A language learners’ forum

iguanamon wrote:People often ask, "What do I use after Assimil, or other course?". The answer is "It depends". Myself, I don't have to worry about that as I use a multi-track approach with comprehensible input simultaneously with a course. You can follow my signature link at the bottom of this post for more ideas.

At your present stage, you may want to try to see if you can decipher a short, not too complicated, text. A 280 character tweet or a Bible verse you may know well could work. Or, you may want to challenge yourself with a song at lyricstraining.

The thing is, using a course will help you to gain a foundation but you will need to build on that foundation. Many learners who just use a course and then "dive into native materials" are shocked to discover that the language is not the same as the course language. Sometimes it can send them into a tailspin and they think they need more courses to solve the problem. This can lead them to never leave course world. It is a good idea to have a good bilingual dictionary, electronic or physical, and a good basic grammar in your toolbox in addition to your course(s).

Courses can only take a learner just so far. Learning a language to a high level means engaging with it on multiple fronts- speaking; listening; writing; reading. The good news is that a learner doesn't have to wait to be perfect to do this. Reading can be done with a parallel text (L2 on the left, L1 on the right)

GlobalVoices.org wrote:Français

Voyager : un sport extrême pour les Africains Quand une demande de visa relève du parcours du combattant “Vous ne repartirez pas !” Interdire aux Africains d'entrer dans certains pays n'est pas seulement humiliant, mais souligne également le racisme institutionnel qui sous-tend l'idée qu'il est impossible de faire confiance aux professionnels et aux artistes africains pour se conformer à la loi. L'article 13 de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme stipule que “Toute personne a le droit de quitter tout pays, y compris le sien, et de revenir dans son pays”. Toutefois, en réalité, sans passeport ni visa, il est bien difficile d’exercer ce droit. Et la facilité d'obtenir un visa varie selon la nationalité. Dans le “Henley Passport Index” 2019, qui classe les passeports en fonction du nombre de pays auxquels ils donnent accès, le Japon et Singapour arrivent en tête, tandis que l'Angola, l'Égypte et Haïti se situent aux derniers rangs.

Travel: An extreme sport for Africans Visa applications can feel like a sacrifice to the gods ‘You won't come back!’ Barring Africans from entry into certain countries is not only humiliating — it also highlights the institutional racism that underpins the notion that African professionals and creatives cannot be trusted to obey the law. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” The reality, however, is that without a passport and valid visa, this right cannot easily be exercised. And the ease of getting a visa varies according to nationality. On the 2019 Henley Passport Index, Japan and Singapore hold the top spot for access to most countries, while Angola, Egypt and Haiti are at the bottom.

You can see that the translation is not exact. It conveys the meaning. A text like this can be used in many ways.
1) If a learner were to print it to pdf and put it on a tablet they could expand the French to cover the visible screen and scroll over to the English when difficulty in understanding arises.
2) Read English first then French
3) Use the dictionary to see why language choices were made
4) See how grammar is used and study the grammar with which the learner may not be familiar
5) Learn new vocabulary not in the learner's courses
6) All of the above

Basically, courses are just one part of the learning process. They play a very important role in learning but are not the only tool to use. A learner can engage with native material much earlier than they think, as long as it is comprehensible or can be made to be comprehensible. Making L2 text comprehensible can be done by means of a faithful (preferably human-made) translation; using a dictionary and trying to figure it out for one's self; being familiar with L1 and leveraging that familiarity to aid in understanding L2- e.g.: The Peppa Pig Project.

Yes, Assimil's Using French would be a good course to use after finishing Assimil NFWE but it is not a substitute for engaging with French on a regular basis in the real world. It is also most certainly not a prerequisite for engaging with the language outside of course-world. Also, have a look at emk's post Cheating and Consolidating, where he describes the process in detail.

lusan wrote:5. Watch one Buffy episode a day. Do not worry much about not understanding everything. Just stick to it for 200 or more

lusan wrote:Drop Italki. Join a French table or Meetup group and get to speak for free. After finishing Assimil, jump right into FSI Basic French. 2 hours per day will do marvel to speaking. Much better that Italki lessons.

Adrianslont wrote:there are podcasts for learners at a2/b1 which you could probably start on before finishing Assimil on on completion. The three I recommend are Inner French, Balades and L’avis de Marie. All of these have transcripts, so there is that support if you have trouble with the listening. They have subject matter I find interesting. I’d recommend you have a look.

joecleland wrote:Lastly, in terms of reading…I keep seeing posts that users state what really helps them solidify their learning is just input through reading. I know there are two approaches to this but wanted to know what you all thought?

A) Push through the reading and just absorb the material
B) Look up every word you don’t know before continuing

joecleland wrote:

Adrianslont wrote:there are podcasts for learners at a2/b1 which you could probably start on before finishing Assimil on on completion. The three I recommend are Inner French, Balades and L’avis de Marie. All of these have transcripts, so there is that support if you have trouble with the listening. They have subject matter I find interesting. I’d recommend you have a look.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for you suggestions.

Adrianslont wrote:

joecleland wrote:

Adrianslont wrote:there are podcasts for learners at a2/b1 which you could probably start on before finishing Assimil on on completion. The three I recommend are Inner French, Balades and L’avis de Marie. All of these have transcripts, so there is that support if you have trouble with the listening. They have subject matter I find interesting. I’d recommend you have a look.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for you suggestions.

You're welcome. I'm glad you like them.

Just a heads up - it seems that Podclub are shutting down their podcasts real soon now. Forum member Klara started a thread just a few days ago - "PodClub shuts down their podcast series" - you may have noticed it. I'm just mentioning it in case you want to stock up - ie download the mp3s and transcripts before they disappear.