Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

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Re: PM’s French Adventures in the Matrix

Postby luke » Sat Oct 02, 2021 5:31 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:Suddenly languages have been thrust into the realm of 'utterly important' for me and my family. I will remain cryptic as it's not the time nor the place to detail such things and perhaps I'm being dramatic and all in all it's a matter of perception, but I've once again turned full circle.

rdearman wrote:Yep. He finally lost the plot.

Sounds to me like the plot is thickening.
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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: French C2, then B2 in: NL, NO, ES

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Oct 14, 2021 4:04 am

So, outside influences are influencing my focus on languages. Initially that was for the worse, but now it's for the better.

Perhaps it's all a matter of perspective but I'm going to draw some positives from the global situation of late and use it to focus more than ever on improving my languages, starting with French.

What's happened? Well, briefly, my perspective has changed somewhat as I feel I need to adapt to the situation, while drawing on my interests and focusing on my family's future. I want to use my language skills in a work capacity of some sort eventually. The way we work is changing and I want to change too! (spoilt child). I'll give this mission a red-hot go while remaining humble, since the best laid plans of mice and men....

There's got to be some flexibility in aiming for certain things and the circumstances around you changing or your outlook on life changing. In other words, while this is a plan, I reserve the right to change it accordingly. I have no intention of changing course and I'm not saying this to give me an out when the going gets tough (although you can bet I'll use it if I feel I have to, right? ;) ). I intend on staying the path, but you just never know what's on the horizon. That's a lot of waffle for something that really goes without saying. Nothing like being dramatic, PM. Maybe you ought to consider writing for a trashy media outlet?

So, my French needs to officially reach C2. I've not got the time to muck around and I've done too much of that in recent times. Perhaps for good reason. Still, it's time to get on with things.

Last month I did just over 22 hours of French as I struggled with direction and just needed to go into neutral for a while studying what I liked when I liked in whichever language. I gravitated eventually back to French only.

I've surpassed last month's effort already while only half way into this month. I anticipate I ought to be able to considerably increase my French hours from here on as I get better at managing my routine as well as utilising stolen moments.

There'll be some differences this time around in my approach compared to previous cray cray missions. There's no point in ignoring my sleep patterns or pushing the limit with tolerance with lack of sleep. Nor do I intend on skipping exercise altogether. I've now learned to ride and kayak with audio devices adapted to the conditions. I need to respect my health and be swimming in French whenever possible. Thus, I need to be sensible while progressing as much as I can within a reasonable daily sort of healthy and sustainable routine.

So, with regards to plans and after speaking with iguanamon, he's suggested the following. I suggested he take all the credit for this, btw.

*Anki: Never not be using Anki. While asleep, use Anki, While eating, use Anki. While... (you get the idea)... Okay, one more - If ever delivering CPR to a local wombat or cockatoo, use Anki at the same time!
*French series in the gaps when not able to reach the holy Anki machine. Between sleep and waking would be ideal, that's around 25 hours /day. French series must be watched with English subtitles only and the French audio must be all the way down or it'll interfere with the immersion process.
*Study the 20 most common words in French, completing 659,000 Anki reps of the same. Never use sentence cards, always isolated words. No context needed, too inefficient.
*Purchase advanced study materials (courses, naturally) and stare at the book covers for around 5 minutes each.
*Read the English Amazon reviews on advanced French materials a few times over.
*Burn books and courses - focus on devices.

Result: Fluency in French in under a day!

The other languages and other plans
After French C2 accomplished I (not joking now) intend on reaching B2 in three languages: Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish. Of course this is further off, so the order of languages may change, the level might change, and whether I do one at a time or not might change (unlikely though), who knows, but it's my plan now for the future (which hasn't arrived yet). Still, if struggling with all of this, I might change my plan to: French B2, NO, NL, ES learn a few words, then it's mission accomplished!

I'm still eyeing off a Masters in Translation or a Master's in Translation and Interpreting... we'll see what happens there, but for now I need to focus on the task at hand, improving my French daily and consistently.

Back to the French plan:
*Sit Dalf C1 first (May 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).
*Sit Dalf C2... ummm later (Nov 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).

How to get there (my routine, currently):
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of reading extensively.
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of writing.
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of watching.
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of grammar/course work.

Out of the four hours above, I'll aim for 3 hours each day, rotating through to the next activity at the beginning of the next day.

Materials:
Intensive reading/vocabulary study:
Think French and Bien-dire. I prefer the latter much more, but I don't want to take them to work, so I'll use Think French during breaks/free time at work when doing intensive reading/vocab.

Extensive reading:
I've loads of ebooks and paper books. I'll simply work my way through them choosing whichever I please. I may do some reading online included either as part of my extensive reading or as an extra activity.

Writing:
At home on paper, sometimes with the computer. At work (breaks, free time), usually on a computer. Initially using creative writing suggestions kindly provided by iguanamon via the booklet 365 Invitations à Écrire. Perhaps later I'll join a writing course and I certainly intend on referring to the C1/C2 course books to develop my techniques adapted to the exam formats down the track.

Watching:
Back to the drawing board - Buffy with transcripts. Then progress through series, if I ever get there. Lately I've been stopping and pausing and saying aloud the lines of the characters in Buffy, referring to the transcripts where unclear. I need to remember that this is about training my ear and not look at the transcripts unless I cannot understand what is being said.

Grammar/Course work:
Whatever course I feel like doing. Currently reviewing Hugo's French in 3 Months on breaks at work and started working through the latest Assimil French that I bought a couple months back. I'm approaching this one differently than I've done an Assimil course before by not only speaking the translations bidirectionally but writing them as well from the exercises and the texts.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above is my study routine, but there are other moments of French language use:

Podcasts:
While commuting to/from work, while kayaking, while cycling.

TV series:
On the side (outside my study time) I've been watching the German show Dark again with French audio dub. Brilliant series! Imo best series (in any language) in recent years along with Game of Thrones. I've had to go back and watch season one and two as season three was a little confusing for me in the beginning. It's a complicated series in terms of who is linked to who (you'd have to watch it to know what I mean there), so rewatching is worth it. I'm astounded yet again watching it second time around as I just feel it oozes quality, even the music they utilise in certain moments of the series just seem to really add to the whole mysterious atmosphere. Love it.

Reading/speaking with the kids:
Most days I'm reading for a good while with the kids in Dutch on Dutch days, French on French days and lately some Spanish here and there too. I simply cannot read Norwegian at this stage given I will totally ruin the pronunciation in terms of stress and tones - that'll have to wait.

Other reading
I often read the news from mainstream and alternative sites. Sometimes just the headlines, other days whole articles.

Throw a burger over your shoulder!

PS: When does this begin? Now!

Edited for grammar
9 x

DaveAgain
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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: French C2, then B2 in: NL, NO, ES

Postby DaveAgain » Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:41 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Other reading
I often read the news from mainstream and alternative sites. Sometimes just the headlines, other days whole articles.
I've just come across a magazine/website that might interest you Front Populaire: magazine launch, website.
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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: French C2, then B2 in: NL, NO, ES

Postby rdearman » Thu Oct 14, 2021 3:53 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:So, outside influences are influencing my focus on languages. Initially that was for the worse, but now it's for the better.

Perhaps it's all a matter of perspective but I'm going to draw some positives from the global situation of late and use it to focus more than ever on improving my languages, starting with French.

What's happened? Well, briefly, my perspective has changed somewhat as I feel I need to adapt to the situation, while drawing on my interests and focusing on my family's future. I want to use my language skills in a work capacity of some sort eventually. The way we work is changing and I want to change too! (spoilt child). I'll give this mission a red-hot go while remaining humble, since the best laid plans of mice and men....

There's got to be some flexibility in aiming for certain things and the circumstances around you changing or your outlook on life changing. In other words, while this is a plan, I reserve the right to change it accordingly. I have no intention of changing course and I'm not saying this to give me an out when the going gets tough (although you can bet I'll use it if I feel I have to, right? ;) ). I intend on staying the path, but you just never know what's on the horizon. That's a lot of waffle for something that really goes without saying. Nothing like being dramatic, PM. Maybe you ought to consider writing for a trashy media outlet?

So, my French needs to officially reach C2. I've not got the time to muck around and I've done too much of that in recent times. Perhaps for good reason. Still, it's time to get on with things.

Last month I did just over 22 hours of French as I struggled with direction and just needed to go into neutral for a while studying what I liked when I liked in whichever language. I gravitated eventually back to French only.

I've surpassed last month's effort already while only half way into this month. I anticipate I ought to be able to considerably increase my French hours from here on as I get better at managing my routine as well as utilising stolen moments.

There'll be some differences this time around in my approach compared to previous cray cray missions. There's no point in ignoring my sleep patterns or pushing the limit with tolerance with lack of sleep. Nor do I intend on skipping exercise altogether. I've now learned to ride and kayak with audio devices adapted to the conditions. I need to respect my health and be swimming in French whenever possible. Thus, I need to be sensible while progressing as much as I can within a reasonable daily sort of healthy and sustainable routine.

So, with regards to plans and after speaking with iguanamon, he's suggested the following. I suggested he take all the credit for this, btw.

*Anki: Never not be using Anki. While asleep, use Anki, While eating, use Anki. While... (you get the idea)... Okay, one more - If ever delivering CPR to a local wombat or cockatoo, use Anki at the same time!
*French series in the gaps when not able to reach the holy Anki machine. Between sleep and waking would be ideal, that's around 25 hours /day. French series must be watched with English subtitles only and the French audio must be all the way down or it'll interfere with the immersion process.
*Study the 20 most common words in French, completing 659,000 Anki reps of the same. Never use sentence cards, always isolated words. No context needed, too inefficient.
*Purchase advanced study materials (courses, naturally) and stare at the book covers for around 5 minutes each.
*Read the English Amazon reviews on advanced French materials a few times over.
*Burn books and courses - focus on devices.

Result: Fluency in French in under a day!

The other languages and other plans
After French C2 accomplished I (not joking now) intend on reaching B2 in three languages: Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish. Of course this is further off, so the order of languages may change, the level might change, and whether I do one at a time or not might change (unlikely though), who knows, but it's my plan now for the future (which hasn't arrived yet). Still, if struggling with all of this, I might change my plan to: French B2, NO, NL, ES learn a few words, then it's mission accomplished!

I'm still eyeing off a Masters in Translation or a Master's in Translation and Interpreting... we'll see what happens there, but for now I need to focus on the task at hand, improving my French daily and consistently.

Back to the French plan:
*Sit Dalf C1 first (May 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).
*Sit Dalf C2... ummm later (Nov 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).

How to get there (my routine, currently):
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of reading extensively.
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of writing.
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of watching.
1 HOUR: 20 minutes of intensive reading/vocabulary study + 40 minutes of grammar/course work.

Out of the four hours above, I'll aim for 3 hours each day, rotating through to the next activity at the beginning of the next day.

Materials:
Intensive reading/vocabulary study:
Think French and Bien-dire. I prefer the latter much more, but I don't want to take them to work, so I'll use Think French during breaks/free time at work when doing intensive reading/vocab.

Extensive reading:
I've loads of ebooks and paper books. I'll simply work my way through them choosing whichever I please. I may do some reading online included either as part of my extensive reading or as an extra activity.

Writing:
At home on paper, sometimes with the computer. At work (breaks, free time), usually on a computer. Initially using creative writing suggestions kindly provided by iguanamon via the booklet 365 Invitations à Écrire. Perhaps later I'll join a writing course and I certainly intend on referring to the C1/C2 course books to develop my techniques adapted to the exam formats down the track.

Watching:
Back to the drawing board - Buffy with transcripts. Then progress through series, if I ever get there. Lately I've been stopping and pausing and saying aloud the lines of the characters in Buffy, referring to the transcripts where unclear. I need to remember that this is about training my ear and not look at the transcripts unless I cannot understand what is being said.

Grammar/Course work:
Whatever course I feel like doing. Currently reviewing Hugo's French in 3 Months on breaks at work and started working through the latest Assimil French that I bought a couple months back. I'm approaching this one differently than I've done an Assimil course before by not only speaking the translations bidirectionally but writing them as well from the exercises and the texts.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above is my study routine, but there are other moments of French language use:

Podcasts:
While commuting to/from work, while kayaking, while cycling.

TV series:
On the side (outside my study time) I've been watching the German show Dark again with French audio dub. Brilliant series! Imo best series (in any language) in recent years along with Game of Thrones. I've had to go back and watch season one and two as season three was a little confusing for me in the beginning. It's a complicated series in terms of who is linked to who (you'd have to watch it to know what I mean there), so rewatching is worth it. I'm astounded yet again watching it second time around as I just feel it oozes quality, even the music they utilise in certain moments of the series just seem to really add to the whole mysterious atmosphere. Love it.

Reading/speaking with the kids:
Most days I'm reading for a good while with the kids in Dutch on Dutch days, French on French days and lately some Spanish here and there too. I simply cannot read Norwegian at this stage given I will totally ruin the pronunciation in terms of stress and tones - that'll have to wait.

Other reading
I often read the news from mainstream and alternative sites. Sometimes just the headlines, other days whole articles.

Throw a burger over your shoulder!

PS: When does this begin? Now!

Edited for grammar

Pourquoi cela n'a-t-il pas été écrit en français ?
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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: French C2, then B2 in: NL, NO, ES

Postby AllSubNoDub » Thu Oct 14, 2021 4:19 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:Back to the French plan:
*Sit Dalf C1 first (May 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).
*Sit Dalf C2... ummm later (Nov 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).


How did you do?
2 x

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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: French C2, then B2 in: NL, NO, ES

Postby gsbod » Thu Oct 14, 2021 4:22 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:*Sit Dalf C1 first (May 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).
*Sit Dalf C2... ummm later (Nov 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).


It's an impressive plan, but I'm even more impressed that you seem to have solved the mysteries of time travel.

Bon courage!
12 x

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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: French C2, then B2 in: NL, NO, ES

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Oct 14, 2021 8:08 pm

DaveAgain wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:Other reading
I often read the news from mainstream and alternative sites. Sometimes just the headlines, other days whole articles.
I've just come across a magazine/website that might interest you Front Populaire: magazine launch, website.


Will check this out. Thanks DaveAgain!


rdearman wrote:Pourquoi cela n'a-t-il pas été écrit en français ?


It's an outdated useless language, why would I bother? (Truth is thousands of hours and I can't write but don't tell anyone). Maybe I'll write my log in French later, maybe not. I just don't like the idea at this stage, as I get myself into enough scrutiny in English as it is, so I don't need that in French as well. I'd rather have my French writing scrutinised elsewhere. This isn't somewhere I want to attract that kind of attention, as it's not an evaluation of language skills forum.

AllSubNoDub wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:Back to the French plan:
*Sit Dalf C1 first (May 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).
*Sit Dalf C2... ummm later (Nov 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).


How did you do?


Hmmmm :roll:

gsbod wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:*Sit Dalf C1 first (May 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).
*Sit Dalf C2... ummm later (Nov 2021 - dates not confirmed yet by AF).


It's an impressive plan, but I'm even more impressed that you seem to have solved the mysteries of time travel.

Bon courage!


Oops! Ummm nothing to see here, no time travel happening around these parts, nor in the garage! Don't go asking whether while watching Dark I might've paused one scene, used an extrapolator and consequently landed myself with instructions on how to build a time machine. Even if that happened, I dunno how to build stuff, okay! So that you know I'm not making this up, I don't even have six hands. So there, proof! Just get off my back already!

gsbod wrote:Bon courage!


Merci ! I ummm, mean, thanks!
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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: FRENCH C2. (Then B2 in: NL, NO, ES)

Postby PeterMollenburg » Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:25 am

October 2021

Total hours of French: 76 hours 47 minutes

Breakdown
Intensive reading: 16 hours, 43 minutes
Television: 16 hours, 1 minute
Podcasts: 11 hours, 11 minutes
Extensive reading: 9 hours, 55 minutes
Reading aloud to the kids: 9 hours, 16 minutes
Writing: 7 hours, 27 minutes
Course work: 6 hours, 4 minutes

October average/day:
2 hours, 28 minutes

General:
Very much enjoying the Podcast French Expat in which Frenchies tell their experiences of living abroad. Each episode (around an hour) is based on one person's experience of living abroad. Oddly enough it's made me appreciate the United States more, as the highest percentage French expats in this series are people who have moved there. I've come to realise that while there is plenty I do not like about the US (a bit unfair as it's judging from a distance and I've only been there once, which I enjoyed, mind you), there's a lot of good things in the US too.

Watching Dark on Netflix, and have just finished season 2 again. I've said it many times, but I'll say it again. This show is awesome. It oozes quality, has a fantastic storyline (at least I love it) and it's European - German. I watch it in French audio dub and it's a good one for those not terribly confident with listening skills, or not confident enough for rapid conversation as a lot of the dialogue and narration is at a reasonable speaking pace. Such an awesome series... watch it if you haven't! On to season three...
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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: FRENCH C2. (Then B2 in: NL, NO, ES)

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Nov 01, 2021 10:14 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Watching Dark on Netflix, and have just finished season 2 again. I've said it many times, but I'll say it again. This show is awesome. It oozes quality, has a fantastic storyline (at least I love it) and it's European - German. I watch it in French audio dub and it's a good one for those not terribly confident with listening skills, or not confident enough for rapid conversation as a lot of the dialogue and narration is at a reasonable speaking pace. Such an awesome series... watch it if you haven't! On to season three...
I've been watching some Belgian-Dutch TV series, you hear a funny mix of French, English and Dutch [German cognates!].

Professor T is probably the best of the ones I've seen, I'm currently watching Code 37 (Ghent vice squad).

NB
There is a new Matrix film!
3 x

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Re: PM’s Exit Strategy from the Matrix: FRENCH C2. (Then B2 in: NL, NO, ES)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:07 pm

DaveAgain wrote:NB
There is a new Matrix film!

Hearing Doogie Howser (sp?) speak French is disconcerting, but "White Rabbit" is always good to hear!
3 x
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