French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

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MamaPata
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Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
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Re: Language Log: French, Japanese and more

Postby MamaPata » Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:54 pm

You may have said this before, but are you in year 13 this year? Or do you have one more year to suffer through? The format of the IB has changed since I did it so I can't work out the timings.

Good luck with the oral prep! Make sure you relax and enjoy yourself too - it is a holiday!
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Corrections appreciated.

Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: Language Log: French, Japanese and more

Postby Sarafina » Sat Feb 10, 2018 4:49 pm

MamaPata wrote:You may have said this before, but are you in year 13 this year? Or do you have one more year to suffer through? The format of the IB has changed since I did it so I can't work out the timings.

Good luck with the oral prep! Make sure you relax and enjoy yourself too - it is a holiday!


I'm in year 13. Thankfully I only have a couple months of suffering left :lol:
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Sarafina
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:38 pm

I did my oral exam last week.
I probably got anything from 10 to 13 out 20. It wasn't a disaster. Finding people to practice with was a lot more challenging than anticipated. My Italki lessons had been helpful but I feel like I didn't do enough lessons and the time between my last lesson and my actual oral exam was too long.

I planned on having 3-5 mini mock oral exams with my language exchange partners on Italki. They're either busy, ill or just ignored me . It's frustrating that the only reliable way that I can get daily conversations in my target language is to pay money. I have a classmate who is from a Francophone country and was kind enough to let me practice with her in the morning of the actual day of my exam. She gave me her phone number and she was really nice and corrected my mistakes.

As for my tracking of the time I spend doing the specific French activity has been inexcusably neglected. I have been making listening more and more of daily routine. I signed up for Jibble which measures the specific the time I spend and acts as a reminder and provides a weekly report. It was becoming a hassle doing in on Excel.

I feel guilty when I watch TV series in French. Even though I know of the importance of extensive listening, I feel like I am just loafing around and that I should be doing something like reviewing French grammar.
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DaveBee
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby DaveBee » Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:58 pm

Sarafina wrote:I feel guilty when I watch TV series in French. Even though I know of the importance of extensive listening, I feel like I am just loafing around and that I should be doing something like reviewing French grammar.
It's productive loafing though, you're loafing with intent and purpose!

I'm trying to start a new french writing habit, after I watch a programme I write a brief summary. You could add something like that, spoken or written, if the guilt gets too much. :-)
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Sarafina
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Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:21 pm

DaveBee wrote:
Sarafina wrote:I feel guilty when I watch TV series in French. Even though I know of the importance of extensive listening, I feel like I am just loafing around and that I should be doing something like reviewing French grammar.
It's productive loafing though, you're loafing with intent and purpose!

I'm trying to start a new french writing habit, after I watch a programme I write a brief summary. You could add something like that, spoken or written, if the guilt gets too much. :-)


That's a good suggestion. Thank you.
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Sarafina
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Posts: 373
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Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Wed Feb 28, 2018 10:49 pm

28/02/18

Reading
I read an article on Le Firago called 'Affaire Seznec : l'os retrouvé n'est pas d'origine humaine'. It was a little confusing reading without having background knowledge on The Seznec Affair. Thanks to my friend, Wikipedia (yes I know it's not the most reliable source of information) I was able to have a vague idea of what happened. L'affaire Seznec est considéré une des plus retentissantes énigmes judiciaires en France. L'article a mentionné découverte de deux os. Selon un médecin légiste, l’os retrouvé serait une tête de fémur.

I then read Syrie : combats au sol dans la Ghouta orientale malgré la « pause » humanitaire on Le Monde. La Russie a décrétee une trêve de cinq heures pour permettre ’entrée de l’aide pour les blessés ou la sortie d’habitants. La Ghouta orientale est l'objet de bombardements constantes.

I really like the articles on Le Monde diplomatique.
https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2018/03/HALIMI/58473
This particular article to my surprise had an accompanying narration. It's hard for me to read or summarise their articles as it requires greater knowledge of the French political system.

I did it tedious adding words from Readlang to Anki. I know there's a way of automatically importing the words to Anki. I tried it or something like it and didn't work. Anyways I've added more than 30 words to Anki. But I have over a 100 words to review
I've spend 52 minutes on a mixture of intensive and extensive reading.

Listening
I did about 50 minutes of background listening while reading: Migos, le luxe tranquille by NoFun (I repeated some sections of it), Les femmes japonaises, tradition, modernité et féminisme on FranceCulture. I wouldn't count that as part of listening as I wasn't always concentrating.
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Sarafina
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Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Thu Mar 01, 2018 6:26 pm

01/03/18

I have way too many Anki reviews.

Reading
I've decided to provide the links for the articles I read just in case anyone that reads the log finds it interesting and wants to read more.

« J’ai un truc à te dire : je suis séropositive » on Vice.fr.
Dans cet article il s'agit d'une étudiante qui a contracté le VIH. Au début elle est très confuse parce que elle ne sait pas comment elle l'a contractée et elle ne savait pas jamais qui l'a contaminé. Cela m'a donné un point de vue intéressant sur la vie de personnes séropositives.

Mes phrases préférés sont "Mais l’insouciance de ses 20 ans s’est fracassée ce jour de juin 2012 où trois lettres sont venus bouleverser sa vie : VIH" et " Nous prenions tous ça un peu à la légère, pensant que nous étions à l'abri, comme par magie. Il paraît que la jeunesse nous enivre d'un sentiment d'invincibilité" et " Une vie comme les autres. Enfin, presque."
https://www.vice.com/fr/article/zmwkwe/ ... ropositive

Concertation sur la réforme de la SNCF : la CGT cheminots n’est « pas rassurée du tout »
It was such a dry read. I only had to readlang 3 words so progress yeah
http://www.lemonde.fr/economie-francais ... 56968.html

À Bure, la fabrique du consentement
It was an alright read. Again accompanied with an narrator who read the article which was really valuable.
https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2018/ ... ARRA/58245

All in all I spent 33 minutes.

Listening
I listened to 'J'ai grandi en foyer' by JHON RACHID. It was interesting. But I struggled to understand him at times. In comparison when I watched 'L'ARGENT' by Mister Officiel, I understood more than 90% of what he said.
I can provide links if anyone is interested.

Later in the evening, I am going to attempt a reading past paper and do some grammar exercises then write at least 250 words for a Section A task.
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Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Fri Mar 02, 2018 12:31 pm

02/03/18

I devoted somewhere between 30-45 minutes to my Anki reviews. I've managed to finish all the reviews I needed to do.

I realise that I have neglected my speaking. Although I can blame the unreliability of language exchange partners and not having the money/time to have 3+ lessons a week which is a shame because I really loved my lessons with my Italki tutors. At the end of the day, nothing stops me from doing like a mini audio vlog, rants, reviews in French and asking people here to correct me. I've been avoiding signing up up tandem and do live calls/video. I am sick of people just want to text in French/English and avoid/postpone attempts to having a video or even an audio call on Skype.

Does tandem do more of live audio/video calls or is more like Hellotalk where there's a focus on texting each other back and forth?

I wish there was a way to have language exchanges where we can mutually tutor each other as in being attentive of each other's mistakes and correcting it not just verbally but write it down or Skype so we can review it later on and to recommend native material and discuss it with each other etc.

Don't get me wrong I've had some great language exchange partners and some enlightening and wonderful conversations. My two favourite language exchange partners who have been incredibly helpful are always busy these days. I understand that I am not entitled to their time and I respect the fact they are busy but I do miss our conversations and it was instrumental in getting my French (from what was honestly an A1 to B1 in a relatively short space of time).

Language exchanges leave me so drained in comparison to after an Italki lesson where I feel pumped and have a clearer idea of what to do and see the improvements I've made. I think I am going to have look around for spare pennies there and there and find a way of paying for my Italki lessons.

I wanted to use my savings for a couple of weeks in France but I don't know if that money would be better spend of those lessons.
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Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Fri Mar 02, 2018 12:44 pm

I'm going to bite the bullet and just stop a recording of myself speaking in French.

Warning! Prepare awkward speaking French with a lot of pauses! Sometimes weird pronunciation and intonation
You have duly warned. :lol: In my defense it's been ages since I've had to speak French for longer than 10 seconds. A month or two ago my French was a much higher level than this but enough with the excuses. :oops:

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1AYgngp8pra

Be as harsh or gentle as you want. :lol:
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Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
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Re: French, Japanese and Who Knows What Else

Postby Sarafina » Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:50 am

03/03/18
My listening ability seems to fluctuate widely. Although I've been consistently been listening to something in French. I haven't been listening consistently to 90 minutes worth of French audio input. I thought of bingewatching shows like 'How to Get Away with Murder' but I struggle to listen actively and concentrate for more than 30 minutes for shows in French. I get bored and frustrated because I am constantly being reminded how much I don't still understand. I can understand the gist but I struggle to catch the specific details.

Interesting enough I never feel this way when I watch cartoons like Juliette je t'aime or Steven Universe or Avatar the Last Airbender and can binge watch happily. With TV series like How to Get Away with Murder I often find it a chore. With a lot of the series on Netflix, I find the episodes to be way too long and dubbed voices grate on my nerves very quickly. In comparison I find the dubbed voices for ATLA and Steven Universe to be really good. For the children shows I've mentioned I understand about 90+ for most of the episodes and on good days it's 95% and for the more challenging episodes it's 80-85%. In comparison to 'How To Get Away With Murder or Daredevil it's around 60-70%.

I actually enjoy binge-watching Juliette je t'aime, ATLA, Steven Universe episodes. But I feel guilty because they are shows that aimed for children and I would be challenging myself more. But I couple it with podcasts from FranceCulture and NoFun which are aimed for native French adults and do some intensive listening with 7jours.

e.g. 45-60 minutes of French cartoons, 30 minutes of French YouTubers (which I already do on the bus), background-ish listening of FranceCulture, NoFun (I've been doing bear for about 30-40 minutes), then 20 minutes of intensive listening of 7jours/Golden Moustache.

I always neglect to do intensive listening. Does anyone have advice on how to best to do intensive listening? I chose 7jours because it's usually under 10 minutes and it has accompanying accurate French subtitles that I can use to check my accuracy and it has interesting random topics that I can imagine myself discussing and I find Golden Moustache to be very entertaining but it uses so much French slang which I need to be familiar with.

Writing
I need to write 250-400 words about this:
Votre école organise une journée spéciale sur la diversité des langues. A cette occasion, vous allez prononcer un discours intitulé : Une langue unique serait une catastrophe mondiale. Rédigez le texte de ce discours.

Exprimez et justifiez votre opinion personnelle sur la réflexion ci-dessous. Choisissez un des types de texte étudiés en classe. Écrivez entre 150 et 250 mots.
« On reconnaît le degré de civilisation d’un peuple à la manière dont il traite ses animaux. »

Should I post my response there? I don't know if anyone would interested.

Then I need 50 minutes on my grammar book.

Japanese
I really want to relearn Japanese. It's unfair how the language I am not studying at school and potentially at university have such amazing and kind and helpful language exchange partners. With them, I don't even need a tutor. The other day one of my Japanese language exchange partners suggest that we role play the dialogues from the lessons on Japanesepod101 to practice and use that as prompt for discuss matters related to it.

Just now they transcribed a video from a Japanese YouTubers I liked so I can use that as a way of creating my own listening comprehension materials using native materials. Like wow.
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