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

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

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

Postby MamaPata » Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:44 pm

I passed the DALF, thank God! (And more successfully than I had thought I would!)

Overall, I got 67.5/100:
Reading - 17.5/25
Writing - 18/25
Listening - 18/25
Speaking - 14/25

I still don’t feel like my French is at C1 level - C1 to me feels much better than this. I make so many mistakes and it doesn’t feel natural. I can read and watch stuff, but it always seems like there’s so much more under the surface. Even if I’d got a score in the 90s, I’m pretty sure I would still feel like that.

I’m hoping that this will be useful to other people on this forum - there are several people in particular who I see talking about their French as much lower than C1 or even B2 when based on their writing and what they do, I know they are better than me. These levels aren’t as perfect as it feels.

I definitely need to do some thinking about where I go from here. As I said, I don’t feel like my level is C1 and I’m not *happy* with it, as it were. But I’m not quite sure that I’m ready to put in the time and energy it would take for that to change. It’s a point of real diminishing returns and I have a lot of other things I want to prioritise - my new job, academic goals (I’ve got three conferences/events coming up, I want to start writing more, there are research projects I’m interested in), I’m focusing on my health (which takes up a lot of time and money), I’d like to do more day trips in the UK, there are other skills and hobbies I’d like to pick up, I want to continue with French and Spanish, at some point (though probably not for another 2 years) I’d like to pick up a new language or two, I have a social life... More time on French means accepting a loss in some of the others. I can do everything that I want to do in French - it’s entirely serviceable. I don’t know what that means in terms of where I go from here.
17 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
badger
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
Location: UK
Languages: native: English
intermediate: French
dabbling: Spanish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
x 1132

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

Postby badger » Sat Apr 27, 2019 2:33 pm

Félicitations! I never doubted that you'd pass. :)

The people assessing you on C1 say you're C1, so why not take them at their word? ;)
3 x

Cenwalh
Green Belt
Posts: 267
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:14 am
Location: UK
Languages: English (N), Spanish (C1), Catalan (B2).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12467
x 848

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

Postby Cenwalh » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:51 am

Congratulations on passing! The DALF is the only true way of determining whether you are C1, and it has determined that you are and therefore you are. That others can write better French in their own time with possible help of a dictionary and a search engine than you can speak spontaneously in exam conditions doesn't make them better than you, and if they are better than you then their determined level needs raising, not yours lowering.
3 x
Double SC films: 200 / 200 (updated 2022-07-28)
Double SC books: 34 / 200 (updated 2022-07-28)

User avatar
PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
x 8029

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

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sun Apr 28, 2019 10:37 am

Well done MamaPata on your Dalf C1 exam. You truly deserve this and definitely should not think that you are not worthy of this level, you most definitely are! Good luck with your future endeavours! (keep your French up, eh? You’ve come too far).
1 x

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

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

Postby MamaPata » Sun May 05, 2019 10:31 am

badger wrote:Félicitations! I never doubted that you'd pass. :)

The people assessing you on C1 say you're C1, so why not take them at their word? ;)


PeterMollenburg wrote:Well done MamaPata on your Dalf C1 exam. You truly deserve this and definitely should not think that you are not worthy of this level, you most definitely are! Good luck with your future endeavours! (keep your French up, eh? You’ve come too far).


Cenwalh wrote:Congratulations on passing! The DALF is the only true way of determining whether you are C1, and it has determined that you are and therefore you are. That others can write better French in their own time with possible help of a dictionary and a search engine than you can speak spontaneously in exam conditions doesn't make them better than you, and if they are better than you then their determined level needs raising, not yours lowering.


Thank you all - that's very kind! It's lovely to have this forum and the community.

Languages have continued, though not necessarily as much as I might want. I've got two academic commitments coming up (both related to Russia but not requiring much Russian at this precise point. They're about things I worked on in the past, so most of what I'm doing now is writing them up in English and preparing the materials). This is really exciting, but it means that all my free time is basically focused on them and it takes up a lot of headspace. Also, because it means changing my days at work in order to attend them, it means I have much less time for the next fortnight. I am probably going to translate one of the materials into French/Spanish/Russian so that will be fun. Otherwise, languages are as follows:

Spanish

This is, to my great surprise, probably getting most time at the moment. I watched Gran Hotel, which I got really into, so that gave me a pretty big boost. It was pretty useful for me. I learned the usted form in school, but have been feeling pretty unsure about the formality/informality options in Spanish recently, so a series that is so class-based and uses so much usted was really useful for me. I have been listening to a few podcasts as well, so this side of the Super Challenge is actually going pretty strong. But I'll need another series to watch now!

I also started reading 'El Príncipe de la Niebla' by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, as a way of building myself up to the Shadow of the Wind. It's a young adult book, so it's much shorter and a lot easier. Hopefully that will make it easier to tackle TSotW. Does mean that I will be even further behind the book group though. And given how busy everything is, I probably won't even make the extended deadline. Sorry!

I signed up the Lingoda Half Marathon for Spanish and I just want it to start now! I'm excited about it, I want to get going! Sooner started, sooner finished!

Russian

Russian is a solid part of my current work, though not necessarily a daily thing. It's a bit of an adjustment for me. I've never translated into Russian - I find that if I write like that, I end up writing in a much more anglicised form, and I don't really think it's how translators should work. I've seen a lot of Russian translations into English that were very obviously written by a Russian - they just didn't flow. But my current job requires me to translate quite a bit into Russian, which has been a useful experience. Everything I translate currently then gets proofread. In some ways, it's a bit discouraging because it comes back with a lot of corrections! But amusingly, I had taken some sentences from other work which had been written by a native speaker. And those got corrected as much as my stuff! So that makes it easier to accept that I'll always have some faults.

I also have a conversation exchange that I'm doing with a friend of one of my teacher's. It probably ends up skewing a bit more 60:40 (English:Russian), which I wouldn't love in someone else, but because it's a connection, I'm okay with it. She's a really great partner as well, so that works out well. It was interesting because she sent me a slightly technical article (related to my work) to read. As it is at work, my comprehension is actually pretty high - there were only a couple of words I didn't know. But my speaking is pretty grim - I can only make pretty basic sentences, my stress is atrocious (it's never been great, but it definitely used to be less terrible). I warmed up a bit as I went, so it's not a dire situation, but it does make it very clear. It's the same for French - my speaking has always been my strongest skill, but that's not the case anymore, and my current systems are very passive-focused. I really want to get back into doing some italki lessons, but I don't quite know when that will happen. I can't do anything for the next fortnight, and after that I'll be doing the Lingoda thing so I'll have pretty limited time.

French

French continues. I haven't really done much, but I do want to push on with the Super Challenge. I ordered a copy of La Louve de France, so I'll probably go back and maybe try and finish the series (I definitely want to finish by the end of the year, but I often need a break between books). When my mum picked up the first Rois Maudits book in a French market years ago, she didn't expect me to actually read this many of them!
4 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
GnomeChomsky
White Belt
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:26 pm
Location: Southern California, USA
Languages: English (N), Spanish (A2-B1?)
x 44

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

Postby GnomeChomsky » Sun May 05, 2019 6:33 pm

MamaPata wrote:
This is, to my great surprise, probably getting most time at the moment. I watched Gran Hotel, which I got really into, so that gave me a pretty big boost. It was pretty useful for me. I learned the usted form in school, but have been feeling pretty unsure about the formality/informality options in Spanish recently, so a series that is so class-based and uses so much usted was really useful for me.


I've heard a lot of good things about Gran Hotel. I should put it on my list after I finish El Internado. I didn't know that Zafrón wrote YA. Would you say it's easy enough for a B1 level reader? Oh, and by the way, congratulation on passing the DALF! A very impressive achievement.
1 x

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

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

Postby MamaPata » Sun May 19, 2019 11:19 am

GnomeChomsky wrote:
MamaPata wrote:
This is, to my great surprise, probably getting most time at the moment. I watched Gran Hotel, which I got really into, so that gave me a pretty big boost. It was pretty useful for me. I learned the usted form in school, but have been feeling pretty unsure about the formality/informality options in Spanish recently, so a series that is so class-based and uses so much usted was really useful for me.


I've heard a lot of good things about Gran Hotel. I should put it on my list after I finish El Internado. I didn't know that Zafrón wrote YA. Would you say it's easy enough for a B1 level reader? Oh, and by the way, congratulation on passing the DALF! A very impressive achievement.


Sorry, thought about responding to this but apparently that doesn't mean I actually did it, despite what my brain thinks! :oops:

Thanks! I am very pleased.

I always get a bit stuck trying to work out what level something is appropriate for, because I find levels hard to judge and it depends where your interests are. My vocabulary is much stronger on certain subjects than others, so I find reading fantasy difficult for example. But, having made those disclaimers, yes, I would definitely say it was suitable for B1. It's a pretty short, simple story, but engaging enough to keep you going. There were a lot of words I didn't know, but I always knew what was happening in general. I'm probably going to read the second as it feels like a good level for me.
1 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
GnomeChomsky
White Belt
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:26 pm
Location: Southern California, USA
Languages: English (N), Spanish (A2-B1?)
x 44

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

Postby GnomeChomsky » Sun May 19, 2019 8:48 pm

MamaPata wrote:I always get a bit stuck trying to work out what level something is appropriate for, because I find levels hard to judge and it depends where your interests are. My vocabulary is much stronger on certain subjects than others, so I find reading fantasy difficult for example. But, having made those disclaimers, yes, I would definitely say it was suitable for B1. It's a pretty short, simple story, but engaging enough to keep you going. There were a lot of words I didn't know, but I always knew what was happening in general. I'm probably going to read the second as it feels like a good level for me.


Thanks MamaPata. It sounds like a good option for my next book.
0 x

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

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

Postby MamaPata » Sat Jun 08, 2019 12:49 pm

When did it get to be June?

I don't have a huge amount to report. June is a very hectic month for me, plus I've had a horrible cold for two weeks. I'm up coughing a lot in the night, it's made my hearing worse, and my brain just isn't working, all of which means that language study has taken a pretty large hit. I've also been reading some non-fiction for academic purposes in English, so reading time has gone down. This is a shame as it's the reading part of the Super Challenge that I'm behind with, so I want to make more progress. But overall, I'm not too worried. Hopefully I'll be a bit less pressured after June is over.

Watching
In terms of what I have done over the month or so, I finished the Trotsky series on Netflix. Truly, it's dire. :shock: For me, it's kind of fascinating from a social perspective, but in terms of artistic merit, it's awful. But it did mean that I watched some Russian.
I watched a couple of episodes of Cable Girls in Spanish, but nothing much. I haven't been in a big TV mood.

In terms of French, I watched the film Paris est à nous, which is also quite terrible. I really didn't like it. It's got some interesting ideas, but nothing actually goes anywhere. And from a language perspective, it's pretty annoying as there's a lot of silence or musical interludes. I also watched the first series of Marseille, which was interesting and taught me several new swearwords, but I don't feel any desire to watch the second series. I watch stuff with French subtitles, so I find it quite hard to tell how much I understand, but I prefer it that way. Someone shared a statistic somewhere on this site from a study that suggested that students learned more if they watched with subtitles, so that's what I do. I also find it helps with spelling, you get some different vocabulary as the subtitles never match entirely, and it means I'm less likely to tune out. I'm not worried about not being able to watch without subtitles as I listen to a lot of podcasts.

Reading

I read La Louve de France, which is the fifth in the Rois Maudits series. I want to finish the series, but they get worse and worse. This one was also quite strong on the sexism and homophobia, which got pretty boring. I'll take a long break before 6 and 7 I think! I've got quite a few French books lined up, so should be pretty easy to find something else to read, just need to find time and energy.

Other

I am two weeks into the Lingoda half marathon for Spanish, and it seems to be going okay. It's a really interesting process, so will try and write more about that another time.
3 x
Corrections appreciated.

StringerBell
Brown Belt
Posts: 1035
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 3:30 am
Languages: English (n)
Italian
x 3289

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

Postby StringerBell » Sat Jun 08, 2019 1:02 pm

Have you ever read Sombre Sentier by Dominique Manotti? It's a French novel, but I recently bought it translated into Italian. It sounds promising (a crime thriller about the seedy underworld of 1980s Paris), but since I haven't started it yet, I was wondering if you'd already read it so that you could tell me it's terrible. :D
0 x
Season 4 Lucifer Italian transcripts I created: https://learnanylanguage.fandom.com/wik ... ranscripts


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests