Plan with a deadline: French from 0 to B2 in 8-9 months

[Gordafarin2]

I wish you the best of luck with this! I will echo the skepticism from the other posters, that this will be a very big challenge indeed. Even with the vocabulary discount of English and a word here and there in Persian too.

You say you have 4 hours per day to devote to this, but I would also squeeze as much time as I could out of the rest of my day, and turn it French. Your music? French. Your TV, movies, podcasts? French. Your socialising? Make some Francophone friends ASAP. Anything you're already doing, see if you can do it in French. This will also help to prevent burnout because you're not just studying it, you're having fun in the language too.

Do you have money to throw at this? Because once you have gone through your initial courses, I would hire a personal tutor who can focus on your gaps and work up a plan for you. Specifically a tutor who is familiar with the B2 test, who knows what needs to be taught and can judge your level accurately.

Self learning is fine at the beginning, but you already know that self-led courses won't take you the whole way there, and you will hit a plateau on your own. I am very happy studying on my own, but that kind of progress takes me years, not months. In this short time there will need to be some 'teaching to the test' and the best way to get there is professional help.

(and if you are anything like me, you might fall prey to spending too much time 'learning how to learn'. I waste many hours reading LLORG, researching methods, collecting resources, organizing and re-organizing my Anki deck... When you have just 8 months, you do not have the luxury of doing that. Let a tutor handle some of the admin work!)

[vahid]

I’d say once you finish the first level of Assimil, start reading the news and opinion sections of French newspapers (Le Monde and Le Figaro are the big ones) and noting down words and expressions. There are also book series catering specifically to those exams, so maybe ask a teacher with lots of experience in preparing students for them, or someone who has passed the B2 exam.

Thank you very much!

I am going to follow a similar plan. I will explain it in a separate post.

[vahid]

That's going to be a tough call, but it is possible. I did something similar with a goal of 1,000 hours, which took me about a year and a half. I used a lot of resources. You'll need to start working through authentic CEFR aligned French materials. Here's the study materials I covered ,

A1\A2
Grammaire en Dialogues - Niveau Debutant
Vocabulaire en Dialogues - Niveau Debutant
Vocabulaire Expliqué du Français - Niveau Débutant
Alter Ego 1
Guide Alter Ego 1
Alter Ego 2
Guide Alter Ego 2

B1\B2

Hachette: Grammaire Pratique du Français
Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Intermediaire
Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Avancé
Communication Progressive du Français - Niveau Intermediaire
Vite et Bien 2 (B1)
Vocabulaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Intermediaire
Vocabulaire Expliqué du Français - Niveau Intermédiaire
Les 500 Exercices de Grammaire B1
Édito - B1

B2

Bescherelle : La Grammaire Pour Tous
Vocabulaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Avancé
Version Originale 4
Version Originale 4 - Cahier
Version Originale 4 - Guide
Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Perfectionnment
Les 500 Exercices de Grammaire B2
Édito - B2

Also
Le Monde
Point de Vue

Thank you very much for your answer.

This is a long list, but I will follow some of the books that you mentioned. I will explain it a separate post..

[vahid]

Hi vahid,

I appreciate you are not looking for input on whether this would be a possible or realistic project, but instead you are looking for advice on how to achieve it. But for what it may be worth, particularly if you are making serious life plans based on this coming to a successful conclusion in such a short time frame, I would suggest that there can be for some (and perhaps most) people a world of difference between having four hours technically available during the day to study v. being able to engage in effective, active study for four hours a day, particularly when you may be contemplating four active hours of study each and every day for eight or nine months.

There are some highly proficient learners in this forum who I believe have achieved those sort of power numbers over time. You may well be one of them (I see you are already an accomplished language learner, certainly way more accomplished than me) but I would suggest in terms of life planning that you base any real world commitments (moving for a job, enrolling in university, etc) on what you have previously demonstrated for yourself was possible for you with your other languages, rather than the usual enthusiastic "I'm going do X for Y hours without fail" sort of pronouncements that so many of us (absolutely including myself, many times) only to see our honestly-held belief in what we believe we can do run into the harsh cold reality that four hours per day is doable for say the first week, an increasingly hard challenge during the second week, and then an impossible burden by week three. Or maybe that is just me.

Definitely not trying to be negative. Absolutely all the best with this project: French is such a beautiful language offering such an amazing range of native language media, and there are a metric tonne of learning resources.

Thank you very much for your answer.
I will try in my best to make it. That's why I asked such question in this very respectable forum.
I might not get the favorite score, I am very well aware of that, but it's worth the try for sure..

[vahid]

TEF or TCF test within the next 8-9 months and acquire the level B2

Question
So what are your valuable recommendations/resources for my situation? (Please see my resources)
And what approach do you recommend?

My advice is to ask for advice elsewhere, to please don't follow the advice you receive here, please. On this forum, we typically reach B2 in 4 years or more - if we reach it at all, which most of us fail to. And we can't speak or write it beyond A2. And we have next to zero experience in official language exams. I only remember 3 active members who have sat an official French exam B2 or higher. Most of us can't even get good scores at online mock tests done at the comfort of our own homes. We are Sunday language learners here.

Thanks for your answer.
I don't know what to say actually. I respect all the members in this forum and I know that it's one of the best forums in the world that polyglots get together..

[vahid]

My advice is to ask for advice elsewhere, to please don't follow the advice you receive here, please. On this forum, we typically reach B2 in 4 years or more - if we reach it at all, which most of us fail to. And we can't speak or write it beyond A2.

Hahaha. My advice is not to speak for the rest of us.

Please do point me to B2 in 8 month logs. Been only seeing B1 still B1 after more than 8 months ones.

I was referring more to the "if we reach [B2] at all, which most of fail to. And we can't speak or write it beyond A2."

I agree that B2 is a tough nut to crack inside of eight months.

8 hours a day and with previous experience in reaching B2, then I'd say yes. Otherwise you would have to use every single hour effectively of those four hours a day and that means you need previous expeperience to know what works for you and what doesn't - then your efficiency would theoretically markedly improve. I say go for it anyway, but work very hard and don't be surprised if you miss your mark.

Edit: I passed the French Delf B2 exam a few years back. I don't feel you need many exam specific courses at this level (I did none for B2 exam), but one, a few, or all certainly won't go against you (I'm just saying, courses like Assimil are totally fine, but you need more than what you've listed imo).

Thanks for your answer!
I don't bound myself to use Assimil books and word list only.
I have refined my approach, until now, and will tell about it in a separate post..

[vahid]

Just shortly: Most people around here don't get to B2 in 9 months just because we don't usually study for 4+ hours a day. When we do at times, we achieve remarkable results in a few months too. So if someone sustains the pace for 9 months, I see no reason to talk them out of B2. Of course there are other factors in play. The native language and experience, the intelligence (yes, I know this is unpopular to say and I know I am supposed to pretend IQ doesn't exist or play a role, but it does. What is possible with IQ 140 simply tends to take longer for someone with just 100, but both can achieve remarkable things).

The key is using serious resources that aim for the same goals, to not spread yourself too thin, and to keep going. Use one or two main resources at a time, add more fun only after you'll have studied the main stuff for that day. I'd suggest not wasting too much time on media and other things recommended everywhere. It becomes much more important after B2, and you'll need to put in a lot of time to get the results. Up to B2, it would just slow you down.

Assimil is great. But it doesn't follow the CEFR too closely, which is an issue for a learner in need of passing an exam. Still, it is one of the best beginner resources in the world.

DaraghM gives a nice list of examples of other resources, which I partially agree with. But what I'd suggest:

1.The Progressives are the best workbooks on the market, in my opinion. Grammaire Progressive, Vocabulaire, Phonétique (too underestimated by the self teaching learners, it is great), Communication (which got really upgraded lately). They go well with Assimil or anything else, and give a strong knowledge base. The others on the list are nice too, but if you have a deadline and have to pick between several alternatives, I'd always recommend the Progressives.

2.A CEFR labeled series is certainly a good idea. I personally like Édito, the B2 book was what I had been using before my DELF B2. I'd say Édito is a better series in most ways than Alter Ego. Vite et Bien surprised me recently, when it was available for free on the publisher's website (I am checking such resources for my family members).

But as you have a limited amount of time, I think you can skip A1 or A2 books like Édito completely. Assimil and Progressives can teach you everything. B1 and B2 are much more worth it, for intermediate media and exercises based on application of the knowledge.

3.An exam preparatory book. I agree with PM that it is not that crutial at B2, I hadn't used one before DELF. But I wished I had used it. But with TCF, it might be a bit more important, as the exam like exercises in the standard coursebooks (like Édito) are based on DELF, not on TCF.

4.As far as the digital resources go, Ankiing stuff from the coursebooks can be a great thing. There are some great courses in the user made part of Memrise (the "professional" ones are trash in my opinion, especially given your goals). Kwiziq could be excellent for you. Speechling or Speakly might be useful, but only if you have extra time, I'd say.

5.I do not recommend tons of media, which might be a bit surprising for people who know me (I owe my C2 mostly to the tv series). But that is just not that important up to B2 and takes a lot of time. But you can still profit from extra listening for the lower levels for example on the RFI website, or Lyricstraining is great.

So, if I were to design a plan like DaraghM did, the main part would look like this:
-Assimil
-Grammaire Progressive, Vocabulaire Progressif, Phonétique Progressive, Communication Progressive
-Édito B1 and B2
-a TCF exam preparatory book.

Everything else would be a supplementary activity.

Oh wow @Cavesa.
Thanks a tone for your very detailed and to the point answer. I am going to give this is a try and make it my road map.

But a question about Progressive books..
First: Should I use all of them parallel to Assimil ? For grammar and Vocab the value is clear, but what about a book like Phonétique?
Also each category have multiple book until reaching B2, so I have to finish multiple books in each of them..

Second question: it seems that some of them has an answer book and some don't. Am I correct? For vocab it is easy, but for Grammar I do need the answer book.

All in all, it looks like a very solid plan.

[vahid]

I wish you the best of luck with this! I will echo the skepticism from the other posters, that this will be a very big challenge indeed. Even with the vocabulary discount of English and a word here and there in Persian too.

You say you have 4 hours per day to devote to this, but I would also squeeze as much time as I could out of the rest of my day, and turn it French. Your music? French. Your TV, movies, podcasts? French. Your socialising? Make some Francophone friends ASAP. Anything you're already doing, see if you can do it in French. This will also help to prevent burnout because you're not just studying it, you're having fun in the language too.

Do you have money to throw at this? Because once you have gone through your initial courses, I would hire a personal tutor who can focus on your gaps and work up a plan for you. Specifically a tutor who is familiar with the B2 test, who knows what needs to be taught and can judge your level accurately.

Self learning is fine at the beginning, but you already know that self-led courses won't take you the whole way there, and you will hit a plateau on your own. I am very happy studying on my own, but that kind of progress takes me years, not months. In this short time there will need to be some 'teaching to the test' and the best way to get there is professional help.

(and if you are anything like me, you might fall prey to spending too much time 'learning how to learn'. I waste many hours reading LLORG, researching methods, collecting resources, organizing and re-organizing my Anki deck... When you have just 8 months, you do not have the luxury of doing that. Let a tutor handle some of the admin work!)

Thanks a lot for your answer!
The immersion phase has already begun (making my laptop, music, etc. all in French) so my brain get used to the French accents and words.
I am going to hire a Italki teacher who is specialized in the TEF/TCF exam and can guide me through it, after 5-6 months of self study..

[Cavesa]

Oh wow @Cavesa.
Thanks a tone for your very detailed and to the point answer. I am going to give this is a try and make it my road map.

But a question about Progressive books..
First: Should I use all of them parallel to Assimil ? For grammar and Vocab the value is clear, but what about a book like Phonétique?
Also each category have multiple book until reaching B2, so I have to finish multiple books in each of them..

Second question: it seems that some of them has an answer book and some don't. Am I correct? For vocab it is easy, but for Grammar I do need the answer book.

All in all, it looks like a very solid plan.

You're welcome.

To your questions:
-yes, the progressives will fit Assimil nicely. You know, like " hey, Assimil just showed me this cool thing, I want to know more and look up the right chapter in the Progressive". And they'll also fix the gaps that the Assimil method leaves (Assimil is great, don't get me wrong, but I think you'll profit a lot from the combination). When it comes to Phonétique, at least the first one could be done very early in your learning. There is really a ton of great info and drills, with just small bits of vocab or grammar that you practice it on.
-I think all of them have an answer book, perhaps except for Phonétique. It is sold separately, which is one of the few things I dislike about the Progressives
-a question you didn't ask: any Progressives to avoid: I think the Litterature and Civilisation are not that useful. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't still put money into them.

When I took my DELF B2, I had worked with the Progressives up to Avancé. And the Débutant complet didn't exist yet (but we were all doing fine without it). THere are multiple books, but you are really getting tons of value for your money and time.

[vahid]

UPDATE:

After a lot of brainstorming here and in other forums and despite having a hard target, I decided to lean my studying, focus and materials toward preparing for the exam. I will add some fun stuff as a bonus to my schedule when I'm finished with the serious resources of the day.



Here is the list of the materials that I am going to follow (Assimil will be my main course of learning for sure):

- Assimil

- Grammaire Progressive, Vocabulaire Progressif, Phonétique Progressive, Communication Progressive

- Édito B1 and B2

- TEF exam preparatory book.



There are other things that worth noting:

- Anki is my de facto tool

- I will use Italki after passing the half of the preparation

- I will read/Ankify short paragraphs of the french newspapers after 4-5 months (as bonus).

- I will start to listen/Ankify the News in Slow French after 4-5 months (as bonus).

- I will start to listen/Ankify the Coffee Break French after 4-5 months(as bonus)


Wish me luck and Thanks everyone who made their valuable comments..

All The Best,
Vahid