Learning French (self-study) - Joe Cleland
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:37 pm
I am currently on DAY 43 of my language learning journey.
I'm not sure how to kick one of these off. My name is Joe Cleland and I'm 30 years old. I was born and raised in the U.S. and only speak English. I am a big Montreal Canadiens fan (don't hold that against me) and have always wanted to be able to understand what's being said during the games on TV (without CC). Once in a while someone will say something to me in French, if I'm wearing a Habs hat, and I always disliked that I couldn't communicate back. French is such a beautiful language and recently I decided I was going to learn it myself. My grandfather is in his final stages of Alzheimer's and this has been on the male side of my family. With the many health benefits of learning a language, I feel like I am extra motivated with this one particular reason alone. On top of everything mentioned, I am getting married and will be able to spend a few days in France 6.5 months from now. This means I have given myself a total of 8 months to learn, review, and practice as much as I can until I get to speak French in person. My ultimate goal is to be conversationally fluent within this time frame. I know it is ambitious, but I am very structured and passionate about achieving this goal.
For the first 30 days, I studied/reviewed between 1-2 hours every day (no days off). I have completed Level 1 of Pimsleur (completing each lesson twice). I did a review of the previous lesson every morning and the new lesson at night. I would have to stop the audio to think of the response a lot, but I made sure I understood and was able to get the pronunciation correctly and respond before moving forward. I would also review the flash cards on the mobile app before and after my lessons. Throughout the day, I would listen to rfi.fr radio, podcasts (Je Parle Baguette- Charles), YouTube, or artists on Spotify (mostly Stromae). At night, I would try to watch something in French on Netflix. I have completed 2 seasons of Marseilles, and 3 seasons of Call my Agent with English subtitles. I noticed a few words that I learned during this time but also noticed how fast they speak French in Call my Agent.
Once I have completed the Pimsleur Level 1 French course, I started Assimil French with Ease immediately (still no days off). I am doing one lesson a day. With the course I purchased, each audio file is included so I transfer every sentence and the entire lesson to Anki. This process takes maybe 15-20 minutes. I put the audio file and french language on one side and then the English translation on the other. I found this is helping me so much. I've noticed everyone seems to have their own way of using Assimil. I tried to passively study it but my brain doesn't allow me to let it go without knowing what everything means. For this reason, I have been actively studying between 1-2 hours of Assimil every day. I make sure I can translate French to English and then English to French before closing the book. Today I will be completing lesson 13 in Assimil. Oh...and I also purchased Gabriel Wyner's Most Awesome Word List You've Ever Seen with 625 most common words. I put between 5-10 words (1-page) on average every day from the book into my Anki deck. That is just a supplemental thing I am doing. Like the Assimil deck, the French word and audio is on one side and this time a picture and English translation is on the other. The way I have it set up is they will both finish around the same time +/- a few days. I plan on completing all 113 lessons with the Active approach.
I know it's only been 43 days going on a lifetime journey, but I have already learned and made good progress. Before starting Pimsleur, I couldn't even count to 3, in French. I am a firm believer in the word consistency and for this reason I do not plan on taking any days off. I am going to try my best. Even if this means my only exposure to the language is background noise (in French). I forgot to mention after Pimsleur, I reached out to a tutor on iTalki and I have already completed 2 lessons. I read that if your goal is to speak, why not start conversing as soon as you can? We have very very basic conversations. I spend 1 hour a week (outside of my study time) to work on pronunciation and problems I am encountering with Assimil. I have found this to be a great deal of help...and even comforting. I have purchased Harry Potter (Tome 1) à l'École des Sorciers but I've got a long way to go before digging into that. It's nice to see it on my desk to keep me motivated and know one day I will get to that level and pick it up.
As of right now, I'm not sure what I will do after Assimil but I will figure that out somewhere in a month or two. I have heard Glossika is a great option to supplement with every other day tutoring sessions on iTalki. I will keep you all in the loop. If you have read this, I appreciate any advice or guidance along the way. I have created a channel on YouTube, it's nothing fancy, I don't even edit the videos, but it's to track my pronunciation and progress along the way. If I ever feel i'm in a slump or discouraged I can look back and see how much I've grown through my studies. I am hoping around my 6-8 month mark I can create a 3-5 minute video completely in French!
I'm not sure how to kick one of these off. My name is Joe Cleland and I'm 30 years old. I was born and raised in the U.S. and only speak English. I am a big Montreal Canadiens fan (don't hold that against me) and have always wanted to be able to understand what's being said during the games on TV (without CC). Once in a while someone will say something to me in French, if I'm wearing a Habs hat, and I always disliked that I couldn't communicate back. French is such a beautiful language and recently I decided I was going to learn it myself. My grandfather is in his final stages of Alzheimer's and this has been on the male side of my family. With the many health benefits of learning a language, I feel like I am extra motivated with this one particular reason alone. On top of everything mentioned, I am getting married and will be able to spend a few days in France 6.5 months from now. This means I have given myself a total of 8 months to learn, review, and practice as much as I can until I get to speak French in person. My ultimate goal is to be conversationally fluent within this time frame. I know it is ambitious, but I am very structured and passionate about achieving this goal.
For the first 30 days, I studied/reviewed between 1-2 hours every day (no days off). I have completed Level 1 of Pimsleur (completing each lesson twice). I did a review of the previous lesson every morning and the new lesson at night. I would have to stop the audio to think of the response a lot, but I made sure I understood and was able to get the pronunciation correctly and respond before moving forward. I would also review the flash cards on the mobile app before and after my lessons. Throughout the day, I would listen to rfi.fr radio, podcasts (Je Parle Baguette- Charles), YouTube, or artists on Spotify (mostly Stromae). At night, I would try to watch something in French on Netflix. I have completed 2 seasons of Marseilles, and 3 seasons of Call my Agent with English subtitles. I noticed a few words that I learned during this time but also noticed how fast they speak French in Call my Agent.
Once I have completed the Pimsleur Level 1 French course, I started Assimil French with Ease immediately (still no days off). I am doing one lesson a day. With the course I purchased, each audio file is included so I transfer every sentence and the entire lesson to Anki. This process takes maybe 15-20 minutes. I put the audio file and french language on one side and then the English translation on the other. I found this is helping me so much. I've noticed everyone seems to have their own way of using Assimil. I tried to passively study it but my brain doesn't allow me to let it go without knowing what everything means. For this reason, I have been actively studying between 1-2 hours of Assimil every day. I make sure I can translate French to English and then English to French before closing the book. Today I will be completing lesson 13 in Assimil. Oh...and I also purchased Gabriel Wyner's Most Awesome Word List You've Ever Seen with 625 most common words. I put between 5-10 words (1-page) on average every day from the book into my Anki deck. That is just a supplemental thing I am doing. Like the Assimil deck, the French word and audio is on one side and this time a picture and English translation is on the other. The way I have it set up is they will both finish around the same time +/- a few days. I plan on completing all 113 lessons with the Active approach.
I know it's only been 43 days going on a lifetime journey, but I have already learned and made good progress. Before starting Pimsleur, I couldn't even count to 3, in French. I am a firm believer in the word consistency and for this reason I do not plan on taking any days off. I am going to try my best. Even if this means my only exposure to the language is background noise (in French). I forgot to mention after Pimsleur, I reached out to a tutor on iTalki and I have already completed 2 lessons. I read that if your goal is to speak, why not start conversing as soon as you can? We have very very basic conversations. I spend 1 hour a week (outside of my study time) to work on pronunciation and problems I am encountering with Assimil. I have found this to be a great deal of help...and even comforting. I have purchased Harry Potter (Tome 1) à l'École des Sorciers but I've got a long way to go before digging into that. It's nice to see it on my desk to keep me motivated and know one day I will get to that level and pick it up.
As of right now, I'm not sure what I will do after Assimil but I will figure that out somewhere in a month or two. I have heard Glossika is a great option to supplement with every other day tutoring sessions on iTalki. I will keep you all in the loop. If you have read this, I appreciate any advice or guidance along the way. I have created a channel on YouTube, it's nothing fancy, I don't even edit the videos, but it's to track my pronunciation and progress along the way. If I ever feel i'm in a slump or discouraged I can look back and see how much I've grown through my studies. I am hoping around my 6-8 month mark I can create a 3-5 minute video completely in French!