el mono está en el árbol.

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

Postby badger » Wed Jul 03, 2019 8:25 am

Fortheo wrote:Le bureau des légendes Is very difficult to understand. If you get to the point where you can listen to the dialogues in that show and understand them comfortably, then you'll likely have no problems with the majority of spoken French.
Thank you - I'm glad it's not just me! my French laguage exchange partner who recommended the show to me also said that she could see why I would find it quite tricky.

I find the (French) subtitles quite hard work, even when I pause them. the language is quite 'dense' & complex (for me at least) & I would have no chance of getting more than a general gist without them. I think the show is rather good, so I do want to be able to follow the plot!
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badger
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:12 pm

Bonjour & سلام

Arabic has rather edged out French lately, but it's all starting to get rather difficult as DuoLingo wants me to learn actual words - & not terribly useful ones at that - rather than just the script, so unless the opportunity comes up to say "Bob's new garage door" in Arabic, then I might be out of luck.

I've still been doing bits of French though - some Anki & some reading on my commute & my lunch break at work - & some watching/listening. I finished series 3 & 4 of "Le Bureau des Légendes", with some rather rubbish English subtitles as I couldn't find French ones. This did however mean that I spent most of the time disagreeing with the subtitles about what as being said, so there was some listening going on. ;)

I have decided to get over to France in September & maybe even speak to a few French people. I live close enough to the UK south coast that I can get a ferry over & just go where the mood takes me for a couple of weeks. :) It may be the last chance before we need visas. :(
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an onyme
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby an onyme » Wed Jul 24, 2019 7:02 pm

If I take an overnight bus I miiiight be able to reach Québec. Super jealous of your ability to just go to France for a bit based on a mood! At least for now...
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badger
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:54 pm

Bonjour & سلام

* Arabic:

Arabic has definitely gone on the back burner for the time being. it has been pretty interesting & I've learned some of the script which was what most attracted me if I'm being honest, but it's really waaay to hard (for me) and the investment of time & effort to get to any kind of useful level is too much at the moment. my admiration for people learning multiple languages with few common congnates has increased enormously!

I may circle back at some point & learn some more tourist-oriented phrases which might be handier when actually travelling somewhere Arabic-speaking.

* French:

so back to the French. I hadn't abandoned it completely, I was still doing some Anki & some reading on my commute. I also started listening to JeFF again after quite a few weeks off & I was pleasantly surprised to discover I can follow it much better than before now & have some mental cycles to spare to think about the odd word if its meaning doesn't come to me immediately. I think that having a partial break has kind of allowed some more stuff to get internalized even though I wasn't actively working on it that much, which is rather nice. :)

I've also been watching Stranger Things in French, with some fairly terrible French subtitles which don't even vaguely match what is being said on-screen, so it's maybe less of a cheat that it might be. ;) I can watch it full-speed without needing to pause it & I don't seem to haev missed any major bits of plot, so I'm quite pleased. :)

I have been toying with doing this DELF B1 prep course at a college near where I work in London:

https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/french-delf-b1

it's not so much that I want to take the exam, more that it's actually aimed at the B1 level instead of the rather vague levels offered elsewhere or the incredibly stretched-out course schedule that Alliance Française offer. even if I don't take the exam it would be useful to have a bit of focus to my studies & a bit more balance than my current lop-sided reading-heavy/speaking-light approach. I'm still not sure - I might be better off spending the same time & money on iTalki for one-on-one tuition - the hourly rate is somewhat similar - & I'm not such a fan of group learning. there is also mention of an interview which is slightly horrifying. I'll drop them an email & find out a bit more I think ...

I'm also currently in two minds about my French trip - I can't get any leave from work until the end of Oct & the prospect of camping in France that late in the year with the days getting shorter is not so appealing. :( France will still be there next year, regardless of what happens with Br*xit.

so I am considering Morocco or Tunisia instead, travel around a bit, turn up & find hotels, buy train tickets, things that will force me to talk to people. maybe a bit of (Maghrebi) Arabic (see above). & perhaps even some sunshine as well. :)
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DaveAgain
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Aug 12, 2019 4:44 am

badger wrote:I'm also currently in two minds about my French trip - I can't get any leave from work until the end of Oct & the prospect of camping in France that late in the year with the days getting shorter is not so appealing. :( France will still be there next year, regardless of what happens with Br*xit.

so I am considering Morocco or Tunisia instead, travel around a bit, turn up & find hotels, buy train tickets, things that will force me to talk to people. maybe a bit of (Maghrebi) Arabic (see above). & perhaps even some sunshine as well. :)
La Reunion or Martinique ought to be warm too.
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MamaPata
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby MamaPata » Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:04 am

I did the C1 prep course taster arm City Lit and really enjoyed it (about a month long, one summer). If it’s the same teacher, she was fantastic. I considered doing their full prep course but the cost and commitment was a bit too much for me. Maybe one day I’ll do the C2. I definitely understand the weighing up of Italki vs the course.
Does B1 feel like the right level (that’s just what the interview will be for)? Would you want to do the B1 exam?
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badger
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:54 pm

DaveAgain wrote:La Reunion or Martinique ought to be warm too.
possibly a bit of a stretch on my "camping in France" budget. ;)
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badger
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Mon Aug 12, 2019 6:04 pm

MamaPata wrote:I did the C1 prep course taster arm City Lit and really enjoyed it (about a month long, one summer). If it’s the same teacher, she was fantastic. I considered doing their full prep course but the cost and commitment was a bit too much for me. Maybe one day I’ll do the C2. I definitely understand the weighing up of Italki vs the course.
Does B1 feel like the right level (that’s just what the interview will be for)? Would you want to do the B1 exam?
I did a week's course with City Lit on something non-language-related a few years ago & I rather like them. Obviously it would be a different department, but they are a semi-known quantity to me, which helps.

I think B1 feels about right at the moment overall. my passive reading/listening is probably some way ahead of this, but my active writing - & particularly speaking - skills are some way behind. or were you suggesting I might be better off doing A2? or A1? ;)

I think I probably would do the exam. it's not the primary aim by any means, but it might be a nice waymarker on the journey (assuming I were to pass it). I might be able to persuade my work to pay for a course from a proper college & an accredited exam rather than a bunch of random italki lessons too!
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MamaPata
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby MamaPata » Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:50 am

No, definitely not! Personally, I am only interested in doing exams from about B2 (though if I could get work to pay, that might be different). So I would probably choose a more fun course below that level and then do B2/C level prep classes later, but if you’re planning on doing the exam, that makes total sense.
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badger
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Re: Le singe est dans l'arbre [EN->FR]

Postby badger » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:52 pm

MamaPata wrote:No, definitely not! Personally, I am only interested in doing exams from about B2 (though if I could get work to pay, that might be different). So I would probably choose a more fun course below that level and then do B2/C level prep classes later, but if you’re planning on doing the exam, that makes total sense.
I can't imagine ever going above B2 - at least in exams - so B1 would be as practise for B2 as much as anything else, I don't think it's terribly useful in itself.
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