el mono está en el árbol.

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badger
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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el mono está en el árbol.

Postby badger » Tue Mar 05, 2019 7:54 pm

I thought that I would start a log if for no other reason than to document, for myself, my progress, or lack thereof, in learning French.

I learned French in school up to GCSE level in the late 80's, but hadn't done anything else with it since. on a whim late last year I picked up my French & English copies of Camus's 'L'étranger' & started some very slow reading.

I just took the Dialang (https://dialangweb.lancaster.ac.uk/) level tests to provide a baseline. I'm not sure how accurate they are in CEFR level terms, but hopefully it will provide a datum of sorts to measure my progress:

Listening: B1
Writing: A2
Reading: B2
Vocab: B2
Structures: B1

I don't have any strictly defined goals other than wanting to improve. I'd like to be able to read a French newspaper, watch French TV shows & hold a conversation in French. and perhaps to prove that not all Brits are monolingual. ;)
Last edited by badger on Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Super Challenge progress French (double):
reading: 5000 / 5000 reading: 5000 / 5000
watching: 150 / 150 watching: 150 / 150

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badger
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Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
Location: UK
Languages: native: English
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:29 pm

Resources:

FRENCH:
* Anki:
- 5,000 Most Common French Words:
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/893324022/
: 100 / 100 all
: 64 / 100 mature

* FSI:
https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/FSI/fsi-french.html
: 46 / 89 Volume 1
: 0 / 12 Volume 2

* Reading:
: 28 / 410 L'Élégance du Hérisson - Muriel Barbery - 410p
: 170 / 170 Winnie L'Ourson - AA Milne - 170p
: 194 / 194 La Maison de Winnie L'Ourson - AA Milne - 194p
: 216 / 447 Traité de Zen et de l'Entretien des Motorcyclettes - Robert M. Pirsig - 447p
: 533 / 533 Les Royaumes du Nord - Philip Pullman - 533p
: 336 / 336 La Tour des Anges - Philip Pullman - 446p
: 796 / 792 Le Miroir d'Ambre - Philip Pullman - 792p
: 510 / 510 Harry Potter à l'Ecole des Sorciers - JK Rowling - 510p
: 616 / 616 Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets - JK Rowling - 616p
: 725 / 725 Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban - JK Rowling - 725p
: 1431 / 1431 Harry Potter et La Coupe de Feu - JK Rowling - 1431p
: 1343 / 1343 Harry Potter et l'Ordre du Phénix - JK Rowling - 1343p
: 944 / 944 Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang Mêlé - JK Rowling - 944p
: 0 / 1122 Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort - JK Rowling - 1122p
: 382 / 382 Chocolat - Joanne Harris - 382p
: 24 / 186 Courrier Sud - Antoine de Saint-Exupery - 186p

: 9000 / 10000 10,000 pages target

* Watching:
: 8 / 8 Le Nom de la Rose - The Name of the Rose - TV series
: 76 / 76 Engrenages - Spiral - TV series - 76ep
: 4 / 12 Buffy S1 - TV series - 12ep

: 4 / 8 Harry Potter films - 8 films

* JeFF - Journal en Français Facile:
https://savoirs.rfi.fr/ru/apprendre-enseigner/langue-francaise/journal-en-francais-facile

* Texbooks:
- Le nouvel Edito Niveau B1:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/nouvel-Edito-Livre-leleve-DVD/dp/2278072692
- Le nouvel Edito Niveau B2:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/nouvel-Edito-Livre-leleve-DVD/dp/2278066579
- Grammaire progressive du francais - intermediaire:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grammaire-progressive-francais-Nouvelle-intermediaire/dp/2090381035
- Grammaire progressive du francais - avancé:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grammaire-progressive-fran%C3%A7ais-niveau-1C%C3%A9d%C3%A9rom/dp/2090381973

* DuoLingo:
: 534 / 712 EN->FR (tree12)
: 275 / 277 FR->EN


SPANISH:
* DuoLingo:
: 76 / 797 EN->ES

* Watching:
Narcos Mexico

* Anki:
Spanish Top 5000 Vocabulary
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/241428882
: 1 / 100


ARABIC:

* DuoLingo:
: 51 / 155 EN->AR

* Learn Arabic - Arabic Alphabet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTuNe-VJYE8c3tVkQSVfxqC_2njpkTMZo
Last edited by badger on Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:51 pm, edited 52 times in total.
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badger
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Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
Location: UK
Languages: native: English
intermediate: French
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:30 pm

alors, stuff I have been doing for the last 3-4 months:

* Duolingo:
the ubiquitous petite chouette verte. FR->EN 'reverse' tree completed to "gold" throughout. EN->FR tree about 70% done. I seem to be doing the new, much longer tree (tree12) which is very pedantic & probably needs some time to have alternative translations added, so I've got a bit bored of that lately & am just doing enough each day to keep my streak intact.

* Memrise:
working my way through "5000 Most Common French Words" & I've just started "Conjugaison française, complete" that I saw on someone else's log.

* Films/TV:
I've been watching a lot of French films/TV with English subs to tune my ear back into hearing French. although the subs is obviously cheating, I'm able to increasingly pick out more French words from the dialogue.

I recently watched "Un Village Français" & am now re-watching it with French subs. I'm having to pause it quite a lot & flick back & forth to the English subs, usually for idiomatic stuff, but I'm definitely understanding more.

as a side note, I find it almost impossible to get decent FR subs for French-language films/programs & I can't figure out why.

& "Peppa Pig" in French, in small doses. ;)

* Reading:
Camus's "L'étranger" & "Exil et le Royaume" (I subsequently watched the film "Loins des Hommes" & really liked it, which is based on the latter).

"Winnie L'Ourson" & "La Maison de Winnie L'Ourson". the humour of the originals comes through really nicely in the translations & the language is rather more complex than you might expect from a kids' book.

"Le Monde" - I try to read a few articles each day. it's interesting to get a European view of the state of British politics at the moment, as well as for the language.


I'm sure there's lots of other stuff that I can't think of at the moment, but that'll do for now. I think the lack of writing & speaking French is something that I'll need to think about, as I'm not doing any kind of interaction with another human in the language at the moment.
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Super Challenge progress French (double):
reading: 5000 / 5000 reading: 5000 / 5000
watching: 150 / 150 watching: 150 / 150

DaveAgain
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:19 pm

Welome to the forum! :-)
badger wrote:as a side note, I find it almost impossible to get decent FR subs for French-language films/programs & I can't figure out why.
If you watch the live-stream of TV5Monde you have the option of french/english subtitles.

While arte.tv has french audio & french subtitles as an option for some programmes. They also have an app for Samsung's smart TVs if you've got one of those.
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Lianne
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Posts: 457
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:29 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=12275
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby Lianne » Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:32 pm

Bienvenue !

I'm also learning French, at a similar level to you, so I will follow your log with interest. :)
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: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

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badger
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Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:47 am

DaveAgain wrote:Welome to the forum! :-)
badger wrote:as a side note, I find it almost impossible to get decent FR subs for French-language films/programs & I can't figure out why.
If you watch the live-stream of TV5Monde you have the option of french/english subtitles.

While arte.tv has french audio & french subtitles as an option for some programmes. They also have an app for Samsung's smart TVs if you've got one of those.

thanks Dave. I have TV5Monde bookmarked, but I haven't really delved into what it offers. I'll add that to my list. :)

I was more meaning subs for films, like on OpenSubitiles (https://www.opensubtitles.org) & similar.
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Super Challenge progress French (double):
reading: 5000 / 5000 reading: 5000 / 5000
watching: 150 / 150 watching: 150 / 150

User avatar
badger
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
Location: UK
Languages: native: English
intermediate: French
dabbling: Spanish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:56 am

Lianne wrote:Bienvenue !

I'm also learning French, at a similar level to you, so I will follow your log with interest. :)

Merci Lianne. :)

I read your log & it was nice to see that not everyone on the forum is studying eight languages at once, so it will be interesting to see how we progress. :)
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Super Challenge progress French (double):
reading: 5000 / 5000 reading: 5000 / 5000
watching: 150 / 150 watching: 150 / 150

DaveAgain
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Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Mar 06, 2019 10:00 am

badger wrote:
DaveAgain wrote:Welome to the forum! :-)
badger wrote:as a side note, I find it almost impossible to get decent FR subs for French-language films/programs & I can't figure out why.
If you watch the live-stream of TV5Monde you have the option of french/english subtitles.

While arte.tv has french audio & french subtitles as an option for some programmes. They also have an app for Samsung's smart TVs if you've got one of those.

thanks Dave. I have TV5Monde bookmarked, but I haven't really delved into what it offers. I'll add that to my list. :)

I was more meaning subs for films, like on OpenSubitiles (https://www.opensubtitles.org) & similar.
I never had much luck with that. I recall being able to find subtitles there for the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice adaption, but the faffing around trying to find them for a particular film became too much of a timewaster for me.

I think Hypnoweb.net have some transcipts.

There are also some published screenplays.

NB
Today TV5Monde are showing an episode of season 2 of Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, which is a contender for being my fav french TV show. :-) (there are some episodes on their official YouTube channel too)
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badger
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Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
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Languages: native: English
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:49 pm

J'ai pensé que je devrais essayer d'écrire un peu en français. Alors, cette semaine j'ai lu "La Femme Adultère" de "Exil et le Royaume" de Camus en Français. Je l'avait déjà lu en Anglais, mais c'était bien à le lire en Français aussi.

J'ai aussi lu "Dans lequel Tigre arrive dans la Forêt et prend son petit déjeuner", de "La Maison de Winnie L'Ourson". :)

J'ai regardé des émissions sur TV5Monde, qui ont été assez utiles. C'était un peu trop vite pour moi de temps en temps, mais j'en ai compris pas mal.

I think I could really do with some structure to my learning - my reading level isn't bad, but my speaking/writing is weak by comparison. I've been looking at B1 textbooks - "Reussir le DELF 2010 edition: Livre B1 & CD" by Thomas B Reverdy in particular (https://tinyurl.com/y6z4bxy9) - so if anyone has any recommendations, they would be most welcome. I'm not sure whether I'd actually do the test, but a bit more balance to my abilities wouldn't be a bad idea.

I did email my local Further Education college to see what French courses they do, but their "Advanced" course seems to be about B1 level, so I think I might be better off spending the money on some one-on-one Skype lessons instead.
1 x
Super Challenge progress French (double):
reading: 5000 / 5000 reading: 5000 / 5000
watching: 150 / 150 watching: 150 / 150

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Mar 10, 2019 1:03 pm

badger wrote:I did email my local Further Education college to see what French courses they do, but their "Advanced" course seems to be about B1 level, so I think I might be better off spending the money on some one-on-one Skype lessons instead.
It might be worth looking to see if you have a local french club too. They're sometimes called 'french circles'.
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