Zelda's French Log (+ Modern Greek)

[zjones]

Well, that sucks. I saw reviews on Amazon saying that people received the wrong CLE book, but I figured it wouldn't happen to me. I opened the Amazon box today, and my heart immediately sunk when I noticed the books were different colors. Despite ordering the 3e edition of both Grammaire Progressive du Français books, I received the 3e Corrigés and the 4e workbook.

Not only that, but I think Niveau Intermédiaire is going to be too easy for me. The book is chock full of great exercises, but the whole first half of the book is going to be a huge pain in the a**, especially after my Easy French grammar and using Kwiziq. I want something a little more advanced. So, my plan is to punch a few pillows, return both the workbook and the corrections book, and then order something else.

I'm disappointed because I like book courses, but it's very difficult to find and purchase them. Plus, they are expensive. I'm going to go back into the forum search and see if I can find any other book courses with good grammar instruction. I'm back to a blank slate.

[StringerBell]

Learning German Pros:

[list][*] I will have learned both a Germanic and a Romantic language, which will give me a solid base for moving on to even more European languages if that's what I decide to do.

I have great news!!! As a native English speaker, you've already mastered a "Germanic" language, so this pro is checked off without learning German, yay!

I just wanted to make a recommendation that you can definitely feel free to ignore if it doesn't interest you. I, myself, have recently started to read more in Italian, and I've discovered that I HATE reading Italian novels because of the extensive use of a little-used (in northern Italy) verb tense that I'm specifically avoiding. To get around this, I've started reading a lot of articles online, and I'm realizing that for my intermediate level, these are really perfect; still words to look up and learn (copy+paste into Reverso Context), I choose articles written in an informal and conversational way, almost as if the author were speaking, so the vocab I'm learning is actually useful instead of really high-brow literary vocab that I'd find in novels, and the articles are like 1 page long, which gives me a sense of accomplishment after I finish them instead of a never-ending novel. If you're not sure how to find stuff you'd like to read, think about what websites you read for fun in English then do a search for that but in French. I bet a lot of interesting blogs will pop up that will have a ton of articles to read.

[jonm]

Not only that, but I think Niveau Intermédiaire is going to be too easy for me. The book is chock full of great exercises, but the whole first half of the book is going to be a huge pain in the a**, especially after my Easy French grammar and using Kwiziq. I want something a little more advanced. So, my plan is to punch a few pillows, return both the workbook and the corrections book, and then order something else.

I'm disappointed because I like book courses, but it's very difficult to find and purchase them. Plus, they are expensive. I'm going to go back into the forum search and see if I can find any other book courses with good grammar instruction. I'm back to a blank slate.

Hi Zelda, for what it's worth, I'm also low-intermediate in French, and I skipped to the Perfectionnement level of the Grammaire Progressive series and have found it quite accessible. I should say that I'm not doing it straight through, just turning to it when there's a specific grammar point I want to work on (and honestly it's been a little while since I did that), but so far I've never found that it's too difficult or that it doesn't cover something I'm interested in. I guess I'm probably not using the series quite the way it's intended, given the Progressive in the title, but I didn't think I'd actually work through all the various levels, and the books are pricey. Anyway, I'd say it feels appropriately challenging but not over my head, and I like that the coverage of each grammar point feels very comprehensive. Might be worth taking a look.

I also like CLE's Exercices Audio de Grammaire, since it works on grammar, listening, and speaking all at the same time, but it's at about the same level as the intermediate Grammaire Progressive. I wish they offered a niveau avancé for that one.

[zjones]

I have great news!!! As a native English speaker, you've already mastered a "Germanic" language, so this pro is checked off without learning German, yay!

I just wanted to make a recommendation that you can definitely feel free to ignore if it doesn't interest you. I, myself, have recently started to read more in Italian, and I've discovered that I HATE reading Italian novels because of the extensive use of a little-used (in northern Italy) verb tense that I'm specifically avoiding. To get around this, I've started reading a lot of articles online, and I'm realizing that for my intermediate level, these are really perfect; still words to look up and learn (copy+paste into Reverso Context), I choose articles written in an informal and conversational way, almost as if the author were speaking, so the vocab I'm learning is actually useful instead of really high-brow literary vocab that I'd find in novels, and the articles are like 1 page long, which gives me a sense of accomplishment after I finish them instead of a never-ending novel. If you're not sure how to find stuff you'd like to read, think about what websites you read for fun in English then do a search for that but in French. I bet a lot of interesting blogs will pop up that will have a ton of articles to read.

I know English is a Germanic language in core grammar structure and basic vocabulary, but the huge amount of Latin loan words makes a big difference for me. I could pick out Latin words in French long before I learned the language, but I still look at German and think "WTF".

I love the idea of reading articles online, but I'm on a mission to decrease my online time which is why I spend so much time reading actual books. I'm hoping that the copy of the French magazine XXI will give me some articles in a physical format, and then I can use Word Reference as my dictionary. Thanks for your suggestion!

Hi Zelda, for what it's worth, I'm also low-intermediate in French, and I skipped to the Perfectionnement level of the Grammaire Progressive series and have found it quite accessible. I should say that I'm not doing it straight through, just turning to it when there's a specific grammar point I want to work on (and honestly it's been a little while since I did that), but so far I've never found that it's too difficult or that it doesn't cover something I'm interested in. I guess I'm probably not using the series quite the way it's intended, given the Progressive in the title, but I didn't think I'd actually work through all the various levels, and the books are pricey. Anyway, I'd say it feels appropriately challenging but not over my head, and I like that the coverage of each grammar point feels very comprehensive. Might be worth taking a look.

I actually didn't know there was a level above Avancé in the Grammaire Progressive du Français series. Thank you! I'm definitely going to consider buying it.

[zjones]

Finished return process for Grammaire Progressive du Français Intermédiaire (workbook and answer book).

Placed order for Grammaire Progressive du Français Perfectionnement. I figured that at this point, I'd rather get a higher level grammar book, especially because there are lots of poems and little tidbits of etymology in the Perfectionnement book! There's really only one edition, so it's highly unlikely Amazon will screw up the order, although I probably just jinxed myself.

Also, did you guys know that there is a place to view the Grammaire Progressive du Français books online? You can only see the first 35 pages, but it's a great resource if you aren't sure which book you need. It looks like the extracts were put online by CLE itself, so it's totally legal. Here's the link to the Perfectionnement book: https://issuu.com/marketingcle/docs/ext ... _francais_.

[garyb]

That page where you can view the extracts was what convinced me to buy Perfectionnement - it's a good marketing strategy and an excellent book! I found it great for "tidying up" my spoken French: I already had quite an advanced level, but was making quite a few little basic usage mistakes that I wasn't aware of. It's an "advanced" text not in the sense that what it teaches is particularly advanced, but in that it addresses things that even advanced students tend to get wrong, so it should be useful even at a lower level.

[Cavesa]

Yes, exactly. And unlike most books trying to do the same thing, the authors of this one actually guess the probable problems of the students right. Most books about grammar and mistakes focus on stuff I would never do and instead miss my problems entirely

Really, I don't get why so many people hate grammar books and suppose that you know it all at the advanced level or that only rare and bookish stuff far from the real life is being learnt at this level for this type of resources.

I wish you lots of patience and energy for progress

[zjones]

This arrived in my mailbox today. XXI contains 200 pages of French news and journalism. It's beautiful.

[zjones]

I've been reading XXI in order. Since the articles are written in different styles and by different authors, the difficulty of an article varies wildly. There was a single-page article with loads of unknown vocabulary, but the next article had just one or two unknown words.

My daily French consumption is primarily reading now, with some audio and a little bit of speaking practice. (I purposely pronounce words in my head when I'm reading, and I often speak them aloud to increase my speaking dexterity.) I think I'm in the process of consolidating my French knowledge.

Oh, yeah, and what's the deal with liaison? I feel like it happens about 50% of the time. And even if I do use it correctly, sometimes my French friends tell me that I sound too formal and unnatural, and that I shouldn't liaise those specific words in conversation. But sometimes I skip the liaison and they tell me I absolutely cannot skip it. So I looked at the Wikipedia page on liaison, and my brain melted out of the bottom of my skull. I had no idea there were so many little rules about when to use liaison and when to skip it. Dumb.

[zjones]

Just scheduled my first iTalki lesson with a professional teacher who is bilingual in French and English. I'm interested to see how it goes. I've been resorting to English more and more when I speak with my French friends, and I want to change that.