French - B2 and beyond

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Amandine
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Amandine » Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:02 am

I got distracted from my project to watch all of The X Files French dub without subtitles but got back into it and have finished the first season (24 episodes). It does subjectively feel like the number of scenes where I have no idea why it existed or what basic plot information was conveyed - definitely a high percentage of scenes when I began!! - has diminished significantly but I still put that improvement in the 'remains to be seen' category.

I am reading on the Kindle L'Eternel Fiancé by Agnès Desarthe which might be some kind of romance (?), I really don't know but it seemed like it would be a change of pace from the 500 page sadistic serial killer book I read previously. A few of the short chapters in, it has a rather whimsical Amelie vibe.

I am "intensive reading" L'Affaire Rambla ou Le Fantôme de Ranucci d'Agnès Grossmann - which means, listening to the audiobook and not transcribing it all but making notes and making sure I understand 'the facts' being communicated, trying to transcribe the sentences I don't understand and really trying to puzzle them out and then going through the written copy to check. Then making flashcards of sentences I want to learn. So far it's been a good choice because 1) a relatively straight forward non-fiction book, I'm understanding enough of the audiobook on first/second listen that its not too discouraging, actually sometimes quite encouraging! 2) I like true crime so it intrinsically holds my interest 3) relatively short chapters, most under 10 mins (although even a few minutes takes a long time to do this way)

This is one of my busy 7am-10pm work weeks so not much substantial M-F except for a bit of quick YouTube. I was pleased to discover this guy who does recaps of Better Call Saul in French on Youtube, it's my fave show so they've been good to listen to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJzcy ... fZw/videos

My iTalki teacher had a few weeks off sick and now a month off for the famous French August holidays so not doing any speaking for a while. Oh and I'm not doing the DELF B2 until next year sometime but I signed up with Alliance Francaise for the practice exam (reading/listening only) in October so on verra how I'm tracking then.
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Aug 11, 2022 3:40 am

I would expect a nice bump when you hit 50 hours of your show. So like one more season? Then a big leveling up around 200 hours. Keep at it! It gets easier!
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Amandine
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Amandine » Thu Aug 11, 2022 3:47 am

Lawyer&Mom wrote:I would expect a nice bump when you hit 50 hours of your show. So like one more season? Then a big leveling up around 200 hours. Keep at it! It gets easier!


I almost mentioned you actually because I've seen you mention the 50 hours threshold elsewhere so have it as an informal benchmark and it does feel right to me. Based on 33 x 90 minutes I'm currently at in my Super Challenge, that's 49.5 hours so bang on (in reality, somewhat more because I don't count everything I do for the SC) to be feeling improvement, which I definitely am. Thanks for the encouragement!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Aug 11, 2022 5:53 am

With English to French, 50 hours is about where you hit “I totally didn’t understand that entire sentence” instead of “I totally didn’t understand that entire scene.” Such a great feeling, I’m glad you are there. The worst is behind you!
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Cavesa
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Cavesa » Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:32 am

I confirm there is usually a "jump" in ability somewhere by the end f the first season of a new tv series, especially the first one in a "new" language.

So, you have a lot to look forward to!
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frenchfish55
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby frenchfish55 » Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:06 am

Amandine wrote:Pleased to say this long weekend I knocked over some of my outstanding tasks

- watched quite a lot in the last week without subtitles. The first 6 episodes of X Files French dub (Disney) and first 3 episodes of Star Trek Original Series (Netflix) French dub.!

Sorry. I missed. Did you listen something before ? RFI podcast or something else to understand tv series without subs?
What is you way?podcasts,audiobooks?
what works better?cartoons like Tintin or podcasts?
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Amandine
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Amandine » Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:49 pm

frenchfish55 wrote:Sorry. I missed. Did you listen something before ? RFI podcast or something else to understand tv series without subs?
What is you way?podcasts,audiobooks?
what works better?cartoons like Tintin or podcasts?


I didn't do anything to prepare specifically for watching things without subtitles, just learned French in a fairly ordinary language learning type way until I thought I could cope with something potentially as frustrating as a whole series without subtitles. I was probably influenced in this by the Refold method (refold.la) about which I find much to critique but also there's good things to cherrypick from. I generally like to watch with French subtitles because I still find that the sweet spot of immersion but also sufficient comprehension to enjoy the thing itself. But I decided to start deliberately adding in a few things without subtitles. To begin with, a TV show might be better than a podcast because you have all the visual clues to help you understand the context.

My motto is that the best language learning method is whatever is the one you can do consistently and with some degree of enthusiasm. One method may have marginal scientific benefit over another but surely it seems to me that effect is far outweighed by consistency and quantity.

In general, I skipped over cartoons and other things meant for kids because, to me, its more important to read/watch things that hold your interest. With a couple of exceptions (Bluey!) kids shows in English don't interest me, so why would they in French? Of course it may be necessary to go through that stage and I did read a couple of kids books at the beginning, but get out of that stage as quickly as possible imho.
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Le Baron
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Le Baron » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:36 am

Amandine wrote:With a couple of exceptions (Bluey!)


I found the parody re-dubbed version of that 'Bargearse', accidentally on YouTube. 8-)
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Amandine
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Amandine » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:48 am

Le Baron wrote:
I found the parody re-dubbed version of that 'Bargearse', accidentally on YouTube. 8-)


Oh boy that takes me back! I loved The Late Show, the comedy sketch show it was on, although I was probably/definitely too young for it at the time. Thank goodness for my parents' policy of benign neglect :lol: :lol:
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Le Baron
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Re: French - towards B1 and beyond

Postby Le Baron » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:54 am

I have a soft-spot for old Oz TV. Prisoner especially, which I watch sometimes when I'm 'working' at home.
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