Learning French in Japan

[katsu]

Pardon the necropost, but, no, not everyone is wrong. In fact, I got no further than page 6! Six pages is not enough to depress me, but it was more than enough to bore me. I found nothing interesting at all about that new kid .

Judging from the reaction on this forum, I'm in a very small minority of people who like this book. In fact, it's the best thing I've read in French so far. But à chacun son goût, as they say.

For what it's worth, I didn't like L'Éducation sentimentale nearly as much, even though the consensus is that it's Flaubert's masterpiece. I guess something in Madame Bovary just spoke to me.

[MorkTheFiddle]

Pardon the necropost, but, no, not everyone is wrong. In fact, I got no further than page 6! Six pages is not enough to depress me, but it was more than enough to bore me. I found nothing interesting at all about that new kid .

But à chacun son goût, as they say.
For what it's worth, I didn't like L'Éducation sentimentale nearly as much, even though the consensus is that it's Flaubert's masterpiece. I guess something in Madame Bovary just spoke to me.

Quite so, my good man. I did not mean for my post to imply bad things about you or about your taste in reading, but looking over it today, I see that it did. I apologize for that.
Madame Bovary has stood the test of time, and plenty of people over the years have liked it just as much as you did.
Cheers.

[munyag]

Pardon the necropost, but, no, not everyone is wrong. In fact, I got no further than page 6! Six pages is not enough to depress me, but it was more than enough to bore me. I found nothing interesting at all about that new kid .

Judging from the reaction on this forum, I'm in a very small minority of people who like this book. In fact, it's the best thing I've read in French so far. But à chacun son goût, as they say.

For what it's worth, I didn't like L'Éducation sentimentale nearly as much, even though the consensus is that it's Flaubert's masterpiece. I guess something in Madame Bovary just spoke to me.

Hi Katsu

Coming up to two years now!How goes your French? Listening comprehension? Reading? Writing? Speaking?

[katsu]

Hi Munyag!! By some amazing coincidence, I just logged on here for the first time in over a year, and was shocked to see my log on the front page!

I'd love to report two years worth of progress, but alas I drifted away from French shortly after I stopped updating this. I spent some time with Italian, and then several months with Mandarin, both of which I eventually abandoned (although I'll definitely be returning to Mandarin at some point). The good news is that I've come back to French again, and (after shaking off a bit of rust) my listening/reading skills are in about the same place as they were before. I can usually follow TV shows without subs, although I'm far from getting everything. I recently watched the Jonathan Cohen comedy Le Flambeau, which was funny but not as good as the first series, and am currently working my way through two policiers: HPI with Audrey Fleurot and Astrid et Raphaëlle, both of which are fun but not ground-breaking. I also watched the latest installment in the OSS 117 series, which was unfortunately terrible.

I'm also back to reading French novels; I'm now in the middle of Maupassant's Bel-Ami, which is quite good. I'm listening to the audio book while reading along. I usually rely on free audio books from Librivox, but this time I splurged on a professionally narrated one, and it really makes a difference. The narrator is genuinely acting out all the characters, which really makes the book come alive.

The reason I've got my French mojo back is that I'm finally headed back to France! After three years of covid-enforced absence, I'm leaving for the south in about a week. My speaking is still terrible from lack of practice, but I hope to get some while I'm there. If my motivation is still high after I come back, maybe I'll finally break down and look for an online language partner.

[munyag]

Hi Munyag!! By some amazing coincidence, I just logged on here for the first time in over a year, and was shocked to see my log on the front page!

I'd love to report two years worth of progress, but alas I drifted away from French shortly after I stopped updating this. I spent some time with Italian, and then several months with Mandarin, both of which I eventually abandoned (although I'll definitely be returning to Mandarin at some point). The good news is that I've come back to French again, and (after shaking off a bit of rust) my listening/reading skills are in about the same place as they were before. I can usually follow TV shows without subs, although I'm far from getting everything. I recently watched the Jonathan Cohen comedy Le Flambeau, which was funny but not as good as the first series, and am currently working my way through two policiers: HPI with Audrey Fleurot and Astrid et Raphaëlle, both of which are fun but not ground-breaking. I also watched the latest installment in the OSS 117 series, which was unfortunately terrible.

I'm also back to reading French novels; I'm now in the middle of Maupassant's Bel-Ami, which is quite good. I'm listening to the audio book while reading along. I usually rely on free audio books from Librivox, but this time I splurged on a professionally narrated one, and it really makes a difference. The narrator is genuinely acting out all the characters, which really makes the book come alive.

The reason I've got my French mojo back is that I'm finally headed back to France! After three years of covid-enforced absence, I'm leaving for the south in about a week. My speaking is still terrible from lack of practice, but I hope to get some while I'm there. If my motivation is still high after I come back, maybe I'll finally break down and look for an online language partner.

Hi Katsu

Congrats and good progress with your French. Hopefully you will keep at it. Any short, medium or Long terms goals that you might hv with French? Do you now understand all those DVDs that you struggled with at the beginning of your French journey?