Re: Learning French (self-study) - Joe Cleland
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:50 pm
Hi. I’ve got a couple of thoughts about your next step:
1. You don’t have to wait until you finish Assimil before taking your next step - you could continue with Assimil while taking up something else at the same time. I mention this because I sensed maybe Assimil is becoming a bit of a grind? I think Assimil is great but I bore easily. Doing two things might be more entertaining for you, too.
2. I don’t think anyone has mentioned podcasts. There are podcasts for native speakers but they will may be too hard even when you finish assimil. There are podcasts for beginners that use lots of English - I hate those because they tend to be slow and I want target language only. And then 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.
3. I know your goal is speaking French so something like pimsleur is good but it is in the end more course work - I think mixing things up eg podcasts might be more entertaining. It is for me. And with podcasts you get listening practice, which is half the battle when speaking a language.
Cheers.
1. You don’t have to wait until you finish Assimil before taking your next step - you could continue with Assimil while taking up something else at the same time. I mention this because I sensed maybe Assimil is becoming a bit of a grind? I think Assimil is great but I bore easily. Doing two things might be more entertaining for you, too.
2. I don’t think anyone has mentioned podcasts. There are podcasts for native speakers but they will may be too hard even when you finish assimil. There are podcasts for beginners that use lots of English - I hate those because they tend to be slow and I want target language only. And then 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.
3. I know your goal is speaking French so something like pimsleur is good but it is in the end more course work - I think mixing things up eg podcasts might be more entertaining. It is for me. And with podcasts you get listening practice, which is half the battle when speaking a language.
Cheers.