Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:32 pm

So I watched four seasons of ER in like two months. Which was a lot of fun, but didn’t leave time for much of anything else...

Well, I’ve recently had a bad reaction to a medication which has caused some (hopefully temporary!) hearing issues. So time for a total listening time out to let my poor ears recover. I dove into my stacks of used French books and found a new delightful distraction: Middle School French Curriculum! For French kids! It’s fun! A nice mix of accessible readings, aimed to edify. Fables, excerpts from Odysseus, excerpts from New and Old Testiments, poetry.... With comprehension questions and word roots and some lovely art history to boot. French kids get some sophisticated stuff! 6th grade me is jealous!
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:34 pm

Sigh. I think I have to accept that my hobby isn’t studying French, my hobby is reading French books and watching French TV.... Not that there is anything wrong with that! I day dream of really getting into gear with book work, etc., but I just don’t have any real need for output, so it’s hard to care. <Shrug>
7 x
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niveau debutant
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javier_getafe
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby javier_getafe » Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:53 pm

Almost always, the most effective way to learn is doing something that we can actually enjoy.
As simple as that...
Many times human beings aim to make their lives more complicated that it already is -shrug-
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:10 pm

Finished season 9 of ER last night. There was an amusing dubbing issue: Carter and Kovac go to West Africa to volunteer in a clinic, Carter is not supposed to be able to speak French, so they have a Nurse from Montreal translate for him. Except Carter has been speaking French the whole time in this French dub! So they have the Nurse from Montreal speak Lingala instead. So two white women speak fluent Lingala to talk about Carter behind his back, while the baked-in English subtitles say “Don’t worry, he doesn’t understand French.” I laughed.

That said it was a treat to hear Lingala. There is just enough French/Spanish/English based vocabulary to make you think you should maybe understand something, but you totally don’t.
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niveau debutant
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Brun Ugle
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:38 am

It took me a week, but I finally finished reading through your whole log. It was a great read. I’ll be following from now on.
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:24 am

The last few weeks I’ve been fixated on the idea of earning another degree. (Let me preface this discussion with the fact that I do not whatsoever need another degree) I love learning. But even more I love course catalogs and degree requirements and reading lists and syllubae and final exams and flash cards.... and and and... I really don’t need another degree. And I can’t justify the cost, even though I have found some options that are rather affordable, at least by US standards. But let me tell you about the three wonderful degrees I found: 1) The University of London Distance Learning offers an absolutely delicious B.A. in English literature. They have a very comprehensive description of the set courses, and the reading lists are just divine. This degree speaks to me because as a University of London alum I know the University has very high academic standards, and because my knowledge of English literature is rather woeful. (I’ve never taken a college level English class. I took Rhetoric, and then lots and lots of German.) 2) The University of Burgundy has an online undergrad French literature degree. What a great excuse to get my French up to a high level! 3) The University of St. Andrews has an online Masters in TESOL. I could teach English! I wouldn’t even have to get my French up to a high level!

I don’t need another degree. But maybe I’m craving academic structure? So this weekend I brought out my French in Action books for the first time in over a year. Workbook, Textbook, Notebook, Pencils... it’s like college all over again. All set up at *my* little desk that my husband accidentally took over five years ago, but that I successfully reclaimed for myself. (Might have threatened to enroll in a degree if he didn’t move his stuff...) It’s bliss! French in Action is such a good course. So smooth, so methodical. And so *slow*. I see why I abandoned it before. It felt like a insurmountable obstacle between me and enjoying French. But this time I don’t mind. I can spend a hour on book work, and then go watch an hour of TV that I love. I’m already enjoying French. Book work now is a side dish and not an obligatory first course. Yay! (As a self learner, you can eat your dessert first!)
10 x
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: 3 / 5

Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:13 am

Finishing up with chapter 7 of FIA. Took me just over a week. If I keep this pace I could finish the next 45 chapters in just over a year...

It would be amazing to finish a course this comprehensive. Like ever, even if it’s not next year.

Meanwhile I’m doing a page a day or so of CLE intermediate grammar. The exercises aren’t nearly as thorough as FIA, but it moves at a much faster pace and it’s exciting to quickly cover new material without fear, knowing FIA will also get to it eventually. It feels like cheating!
4 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
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: 60 / 60

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Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:55 pm

Finished Henning Mankell’s “Die italienischen Schuhe" last night, confirming that Contemporary Scandinavian Family Drama in German Translation is my favorite lit genre. Any further recommendations in that category are always appreciated.
1 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
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Klara
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Klara » Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:22 pm

Scandinavian crime novels are very popular in Germany. If you need some ideas just look here:

https://www.krimi-couch.de/region/skandinavien/
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:34 am

Yeah, I remember a bookstore in Düsseldorf ten years ago. Their Schweden-Krimi section was bigger than the Crime sections we had in Swedish bookstores at that time.
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