French - From Zero to Hero

[FrenchHero]

Hey there. Due to work reasons, I need to learn French ASAP and I tend to excel under pressure. Therefore, I’ve set up a challenge for mysef and will use this thread as a personal log.

The true goal: to achieve a complete professional working proficiency in French (around high B2 / low C1).

The method I shall use is simple: work mindlessly through piles of grammar exercises until something clicks in my brain. I have done this in the past for English and I managed to pass the CAE exam (C1).

Let’s call this method the ‘rainbow route’.

As you may know already, for French there is available a grammar series called “Grammaire Progressive”. We shall refer to these books as “colours”, since each of these has a distinctive colour for each of its level / skill.

Therefore the ‘rainbow route’ is nothing more than a pile of exercise books that I shall mindlessly complete, in the hope of achieving some degree of competence. In order, the books I shall do are:

A1 Grammaire debutant: 60 lessons (Orange book).
A2-B1 Grammaire : 54 lessons (Blue book).
A2-B1 Vocabulaire: 24 lessons (Red book).
B2-C2 Vocabulaire: 28 lessons (Violet book).
B2-C1 Grammaire: 72 lessons (Green book).
C1-C2 Grammaire: 85 lessons (Brown book).

This amounts to a total of 323 lessons. It would mean that the challenge is doable in less than a year. Since I plan to go through at least a couple of lessons per day, I could finish all the books in 6 months.

Current progress: 34/60 Orange book (as of 29/06/2021).

Additional rules:

- All streaming content must be dubbed. No exceptions.
- Must sit for any available DELF exam once I’ve finished content-appropriate books (for instance, B1 if by the time I’ve finished the Blue book).
- If possible, supplement content with Assimil (currently finished about 30 lessons).


Feel free to share your thoughts. I will update my progress as much as possible.

[Mothertongue]

Best of luck! How will you tackle functional language and vocab?

[jeffers]

Interesting approach. I'll be following you and I wish you the best of luck!

One question, why insist that "All streaming content must be dubbed. No exceptions." Why not use native content?

[lysi]

As you may know already, for French there is available a grammar series called “Grammaire Progressive”. We shall refer to these books as “colours”, since each of theae has a distinctive colour for each of its level / skill.

Feel free to share your thoughts. I will update my progress as much as possible.

Don't conflate Grammaire Progressive CEFR ratings as your actual competence after completing them. I've done Grammaire Progressive C2 and I'm certainly not C2, nor were any of the topics particularly advanced. It's useful, yes, but I'd actually put it down at a lower intermediate level. I do think they're great books, but not in the way that you're planning to do them. I wouldn't use them as your main course, I find them better used as side books or to be completed to polish up your skills once you've gotten past the beginner stage, since they're monolingual.

Don't be discouraged by my criticism of Grammaire Progressive here though. You can reach your goal in under a years time, but you're going to have to do a lot more than just Grammaire Progressive at a rate of 1 page a day.

[Cavesa]

These books are excellent and can surely replace most "complete" coursebooks, even though they are not the only thing one needs. However, I'd recommend a few things:

1.Consider Communication Progressive. It wasn't that developped back when I was learning, but now it seems like an excellent resource, that can further help this series to replace the "communicative" coursebooks and much more efficiently. No idea about their colours. You might also appreciate Phonetique Progressive, or you'll need another material like this (at least the basics of pronunciation are covered quite well on youtube actually, it depends on what you find). For the rest, I don't think Littérature or Civilisation add any value, as long as you plan to consume a lot of normal content in French.

2. The CEFR levels are not too precise, they were added to an already existing series of books. They are more or less ok, but you will notice that there are level overlaps and inconsistencies. Overall, I think the débutant books, at least Vocabulaire and Grammaire, cover a bigger part of A2 as well. Intermédiaire fits well. But Avancé is more like solid B2, with C1-C2 being really the Perfectionnement book imho. So, definitely use the CEFR labels as a lead, but don't trust them blindly.

3.I partially agree with lysi, but only partially. Completing the Prog. of a certain level is not the same thing as having overall the level. However, there is a huge difference between the lower and higher levels. Up to B1, you can definitely pass the exams and perform well at the level appropriate tasks just with the Progressives (but use not only Grammaire, but also Vocabulaire and Communication). At the later levels, it is no longer that easy. The Progs will still give you a solid knowledge base for the levels, but you'll need much more. Much more exposure, much more experience, practice, etc. And I am not sure lysi takes into account the bad quality of many normal French coursebooks, so I am more of an optimist about this replacement strategy.

4.As you want to take the DELF/DALF: get the preparatory books. You may pass A1 and A2 totally ok without them and even with "just" the Progs. B1 is still possible, but you should probably get another systematic resource already, either a DELF preparatory book, or another B1 coursebook teaching the 4 applied skills that get tested. But from B2 on, the Progs will no longer suffice, neither would one coursebook. You'll need extra input, you should use the exam preparatory books, and you may also profit from specific skill oriented resources (for example CLE publishes books named very simply like "Production Orale")

[FrenchHero]

Interesting approach. I'll be following you and I wish you the best of luck!

One question, why insist that "All streaming content must be dubbed. No exceptions." Why not use native content?

For several reasons. I'm not that keen on native French content. Sometimes I do enjoy it (for instance, I'm having a blast with Lupin), but I think it's both practical and more realistic not to limit myself to pure native French media, as I enjoy a lot of foreign shows that you can watch in a dub version.

This would also give me a good reason to rewatch some familiar shows, and since I'll know their plot already, I can use them to improve my listening skills.

These books are excellent and can surely replace most "complete" coursebooks, even though they are not the only thing one needs. However, I'd recommend a few things:

1.Consider Communication Progressive. It wasn't that developped back when I was learning, but now it seems like an excellent resource, that can further help this series to replace the "communicative" coursebooks and much more efficiently. No idea about their colours. You might also appreciate Phonetique Progressive, or you'll need another material like this (at least the basics of pronunciation are covered quite well on youtube actually, it depends on what you find). For the rest, I don't think Littérature or Civilisation add any value, as long as you plan to consume a lot of normal content in French.

2. The CEFR levels are not too precise, they were added to an already existing series of books. They are more or less ok, but you will notice that there are level overlaps and inconsistencies. Overall, I think the débutant books, at least Vocabulaire and Grammaire, cover a bigger part of A2 as well. Intermédiaire fits well. But Avancé is more like solid B2, with C1-C2 being really the Perfectionnement book imho. So, definitely use the CEFR labels as a lead, but don't trust them blindly.

3.I partially agree with lysi, but only partially. Completing the Prog. of a certain level is not the same thing as having overall the level. However, there is a huge difference between the lower and higher levels. Up to B1, you can definitely pass the exams and perform well at the level appropriate tasks just with the Progressives (but use not only Grammaire, but also Vocabulaire and Communication). At the later levels, it is no longer that easy. The Progs will still give you a solid knowledge base for the levels, but you'll need much more. Much more exposure, much more experience, practice, etc. And I am not sure lysi takes into account the bad quality of many normal French coursebooks, so I am more of an optimist about this replacement strategy.

4.As you want to take the DELF/DALF: get the preparatory books. You may pass A1 and A2 totally ok without them and even with "just" the Progs. B1 is still possible, but you should probably get another systematic resource already, either a DELF preparatory book, or another B1 coursebook teaching the 4 applied skills that get tested. But from B2 on, the Progs will no longer suffice, neither would one coursebook. You'll need extra input, you should use the exam preparatory books, and you may also profit from specific skill oriented resources (for example CLE publishes books named very simply like "Production Orale")

I'm aware of the existence of the "Communication" series, but I don't want to fall on the typical "language learner trap", of accumulating redundant resources in order to stay at a comfort level. I'm aware that the more advanced books have some gaps, but I intend to accumulate a level of "basic competence" and later on maybe supplement it with an official course. In my home country, public language courses are cheap, but it's better to skip the very basic levels (A1 or A2) because there is a lot of demand of these courses. Also, I get to save some money, which is always helpful.

This is why I'm not going to use other ancilliary resources (such as Anki) because I tend to use these resources as time-sinks and spend more time building decks than actually studying. But that's just how it works for me!

Also, I failed to mention that I'm actually going to take a basic course in French, but I don't think it's going to take me that far (or at least at the pace I'd like).

[Cavesa]

I'm aware of the existence of the "Communication" series, but I don't want to fall on the typical "language learner trap", of accumulating redundant resources in order to stay at a comfort level. I'm aware that the more advanced books have some gaps, but I intend to accumulate a level of "basic competence" and later on maybe supplement it with an official course. In my home country, public language courses are cheap, but it's better to skip the very basic levels (A1 or A2) because there is a lot of demand of these courses. Also, I get to save some money, which is always helpful.

This is why I'm not going to use other ancilliary resources (such as Anki) because I tend to use these resources as time-sinks and spend more time building decks than actually studying. But that's just how it works for me!

Also, I failed to mention that I'm actually going to take a basic course in French, but I don't think it's going to take me that far (or at least at the pace I'd like).

Not wanting to spread yourself too thin is a totally reasonable approach.

But the higher levels are not about gaps. That's not the problem. The problem is, that expressing yourself at the higher level requires much more than just the solid knowledge of grammar and vocabulary (even though both are very important!), and the Progressives simply cannot replace longer pieces of text or audio, they don't teach you how to write a compte rendu or synthèse, and so on.

You will need stuff like tons of input whether or not you take any class and no matter what textbook you use.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Absolutely no need for native TV at the moment. Dubbed will more than meet your needs, and is probably even better for you. Familiar stories help at this stage. I watched all 15 seasons of ER dubbed in French and now have around a B2 listening ability.

[FrenchHero]

Absolutely no need for native TV at the moment. Dubbed will more than meet your needs, and is probably even better for you. Familiar stories help at this stage. I watched all 15 seasons of ER dubbed in French and now have around a B2 listening ability.

You can bet I'll even watch Peppa Pig at this stage... Having two toddlers at home implies some nonsense.

[Le Baron]

I've never used those coloured books, however I just perused them and they look good. Though I doubt they'll be penetrable from 'zero'. It's strange that the number of exercises halves after you 'progress' from the first book, but then rockets up to 72 when you hit the green book. What's all that about?
There is another similar series by Clé International called 'Grammaire et dialogues' at three levels: débutante, intermédiaire et avancé. I've used the avancé one when brushing-up and I found it to be good because it addressed grammar points directly from the dialogues which you can then experience as speaking in context. Footling around the web I also see there's one called Vocabulaire et dialogues which likely does the same thing for vocabulary.

The 'dubbed content' thing is still a mystery to me. I know from things dubbed into my own language that the dubbed script is shaped to fit the images/timings and often isn't naturalistic.

Anyway, this will be worth following to see how it goes. Best of luck.