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

[PeterMollenburg]

Ça fait maintenant trois jours que je n'étudie plus avec SRS.... Je vais essayer de continuer comme ça. Je me sens libéré !

Le seul cours que j'utilise en ce moment et Assimil. En fait j'en utilise deux ; Assimil Using French (première vague - leçon 19) et, Assimil New French with Ease (deuxième vague - leçon 83). Je les utilise ensemble comme un seul cours en snynergie.

J'ai décidé de combiner des méthodes intensives (Assimil, et des magazines avec audio pour apprendre le français par exemple) avec des méthodes extensives- lecture, télé.. etc etc. Je crois que c'est une bonne décision. C'est le moment où je dois changer mes habitudes, parce que jusqu'à maintenant j'ai étudié peut-être trop en utilisant des méthodes intensives. Mais je suis fier de mon accent français dont je ne l'aurais pas pu développer sans beaucoup d'études intensives du français, je crois. Finalement je suis ici, au moment présent !

À bientôt !

[Arnaud]

deleted

[PeterMollenburg]

Le seul cours que j'utilise en ce moment et Assimil [...]
il m'a invité de nous nous retrouver chez un café

Je suis bien content que tu aies vu "nouvel ami".
Tu peux essayer de construire la deuxième phrase avec le verbe "proposer" à la place "d'inviter", pour simplifier le problème.

Merci Arnaud

[PeterMollenburg]

Tegenwoordig wil ik het nederlands weer leren... maar je moet wachten nederlands... ik moet het frans verbeteren dan kan je met mij spelen (als het spaans en het duits kan dus ook wachten)

[PeterMollenburg]

Not a lot to say... just wanting to share something that necessarily that interesting to others.

I'm feeling a very very very strong pull towards studying Dutch again. So much so i'm looking up grammar course books on amazon (no intention to buy- have plenty already), and find myself using google maps to zoom on on the Dutch street views at random teasing myself with the Dutch landscape/cityscape.

I think the way I feel now i'm certain to make Dutch my next language, but these feelings often come and go, but Dutch is now top of the list. Look out 2018 here Dutch comes! Yeah, I've resolved myself to studying French only for some time to come yet, potentially until the end of next year. We'll see

Ik hoop dat alles gaat goed met iedereen. Tot de volgende keer.

[Mohave]

Not a lot to say... just wanting to share something that necessarily that interesting to others.

I'm feeling a very very very strong pull towards studying Dutch again. So much so i'm looking up grammar course books on amazon (no intention to buy- have plenty already), and find myself using google maps to zoom on on the Dutch street views at random teasing myself with the Dutch landscape/cityscape.

I think the way I feel now i'm certain to make Dutch my next language, but these feelings often come and go, but Dutch is now top of the list. Look out 2018 here Dutch comes! Yeah, I've resolved myself to studying French only for some time to come yet, potentially until the end of next year. We'll see

Ik hoop dat alles gaat goed met iedereen. Tot de volgende keer.

Stay strong my friend and complete your goals in French! I was selfishly hoping your next language was going to be Spanish though!!!

[PeterMollenburg]

Stay strong my friend and complete your goals in French! I was selfishly hoping your next language was going to be Spanish though!!!

I'm quite likely to change my mind again looking at my track record. And since I'd really like to pass a C-level exam in French before making my final decision on which language comes next you could be in luck. I'm justifying Dutch for four reasons-

1. It's the language of origin of my father. He was born in the Netherlands to Dutch parents, came to Australia when he was 4 or 5 with his family. However he doesn't have any use for the language anymore since his parents are long deceased. He has forgotten most despite using the language at home in Australia as he grew up- how much I'm not exactly sure, and I shall find out. Many of his vocab words have been different to the official Dutch ones I've learned and sometimes closer to German, so I wonder how much dialect(s) influenced his language. His mother spoke standard Dutch (from Amsterdam) but they did live in Limburg (where his father was from) close to Germany. Unfortunately I became really interested in Dutch and began learning it too late to converse with my grand parents.His elder sister is also married to a Dutchman originally from Utrecht, but all the family are well and truly English speakers with no use of Dutch in their every day language.

2. Dutch is the first language I really tried to study heavily to pass a particular level exam. The aim was B2. My wife and I had settled in Limburg in 2011. We were to pass the B2 exam in order to work as nurses. Our plans changed, we left the Netherlands and neither of us continued with Dutch to the higher levels. I dabbled but that was it. We were likely B1 upon leaving.

3. I just really want to! This probably is a mixture of all the other points and some other factors.

4. A logical next choice? Despite the fact my wife didn't find the Dutch experience an easy one (mainly because of cultural 'strains'), and Dutch has very few speakers compared to Spanish (another on my hit list), I think it makes sense. As I will continue learning French at a slower pace (study time will be reduced) once I add another language I think it makes sense to choose a Germanic language because by the time I add Spanish later on after Dutch, my French will have improved futher thereby making Spanish easier than it would be were I to start Spanish next instead of Dutch. And by doing Dutch before German, it will render German easier down the track in years to come as well. Doing Dutch before German makes sense for a number of reasons. I've already made it to ~B1 in Dutch before, so best to take advantage of that sooner rather than later, and Dutch is easier than German. It will be a good foundation to add German too later on.

Still all these reasons could be cancelled out if I simply become more interested in another language. Perhaps I could introduce 2 languages at once? Although, I kinda think that is a bad idea currently. Time will tell.

I might tease myself by flicking through some of my Dutch materials today. Don't worry I'm firmly grounded in French for some time yet!

[iguanamon]

With French and Dutch, you'll be set for Belgium. Or, St Martin/St Maarten which is about 100 miles away from me- a half French, half Dutch island. Though English is the predominant language on the Dutch side, I have heard Papiamento, Spanish and Haitian/Lesser Antilles French Creole there too- on both sides.

[PeterMollenburg]

With French and Dutch, you'll be set for Belgium. Or, St Martin/St Maarten which is about 100 miles away from me- a half French, half Dutch island. Though English is the predominant language on the Dutch side, I have heard Papiamento, Spanish and Haitian/Lesser Antilles French Creole there too- on both sides.

Set for Belgium indeed. I very much enjoyed previous visits to Flanders- Gent and Bruges are quite pretty. Oostende didn't 'grab me' really. As for Brussels, it certainly has an interesting language history and an holds interesting linguistic, geographical and political positions. It hasn't captured my interest with its beauty but still is an interesting place, sometimes for negative reasons sometimes positive.

As for the Walloon region. My first visit to Liège in 2000 made me think 'what a dump!'. My subsequent visit in 2011, I thought 'this place has cleaned up a lot and is actually a nice enough looking city really'. Charleroi however didn't impress me.

I enjoy watching highlights of the Belgian one day classic cycling events held in Belgium on the TV when I catch them. Add to that the races held in and around Maastricht, NL and I feel like I'm watching a home away from home- seeing actual hills my wife and I cycled over in NL more than once is strange from the comfort of our lounge half a world away.

Skipping over to the Walloon region of Belgium from my usual French or Dutch voyeuristuc adventures with google maps using streetview made me realise that although the rather industrial cities of Walloon aren't always captivating in their presentation, the smaller villages and countryside do hold a certain charm and beauty about them. Perhaps the Walloon countryside and villages are an equal yet opposite side of the coin to the admirable architecture of the flemish cities/larger towns of Flanders. I've definitely a soft spot for Belgium but I would much rather 'live' further south

Maybe one day I'll make it to the Carribean to explore some of those amazing islands too

[Elenia]

With French and Dutch, you'll be set for Belgium. Or, St Martin/St Maarten which is about 100 miles away from me- a half French, half Dutch island. Though English is the predominant language on the Dutch side, I have heard Papiamento, Spanish and Haitian/Lesser Antilles French Creole there too- on both sides.

My ex-roommate was from St Martin (the French side, naturally). She has mixed feeling about it. I get the feeling that she misses the weather, but not the people. That is obviously very personal, though. It'd definitely make a great place to visit, both linguistically and from a more touristy aspect. But I don't know what it would be like to live there, especially with family. I'm not sure about how widespread it is, but everyone from the French side of the island that I've met has spoken great English, too.