Chipping away at a language?

[rdearman]

I have a problem at the moment because I cannot devote large chunks of time to French. I previously was averaging about 2-3 hours a day with anki cards, podcasts, films, etc. but over the next few week, possibly months I'm not going to have that sort of time. However, what I do have is time which anki is good for, small blocks of time averaging 10-15 minutes here and there over the course of the day. When and where I do have larger blocks of time, I plan to spend it reading. My constraints are:

• 10-15 minute block of time
• only a smart phone for materials (typically)
• ability to use sound sporadic at best

So, given my constraints I wondered if people could suggest ways to utilise these little blocks other than anki cards?

[Vedun]

Reading immersion? Wikipedia has some interesting articles.

A thing that doesn't need time to work is switching user interfaces(websites, forums, OS, programs) to your TL. I set the forum language to German months ago.

[DaveBee]

On another thread Small White suggested 'describing what you see' as an exercise.

You could try that, it would reveal to you holes in your vocabulary.

[tarvos]

Get a newspaper app and read newspaper articles in French on your phone. Or get them from your FB feed. Subscribe to Science et Vie. Etc etc

[rdearman]

Reading immersion? Wikipedia has some interesting articles.

A thing that doesn't need time to work is switching user interfaces(websites, forums, OS, programs) to your TL. I set the forum language to German months ago.

Yeah, that is a good one. I did that a couple of months ago, and it helps. Although, after a little while because I use the same features all the time, I know those without really paying any attention.

On another thread Small White suggested 'describing what you see' as an exercise.
You could try that, it would reveal to you holes in your vocabulary.

Yeah, another good point. I have done this before, and because I have the phone on me I can normally find a word with google translate. Perhaps I should carry around a notepad and actually write down these descriptions rather than just think them. Or maybe I can use my phone. Definitely something to try.

Get a newspaper app and read newspaper articles in French on your phone. Or get them from your FB feed. Subscribe to Science et Vie.

Hummm... good idea. Recently google play news started popping up and annoying me with news in English (I don't read the newspapers normally because anything newsworthy is horrible or depressing) but I should see if it will do French language newspapers, then at least it will not be so annoying.

A ton of great ideas! How about output ideas? The description thing DaveBee mentioned got me thinking about how I really should be doing more written work. I have HelloTalk, but it is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Lots of people have mentioned twitter feeds, but I'm not big on social media and I don't have any of the apps. I know I make this difficult on myself.

[tarvos]

The written work is a bit pointless without corrective feedback in my opinion. What you can do is use the iTalki notebook feature - allows for short entries up to three paragraphs, and you will get corrections. Just make sure to correct somebody's English every once in a while.

[Vedun]

Reverse French tree on duo is also an idea for that.

[Brun Ugle]

For spoken output, you could use your phone to record yourself describing what you see or describing what you are doing. Later, when you have time, you can look up words and expressions you didn't know.

[PeterMollenburg]

I've also been finding myself increasingly limited with my time for French. I'll list some activities I do and you might or might not be able to apply some of these.

*On commutes sometimes I listen to RFI Journal en français facile. Then when I get to work when I have a moment some time during my shift if it's quiet (unusual) or i'm on a break, I go to the website, copy the transcript for the audio which I've listened to on the way to work into a word document and read it through. I provide a definition, highlighted in red, in English in brackets immediately after each unknown word. I might only get 5 minutes done, or I might be able to spend 30 minutes or more doing this. I save the article (the MS Word doc) and then when I'm at work again I either read the whole transcript again or if I only have a few minutes here and there I go straight for the highlighted words and attempt to remember them either FR to EN or the other way like a flashcard or vocab list. This is a handy way of getting to know some unfamiliar words, getting in some reading and listening. Sometimes I then listen to it again on the way home. Some days it doesn't happen at all. In fact I'm getting better at realising moments in which I could be doing something in French. The other night at work I was the last one there, thus for a while I had RFI on loop while attending to straightforward tasks (papework).

*During exercise lately I've begun to listen to audio. Could you do this?

*Sometimes to push my output a bit I listen to audio courses on commutes instead of RFI and I repeat the phrases (Glossika at the moment).

I guess this is one of those situations in which AJATT could be applied in a limited capacity. Anything you could be doing in French ought to be done in French, any moments you could be listening to something, reading something, even thinking in French, attempt to do so. The other night I had to do some counting as part of a security check with a colleague. I was counting in French in my head and providing the final amount to my colleague out load in English. Can you start to perhaps when you speak English to people throughout your day, attempt to say the same thing in your head to yourself in French?

Good luck rdearman, I hope something here gives you an idea, and if not, well I hope others here have some more suitable suggestions.

*Edit Are you reading before sleep? I'd imagine you most likely are. If not, even 5 minutes a night could make a difference and help you get to sleep if it's a paperback. If you read in English and don't strictly have to, but do want to.... why not drop your English reading for a while, while you're in this busy period and aim to pick up your English reading again after the busy period. Therefore, French reading only unless absolutely required that you read something in English. Perhaps i'm off the mark there, but just a thought.

I'm guessing you already have your phone and computer in French as much as possible. If not, well... you know what I mean. Are you using google maps when you drive? Switch it to French and run the audio through your stereo. Do you google to problem solve throughout your day? Do it in French. Don't know the term in French, use a dictionary first, then search it in French. Worried you won't understand? Read it FIRST in French, then if it's essential you're crystal clear, read the English to clarify you've understood correctly (Wikipedia is good for this, as you would know many articles exist in several languages).

Oh and a last one before I come back for another edit! Doing household chores, can you listen to something while doing them? In the shower, can you listen to some audio while in the shower? Fill in those gaps if there are any! Writing not so important emails? Run a French news program in the background while you're at it. etc

[Vedun]

Forgot to mention that if you have only 15 minutes per session anyway, the annoying 5 minutes limitation of bliubliu isn't that bad.