Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

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jackb
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby jackb » Sun Dec 05, 2021 11:39 pm

I missed last week, but I haven’t done much different than the last month or so. I watched a bit more than normal. Lawyer&Mom mentioned something about the audio description in movies and tv. The voices are clear and don’t conflict with the dialog of the show. It turns the long beautiful shots of zero talking into clear descriptions of streams of words. Since its just describing what’s on the screen, known words aren’t a problem and there’s no attempt at flowery language. It seems to be only available in originally French media, so no dubs. This might be the thing that makes me start buying dvds.

The other thing I’ve been doing differently is related to vocabulary in Readlang. Many of the words from books have synonyms of words that I know and I’ve been using them to remember the words. When I come across the word again, they seem to sink in faster. Antonyms work the same way. I feel like I’m reading faster, but it’s hard to tell without having actual pages to count. I finished book 2 and I’m into book 3, Dragons d’une aube de printemps. I’m finishing a book in about 3 weeks.

I didn’t do much grammar in the last couple of weeks. I’m trying to nail down the conjugations a little more before hitting the book again. All in all, I feel like I’m making progress and the language in growing in my head. French babbling is coming out easier and easier. Soon, I’m going to have to start seriously thinking about getting a conversation partner.
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jackb
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby jackb » Mon Dec 13, 2021 9:40 pm

I'm still liking readlang.com. I started using it for a few other things. You can add youtube videos and sync them up text. It takes some extra time, but if the video is a good length its kinda helpful. I noticed something interesting with a couple of podcasts. I added 'le français avec fluidité (https://podcast.lefranchute.com) and Quelle Histoire this week a the level are surprising. Quelle Histoire is geared towards native children and fluidité is geared towards intermediate learners. The vocabulary is harder for the learner podcast, but the listening is harder for the children's podcast. They are both fun and I'll keep doing them for the time being.

I've run into a bit of a snag with the flash cards on readlang. It's most likely not just readlang, but who knows. I seem to be learning the card and not necessarily the word. The 'cards' look like this:
Screen Shot 2021-12-13 at 4.25.44 PM.png


After seeing the card, sentence and webpage, I'll eventually be able to produce the word. When I do the same word/card on my phone or ipad, I can't come up with the word. Sometimes it's frustrating, but I'm not going to really worry about it. The flashcards are to get me to the point that if I meet the word in the wild, I'll have a better chance of knowing it. I've already run into some and it's that last lookup that cements the word/idea combo in my brain.

I started using http://www.linguno.com this week and it has really helped point out some weak spots in my conjugations. Since finding it, I've paused the grammar book. I'll come back to it on a few weeks.

I'm about half way through my book so I'm starting to think about the next one. I think I'm going to go for some Maigret novels. There have a few in my local library and they seem to be shorter that the last few. Mystery novels are a favorite of mine. I tend to enjoy them even when they got formulaic.
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Tue Dec 14, 2021 6:30 pm

If you enjoy the Maigret novels, you "may" enjoy the old French TV series version with Bruno Cremer as Maigret. No promises! Once upon a time I bought the DVD of this series. The episodes were enjoyable, but nothing more. A Youtuber named Macri Rossi has a playlist you can subscribe to. This is the 1st episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpxdnKJ ... shwc9S63Fq
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

jackb
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby jackb » Mon Jan 03, 2022 3:09 am

It’s been a while. I’m still doing much of the same stuff. I stopped doing the flashcards in readlang. It started to feel like it was taking time away from actual reading. I finished Dragons d’une aube de printemps a few weeks ago. I got Maigret et la nuit, which has two novels in it; La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin and Maigret et le fantôme. They are both around 150 pages. I’ve started one, but so far I don’t have much of an opinion. These are paper books so they will both be extensive reading with no look ups.

I’m definitely going to check out the Maigret series. Thanks for the link MTF

I started a write streak on r/WriteStreak. It’s just what it sounds like. You just write something everyday. I don’t have any real limitations other than just doing it. They eventually get corrected, but I’m not too worried about it. My goal is to get practice in writing. If I notice any ongoing issues or questions, I focus my study on that.

I’ve watched an re-watched a couple of shows on Netflix. My comprehension is better ever all, but clearly worse with native, non-dubbed shows. Netflix added a bunch of new french content that looks interesting. I’m ready to dump dubbed shows unless I really want to watch the show. I don’t feel like I’m getting much out of them.

There have been a lot of year in review posts, so here’s mine 2 cents:
I am still working and getting better.

The memory stuff that rdearman posts about is more an more interesting. It might be something to jumpstart vocab learning so you can start reading asap.
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jackb
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby jackb » Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:53 pm

Last week was not too hot on the french front. I didn’t read or study much. I did watch the first 8 episodes of Plan Cœur. Not sure how I missed it, but after my post on Caramody’s thread, I may just start going through it more intensively.

So far I find that there a couple of stages in the listening level. The first is learning/course material. It’s slowed down and neatly enunciated. Then news or presentation style. It’s mostly scripted, neutral and clearly enunciated. I guess documentaries/interviews fall into this category too. The last is sit-com/soap opera style. It’s scripted, but it’s the closest to real speech between natives. They get emotional, yell, whisper and only give you as little of the sounds needed to get the point across.

I’m stuck on the sit-com style speech. I noticed that part of my problem is related to reliance on the first two stages. No matter how perfect I get with presentation style, it will NOT get me more comfortable with sit-com style. One thing I’ve noticed is the difference in the pronunciation être and faire in the futur and conditional. What is pronounced as je.ser.ai in presentation or leaner french is pronounced as chsrai on a sitcom. I’ve always known that this stuff happened, my realization of it has really helped to relieve some frustration.

I need to find a 30 minute native sitcom/telenovela with a lot (50-100) of episodes. I feel like the longer episodes and build of suspense makes dramas unappealing for this kind of stuff. I’m probably going to go the DVD/Blueray route for this. Two shows I’ve seen are Fais pas ci, Fais pas ça and Plus Belle la Vie. Any other show suggestions ?
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Amandine
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby Amandine » Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:50 pm

Have you watched Skam France, jackb? Its a teen soap, episodes 20 min long and about 7 seasons. The official youtube channel and others if you search "skam france integral" have playlists of the full episodes https://www.youtube.com/c/francetvslash/videos I personally have not watched it but its been on my radar for Something To Do Later and might fit the bill for you.
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DaveAgain
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:22 pm

jackb wrote:
I need to find a 30 minute native sitcom/telenovela with a lot (50-100) of episodes. I feel like the longer episodes and build of suspense makes dramas unappealing for this kind of stuff. I’m probably going to go the DVD/Blueray route for this. Two shows I’ve seen are Fais pas ci, Fais pas ça and Plus Belle la Vie. Any other show suggestions ?
I watched Les filles d'à côte and jamais deux sans toi...t.

TV5 Monde have both plus belle la vie and another soap called Un si grand soleil.

EDIT
Parents mode d'emploi is a very short form sitcom.

EDIT2
Kaamelott's YouTube channel comes with subtitles, so that might be a good choice.
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jackb
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby jackb » Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:40 am

Thanks for the suggestions. I have to admit that I have a hard time focusing on youtube for intensive work. Between the commercials and the interface, my focus is all over the place. I’ve never heard of Skam France, but by the looks of it, I will at least give it a go extensively.

Unfortunately, for language learning purposes, I’m in the US so TV5monde requires a cable subscription and package to access it.

‘Parents’ and Kaamelot both look very good, I have to work out my youtube issues. Parents mode d’emploi hand me literally LOL’ing. The fact that its so short actually helps its case. Kaamelot kind of intimidates me though. I’ve heard so much about it and the word play. There are so many fans, I feel comfortable that the subtitles are dead on.

Thanks for the suggestions.
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DaveAgain
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:46 am

jackb wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. I have to admit that I have a hard time focusing on youtube for intensive work. Between the commercials and the interface, my focus is all over the place.

I have to work out my youtube issues.
I think the great strengths of YouTube for language learning is the quick rewind ability to re-hear a phrase (using the left arrow key), and being able to slow down the audio if you're having trouble hearing a phrase even after re-listening to it.

It's important not to get stalled though. If you can't get a phrase after two or three attempts, let it go and pass on to the rest of the programme.
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Re: Who's on First? (Jack's French Log)

Postby luke » Tue Jan 11, 2022 5:43 am

DaveAgain wrote:I think the great strengths of YouTube for language learning is the quick rewind ability to re-hear a phrase (using the left arrow key), and being able to slow down the audio if you're having trouble hearing a phrase even after re-listening to it.

How would you rate the automatic subtitles in French? (In Spanish, they're usually quite good).
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