Van's French Log

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DaveAgain
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby DaveAgain » Sat May 07, 2022 9:08 am

Van wrote:I seem to have an aversion to looking up unknown words so haven't been and just powering through. I probably should though since my vocabulary is currently my biggest issue for my reading.
I think the most important thing is that you enjoy the activity enough to keep doing it, doing things you don't like to do might just mean you avoid them. That said, re-reading the same book is something often suggested, Mr Dearman mentioned looking up unknown words on some pages e.g. every 20th page? One page per chapter?
I've started "Tout le bleu du ciel" which I'm enjoying so far and I can understand everything that's happening (just a few words here and there), and I'm nearing the end of "Ne le dis a personne" which is pretty blurry at this point, I've definitely missed some threads but am still able to follow the main plot line (only just!).
Tout le bleu du ciel is a super title! :-)

Harlan Coben seems to have had a lot of success in France. I've watched French TV adaptations of two of his books, but not Ne le dis a personne.
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Le Baron
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Le Baron » Sat May 07, 2022 9:56 am

I listened to you reading the blurb on the other page and to my ear at least there's little of real concern regarding pronunciation. It's very good. Small unimportant giveaways like the pronunciation of e.g. 'autre' which could be more rounded and probably just require a firmer lip formation. None of this is very important though; quite a lot of English speakers tend to be less clipped and have less controlled lips when speaking French. I think you sound very good.
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Van
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Van » Sat May 07, 2022 11:27 am

DaveAgain wrote:I think the most important thing is that you enjoy the activity enough to keep doing it, doing things you don't like to do might just mean you avoid them. That said, re-reading the same book is something often suggested, Mr Dearman mentioned looking up unknown words on some pages e.g. every 20th page? One page per chapter?

Yeah, I think I'm going to try something like that as it won't break the flow of reading and I won't get overwhelmed with too many new words.

DaveAgain wrote:Harlan Coben seems to have had a lot of success in France. I've watched French TV adaptations of two of his books, but not Ne le dis a personne.

I also watched a couple of the adaptations but in English and thought it's this kind of bingeable quality that I need to get me reading in French. Even though "Ne le dis a personne" is a bit above my level, it's still got me hooked so I'm going to try to find another of his to read next.

Le Baron wrote:I listened to you reading the blurb on the other page and to my ear at least there's little of real concern regarding pronunciation. It's very good. Small unimportant giveaways like the pronunciation of e.g. 'autre' which could be more rounded and probably just require a firmer lip formation. None of this is very important though; quite a lot of English speakers tend to be less clipped and have less controlled lips when speaking French. I think you sound very good.

Thanks for the advice! I try to pay attention to pronunciation as I had heard French is not a forgiving language regarding poor pronunciation, so it's great to get some positive feedback and hear that I'm on the right track :D
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French Super Challenge 2022/2023:
: 18 / 100 Books
: 13 / 100 Films

LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Sun May 08, 2022 4:32 pm

Why do you want to know French to start with? Motivation is key.
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Van
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Van » Fri May 13, 2022 10:42 am

LanguageLearner0007 wrote:Why do you want to know French to start with? Motivation is key.

I don't actually have any practical reason to learn French. It's just a hobby and I'm interested in the learning process. I do have family in Switzerland and have always wanted to learn one of Switzerland's languages. Before I switched to French, I was learning German for ages but have found I prefer French, though I might try German again after I get to a higher level of French.
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French Super Challenge 2022/2023:
: 18 / 100 Books
: 13 / 100 Films

Van
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Van » Fri May 13, 2022 10:44 am

This week, I got through: 3.2 “book units” and 3.7 “film units” bringing my total to 8.3 “books” and 9.1 “films”
I also did an additional 10h consisting of:
- 285 mins of audiobooks
- 20 mins of grammar. I’m now up to Chapter 9 of Grammaire Progressive - Niveau intermédiaire
- 45 mins of Speakly
- 35 mins of reading aloud
- 100 mins of Vocab/Intensive Reading
- 115 minutes of “500 Exercices de Phonetique (A1/A2)

This is amounting to around 3 hours a day which seems like a lot to me but has been very doable since my workload is lighter at the moment and I’ve been able to utilise my travel to and from work on the train as well as my daily 1 hour walk for French.

To try to increase my vocabulary, I’ve started reading “Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles” intensively. The chapters are only about 3 pages long so I’m reading a chapter straight through and then rereading it slowly by looking up all unknown words and writing them in a notebook, as well as any useful phrases that I can understand but don’t think I could use myself. I’m also listening to the audiobook - several repetitions of a chapter. I’m not sure what I should be doing with this new vocab list but I think I might write them here in my log at the end of the week so that I’m at least reviewing them weekly.
I’m reading/listening to everything else extensively.
Vocab:
s’est hissé en tête du classement des meilleurs restaurants
Je ne tiens plus le rythme
…sont livrés par les cigognes.
J’ai postulé a …
J’avais l’outrecuidance de répondre…
Je m'étais octroyé
Viens-en au fait !
…des huissiers
river nos yeux sur l'écran
…en me foudroyant du regard…
J'approche de l’oeilleton
extirpe une feuille
Je m’empare du document
Sécher les cours
Je me mefie des mecs beaux
Tu ne m’en veux pas
fayoter
anodin
Choper
Narguer
Elle s’est accroupie


Finished this week:
Books
2. Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One), Harlan Coben. A bit too difficult for me (~70% comprehension). Some chapters I understood well (especially the ones with more action), and some I had no idea what was happening. There were a couple of side characters that I didn’t really understand who they were. Towards the end, I watched the film adaptation which helped.
TV
3. L'Agence - L'immobilier de luxe en famille S01. I could understand most of this. ~90%
Films
2. Ne le dis à personne (2006). Not much dialog in this film but it helped me to understand the book better.
5 x
French Super Challenge 2022/2023:
: 18 / 100 Books
: 13 / 100 Films

Van
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Van » Sat May 21, 2022 11:40 pm

This week, I got through: 1.1 “book units” and 0.5 “film units” bringing my total to 9.4 “books” and 9.6 “films”
I also did an additional 7h consisting of:
- 280 mins of audiobooks
- 20 mins of grammar.
- 66 mins of listening-reading
- 55 minutes of “500 Exercices de Phonetique (A1/A2)

This Week's Vocab from "Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles":
Le rétroviseur
Un emprunt
Les essuie-glaces
Vaillamment
Un mollet
Le front dégoulinant
Balayer
La ficelle
Ses yeux s’emplissaient
Elle se blottit
Chatouiller
Je maugréais
La serpillière
Je suis réglo
Cirer
Le sirote
Le carrelage
6 x
French Super Challenge 2022/2023:
: 18 / 100 Books
: 13 / 100 Films

Van
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Van » Fri May 27, 2022 10:50 am

Week 4 of the 6 Week Challenge.
This week, I read 2.6 “book units” and watched 1.6 “film units” bringing my total to 12 “books” and 11.2 “films”.
Plus 8 hours consisting of:
- 450 mins of audiobooks.
- 10 mins of reading aloud.
- 20 minutes of podcasts.

Audiobooks were the focus for this week. I finished listening to “Le Crime de l'Orient-Express”. I started it by reading along with the text but then after a couple of chapters I just listened. Quite happy with my comprehension but I already knew the story so that helps a lot.
I also continued with my intensive/repetitive experiment with “Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles”. I’m at about 10%. What I’m doing is on day 1, I listened to an 1 hour starting at Chapter 1 (Each chapter is about 5 minutes). On day 2, I listened to an 1 hour starting at Chapter 2 and so on. When I get a chance, I read a chapter intensively and note down any vocab or phrases but I don’t do anything else with these words. By the time I get to reading the chapter, I’ve already listened to it several times and I can hear the audiobook in my head as I read. Also I’m finding that after several repetitions I’ve memorised some parts and phrases and will speak along with the voice actor so I’m thinking this repetitive listening might transfer more directly to speaking skills than more extensive listening. It’s a good thing I chose a very conversational book from a first person perspective and with no passé simple. So far, I’m getting a lot out of it so will continue with this but I don’t think I’ll do this for the entire book since it’ll take forever to get through.

This Week's Vocab from "Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles":
Ils m’ont plaquée
Prévenant
La sacoche
Apposer
Un défilé
Traîné au lit
Il ne faut pas que j’y prenne goût.
Ricaner
Je te dispense du préavis.
échevelée
pelotonner
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French Super Challenge 2022/2023:
: 18 / 100 Books
: 13 / 100 Films

DaveAgain
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby DaveAgain » Fri May 27, 2022 11:15 am

Van wrote:What I’m doing is on day 1, I listened to an 1 hour starting at Chapter 1 (Each chapter is about 5 minutes). On day 2, I listened to an 1 hour starting at Chapter 2 and so on. When I get a chance, I read a chapter intensively and note down any vocab or phrases but I don’t do anything else with these words. By the time I get to reading the chapter, I’ve already listened to it several times and I can hear the audiobook in my head as I read. Also I’m finding that after several repetitions I’ve memorised some parts and phrases and will speak along with the voice actor so I’m thinking this repetitive listening might transfer more directly to speaking skills than more extensive listening.
Something you could consider doing is shadowing/parroting the text as you listen along to the audio - pause the audio after a phrase/sentence and repeat it aloud. Not for an hour at a time though, just a few minutes every day, if a chapter is 5 minutes, then a chapter a day.
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Le Baron
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Re: Van's French Log

Postby Le Baron » Fri May 27, 2022 2:16 pm

Van wrote:What I’m doing is on day 1, I listened to an 1 hour starting at Chapter 1 (Each chapter is about 5 minutes). On day 2, I listened to an 1 hour starting at Chapter 2 and so on. When I get a chance, I read a chapter intensively and note down any vocab or phrases but I don’t do anything else with these words. By the time I get to reading the chapter, I’ve already listened to it several times and I can hear the audiobook in my head as I read. Also I’m finding that after several repetitions I’ve memorised some parts and phrases and will speak along with the voice actor so I’m thinking this repetitive listening might transfer more directly to speaking skills than more extensive listening.

I started doing a similar thing with intensive reading since the beginning of this year (though it's in Spanish). I'd been doing it a bit in the last months of 2021 and one concern I had was I wondered if perhaps I was only learning how to read that particular book, a temporary skill so to speak where you learn the patterns because you expect them in that particular order because of repeated listening.

It's actually quite difficult to measure the efficacy of what we do in the short-term, because in reality you tend to only notice any effects in the longer term. And there doesn't seem to be any real way to measure that. With any languages I was learning in the past - and the ones I've learned and still use now - I never did any of the structured reading-listening things or measuring input or anything. Perhaps I did some things which just happened to tally with some of these methodologies. All the reading and TV watching was rather haphazard
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