Okay, I will add a few comments, then. You convinced me!
Deinonysus wrote:I was actually working on half of his big six around the new year and I found it to be extremely helpful.
Fortheo wrote:Good luck man. I recently restarted FSI myself. It's always useful in my opinion, as long as you're still doing other stuff with the language on the side.
Thank you for sharing your experiences
I appreciate the positive feedback and as Deinonysus also mentioned, I think the value in doing such courses is underestimated, within reason of course - as Fortheo mentions, as long as you're still doing other stuff with the language (I carry the course books around, that counts, right?
). Yesterday evening I jumped at the opportunity to listen to some French audio of a TV programme my wife was watching. You see? All good
luke wrote:PM is at the level where a nice consolidation, however short or long it is, will be super helpful under the circumstances.
iguanamon wrote:Regardless of whether PM's approach is the best or most appropriate, if he wants to go through all the French courses he missed out on while learning French to B2, it's his language journey to take and his alone. To each his/her/their own.
Yes, there's value in it, but not for everyone.
Le Baron wrote:iguanamon wrote:Regardless of whether PM's approach is the best or most appropriate, if he wants to go through all the French courses he missed out on while learning French to B2, it's his language journey to take and his alone. To each his/her/their own.
Quite so. I'm only throwing out discussion as a guest on a log (hanks to PM for tolerating me!). At the end of the day everyone's path is their own.
I appreciate your reflections, Le Baron. I know it might seem like I am out to either iron out every single possible imperfection, or that I've lied about my level and I'm still at A2. Thing is, in going through Vocabulaire progressif du francais - niveau debutant, I've marked lots of pages with one or two unfamiliar expressions and I did pass a B2 some years ago. one could hypothesize that I'm now at a C1 level. These expressions in the aforementioned beginner course book are unfamiliar in that were I wanting to say said expression, I'd either say it in another way or say it clunkily - there's always room for improvement even with simple expressions. I am indeed aiming to iron out flaws. I don't expect complete perfection, ever, but there's nothing wrong with improving one's language skills. Aren't we all trying to iron out our imperfections/improve our language skills? We all just go about things differently. Btw, not all these courses are beginner courses. Some are, some are intermediate, some are advanced, some are more advanced. I expect to learn A LOT from all these materials. Courses are underrated. This will not be my only activity and it will not last forever.
some examples from that course book:
"Dans la semaine"
I didn't realise we could say this. I would say "pendant la semaine", which is also ok.
être reçu(e) à son examen/ être recalé(e) à son examen
I don't use this. I would say: j'ai réussi mon examen/ j'ai raté mon examen.
demander le divorce
I didn't know about this expression. I'd say il/elle veut divorcer. Again, can be said, just didn't know this other way of expressing it.
ouvrir une porte à quelqu'un
I would incorrectly say
pour quelqu'un.
Sometimes no amount of extensive study will iron out such issues. Sometimes we need focused study. Well at least that is what I've found.
iguanamon wrote:PeterMollenburg wrote:...Disclaimer:
I'm likely to give up after two weeks and see the folly of my ways. I'll return again in another year and give up again after three weeks. At age 81 I will complete this and wonder why the hell I bothered, realising for a serving-sized portion of my brain, I was actually insane.
He'll probably make a week.
Shall we turn my log into a gambling thread? I say two months.