Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

[LanguageLearner0007]

I almost forgot about this thread but thought it would be good to update, in case anyone is still reading.

Studying French as an adult (even without kids) continues to be a major challenge.

With busy work schedule, many commitments and lack of support, it often falls down on the priority list.

The person who promised to help me wasn't very enthusiastic and my own enthusiasm was going up and down.

I started using the Busuu app which was better than Duolingo but really overloaded with ads.

My favourite mode of learning is still translating articles from physical newspapers - very calming and interesting.

Tried to watch "Marseille" but it wasn't as exciting, so stopped in the beginning of the first season.

One major breakthrough is that I started engaging in small chat in French, in shops and restaurants.

For now, I will continue translating articles. It gets easier and easier and my comprehension level is around 85-90%, on the written text.

Happy 2023 everyone and good luck!

[LanguageLearner0007]

Got the Busuu app - really useful and short. Completed B1 and B2 levels entirely.

The app approach seems to work well for someone who is very busy, as you can do it anywhere on the go.

Looking for something new to do now.

There is less and less unknown now, I can understand almost all articles in the newspapers.

[LanguageLearner0007]

I realised that tomorrow will be the anniversary of this thread.

The reality is that I am extremely busy and my approach to learning French has been inconsistent, some intense studying was followed by complete withdrawal, and then some studying again.

There was no real sense of urgency in completing this and more immediate problems and issues took precedence.

Learning a language is hard but not impossible.

I continue learning at a slow pace, favouring the easy approaches and I feel that I learn something incrementally every time.

I will likely continue doing this for the foreseeable future and see how it goes.

[LanguageLearner0007]

I am continuing with Kwiziq time to time, the percentage goes up slowly.

At the moment, I have the following figures.

A1: 73.70%
A2: 42.71%

[LanguageLearner0007]

Hello, just wanted to share a small achievement - I have completed the entire course of French on Busuu. 4 chapters: A1, A2, B1, B2.

Busuu is the app that allows you to learn the language easily and step-by-step in an app, for me it was the only way that I could handle recently.

Before, I completed the entire Duolingo and I must say Busuu is much, much better.

It is shorter and focuses more on practical, important aspects.

With Busuu, I finally understood some of the topics that I failed to grasp before (like passive voice, difference between imparfait and passe compose, etc.).

I can definitely recommend this app to everyone.

I really liked the quality of Busuu and I hope they will develop C1 and C2 modules in the future.

Now that I passed the entire Busuu, I will need to do something harder.

Kwiziq is one thing but I find that it focuses too much on very improbable scenarios and subtle points of Grammar - there's limited use of that in real life.

Apart from that, some books and newspaper articles, as usual.

I can definitely sense the progress over time, it's not quick but there's definitely improvement over time.

[LanguageLearner0007]

I find that Kwiziq requires quite a strong mental exertion, my mind is rarely clear enough to make progress there.

There's a small uptick at the A2 level.

A1: 73.70%
A2: 45.53%

[LanguageLearner0007]

I have lost my DELF book, cannot find it anywhere. Continuing with Kwiziq for now. It gives me the most subtle grammar things and I can't seem to get it right, every time I have 3-4 mistakes out of 10. Will continue working through the errors with discipline.

[LanguageLearner0007]

Notes to self


23.

How could you say "Marie worked for ten hours yesterday."?

There were 3 correct responses, I have picked 3, 2 of them correct and 1 incorrect.

The correct responses were:

- Marie a travaillé pendant dix heures hier.
- Marie a travaillé durant dix heures hier.

The incorrect response was:

- Marie a travaillé pour dix heures hier.

Instead, the 3rd correct response was:

Marie a travaillé dix heures hier.


For me, I have simply translated the English word by word and the chosen response was the most similar to the phrase "Marie worked FOR 10 hours yesterday". That is apparently incorrect because you can only use "pour" for duration in the future. Very subtle!

Rule:

Expressing duration can be different in French.

1) depuis + [durée] = for + [duration]

This is used when the action happened in the past but still continues in the present (ongoing duration).

2) (pendant / durant) + [durée] or simply the duration itself = for/during + [duration]

Duration with a clear beginning and end. Whether they take place in the past, present, or future.

3) pour + [durée] = for + [duration]

[LanguageLearner0007]

Notes to self


24. Mon visa de touriste est valide ________ septembre.
My tourist visa is valid from June to September.
(HINT: June = juin)

My response was "de juin au" and the correct response was "de juin à".

This is just a matter of memorization. There are two distinct structures, depending on whether an article "le" is used normally or not.

Rule:

1 - Using "du ... au ..."
du ... au ... (literally: from the ... to the ...) is used when the definite article le is normally present in French:

Le festival dure du 24 juillet au 5 août.
Cet athlète s'entraîne du lundi au samedi, toutes les semaines.

2 - Using "de ... à ..."
de ... à ... (literally: from ... to ...) is used in cases where le is not present in French:

Je travaille tous les jours de neuf heures à dix-sept heures.
Ma grand-mère regarde la télé de dix-neuf à vingt-et-une heures.
Ce musée est ouvert de mai à octobre.
Il restera ici de lundi à mardi.

[LanguageLearner0007]

Notes to self


25. Aurélie ________ avec sa soeur.
Aurélie had an argument with her sister.
(HINT: conjugate "se disputer" (to have an argument) in the compound past (Passé Composé))

My response was "a se disputé" and the correct response was "s'est disputée". I even forgot to match the gender!

This is the type of sentence that I am not really familiar with, although I must've seen this in the past.

It has to do with conjugation of the French reflexive verbs in the compound past.

This one I think is quite counterintuitive and will take some time to memorize.

Rule:

Reflexive verbs always use être as the auxiliary verb in Le Passé Composé.

Note also that the verb must agree with the gender and number of the person.
i.e. taking an extra -e for women, and an extra -s for more than one person, -es for multiple women.

Examples

Je me suis lavé les dents.
Je me suis bien amusée.
Tu t'es bien amusé hier soir?
Il s'est levé tôt.
Nous nous sommes assis à l'arrière.
Vous vous êtes bien amusés?
Elles se sont disputées.