The great push to C2 (Extra French Edition)

[whatiftheblog]

Marais - thank you very much for the offer! Luckily, we have it on Netflix here. Watched the first two episodes today - really enjoyable, plus it helps that the prosecutor is, uh, easy on the eyes

tastyonions - merci pour le lien, c'est vraiment très intéressant! Et ouais, malheureusement la bande-annonce sur leur site ne marche pas correctement, mais voici un tout petit extrait de la première partie sur Youtube (un peu déformé): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGYNyh3NM1M

Vu que mon programme et donc mon projet professionnel se sont tous les deux concentrés sur les crises politiques, j'essaye de passer au moins une heure par jour sur ce thématique, ce qui n'est pas difficile du tout, car je suis vraiment passionnée par ce genre des choses (évidemment, heh). J'ai trouvé quelques documentaires sur les attentats de Paris que je n'ai jamais vu, donc je vais passer le soir avec eux avant de commencer à travailler sur mon dossier écrit - le défi, ce sera d'expliquer mon parcours, mes projets, mes ambitions, ma décision d'intégrer cet école à ce moment, etc etc, mais aussi de montrer mon "ouverture d'esprit", ma polyvalence, et mon niveau de culture générale, tout en 2 pages seulement. Ce sera donc surtout un exercice de réflexion profonde...

[LadyGrey1986]

Nous partagons les mêmes intérêts. J'ai étudié le droit international et les relations internationales à l'université ici aux Pays-Bas. Pourriez vous m'envoyer le lien vers les documentaires sur les attentants de Paris?

[whatiftheblog]

Nous partagons les mêmes intérêts. J'ai étudie le droit international et les relations internationales à l'université ici aux Pays-Bas. Pourriez vous m'envoyer le lien vers les documentaires sur les attentants de Paris?

C'est super! Moi j'ai mon diplôme en sciences politiques et un master en relations internationales Les documentaires que j'ai trouvé aujourd'hui sont les suivantes: 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz5S6StYNmg (celle-ci est super car elle montre ce qui s'est passé dans les couloirs) et 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeR3inOQYOA (celle-ci est consacrée aux attentats du 13 novembre)

J'ai aussi quelques liens sauvegardés sur un autre compte Youtube, je dois les trouver un peu plus tard!

ETA: Il y a aussi celle-ci: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jh2AMMKRoA

[whatiftheblog]

Sooo... took a short hiatus to go to Brazil on vacation. First things first: BRAZIL IS AMAZING YOU HAVE TO GO. Absolutely every single aspect was extraordinary, we cried actual tears during takeoff. The wanderlust for Portuguese is now super strong, particularly since I was able to negotiate a few things in the language by pairing what little I know with wild guesses off of Spanish. We also spent a day in Argentina at the waterfalls, and forced by the necessity of having to communicate with our cab driver there and back across the border, I discovered a surprising facility in Spanish. This may be an interesting case study, because I last had formal Spanish instruction in 4th grade, but my reading comprehension is pretty good with the French discount. However, in terms of oral comprehension and expression, I was lagging behind pretty severely. For the past 4 years, I've been working in an almost entirely hispanophone environment as the sole francophone assigned to a different (franco/anglophone) project, so I've basically been stewing in this pot of spoken Spanish for a while. And because my mom knows no Spanish, I had to negotiate our way around Brazil/Argentina and carry on semi-intelligible conversation, and it somehow worked?!

As for French, I spent pitifully limited time on it - only read about 160 pages and watched about an hour of a political debate. However, now that I'm back, I'm picking up the pace. I need to decide whether or not I want to take the DALF (or just wing it) early next year, so that's also going to affect my French schedule. My mom's staying with me through this week, so that makes it kind of mean to go into my room and watch my French Youtube for now.

[whatiftheblog]

I really need to figure out whether I'm taking the DALF/TCF and, if so, which one/when. I can't seem to find entirely confirmed/accurate dates for the testing schedule in DC for 2017, but I hear there's something on offer in March, so maybe I can still register for that. I don't have a strong preference, but I'm leaning toward the DALF simply because I don't like the TCF format much. The TCF presumes that you could be testing at any level and moves you up/down, which means that all the assignments begin with really simple stuff that frequently causes me to just go blank. The same thing happened with the IELTS, actually - I had to take the IELTS for grad school for some stupid reason (but, mercifully, could opt out of the GRE, woot), and I remember sitting down in front of the examiner lady for the speaking portion and her asking me about my favorite childhood toy, and I was just like... are you for real? So I had to quickly make up this story about this toy I never actually had, and I was panicking while trying to come up with new plot twists because I still had like, 12 minutes to go, and I realized that I had no idea how "I have zero interest in toys, can we talk about literally anything else?" would come across, whether it would suggest that my English-as-a-second-native-language vocabulary was insufficient for me to able to discuss toys or what. Anyway, it was really weird and uncomfortable, and that wasn't even a test I took particularly personally - with French I can see myself panicking on a basic assignment and it taking some kind of emotional toll. Speaking of...

... can we make it a rule that no one who hasn't physically been in your language learning shoes has the right to tell you "oh whatever, your _____ is great, you'll do fine, you're just worrying for nothing"? This is the number one most annoying thing I keep hearing, and I know it's coming from a good place and all, but I just wish people understood that it's not that easy. If you're not a speaker of the language, you can't evaluate me on it, even if you yourself have learned a different second language to proficiency. If you are a speaker of the language, you may not be strong enough to evaluate me, or, if you're a native speaker, you may be sympathetic to me through various conscious and unconscious biases (I'm female, and my French is always vocally praised specifically by male native speakers, for example). Separately, language tests are no different than any other form of standardized testing, but no one ever seems to say "pft, you passed bio and chem, you'll totally ace that MCAT" or, I don't know, "I mean, you graduated high school, right? What are you worried about the GRE for?" And yet all standardized testing requires familiarity with the format and regulations, the implementation of strategies, psychological focus before/during the test, etc etc. There are a thousand little things that go into it beyond just the basic knowledge you need. Language test-takers deserve the same understanding that others get :/

Anyway, I have two DALF resources / prep books downloaded from way back, though I haven't really gone through much at all. I expect to have a lighter workload this month and then almost a week and a half of freedom over the holidays, so I'll be curled up with that, most probably.

Watched about an hour of Youtube today. Need to get back into recording myself (maybe even putting something on Soundcloud?!) and reading more.

[whatiftheblog]

Dropping by to share two French Youtube channels I've been really enjoying these past few days:

1. Osakurabana - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTeg_T ... eHU4SqiGRA
2. Furansu GO! - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCujLTp ... YGZ-2dl2-g

Both live in Japan, both talk a lot about language acquisition based on personal and professional experience (both are linguists/language teachers, I believe), both seem really nice and engaging. After about an hour and a half of watching them, I'll try talking to/recording myself and will somehow become just a fount of elegant phrases I didn't know I even knew. 10/10 will continue!

I've emailed the local Alliance office to see when the next DALF dates are - I would try to take the March one if there's a March session, I think. Maybe. I dunno. Since I don't need it to apply, it's entirely up to me to decide.

I'm very much looking forward to the holidays because my "real" job will effectively give us a week and a half off, and I've got big plans - I'm saving Un président ne devrait pas dire ça and Lettres à Anne specifically for that period. Both are huge, probably a combined 3,000 pages total, and I happen to have a fireplace and wine... In early January I'll try to start with someone on iTalki - I have a pretty good sense of what I'm looking for in an instructor, so it should be a good process to go through.

Finally, I've started putting real work into my application (sort of) - I started writing my fiches, basically interview prep notes that would cover all of the major points I would want to mention and also work through some good responses to specific tricky questions. Since the interview is the only part of the application process that could really trip me up, I'm starting to work on it daily now... six months in advance.

[Cavesa]

I really need to figure out whether I'm taking the DALF/TCF and, if so, which one/when.
..................

... can we make it a rule that no one who hasn't physically been in your language learning shoes has the right to tell you "oh whatever, your _____ is great, you'll do fine, you're just worrying for nothing"? This is the number one most annoying thing I keep hearing, and I know it's coming from a good place and all, but I just wish people understood that it's not that easy.

I recommend the DALF. The TCF may be easier in some ways as the most important =active skills parts are not obligatory. And you cannot fail and get zero value for your money. But the DALF doesn't have an expiry date and there are more resources for preparation available. And you'll know you have the level in all the skills, no "perhaps I would have failed, had I taken that part too" feelings.

Yes, that is so true. "Evaluation" by others is tricky. And it is not just the languages. In medecine, it is often like "but you passed anatomy, that is the hardest one, no? You'll do fine, no need to worry." No, it is not the hardest one by far, the fact it is the only one you have heard about doesn't make it the hardest one. But people do it about everything. I appreciate the effort of those who really want to support me. But in my cases, it feels more like "just shut up already, so that I can talk about myself and my real troubles, such as that horrible exam I need to learn 50 pages for!" In languages, it is so common. I'd say some people feel like we are bragging by being worried about exams several levels about theirs. And natives don't know what the exams are about.

So, I wish you lots of patience, as there is probably no other way to get through these reactions.

[whatiftheblog]

I recommend the DALF. The TCF may be easier in some ways as the most important =active skills parts are not obligatory. And you cannot fail and get zero value for your money. But the DALF doesn't have an expiry date and there are more resources for preparation available. And you'll know you have the level in all the skills, no "perhaps I would have failed, had I taken that part too" feelings.
(...)
So, I wish you lots of patience, as there is probably no other way to get through these reactions.

Thank you very much! Sorry to hear you put up with so much of the same.

I also wanted to thank you for introducing us to eLingora - I've finally uploaded my first recording there: http://elingora.com/audio/french/la-pol ... -la-france *happy dance* I know that discours should've been discours and not déscours, and la journée should've been importante, but whatever - good practice! I should make this a regular habit. Let me know what you think, I'm very open to critiques and suggestions!

[whatiftheblog]

A few notes:

1. Found a really great documentary about Emmanuel Macron. I'm sort of a nut for campaign backstage docs, and this was really well done.

2. I'm continuing to read 2084, but I've got to say, this is probably the hardest book I've ever read in French because the language is just so incredibly rich and dense. It's my favorite genre - dystopian fiction - and it's a fascinating story, but boy is it a slow read for me. I'm hoping this will get better.

[whatiftheblog]

And a few more notes:

1. Marathoned season 1 of Engrenages over the last few days. It's interesting enough and the prosecutor's, um, attractive enough to keep my interest. (More on this in just a second.) Going well so far, I only had to turn on English subtitles once in a key scene where I just couldn't figure out what a character had said and it was bugging me - once I saw the English sub, I figured out the word order I was missing in French.

2. Started listening to more and more podcasts instead of the radio, since I used to listen to the radio on my commute at about the same time every day, and I'd get a lot of weather and sports in that time period. Found a few really good ones and a hilarious one called Si tu écoutes, j'annule tout. They usually devote a portion of their longer show to roasting politicians, and they do it incredibly well.

3. I hope this isn't prohibited speech, but I'm just loving this French election season. I'm fairly certain I have now seen every video in which Macron has made so much as a cameo appearance because I'm just totally fascinated by this man. And all of the frontrunners speak so well - I remember being absolutely mesmerized by Valls' speech in parliament after the Charlie Hebdo attacks when I watched it live, it felt like I was in some sort of trance. It's an absolute delight professionally (the politics) and personally (the extremely refined level of French used).

4. Decided to focus a little bit more on formal grammar study and subjonctif in particular - I get the most frequently occurring use cases, but the more obscure ones still throw me off. I found this quiz really helpful - http://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/exe ... f-0-41.php I scored 24/36, but at least 5 of my mistakes were really stupid (coure instead of courre, that sort of thing).

5. Separately, Neruda is coming out tomorrow (trailer here) and it will be the perfect occasion to dust off my Spanish, because... Gael Garcia Bernal. I spent some time today going through Spanish-language GGB-themed material and found this delightful interview (he's so wonderful!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec-tGtSqPHg I also want to watch No again because it's such a good movie. I could probably just watch everything he's ever done in Spanish as well, why not, pile it on, it's educational! I would watch this man read the phone book, so...