Speaking of courses that remind you somewhat of French in Action I also own a rather comprehensive German course by the name of Fokus Deutsch. As with Destinos and French in Action, Fokus Deutsch was an "Annenburg/CPB Project" - what this means exactly I'm not sure. I suspect funding for these three courses in the USA was made available via the same avenues so that the video series could be filmed. Like the other two courses WGBH Boston was involved also, but unlike them (of course), the Goethe-Institut was also involved. We may have discussed this German course at some point (I don't remember- I know i've mentioned it here and there but where exactly on the forum in what context I don't recall exactly). The video series of Fokus Deutsch contains 36 episodes, each 15 minutes in length. They can be watched online for free (Youtube, prob elsewhere as well). The series doesn't appear to be as well known as FIA or Destinos, nor does it get as much attention on Amazon (ratings are hit and miss, but the poor rating i've seen are due to minor things such as not receiving the right product - delivery issue- which I personally feel is unfair for any books/products to be judged as per Amazon's/postal service issues). Transcripts can be found for free as well. Okay enough ranting about course, which you've already stated you're not too keen on doing too many... (typical me)


"You interest me strangely, Jeeves." I've spent the last 20 minutes looking around at Fokus Deutsch stuff, and I like the idea. One improvement over FIA is that there are German subtitles (I really wish FIA had optional French subs), but the downside is you can't turn them off. The professor in this course sounds clearly American, which is a big problem in my opinion. Also, the video quality I found on Youtube is atrocious, so I'm not sure I could stand watching them. If I could find better quality video I would probably at least watch all the videos.

But while watching them I found two other video courses I might watch simply because they have better video quality: the BBC's Deutsch Plus (A2/B1) https://youtu.be/-uxbZ3LGOSU?list=PL8hC8V2akLT7_EqMwp2HRbjuFYhgsAsy0 and Extra Deutsch (beginners) https://youtu.be/yhP3OT2hxAE. Remember Extra French? I like it because the language is fairly easy to follow, and the cheesiness of the whole thing makes it fun (although I imagine most school students would hate it). I've found videos of these on Youtube with good enough video quality, so I'll probably watch them some time in the coming months.
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Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

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Peluche
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Re: Slow Learning: French, Hindi, German, Koine and Sanskrit log

Postby Peluche » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:37 pm

jeffers wrote:But while watching them I found two other video courses I might watch simply because they have better video quality: the BBC's Deutsch Plus (A2/B1) https://youtu.be/-uxbZ3LGOSU?list=PL8hC8V2akLT7_EqMwp2HRbjuFYhgsAsy0 and Extra Deutsch (beginners) https://youtu.be/yhP3OT2hxAE. Remember Extra French? I like it because the language is fairly easy to follow, and the cheesiness of the whole thing makes it fun (although I imagine most school students would hate it). I've found videos of these on Youtube with good enough video quality, so I'll probably watch them some time in the coming months.



Good finds Jeffers!

That Extra Deutsch thing looks so stupid I have to watch it.
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jeffers
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
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Re: Slow Learning: French, Hindi, German, Koine and Sanskrit log

Postby jeffers » Mon May 02, 2016 11:59 am

Although this is supposed to be a weekend of marking student coursework, I have also enjoyed jumping into the Super Challenge. I've already watched two episodes of Candice Renoir in French, and in German I have been listening to and reading (separately) the Easy German Reader. I also listened twice to a news podcast in Hindi नमस्कार भारत (but only counted it once).

This Super Challenge I have signed up for four languages: French (full), German (half), Hindi (half) and ancient Greek (half). On previous SCs I didn't coordinate my languages very much, but this time I'm going to try to do something I can post each week, even if it's listening to a 10 minute podcast. (EDIT I might not do this with ancient Greek, but I'll try hard to do it for the other 3).

My excitement over the Super Challenge was compounded by receiving a package from Amazon today. I received a copy of Sophocles' Antigone which has the text on the top half of the page, and vocabulary and commentary below. I'm planning to read it a few times over the summer in preparation for watching it performed at the Cambridge Greek Play http://www.cambridgegreekplay.com/plays/2016/antigonelysistrata in the autumn. I'll also need to get a copy of Aristophanes' Lysistrata, as the performance is a double bill.

My order also contained the German Pre-Intermediate Reader by Brian Smith (same author as my Easy Reader). The book has German on the left page and the English translation on the right. I would ordinarily buy something like this on Kindle to save shelf space, but according to reviews it tries to set itself up in columns on Kindle and it's a mess. I plan to read these easy books several times to build up my reading fluency and vocabulary in preparation for actual native material.
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Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

jeffers
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Thu Mar 16, 2017 3:07 pm

Wow, it's been over 10 months since I've posted. For various reasons I have spent a lot less time studying languages than I used to, and the first thing which I dropped was visiting these forums. A pm from Monsieur le PM got me to have a look here again.

Since my last post I have continued to spend a lot of time watching and listening to French: music, films, TV shows and podcasts. And just a little bit of time reading French. I have also watched a few Hindi films, but have pretty much let German, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit go. It recently occurred to me that if I intentionally cut them off "until further notice", I will be much more able to focus on the two languages which remain. One step was removing the three languages from the title of this log.

Recent highlights in French have been:

Marseille, a network original TV series focusing on political machinations during an election campaign in Marseille. I found a lot of the language difficult, but I think the series was really well made and I hope Netflix either makes a sequel or makes another series in French. One complaint about Netflix is that you can't really search for a film by language, so I found out about this one from a friend.

Les vacances du petit Nicolas, a thoroughly enjoyable film. The main plot is quite different from the book by the same title, but it is well made and a lot of fun. My version has no subtitles, but for this film that made little difference to me.

Meurtres à X TV5 Monde regularly has single episode TV films about murders in a particular place. E.g. "Meurtres à Avignon", "Meurtres à l'île de Ré", "Meurtres sur le lac Léman", etc. These very much feel like "made for TV" films, with fairly average writing and acting, but I have enjoyed most of them. Positively, in each of these the murders are linked in some way to local culture or customs, so they seem to be intended to give some insights into the regions of France.

Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie is a fun TV series, set in the 60s. The stories (I assume) are based on Agatha Christie novels, but they are set among the same characters in each episode: a police inspector, his pretty but dim-witted assistant who is in love with him, and a young journalist who is dying to make a scoop and struggling against the sexism of her industry. The episodes are amusing, with comical interludes focused around the interactions of these three, which makes a nice relief from the more serious policiers such as Engrenages and Braquo, the goal of which seem to be to constantly out-do themselves in being "hard", "dark" and "edgy".

One of my regular favourite policiers, Cain, has a new series which just started airing last week. If you don't know about it, Frederic Cain is a cop in a wheelchair. He's a bit bitter about this, and often uses his disability to make people uncomfortable so but them off balance. A very well made series.

Au coeur de l'histoire is a radio show on Europe 1, which is available to download. I pick and choose episodes that interest me, and usually listen to an episode 4-5 times. Although the host speaks fairly quickly, I find his French quite lucid, and the subject matter means that you get a good idea of what any guest is talking about, even if you can't catch or understand every word. In some cases I understand most of what's going on from the first listen, in other cases it only becomes clear on re-listening. A few favourite episodes recently have been the ones about Anne Frank, Hergé (author of Tintin), and the Neanderthals.

I am not currently reading often enough, but the book I'm on is Les récrés du Petit Nicolas, which I'm reading on my Kindle.
3 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

jeffers
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:42 pm

As I mentioned, I haven't been on here for a while, and that was for a lot of reasons. In coming back, one decision has been to simplify my language learning. I'm just going to focus on French and Hindi, and I'm going to try to get back to my courses, but only one course at a time! Meanwhile I'll keep working on the Super Challenge in French and Hindi, but with the awareness that my total goals there are lost for this round. There's always next time!!!

I've put myself into the "Course Completion Challenge" http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3121&start=60 listing four courses for each language that I intend to complete one at a time. In addition I've listed Duolingo for French because that can be squeezed into odd moments when desired. When Duolingo Hindi comes out, I'll work on that as well, because why not?

So here are the four French courses I'm going to work on:
1. Hugo French in 3 Months
2. Assimil NFWE active wave
3. Hugo Advanced French
4. Assimil Using French


And here are the four Hindi courses I'm going to work on:
1. Assimil le Hindi sans peine
2. Routledge Intermediate Hindi Reader (by Naresh Sharma)
3. Intermediate Hindi Reader by (by Karine Schomer and Usha R. Jain)
4. Teach Yourself Hindi


This is my new resolution: I'm going to stay the course(es)! I will definitely stick to this resolution. Until I change my mind next week or something.
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Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby rdearman » Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:19 pm

Welcome back. :)
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Xenops
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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby Xenops » Thu Mar 23, 2017 7:55 pm

Hello! Merci pour visiter mon log! I started watching Les Revenants, and I haven't been this excited about a live-action show in years. It's hard for me to be engaged in shows, even good ones. ;)
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby PeterMollenburg » Fri Mar 24, 2017 2:41 am

Nice to see you back Jeffers! Looks like a good selection of courses too ;)

I have found that you can indeed search Netflix by language. Type in 'French' with the search function, then after you get zero or rubbish results, scroll down on that same screen to the bottom of the screen and you should see a few options- eg 'French TV Shows', 'French Films', 'French TV Shows and Films', or something like that. This works for me on my TV, but I'm doubtful as to whether it works on other devices (haven't tried) as the search 'area' is likely different. Give it a shot!
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Xenops
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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby Xenops » Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:09 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Nice to see you back Jeffers! Looks like a good selection of courses too ;)

I have found that you can indeed search Netflix by language. Type in 'French' with the search function, then after you get zero or rubbish results, scroll down on that same screen to the bottom of the screen and you should see a few options- eg 'French TV Shows', 'French Films', 'French TV Shows and Films', or something like that. This works for me on my TV, but I'm doubtful as to whether it works on other devices (haven't tried) as the search 'area' is likely different. Give it a shot!


On my computer, it looks like this:

Image

You can select browsing options by language subtitles or language audio. It might differ depending on the device or location.
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jeffers
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
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Re: Slow Learning: French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Sun Mar 26, 2017 12:34 pm

I can search by "Audio and Subtitles" on my computer, but for some reason this doesn't exist on the WiiU app. Unfortunately, this gives you every show that has a French language track, not just films and shows originally in French. They used to have a sub-menu for countries under the International menu, but that's gone now.

In addition, Netflix has really cut the number of French films and TV shows compared to what they had available a couple years ago. Most disappointing to me is that Engrenages is no longer available.
1 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)


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