Lianne's 365 Days of French

[Lianne]

Having had another couple of lazy days (well, not so much lazy as exhausted), I'm really seeing the effects of being in this challenge! I am determined to get 365/365 on this challenge, so at the end of a long day in which I didn't manage to make any time for French, I will still put on an episode of Buffy in French and focus all of my energy on it for 45 minutes before crawling off to bed. I'm very pleased with this increase in motivation!!

Day 18:
45 minutes watching Buffy

Day 19
45 minutes watching Angel
5 minutes Duolingo

[Lianne]

Day 20:
45 minutes watching Angel

Day 21:
52 minutes Pimsleur French 1 (lessons 19 and 20)
15 minutes Duolingo

[Lawyer&Mom]

I say lose the English subs. Yes, you miss details, but so what. You are trying to learn French, not Buffy!

If you really want the details, I hear there is a transcript of the French Buffy dub available.

With time, your listening comprehension will improve. A lot. And you will still miss bits! It’s okay!

[Lianne]

I say lose the English subs. Yes, you miss details, but so what. You are trying to learn French, not Buffy!

If you really want the details, I hear there is a transcript of the French Buffy dub available.

With time, your listening comprehension will improve. A lot. And you will still miss bits! It’s okay!

That is true! Plus I already know Buffy. It just gets frustrating not knowing what's going on (aside from what I remember of the episode). Because I do still miss quite a lot. Perhaps most. But I think you're right; I should probably drop the subs.

[Lianne]

Day 22:
45 minutes watching Angel
5 minutes Duolingo

Day 23:
45 minutes watching Buffy

I have stopped using the English subtitles! It's hard to know how much I'm understanding. Some bits I know exactly what they're saying. Other bits I have no idea. And then there are lots of bits where I know I heard a bunch of words I know but don't really know what it said put together.

What worries me is that people are always talking about the importance of "comprehensible input". I don't know exactly what the standard is for that. And if Buffy is too hard to count as comprehensible input for me, then what am I supposed to watch? I hope that this is helping my French, but it's hard for me to tell if it is.

[SGP]

What worries me is that people are always talking about the importance of "comprehensible input". I don't know exactly what the standard is for that.

The required amount and density/intensity of Comprehensible Input varies from person to person. So it is less of a constant value, and more of a variable. What I have been doing is to check after a few days if there is any progress (like being able to recall some more words, etc.). If there was some, then the amount of Comprehensible Input was sufficient .

And if Buffy is too hard to count as comprehensible input for me, then what am I supposed to watch? I hope that this is helping my French, but it's hard for me to tell if it is.

I don't know anything about Vampire Slayers and some other series. But you may want to watch something that contains a lesser amount of "specialized" (as opposed to generic) vocabulary. Fantasy-themed programs tend to contain a lot of terms belonging to their very own jargon. What I had been doing is watching some very every-day YT FR videos, maybe something about (real-world and non-scripted) conversations, some food subjects, and so on. Or also about anything of my Special Interests, because I already am very familiar with those, so it is easier to grasp the meaning of unknown words by context.

And if I was in Canada, I'd get some more additional French input (wherever applicable) by going to French-speaking shops. If they are bilingual, I'd even (sort of) request being spoken to in French.

[Lianne]

What worries me is that people are always talking about the importance of "comprehensible input". I don't know exactly what the standard is for that.

The required amount and density/intensity of Comprehensible Input varies from person to person. So it is less of a constant value, and more of a variable. What I have been doing is to check after a few days if there is any progress (like being able to recall some more words, etc.). If there was some, then the amount of Comprehensible Input was sufficient .

And if Buffy is too hard to count as comprehensible input for me, then what am I supposed to watch? I hope that this is helping my French, but it's hard for me to tell if it is.

I don't know anything about Vampire Slayers and some other series. But you may want to watch something that contains a lesser amount of "specialized" (as opposed to generic) vocabulary. Fantasy-themed programs tend to contain a lot of terms belonging to their very own jargon. What I had been doing is watching some very every-day YT FR videos, maybe something about (real-world and non-scripted) conversations, some food subjects, and so on. Or also about anything of my Special Interests, because I already am very familiar with those, so it is easier to grasp the meaning of unknown words by context.

And if I was in Canada, I'd get some more additional French input (wherever applicable) by going to French-speaking shops. If they are bilingual, I'd even (sort of) request being spoken to in French.

I actually don't find the fantasy jargon to be difficult in Buffy. I've watched so much of it that I'm easily familiar with the words for vampire, werewolf, demon, the Slayer, Watchers, etc. So any difficulty I have understanding the show is a general difficulty understanding French, not something specific to the Buffyverse.

I lived in a French neighbourhood for 7 years and hardly spoke in French to shopkeepers at all. I'm already socially awkward and an introvert, so when you add language difficulties to that it's a bit of a nightmare. But I certainly have no shortage of practice opportunities, if I could get the confidence to use them. Half my family are francophones and I have many French-speaking friends and acquaintances.

[Lianne]

Day 24:
30 minutes Anki/vocab list

Finally got back to my Tentation vocab list! Got through another 100 words, bringing me into the 19x-in-the-book words.

I also have plans for some L-R! That's a technique I've never really used before. (I once started but didn't get far.) I have French (and English) copies of the first two Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books, and have requested the French audiobooks for them at the library. Question for those of you who have L-R experience: Would you recommend doing the first book through the whole process, repeating the L1 reading/L2 listening phase several times, and then move on to the second book, or would you treat them like one long book and go through the whole process for both books at once? They are fairly short novels; the audiobooks are only 4:30:00 and 2:40:00.

[Lianne]

Day 25:
52 minutes of Pimsleur French 1 (lessons 21 and 22)
45 minutes watching Stranger Things in French (no subs)

Well, I had originally hoped to finish Pimsleur French 1 today, but bad weather caused a lot of walking to be replaced by busing and getting rides. I'm getting there, though. Only 8 lessons to go! I'll be done by next week. Then I think I'll start French 2 right away.

In other news, today I set up another Netflix account (I named it Frenchie), on which I set the language to French. I didn't know until today that you could set the language on individual profiles! That means that, without annoying my very anglo husband at all, I can have a Netflix profile where all the text is in French, and the shows/movies all default to French audio. Today I started watching Stranger Things in French on that profile, but eventually I want to move to more native materials (right now I find them incomprehensible, maybe because I don't have the prior knowledge of what's going on like I do with English shows I've already watched). At that point I'm hoping Netflix will recommend more original French content on that profile.

[Lianne]

Day 26:
54 minutes watching Stranger Things

I was out all day at a funeral and the family time that followed. It was a very long, rough, emotionally exhausting day. I'm glad I have shows I love available in French so I could get my French in while recovering from my day.