Woops, it's been a while. I have been doing some work for both French and Russian, but I won't run through it all here - anything interesting I watched may be added to a summary in the next few weeks.
As it's nearly the end of 2017 (when did that happen
), I figured I'd have a look back over and lay out my stats for the Super Challenge - what went well, what I need to think about in the future, progress, etc, etc. I may read a few more things, but I won't bother counting them on the official tracker. So here it is:
FrenchI watched 163 hours of TV and film from June 2016. I had aimed to do a single challenge, which I finished back in May this year. After that point, I decided that I would stop counting dubbed media, which had made up the most of my watching, but would continue to watch stuff. Therefore, I haven't really tracked anything after May aside from a few episodes of Au Service de la France and Ainsi Soient-Ils.
I read 6167 pages of text in French, which included a mixture of native and translated content. In terms of native texts I read: (anything I finished should be listed at the start of my log)
L'Etranger
Trois Mousquetaires
Les Gens du Balto
Histoire de Madame de Luz
La Belle et la Bete
Suite Francaise (only 25 pages)
L'Elegance des Veuves (only 10 pages)
Le Terroriste Noir (only 10 pages)
Les Miserables (only 30 pages)
Les gens heureux lisent et boivent du café (God, I hated this and I like a good romance novel)
Le Roi de Fer
Avec Mon Meilleur Souvenir
Femmes de Dictateur (94 pages)
This was a real game changer for me - I came across the Super Challenge in late May, which led me to the forum, and it was a whole new experience. I have seen a definite improvement in my French, but most importantly, it just became a part of my life. I do now read in French much more regularly and I will always choose the French dub, if I am going to watch things on Netflix. I've even roped my family in - we now watch Jane the Virgin and Brooklyn-99 together in French.
I didn't do as well watching native content after May. Some of that is just me being lazy/cowardly, but some of it is more than that, which I'll talk about in Russian. Overall, I'm really pleased. I would say that my French was probably about a low B1 when I began, but I'm definitely nearing the B2 range now. I can watch videos without subtitles and catch pretty much everything happening, though I do miss nuance. My vocabulary is much larger than it was previously, thanks to both the watching and reading. I can read with a lot more ease than I could when I started - you don't have to go back too far in my log to find me complaining about Le Roi de Fer when I started, but it got significantly easier to read by the end. I also saw a huge jump after reading Les Trois Mousquetaires.
My French definitely isn't where I would like it to be, and my writing (and general accuracy) lags behind. But I can talk about pretty much everything I want to (with mistakes) and watch and read the things I want to. It is a bit of a process settling into a new book, but I can read for pleasure, which is one of my key goals. I couldn't work in French, which is probably a vague goal of mine, but otherwise, I feel happy with my level of French to do the things I want to do.
RussianI only read 1748 pages of Russian for this Super Challenge, which is well below reaching my goal! I am slightly annoyed by this as I am sure I would have seen a much bigger progression had I worked harder. I can't read without the help of a dictionary in Russian, which meant that I really have to push myself to do the work. However, in my defence, I do a lot of reading for class - weekly translations, reading aloud in skype lessons, etc - which I did not count, because it's never more than 5 pages here and there. But as it is very regular, it has helped me. I also started using LWT, which I will push on with next year.
However, I did make it to the films portion of the challenge! I watched 198 hours over the challenge, which I'm really pleased with. I watched a lot of dubbed content, but also a good number of films. If anyone is looking for recommendations, my favourite films are starred.
Интердевочка
Кухня
Екатерина
Брат 2 (This is entertaining, but Брат is far superior)
Cherry Orchard (play)
Student films
Вдох, выдох
Я тоже хочу
Точка
Итальянец
Портрет в сумерках (very good, but so so grim)
4
Исповедь содержания
Все умрут, а я останусь
Беловы (This is a semi documentary film - just looking at the lives of this family, so it's interesting if nothing else!)
Метель
Станционный смотритель
Летят журавли (It's a classic. It had been hyped up for me so I didn't like it as much as I had expected, but it's very good)
Жил певчий дрозд
Мольба
Романовы
Hammer and Sickle
Вор (I like this director. He makes quite Hollywood style films so they're a nice way into Russian cinema with all its misery. His are miserable, but in a more familar style)
Кукушка (The scenery is gorgeous and it's a very light war film)
Груз-200 * (So good, but so grim)
В Движении (I hated this, but it's very in keeping with that Russian mentality that everything is out of your control)
Лунный папа * (One of my favourite films ever)
Коктебель
путешествие с домашними животными
Русалка * (Hilarious and brilliant)
Again, I do also watch a lot of dubbed content in Russian. Like I said, there are certain things I watch with my family, but also, I watch a variety of shows recommended to me by friends. Equally, if I'm going to watch a series (rather than a film or documentary) I want to be able to then share it with my friends, who are unlikely to watch stuff with subtitles (and none of whom speak French or Russian). Plus, I know what I like when it comes to British and American TV (and literature) so I have a much much higher chance of getting into a series or book. I don't love Russian TV series - I like things that are reasonably cheerful or I know will end happily, but I can't stand second hand embarrassment or people being unnecessarily mean to each other (both of which seem to be pretty standard in Russian comedies).
This is something I really want to work on in 2018 and in the next SC for French, but I'm also not too bothered about it (and not at all bothered for Russian). I do watch a lot of youtube content (which I don't count) and so on in both languages, so I am getting exposure to native speech. Equally, I have watched a
lot of Russian films (if that's something you're interested, I will be posting here, or you can friend me on Letterboxed).
Overall, I am really pleased with both Super Challenges. I can see a real jump in my comprehension and I am sure that it has helped cement grammar rules. I'm looking forward to the next one!
Corrections appreciated.