After browsing this forum (and HTLAL) for quite some time now, I've finally decided to take the plunge and write systematically about my journey in learning languages (As of April 2021, it's French), in part because I've been quite frustrated with my journey and progress so far. I'm sure quite a few folks would agree with me when I say that this journey is full of ebb and flows. Few days you feel like conquering the world and do 5 hour marathons studying and learning, and on other days all you do is gloat around and wonder why did you take up this hobby in the first place.
It's frustrating.
While the plethora of resources available online is certainly a blessing, it also comes with a choice paralysis. I pick up a course, stick with it for a few days, and then come across a shiny new resource which seems quite attractive and I jump the ship - and the loop continues. This log is my attempt to stick to a schedule and follow through on my commitments.
My journey so far:
I started getting interested in learning languages during my 2nd year of college. I chose French in large part due to the beautiful sound of the language - it felt so flowery and soothing! I was also attracted by that wonderful feeling of comprehension you get when you understand something which previously used to be unintelligible. Started with Duolingo (this was back in 2014-15) and religiously did it for 30 minutes to 1 hour every day - for 15 days. Then I'd hit a slump when the beginner's charm would fade away and I no longer had the motivation to continue with the drill. This went on for a couple of years and needless to say, I didn't make any progress at all. I was stuck in the so-called "false beginner" stage. Life chugged along and I kept repeating this loop.
It's ironic that I only got seriously interested in French once I had much less amount of free-time - when I started working. I started browsing through the /r/languagelearning community and getting to know about the wonderful resources out there, and one fine day I came across HTLAL during one of the discussions - and I was obsessed! I couldn't believe that there was such a brilliant forum where serious language learners used to hang out and help each other - it felt like joining an underground club. I religiously browsed and noted down tips and started forming a coherent strategy on how to kick-start my language learning.
All of this was about two years ago. I came across Busuu and decided to jump start with that, and I loved it. I knew that I would have to consciously carve out time to study languages, so I followed the age-old advice of making some time right after I wake up. This allowed me to be somewhat consistent with my routine. Busuu's engaging content also helped.
My goals:
Although I haven't tested formally, I'd rate myself to be on ~A2 level. My long-term goal is to consume native content comfortably, mostly films and books and be able to converse with natives fluently, but I realize that production would be much more difficult than consumption, so currently I'd be focusing on improving my listening/reading skills. Right now, I'm not targeting any formal level, but that may change in future.
My resources:
I live in India and there's close to zero exposure to the language in my day-to-day life, so I need to follow something akin to the Mass Immersion Approach (now https://refold.la/) for my studies. What makes the task difficult is that I have a lot of other hobbies and I'm horrible at prioritizing stuffs. Although I'm a software engineer by profession, Art and Literature has always been my passion. I love to read books, have an interest in photography, draw stuff from time to time and occasionally play the guitar (Sidenote: Here's my GR profile in case anyone's interested: https://www.goodreads.com/thelazyoxymoron). All of these hobbies demand significant time contribution and the sensible approach would be to cut down and focus on any one or two of them, at max. Unfortunately, I've never had the heart to stop anything cold turkey and so, I'm always jumping around anxiously from one to the other. This problem definitely needs a solution, something that I intend to tackle in a distant future.
Anyway, coming back to the list of resources, here's a list of them that I'd be working with for the time being:
- Broadly follow the guidelines at https://refold.la/
- Assimil French with Ease
- DLI Gloss lessons: https://gloss.dliflc.edu/
- RFI radio: Listen while following the transcript - https://savoirs.rfi.fr/fr/apprendre-enseigner/langue-francaise/journal-en-fran%C3%A7ais-facile
- Follow the GigaFrench course: http://gigafrench.com/
- Reading books with LWT: Currently reading Harry Potter #1, I export the list of unknown/learning words for each chapter and study them using Anki
- Subs2SRS for occasional films that I watch (ideally with TL subtitles)
The more language logs I read here, the more I find my schedule to be difficult to maintain. I'm hopeful though that posting my weekly progress here would keep me from slacking off and push me to persevere.
If you guys have any suggestions/comments, I'd be delighted to get some feedback!
Happy learning!