Zelda's 2019 French Log

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zjones
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9860
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby zjones » Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:14 pm

Thanks you guys!

My husband brought me flowers and we celebrated with a big homemade dinner and two episodes of Queer Eye.

I’m inspired to keep working on French, but it also looks like there are a lot of changes coming up. My husband wants to change jobs and get paid better, and I’ve started looking for full-time administration jobs so we can earn more. We’ll see how my time for French changes once I get a new job.
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Cavesa
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby Cavesa » Sun Mar 31, 2019 2:01 pm

zjones wrote:I just got my DELF results. I'm kind of shocked by them because I did not feel like I did anywhere near this well during the exam. Here they are:

Reading comprehension: 25/25
Writing production: 24/25
Listening comprehension: 22.5/25
Speaking production: 24.5/25

Total note 96/100

Of all the results I didn't expect listening comprehension to be the lowest. I'm not complaining at all. I'm stunned by my writing and speaking results considering I felt like I didn't do well. Thanks to everyone who assured me I'd succeed. This exam experience will be great for me when I decide to take future DELF exams.
zjones wrote:Thanks you guys!

My husband brought me flowers and we celebrated with a big homemade dinner and two episodes of Queer Eye.

I’m inspired to keep working on French, but it also looks like there are a lot of changes coming up. My husband wants to change jobs and get paid better, and I’ve started looking for full-time administration jobs so we can earn more. We’ll see how my time for French changes once I get a new job.


Congratulations! You're great!

I knew you'd score really well! But this is truly extraordinary.

It's awesome that you're looking forward to your further studies and exams :-)

Don't worry much about the future. You've reached the phase, at which your French learning can merge more successfully with your time for relax and entertainment, for culture in general, and so on. Yes, a new job will be a challenge, but I'm sure you'll adapt without losing French :-)
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Melkor
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Re: DELF results!

Postby Melkor » Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:26 am

zjones wrote:I just got my DELF results.

Reading comprehension: 25/25
Writing production: 24/25
Listening comprehension: 22.5/25
Speaking production: 24.5/25

Total note 96/100


Congratulatons, Zelda! You and Skynet have shown us that it is very possible to reach the intermediate level in a language without traveling to and/or living in a country where the L2 is spoken. You have given me a confidence boost for my German!
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PeterMollenburg
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby PeterMollenburg » Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:49 am

Hi zjones,

Well done on your DELF B2 results, which I hadn’t noticed until just now. Pretty awesome scores there! I’m very impressed.
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MrsStarez
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8933
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby MrsStarez » Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:44 pm

Wow, those are excellent results - well done!
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Skynet
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8686
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Re: DELF results!

Postby Skynet » Sat Apr 06, 2019 6:27 pm

zjones wrote:I just got my DELF results. Total note 96/100


Your DELF score is simply outstanding! I never doubted you, and you proved - just as Melkor noted - that it is possible to learn a foreign language where the language is not spoken! Well done!!!
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Sarafina
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby Sarafina » Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:56 pm

I'm in awe. Congratulations, those are absolutely fantastic results.
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zjones
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby zjones » Mon Apr 08, 2019 4:10 pm

Thank you everyone!

Weekly Update April 8, 2019

I've continued on a sort of break, but I've watched a few Netflix TV series (Osmosis in it's entirety and La Trêve/The Break for several episodes). La Trêve is dark and can be hard to watch. I've also been reading Changer l'eau des fleurs which I've been working on for what seems like forever. I'm not quite halfway through.

Yesterday I was in Barnes & Noble and I asked an employee where to find the French section. She asked (in French) if I spoke the language, and when my reply was affirmative, she started speaking to me in excellent French. She's from my town but spent several years in Paris. I was thrown off guard, my replies were very simple or had errors "C'est super" "C'est cool de rencontrer quelqu'un qui parle français" but we continued our conversation mostly in French and I could understand her perfectly. She said to stop in anytime that I wanted to speak French with her.

I picked up my first bilingual book at Barnes & Noble, a collection of lesser known stories from French literature, by Voltaire, Balzac, Camus and others. I'm curious to see what it's like to read French with an English translation available. I think this is the best way for me to approach French literature because I've always felt like it would be too difficult.

I've not heard back about any jobs yet, but I've applied to a few. There are lots of administrative jobs available, particularly in the construction industry, which is what I prefer. I'm only applying to companies that I really want to work for.

This is off-topic, but I recently became aware of the social and ecological effects of the fashion industry after watching a documentary on the topic. It's the second most polluting industry in the world, with oil being the first. I already consider my purchases to fit "slow fashion" (which is the word use to describe buying few clothes that will last longer), but the higher price brands I have been purchasing from are just as guilty of the disgusting, greedy practices of the fast fashion industry. There are very few brands that follow good practices, and the ones that do tend to be extremely expensive.
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DaveAgain
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Apr 08, 2019 4:37 pm

zjones wrote:This is off-topic, but I recently became aware of the social and ecological effects of the fashion industry after watching a documentary on the topic. It's the second most polluting industry in the world, with oil being the first. I already consider my purchases to fit "slow fashion" (which is the word use to describe buying few clothes that will last longer), but the higher price brands I have been purchasing from are just as guilty of the disgusting, greedy practices of the fast fashion industry. There are very few brands that follow good practices, and the ones that do tend to be extremely expensive.
I read a biog of Coco Chanel last year. One takeaway from that was that the Chanel fashion house, during Ms Chanel's post WW2 run, was essentially just there to advertise Chanel branded perfume, which was the real money-spinner. :-)
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zjones
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9860
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Re: Zelda's 2019 French Log

Postby zjones » Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:42 am

Right after my last posts, I got two calls about interviews. I had both of them today, and the second interview took over 1h30m and involved spontaneous conversations with multiple people in the company and a tour of the warehouse. Exhausting. Do you know what the interview process reminded me of? Preparing and taking the DELF speaking exam. It felt exactly the same, just longer.

French came up in both of the interviews. I have received advice to leave French off my resume, but I chose to include it in order to differentiate myself from other applicants in my area. There is a small section on my resume that says "Languages: English (native), French (self-taught, certified B1)". So far I think it's been a good choice. During one of the interviews I was able to relate my French self-study to my knowledge of my learning style and abilities, and in the other I mentioned it in relation to learning something that is very complex and subjective. It's also proof that I'm not bullsh*tting when I say that I'm passionate about learning new things.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but both interviews went really well especially the super long one. If neither of these jobs work out, at least I got interview practice. :D
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