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

[Cavesa]

Yes, I agree. It is different from racism and not openly discussed much. Central europeans are a perfect example, no matter whether we take a pole, czech, or slovak as an example. In the UK, France, or Germany, the majority cannot be racist towards us. Even the recent brutal attacks on people from our region were judged less harshly as "not racist", than had the target been of different race, even though the motivation of hate towards someone of different origin was clear. But they clearly show their perceived superiority often even in everyday situations. An immigrated family is supposed to assimilate. But when these natives move to the central european countries, which is far from uncommon, they find it totally ok to stay in their language bubble and keep their whole family there. And the saddest thing: the central europeans find it normal too. A similar example are students going abroad, learning a superior language and not giving a damn about the inferior one.

The anglophones are the most tempted, I'd say. It is not entirely fault of the people themselves. The education system + media are a lot to blame too. No wonder. A foreign tv series is not dubbed to English, is it? The americans make a new version of it and it looks as if they invented it, not the French, Hebrew, Spanish, or other authors and actors. There are so many anglophone books that the publishers feel little need to present translations and they get lost in the flood anyways. The news all over the world are filled with the US, including ridiculous examples, like trash news about "celebrities". Radios are playing music in English and interprets all over the world are getting rid of their native languages in order to conform to this.

No wonder a usual american/canadian/australian/british may be under the impression that everything interesting is coming from the anglophone countries and the rest is a "hic sunt leones" area. And of course they feel superior to the savages filling the rest of the world

[PeterMollenburg]

Yes, I agree. It is different from racism and not openly discussed much. Central europeans are a perfect example, no matter whether we take a pole, czech, or slovak as an example. In the UK, France, or Germany, the majority cannot be racist towards us. Even the recent brutal attacks on people from our region were judged less harshly as "not racist", than had the target been of different race, even though the motivation of hate towards someone of different origin was clear. But they clearly show their perceived superiority often even in everyday situations. An immigrated family is supposed to assimilate. But when these natives move to the central european countries, which is far from uncommon, they find it totally ok to stay in their language bubble and keep their whole family there. And the saddest thing: the central europeans find it normal too. A similar example are students going abroad, learning a superior language and not giving a damn about the inferior one.

The anglophones are the most tempted, I'd say. It is not entirely fault of the people themselves. The education system + media are a lot to blame too. No wonder. A foreign tv series is not dubbed to English, is it? The americans make a new version of it and it looks as if they invented it, not the French, Hebrew, Spanish, or other authors and actors. There are so many anglophone books that the publishers feel little need to present translations and they get lost in the flood anyways. The news all over the world are filled with the US, including ridiculous examples, like trash news about "celebrities". Radios are playing music in English and interprets all over the world are getting rid of their native languages in order to conform to this.

No wonder a usual american/canadian/australian/british may be under the impression that everything interesting is coming from the anglophone countries and the rest is a "hic sunt leones" area. And of course they feel superior to the savages filling the rest of the world

Quite simply, I couldn't agree more. If only people would broaden their horizons and look beyond the end of their nose (and I mean that with respect, as I want what is good for humanity, not what they are fed).

[Xmmm]

redacted

[Ani]

The only thing I would be worried about would be your non-native French, as you are not in the C levels yet. However, I suppose that can work, if your daughter has a lot of absolutely correct support too.

.

You know, as long as the majority language is getting enough time, and the language doesn't present a communication barrier between parent and child, you can speak anything to a child under 5 with no detriment. You could speak Latin, you could speak Klingon. We know people do that. PM's daughter is so young. Kids this age pick up bad grammar and mispronounciations from each other all the time. Some mistakes of the parent are not a death sentence for a child's future language usage, especially not at this age! Their language is super malleable and flexible and with the right exposures they will eventually choose to model their language from their peers, not their parents.

PM, have any new favorite books to read your daughter? I'm getting really bored of our selection and I'd like to pick up some more.

[PeterMollenburg]

The only thing I would be worried about would be your non-native French, as you are not in the C levels yet. However, I suppose that can work, if your daughter has a lot of absolutely correct support too.

.

You know, as long as the majority language is getting enough time, and the language doesn't present a communication barrier between parent and child, you can speak anything to a child under 5 with no detriment. You could speak Latin, you could speak Klingon. We know people do that. PM's daughter is so young. Kids this age pick up bad grammar and mispronounciations from each other all the time. Some mistakes of the parent are not a death sentence for a child's future language usage, especially not at this age! Their language is super malleable and flexible and with the right exposures they will eventually choose to model their language from their peers, not their parents.

PM, have any new favorite books to read your daughter? I'm getting really bored of our selection and I'd like to pick up some more.

Thanks for the supportive comments Ani.

I prefer books that contain multiple stories. Here are some we own that we really enjoy:

1. There are a few variations on this collection:
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/aw/d/201000844 ... ref=plSrch

2. Not rated very good on on amazon.fr (one vote), but we like it:
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/aw/d/203583461 ... ousse+soir

3. Much better ratings if you would feel reassured by that (and also a good book)
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/aw/d/208130112 ... ref=plSrch

I'm also back on "PMs big five". Will probably last a day before I change my routine again.

[PeterMollenburg]

French in September:

(time studied in descending order)

Audio courses: 12hrs 23min
Extensive reading: 13hrs 10min
TV: 13hrs 4min
Podcasts: 9hrs 5min
Intensive reading: 5hrs 16min
Vocabulary study: 2hrs 28min
Courses: 1hr 31min

TOTAL: 57,36
Daily average for Sept. : 1hr 55min

An average month in terms of numbers.
----------------------------------

I find I am still reworking my study routine a lot. Yesterday I drew up the "PM's Big Five" again as my routine, as mentioned in my previous post. I doubt I'll stick at it. I'm a bit all over the place, which seems to be nothing new really. So whatever. Just wish I could progress a little faster, and I doubt that I'll advance much doing just courses, but hey, who cares. Anyway, see you next time!

[PeterMollenburg]

So I've gotten a little more serious about 'PM's Big Five' again. I feel like I just simply cannot let the courses slip through my fingers, even when on the verge of beaking through to C1. Anyway whether it significantly slows me down or not, I've decided to go ahead with this. So from here on I'm studying these courses in rotation:

*French in Action (I've returned to where I last left off probably around 12 months ago. Lesson 17)
*Hugo French Advanced (have previously reached probably half way into this course, many years back)
*Mauger Cours de Langue et de Civilisation (was up to Lesson 23 when I dropped it around a year back)
*FSI French Basic (picking up where I left off in Unit 9)
*Assimil Using French (currently up to lesson 44 on second wave).

Last time around I attempted this "Big 5" Hugo French Advanced wasn't in there. Rather there was a whole host of CLE courses filling that gap which included the Grammaire Progressive and Vocabulaire Progressif books as the main ones- all levels from débutant to perfectionnement. I've all these books packed away for a rainy day. I completed the débutant level of the grammaire course, which I liked, while I haven't enjoyed the vocabulaire book at the same level at all. Had my time over I might not have bought the vocab books and stuck with the grammar ones only- you don't need a course to pick up vocabularly, but then these books do explain the themes well. However, they explain it in isolation, which I find extremely dry and very difficult to assimilate. One day I'd really love to make my way through the CLE Grammaire en dialogues courses, as they look and sound good (from previous reports and ratings).

At the end of the day my Big 5 is not as strict as it was then. I'm basically just rotating 5 courses, and I reserve the right to change the line-up as I so please. I do want to attempt to stick this out much longer this time round, but hey, my track record on sticking to plans and objectives is absolutely atrocious. Good luck to me... and see you in a long time (I need a break from here for a while I think for a few reasons -nothing to do with the forum itself or its members- and without being all too dramatic I don't think I'll be that missed- I mean who takes 10,000 years to learn French? I do )

Throw a stick on a cat
Beat whips freak tips and hits over mats
Throw a rose onto a.. umm... bridge, I suppose
Blow your nose
Exit chemical compositions that shouldn't exist within
Falling skies, open your eyes
Look beyond from within
Reality TV and garbage sexualised songs, throw 'em in the bin
Get hooked, on something, keep spending, remain engrossed
How much you wanna get paid? Like the most?
Off grid, gluten free, intolerances, EMF, organic, dammit
Where's our interaction, have a chat, grab a beer
Learn a language in under a year, like 24 hours
Shit man I'll know 365 languages this year
I'm gonna do it with courses, one course, one language, one day
PM what the *** are you trying to say?

[DaveBee]

*Assimil Using French (currently up to lesson 44 on second wave).

I've been thinking of buying this, and then following Small White/Ari's chinesepod method.

Is Using French the same format as French with Ease, or is there more to it?

(Cheapest buy new option for Using French seems to be fnac.com at the moment)

[aravinda]

(Cheapest buy new option for Using French seems to be fnac.com at the moment)

I always check prices with a site like BookFinder, Booko or Chasse aux livres. With BookFinder you can choose the country (for shipping) and currency. However, they don't pick up everything (they search only some sites and apparently only by the ISBN) and are not always accurate. I just checked Using French Superpack (9782700580549) out of curiosity:
https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?auth ... t=sr&ac=qr

https://www.chasse-aux-livres.fr/prix/2 ... rent-binet

PS: 1. My experience with Fnac is not very good (poor customer service, inaccurate/misleading product information, shipping cost etc). If I can't find a new French book cheaper elsewhere (frequently Abe or BookDepository), I usually buy it from Decitre or Amazon.fr. So far the only negative point about Decitre is their annoying third-party promotional offer at the end of a transaction.
2. Some of these sites don't pick up offers from some big used book sites (Alibris, PriceMinister)

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to any of those sites mentioned (unfortunately )

Edited to add PS and the Disclaimer
Edited again: Oops, sorry PM, only now I realized this is your log and not the general French thread!

[Ani]

Hey I will miss you! Who else has the consistency to keep studying French like this?

I wanted to post the other day but got busy, It is funny you are back to the big five because I just picked back up Assimil which is the only of that set I actually swore off.

Did you ever end up finding the later Mauger books btw?