iguanamon wrote:PeterMollenburg wrote:...My other equally favourite resource is "Bien-dire", which isn't a course. If every language had the same publication, a combination of Assimil and Bien-dire would suit me nicely. Santa, you listening, tell those publishers in Lyon to expand their range!
One thing about language-learning is that bigger, more popular languages have many more learning resources available for learners. Spanish has VeinteMundos which is online in a magazine article format with varied stories from across the Spanish-speaking world. The articles include audio and mouse-over definitions of specific vocabulary points. The articles have free downloadable pdf's and mp3 audio. A learner could certainly combine this resource with Assimil and Destinos after, say, halfway through it maybe.
This kind of resource isn't/wasn't available for my other languages. I venture to say it probably isn't out there for most languages. There's a reason for this. There isn't much of a market for it. Most learners rarely advance beyond a course. Most learners never even get past the first three lessons of a course let alone finish one. It's amazing how good of a condition used self-teaching language courses are in when I buy them. So it's a limited market. VeinteMundos is, by the way, free.PeterMollenburg wrote:Actually on that note, much of my French comes from time away from my desk these days ... Maybe I am C1, but I'm certainly weak when it comes to the exam formats. So, Globalia still feels challenging, as there's plenty of words and terminology I simply do not know.
Good job, PM, using those hidden moments productively! French is part of your life. Globalia feels challenging because you probably haven't read a novel before in French, if you have read one you haven't mentioned many. The first one is always the hardest. The second novel is also hard but a little easier. (Within a novel, the first half is the hardest. I've found that after reading two thirds it gets much easier.) By the time of the third or fourth novel, things start to get a lot easier and I get surprised at how much I know from what's passed before. It's a snowball effect.
I've been reading an old Raymond Chandler noir detective novel- The Big Sleep or O Sono Eterno/La Grande Dormida in Portuguese and Catalan. The adjectives used in this novel are quite flowery but utterly useless in 98% of what I do/will do in either language. Too lazy to make a parallel text out of it, I've been reading a chapter in Portuguese and re-reading the same chapter in Catalan. Here's an example of the language the author uses. Bear in mind that the book is over 70 years old.Raymond Chandler- The Big Sleep wrote:The gentle-eyed, horse-faced maid let me into the long gray and white upstairs sitting room with the ivory drapes tumbled extravagantly on the floor and the white carpet from wall to wall. A screen star's boudoir, a place of charm and seduction, artificial as a wooden leg. It was empty at the moment. The door closed behind me with the unnatural softness of a hospital door. A breakfast table on wheels stood by the chaise-longue. Its silver glittered. There were cigarette ashes in the coffee cup. I sat down and waited.
It seemed a long time before the door opened again and Vivian came in. She was in oyster-white lounging pajamas trimmed with white fur, cut as flowingly as a summer sea frothing on the beach of some small and exclusive island.
The descriptive constructions "tumbled extravagantly" and "as flowingly as a summer sea frothing on the beach" are not how I would describe anything in English or in any of my other languages in my daily life. This type of language is probably only found in a novel. The thing is though, that even though this is useless (nobody would ever plug these sentences into anki) some of it matters more than we may think- if not immediately, then down the road. The word "frothing" I've only ever seen used as "frothing at the mouth" but the equivalent uses of "froth" in TL translate as a variation of "foam" which is a useful word. "Extravagant" is also a handy word to use from time to time, still, not everyday language.
Don't get too down about it. As s_allard says, it's how well you can manipulate French that matters. While I make reading and watching/listening an important part of my learning, there are plenty of other ways to absorb vocabulary and structures, which you've been doing for a long time. Maybe they aren't "tumbling extravagantly as flowingly as summer sea frothing on the beach" but, you have a great command of the basics of French and that's something you can build on to improve it. So start practicing reading about topics and describing what you've read, taking a position and defending it or arguing against it. I hope you'll find the time to start giving those practice test materials a chance.
Hey iguanamon,
Without being all soppy, and simply from a realist perspective, and this is not overstated, you've given me so much good advice over the years. Rain, hail, dog turds or blissful sunshine, you've been there to offer advice. It's pertinent, not overbearing, well-timed and always quite simply good stuff, mate. And, it's not just for me, you do this for so many people on the forum. Although, you're a long way a way, I feel like you are a true friend. Thanks again iguanamon (I have bookmarked Veinte Mundos for future reference
). I'll keep my log updated on my progress with of course references to actual exam prep material. Muchas gracias amigo, hasta la próxima vez 
Sabes, no estoy estudiando ahora, pero tuve que hacer algo que es màs importante... lo màs importante! - poner màs cursos en mi télefono. Otra cosa... si algún día me gustaría estudiar el portugues, voy a venir buscarte (pero vas a esperar mucho tiempo!)
