There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

[MamaPata]

I'm looking at starting two French courses soon, one of which is pretty advanced, so that should be a challenge, but hopefully an interesting one!

Is that with your university, or are these online MOOCs?

I'll do one of them at the uni and another at an adult education centre. I don't know how I'd fare with a MOOC - I like the connection with the teacher.

[tarvos]

I want to read Zinky Boys and the book you're reading too. Alexievich is great.

[MamaPata]

Well, I have signed up for a French course at university. It's a little more challenging than I was hoping, which is a little worrying in terms of grades, but probably good for me in general! It definitely means that I need to get back into French at any rate. I had also been planning to do a French course at an adult education centre, but that has not panned out, which is annoying. I like to be busy, and I figured that the two courses would support each other. I work well in a course/teaching environment, where there is more external motivation.

So, on Thursday I went to try two French courses. One was the highest formal class, which they said would prepare you for C1/C2, and the other was a French Literature discussion group (in French). However, the formal class simply wasn't a high enough level, which I find really annoying. Based on my own understanding and an online level test, I would place myself somewhere around B1, maybe B2 in some areas (but not many!). I find it quite irritating that there is so little available at this level - French is a very widely spoken language, it is widely taught, so I cannot believe that there isn't a market for high level courses. I have found a couple, but one is an exam prep course and around £700 for 2.5 terms (plus exam fees). There are also a few at the Institut Francais which go for over £300 a term. I understand that teachers need to be paid well, and that locations are expensive, but I just find this a bit ridiculous (and way out of my budget).

[DaveBee]

So, on Thursday I went to try two French courses. One was the highest formal class, which they said would prepare you for C1/C2, and the other was a French Literature discussion group (in French). However, the formal class simply wasn't a high enough level, which I find really annoying. Based on my own understanding and an online level test, I would place myself somewhere around B1, maybe B2 in some areas (but not many!). I find it quite irritating that there is so little available at this level - French is a very widely spoken language, it is widely taught, so I cannot believe that there isn't a market for high level courses. I have found a couple, but one is an exam prep course and around £700 for 2.5 terms (plus exam fees). There are also a few at the Institut Francais which go for over £300 a term. I understand that teachers need to be paid well, and that locations are expensive, but I just find this a bit ridiculous (and way out of my budget).

The discussion group should be good though, don't you think? Just forcing you to produce french, about a defined topic for forty mins.

I've signed up for a MOOC, which I mostly intend to use for output practise in the course forum.

[MamaPata]

]The discussion group should be good though, don't you think? Just forcing you to produce french, about a defined topic for forty mins.

I've signed up for a MOOC, which I mostly intend to use for output practise in the course forum.

Yeah, I would have gone for the discussion group because it would have been a lot of reading and speaking. However, when I tested it, the group fell into English a lot, even though they clearly had very high levels of French. They had all been going for over 20 years, and were really upset that the location had been moved, so I felt that there would be a lot of time spent trying to move back, and complaining about that, rather than actually doing the course. As I'm still a student, I decided that it would therefore again be too much money, for not enough actual learning/positive experience. I don't think there are any more of those that haven't already started this term, but I might do another one in January.

But until then, a MOOC sounds like a really good idea! I'll check them out - I definitely need the output practise.

[MamaPata]

Woops, it's been a while. I'm still trying to sort my French course, so should hopefully have an update about that next week. Otherwise, we are now settled into the academic year and life is ticking along. I don't have masses to report, but I want to get back into the habit of doing my weekly summaries, because I find it useful to consider it all together.

On the plus side, I have reached 600 language hours so far this year! It's a lot less than I was maybe hoping for, but it's a lot higher than I initially thought I would make, so I'm pretty happy! Now to just push it as high as possible in the next 2.5 months. I am cautiously hopeful that I could reach 500 Russian hours over the year, so fingers crossed!

Russian
- Hours: 7. (I don't count classes in this, as an fyi). This is not really as high as it should have been, so I need to work to push it a little higher in the future. This term is pretty light, as I have two modules that start in the new year. So I need to focus on making as much progress with Russian as possible and getting a ton of research done for my dissertation.
- Read: A few bits and pieces, but nothing that is worth counting.

- Watched: Серп и молот (Livnev, 1994). This was so so weird. I have watched a plethora of bizarre Russian/Soviet films and this one may have been my weirdest yet. But there's a lot to discuss about it, and it was definitely interesting. I'm doing a film course this term so I should be watching a film a week for the most part. I also watched an episode or so of OUAT.


- Wrote: ... Potentially something?
- Grammar: Some bits in class.

French
- Hours: 5 hours. Better than expected, but needs improving!
- Read: I started 'Avec mon meilleur souvenir' by Francoise Sagan. It looks pretty interesting and easy, so it should hopefully get me back in the habit.
- Watched: I watched Strictly Ballroom dubbed into French... Doesn't really count but it's something I guess!
- Wrote: Nothing.
- Grammar: A few exercises on prepositions.

Spanish

I'm probably not going to include this from now on, as Spanish is unfortunately just a tool for procrastination until this year is finished.

[MamaPata]

I've hit the Russian films section of the Super Challenge! This means I completed a Super Challenge in French, and the film section in Russian. I am waaaay off the reading, so I am definitely not going to make it - I think I would have to read about 50 pages a day between now and Christmas. This is more or less what I figured would happen though. I'll reflect on it all more at the end of the year, but it's a nice marker for now!

Russian
- Hours: 10 hours - slowly creeping up, but I really need to push myself.
- Read: 66 pages of Harry Potter. I'm finally half way through and I am so ready to be done with it! I also started Человек Амфибия, because a few people on the forum seem to have enjoyed it and because I have access to it. It's not really my genre, so I don't see myself making speedy progress, but it's nice to read a page or two when I need a palate cleanser.

- Watched: Вор (Сhukhrai, 1997).

I'd probably recommend this - it's pretty short (barely an hour and a half) and it's very pretty filming. It's an interesting look at different periods of Russian/Soviet history, and the acting is excellent, even the child actor who does a brilliant job. (Also, the two main actors are incredibly attractive). Obviously, it's a Russian film so standard warnings for violence and misery! I've seen another film by Chukrai (Driver for Vera) which I thought was really interesting and beautifully shot, and two films by his father - Ballad of a Soldier and the Forty First (this is a remake of a warfilm, and I've sadly only seen the remake. I'd like to watch the original at some point). Ballad of a Soldier and the Forty First are excellent war films, but I would probably recommend the first more than the second.

I also watched two episodes of OUAT - so close to finishing!

- Wrote: Some bits and pieces, but nothing that I've counted.
- Grammar: Bizarrely, I don't think I did any.
- 1 italki lesson - looking at synonyms and antonyms. We've been doing this for a few lessons and it's been useful in terms of reviving and increasing my vocabulary (and particularly differentiating between synonyms), but I'm hoping we move on to something else soon!

French
- Hours: 5 hours.
- Read: Not much.
- Watched: An episode of Miss Fisher with my dad.
- Wrote: 400 word biography.
- Grammar: I started working through French Verb Drills (De Roussy de Sales). It's very easy to go through, as it is fairly straightforward - you don't really have to choose between tenses, just practise forming them. For me this is quite useful as I have studied French grammar in a lot of detail over the years, and just need a bit of a reminder. I'll move on to more serious options when I have refreshed the basics.

[MamaPata]

This week has been a bit demoralising (and demoralised). Pretty much every lesson that I have had has resulted in me leaving feeling very unsure of myself and my level, and wondering whether any of my work is actually paying off. While I can see that I have made progress over the last few years in both languages, I feel like I am perpetually stuck at B1 and that the jump to B2 is almost astronomical. I really want to graduate this year with a first, and it simply doesn't feel like I will manage it at all.

Does anyone have any advice on how to measure progress at the intermediate level? (I don't really want to do more tests - it takes a lot of time that I don't really have to spare at the moment- but I am thinking about it). When I was a beginner, it was a lot easier to see myself improving, whereas I do feel like I've plateaued at B1 for French for the last five years. I wasn't studying for all of this time, but quite a bit of it, so it is starting to feel overwhelming. I've been considering doing a DELF B2 exam, either at Christmas or Easter, because I do want to work in France in the future, and I think this would be helpful. Either of this would allow me to retake in the summer if I failed. However, the Christmas sitting is very soon and the Easter sitting coincides with a ton of major deadlines. If I want to do the Christmas one, I have to decide in the next two days.

Russian
- Hours: 17 hours. This is a lot more than last week, so I am very pleased I managed to push myself a bit more. While a lot of it was watching, I did also do a lot of SRS work, intensive reading, etc.
- Read: One fairytale, and several BBC Russian articles. I really haven't been in the mood to read anything this week, partly because of the classes being so much of a pain, and none of the books I own are appealing to me. However, I've been enjoying reading the articles intensively, and will ty to keep emphasising this.
- Watched: Кукушка (Rogozhkin, 2002). This is a sort of a war film, though only a few minutes actually take place at the front, so I would definitely recommend it even if you dislike the genre. It's a pretty light comedy, and the scenery is stunning. And from a language perspective, it's fascinating because it is in Russian, Finnish and a Sami language (I cannot find which one and don't know enough about them to know any further, maybe someone else can comment!). So there are probably not that many people who can watch it without some form of subtitling. Most of the humour comes from the fact that the three protagonists don't speak each other's langauges. It's very pretty and it's a nice comedy, though I expected slightly more from it than there actually is.



I also started watching the Russian dub of Castle. I'm really enjoying it (I love Nathan Fillion) and I'm finding it very easy to watch, though I definitely miss a lot of details. I'm not too worried about watching dubs because I also watch so many Russian films, and a lot of Russian youtubers.

- Wrote: 200 words. I think it will be really useful for me to get back into the habit of writing.
- Grammar: Nothing that I can think of.
- 1 italki lesson - looking at synonyms and antonyms, and commonly used phrases in Russian. It seems like we're going to continue working on synonyms for a while, so I might ask to move on fairly soon.

French
- Hours: 5 hours. One of the downsides about really pushing the Russian is that I'm just not getting the French time in. I don't really know what to do about this - I want to get more French in, but I also think I need to cram Russian as much as is possible. This is a part of why I want to do the French exam - I want a bit more external motivation.
- Read: Articles for class.
- Watched: A number of youtube videos.
- Wrote: A text rewriting individual quotes so that they were in reported speech.
- Grammar: Exercises on reported speech.

[DaveBee]

Does anyone have any advice on how to measure progress at the intermediate level? (I don't really want to do more tests - it takes a lot of time that I don't really have to spare at the moment- but I am thinking about it). When I was a beginner, it was a lot easier to see myself improving, whereas I do feel like I've plateaued at B1 for French for the last five years.

Without a test, you could perhaps:

1.search YouTube for examples of other people taking a DELF B1, B2, C1 oral test, and ask yourself how well you understand the dialogue, and try to compare your own skills by reproducing a self-talk summary in french afterwards.

2. If you can remember finding a book/video/song difficult way back when, you could revisit it now and judge your own progress.

EDIT
TV5 Monde, and RFI both have some A1-B2 graded exercises (RFI even have a few C level exercises). You could try a few of those and see how you do.

[Elenia]

With regards to French, you might simply need to push yourself harder. Your time is limited, so don't use all of it on activities that you're comfortable with. Work along your boundaries. Listen to things which are just that little bit faster than what you're comfortable with, or which contain fewer known words or different registers. Vary your reading more also to include different genres and different styles of writing, and really concentrate on how the things you read (especially articles and essays) are structured.

I've never really felt that I've plateaued in Swedish, and I think that is partly to do with the fact that I have always been overly ambitious in my Swedish journey. I am only feeling a bit discontent with my progress now that I've settled into a routine and am not stretching myself as much.