Lianne's 365 Days of French

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joecleland
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby joecleland » Wed Oct 16, 2019 3:48 am

Lianne wrote:1 hour watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (second half)


How funny?! I also watched Prisoner of Azkaban today :lol: ! I purchased the first Harry Potter book in French but I know I am nowhere ready for it...so, I have been watching the Harry Potters to try to remember what happens. After watching the first one, I "have to know" what happens in the the rest of the movies lol.

I envy your dedication to stick out Pimsleur through all 5 levels. I know I will eventually want to do this. After completing my first 30 days I felt like I was going crazy and had to change it up. Perhaps it might be a little easier now after using other resources :?: Either way, I look forward to your posts and am still rooting you on!
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Thu Oct 17, 2019 4:08 am

joecleland wrote:
Lianne wrote:1 hour watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (second half)


How funny?! I also watched Prisoner of Azkaban today :lol: ! I purchased the first Harry Potter book in French but I know I am nowhere ready for it...so, I have been watching the Harry Potters to try to remember what happens. After watching the first one, I "have to know" what happens in the the rest of the movies lol.

I envy your dedication to stick out Pimsleur through all 5 levels. I know I will eventually want to do this. After completing my first 30 days I felt like I was going crazy and had to change it up. Perhaps it might be a little easier now after using other resources :?: Either way, I look forward to your posts and am still rooting you on!

I remember sticking with Pimsleur being harder before. I think it was harder to stick with it when I found the content more challenging. When I restarted Pimsleur in January, it was pretty easy, more review than anything else. While it has gotten more difficult in the higher levels, now I'm just so used to it! It helps that I have a walking commute, during which I have to listen to something. So it has a solid place in my daily routine.

I'm glad to have you cheering for me! I have been in awe of your French progress these last few months, so I am also watching your log with interest!


Day 289:
1 hour Pimsleur French IV, lessons 19 and 20
30 minutes (ish) reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens
45 minutes watching Angel (Happy Anniversary)
30 minutes Duolingo

I might actually re-do a Pimsleur lesson! The last few lessons have had a lot of passé composé in them, particularly with those verbs that conjugate with être. Well, lesson 20 went nuts with that! It was mentally exhausting! Between trying to keep up with the conjugations and trying to remember the differences between similar movement verbs like sortir/partir/quitter and entrer/rentrer and venir/revenir/retourner etc., my head was spinning! Perhaps if I do it again tomorrow morning it'll come a bit more naturally.
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Sat Oct 19, 2019 4:57 am

Day 290:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 20 (redo)

Day 291:
1 hour Pimsleur French IV, lessons 21 and 22
1 hour Duolingo

Oof, those Pimsleur lessons are getting HARD. I noticed today that there's suddenly quite a bit of imparfait. The funny thing is, I don't remember that being introduced! It's like gradually a few imparfait verbs were thrown in, and then suddenly a bunch of them. That, alongside a continuing onslaught of passé composé, with LOADS of verbs conjugated using être, and BUNCHES of reflexive verbs, is making my commutes much more mentally exhausting than usual. Now it's the weekend, when I don't normally do Pimsleur; if I have a bit of free time, I may go over those last 2 lessons, writing sentences down as I go. We'll see.
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Tue Oct 22, 2019 3:55 am

Day 292:
23 minutes Duolingo
20(ish) minutes reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens

Day 293:
45 minutes Duolingo
9 minutes watching #FRANGLAIS (actually 15 minutes but I estimate 9 minutes was in French)

Day 294:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 23
15 minutes reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:41 am

Day 295:
15 minutes reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens
45 minutes Duolingo

Day 296:
1 hour Pimsleur French IV, lessons 24 and 25
15 minutes reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens
1 hour Duolingo

Oh man, there are conditional verbs now! And with the introduction of conditional verbs, they went straight into those "if [imparfait], [conditional phrase]" constructions. Again, I was glad to have been exposed to this before. (Although in this case it was only from a really hard French class I took a couple of years ago so it isn't exactly fresh in my mind.) Honestly, Pimsleur 1-3 did basically only present tense with a bit of passé composé, and then suddenly level 4 is like imparfait! Subjonctif! Conditionnel! Aaaaah!
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Tue Oct 29, 2019 1:49 pm

Day 297:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 26
1 hour Duolingo

Day 298:
1 hour Pimsleur French IV, lessons 27 and 28

Day 299:
30 minutes Duolingo

Day 300:
1 hour reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens

Day 301:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 29
1 hour reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens

There might have also been some reading in those first couple days, but I waited too long to log it so now I've forgotten, lol. I read a lot the last couple days, though! I'm nearly done Simon. And the public library finally got the audiobook, so next I can either try some L-R with it or just try listening to the audiobook and see how much I understand.
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:08 am

Day 302:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 30
33 minutes watching Nailed It France, episode 1: Sea, Cake & Surf
a bit of time reading Moi, Simon, 16 ans, homo sapiens (I forget how long I read, but I finished the book.)

Day 303:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 21 (re-do)
30 minutes (at least) Duolingo

Day 304:
30 minutes Pimsleur French IV, lesson 22 (re-do)
30 minutes (at least) Duolingo

Day 305:
1 hour Duolingo

I finished Pimsleur French IV!! But, since I found the last third of it pretty tough, I decided to go back and re-do the last 10 lessons before I move on. So far, they've been easier the second time around, so that's good! Definitely showing me some areas I need to work on, though.

In Duolingo news, I've been hovering in the Obsidian league for weeks now, and this weekend I'm planning to finally move up to the highest league, Diamond! So, this weekend will be mostly Duolingo plus hopefully starting my next French book!

In personal news, I'm actually amazed at how well my French habit is keeping up. I'm actually super burnt out right now. I haven't had a full night's sleep in like a month, my apartment is a disaster, and I've been struggling just to manage my day to day life. I guess that's the benefit of forming a regular habit! Even when I'm falling apart I still do my French, lol. Anyway, this weekend I finally have a weekend where I don't have to go anywhere, AND it's the time change, which means an extra hour!! I'm gonna catch up on so much sleep!! Also housework. Finally.
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Lianne
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby Lianne » Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:03 pm

Day 306:
24 minutes Duolingo
45 minutes intensive reading, Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers, 1 page

Every time I do intensive reading, I'm reminded why I don't do intensive reading.

I probably could have read that first page without looking anything up, and understood what was going on. But I had decided that I should at least occasionally do intensive reading, so that I'm actually looking up words rather than just letting them wash over me. The result: I spent 45 minutes looking up words and phrases from a single page and writing them down. And I got a headache.

I did pick up some interesting stuff this way. Like, the verb se produire (to happen, to occur, to perform, to be brought about): "des évènements se sont produits" = "events occurred" and "Il s'était même produit dans des cirques." = "He had even performed in circuses." But most of the words I looked up, I could pretty much guess from context, and just felt like I should look them up to be sure, and then write them down to help cement them. But ugh, this process does not feel worth it. In 45 minutes, how many pages could I have read extensively? How many words could I have been exposed to, even if I didn't completely understand them at the time?

Or am I just doing intensive reading wrong? Am I too intensive?
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby badger » Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:40 am

Lianne wrote:But ugh, this process does not feel worth it.
Or am I just doing intensive reading wrong? Am I too intensive?
I think you may have answered your own question. I tend to mix & match with intensive/extensive reading - if I think that I've guessed the meaning of a word correctly from context & then the rest of the page doesn't make sense, or if a word I'm only semi-sure of keeps coming up, or if it just looks interesting, then I'll look it up. otherwise I probably won't bother.

I figure that making reading a chore is self-defeating - I'm much more likely to read if I do it in an enjoyable way. for me at least, reading a lot fairly well & having fun doing it is waaay better than reading very little with absolute accuracy. don't let perfection be the enemy of good. :)
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Re: Lianne's 365 Days of French

Postby iguanamon » Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:21 am

Lianne wrote:Day 306:
24 minutes Duolingo
45 minutes intensive reading, Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers, 1 page
Every time I do intensive reading, I'm reminded why I don't do intensive reading. ... I spent 45 minutes looking up words and phrases from a single page and writing them down. And I got a headache. ... this process does not feel worth it. In 45 minutes, how many pages could I have read extensively? How many words could I have been exposed to, even if I didn't completely understand them at the time?
Or am I just doing intensive reading wrong? Am I too intensive?

Hmmm, 45 minutes on one page! Are you sure you are ready to be reading this book yet? Perhaps it may be better to read it in parallel with the English version at this stage. You may get more out of it this way. At this stage, intensive reading will be painful... but words repeat and phrases repeat within a book and the more you read, the easier it gets. The pain lessens- if that's any consolation.

It's hard to say because, well, learning a language is not always "with ease". I suffered with my first book in Haitian Creole "Woben Lakwa/Robinson Crusoe". There was so much nautical vocabulary I'd never seen before. The first third was a slog. I questioned myself repeatedly on why I decided to read it. It got better in the middle third. The final third, I was cooking with gas! I like to read with a pdf version of a book because I hate marking up a real book. Marking up a pdf is so much easier and neater, plus I can easily review the words I've marked with definitions after I've finished reading in a pdf. "Woben Lakwa" was a physical book, so I made notes on my tablet. There are ready made parallel texts available of several public domain books in French at Farkas translations.

Reading with a parallel text allows the reader to more easily and rapidly verify guesses and/or meaning. You can make your own relatively quickly once you've done a few and get used to the process. I find it makes reading in the beginning less frustrating and more fulfilling. You can enlarge the text on a tablet and swipe right to see L1. I used it sparingly in the beginning of reading but when I needed it, I was glad I'd made it. Emk calls this process "cheating". There's no shame in it at all. It's an aid, like a dictionary is an aid, to learning. As you read more you need the parallel text less and less. Like riding a bike, you get to the point where you don't need the training wheels anymore. Then you get to the point where you may only have to look up just a few words per page!

Still, even without looking everything up or verifying, you will learn. It just takes a little longer. This is the "not so fun" stage of language-learning but it gets easier the more you read. Just have faith and trust that it will get better :) . Keep up the good work, Lianne. You are, indeed, progressing.
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