How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

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Sarafina
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How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby Sarafina » Tue Dec 05, 2017 9:41 pm

I asked this question before. I got some nice answers but I'm someone that likes really specific advice with an estimated time frame of when to expect to reach certain milestones.

My listening is probably if I am being generous is probably at best scrapping B1. I've been watching French YouTubers, shows on Netflix and listening to some French podcasts. Although I don't do it consistently enough because I get frustrated by the lack of progress and just waiting for it to click.

Does anyone have any specific method/process to improve their listening quickly? How does one do active listening as opposed to passive listening? Does there any listening exercises that you would recommend? How does it take to see serious progress?

Does anyone know any resources that will needed for being able to having listening of around a C1 level?
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby Elenia » Tue Dec 05, 2017 9:52 pm

Sarafina wrote:Does anyone have any specific method/process to improve their listening quickly? How does one do active listening as opposed to passive listening? Does there any listening exercises that you would recommend? How does it take to see serious progress?


A short but simple answer to the second question: take notes. I don't mean noting down unknown words or even doing a dictation style activity (although both would also be great activities for improving listening and vocabulary). I'm talking about the kind of notes you'd take in a detailed class where you're expecting to be tested. You might want to try narrow listening too, using different speakers on the same or similar subjects.

I can't give you any time frames. Cavesa has great times for how long it took her to get to an advanced level in French, the number features quite a few zeros. It does also depend on how much you have listened already. If you want progress, you will have to be consistent. If the lack of progress frustrates you and makes you want to give up, work on finding material you genuinely enjoy and want to listen to regardless. Be confident that you are moving forward, even if you don't feel like it, and don't be afraid to challenge yourself.
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby tiia » Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:52 pm

Maybe it would help to try to find out what aspect of listening is hindering the comprehension and then start with the most urgent or the easiest aspect. So is the difficulty more the lack of vocabulary or colloquial expressions, the silent letters, the different words merging together, the velocity of speech or something else? Does it make a difference for you to listen via loudspeakers or headphones?
Maybe you could find this out the easiest way by listening to something and afterwards reading a transcript?
I assume that by knowing this, you should get an idea how to improve. There have been quite some suggestions already.
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby rlnv » Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:48 am

The series of books below by CLE International are really good. Lots of listening exercises and questions aimed at improving the ability to understand nuances of speech.

    Compréhension orale 1 - Niveau A1/A2
    Compréhension orale 2 - Niveau B1
    Compréhension orale 3 - Niveau B2
    Compréhension orale 4 - Niveau B2/C1

Adding the structured approach by the CLE books to the standard recommendation of massive amounts of level appropriate podcasts, addictive TV series, and other enjoyable audio, can really help. It did for me.
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby smallwhite » Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:10 am

Sarafina wrote:I'm someone that likes really specific advice with an estimated time frame of when to expect to reach certain milestones.

I have numbers here (0% mth 6, 90% mth 8, 95% mth 10):

1. https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 023#p39722
2. https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 708#p70746

I didn't say there, but when I started in month 6, I understood 0% and couldn't even tell if it was French they were speaking in. I had been using a course without CD.

This method is just background listening so doesn't take away your study time, but it takes months. I have another method that works in days but I have to find it.
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby smallwhite » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:28 am

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =40#p72231

Here's my other method with time frame. Background listening which doesn't take away your study time, plus 20 to 25 hours of dedicated listening-with-transcript-plus-admin time, plus a movie or two, and I have B2 listening in Italian (after French and Spanish), German and Swedish (after German) per online mock tests from offical bodies.

Also, I was intermediate in Spanish (after French) when I found Democracy Now news extremely fast and impossible to ever understand. Plus it is spoken in the Latin America accent that is different from the European accent that I was learning. But after just 3 days, using 51 minutes of audio in total, it became comprehensible. Need to pay attention, that's all.
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby DangerDave2010 » Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:20 am

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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby IronMike » Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:22 am

Not sure if this helps, but here's what I do.

I listen to a Russian podcast that is about 5 min long (news). I'll listen to the same broadcast maybe 3 or 4 times, trying to get more and more each time. When I do this religiously (daily?), I find that I understand more and more on the second pass than it taking 3 or 4 times. My ears get attuned again. This comes up quite often when I'm away from the language for an extended time. (Like when I was prepping for my Esperanto test...no purposeful Russian listening for months!)

Good luck!
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby Maiwenn » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:39 pm

For intensive listening practice when preparing for DALF, TV5monde has a lot of exercises: http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/niveaux/b2-avance . It seems like they should help train you to listen closely for details as you would be expected to do during the DALF C1.

In addition to intensive listening, you should probably add in extensive listening (where you listen to a lot without forcément trying to catch every detail). Is there a book that you already know well in English (the common choice here is Harry Potter)? Try listening to an audiobook in French daily (during your commute, while running, cleaning, getting ready, etc.). This should help you get used to the flow of the language which will in turn make it easier to listen closely for details.
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Re: How to improve my listening so I can pass a C1 DALF listening section

Postby Cavesa » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:46 pm

Sarafina wrote:I asked this question before. I got some nice answers but I'm someone that likes really specific advice with an estimated time frame of when to expect to reach certain milestones.

My listening is probably if I am being generous is probably at best scrapping B1. I've been watching French YouTubers, shows on Netflix and listening to some French podcasts. Although I don't do it consistently enough because I get frustrated by the lack of progress and just waiting for it to click.

Does anyone have any specific method/process to improve their listening quickly? How does one do active listening as opposed to passive listening? Does there any listening exercises that you would recommend? How does it take to see serious progress?

Does anyone know any resources that will needed for being able to having listening of around a C1 level?


The estimated timeframe based on my own progress (mainly) and progress I've read from others on this forum:
-start: somewhere around B1 or B2, with very little experience beyond the CDs that came with a coursebook and similar stuff
-Beginning the first tv series:really lost at first, getting used to it a bit during an episode or two, getting the gist is not that much of a problem
-By the end of the first season: a huge leap forward, a lot of details are clear too, but it is not that comfortable and tiny pieces all over the series are missing
-A few seasons later: very comfortable, almost as comfortable as in the native language
-A new series: a shock again, getting used to a new series is faster this time, but still requires a moment
-very comfortable in a season or two
and so on.

A realistic timefrime from B1/B2ish listening to C2 listening: 250-300 hours. I have no clue where to pin the C1 flag.

DALF: Even the C2 tasks are far from hard for someone with approximately this amount of experience with tv series (+ a bit of movies and other things mixed in the lot). Sure, other genres, like tv discussions, are great but they don't need to make a huge part of the listening routine, unless you want them to. Work on your vocabulary, your reading or work with courses secondarily helps with listening too (as you cannot understand spoken words that you don't know at all).

The preparation books may definitely be helpful before the exam, but the listening tasks are easy, once you get used to normal content for natives. I am actually very sceptical about the possibility of reaching C1 or C2 listening only with the courses for learners. I hadn't done the listening part of my C2 DALF preparation books as it was easy and I didn't have time to waste. No problem at all, it was probably my strongest skill anyways, thanks to all the normal practice. (I wish I could talk like this about writing, that was a different story :-D )

A practical note: a few loooong listening practice sessions once a week help much more than short bits every day at the beginning. I don't think you can get the necessary momentum to move forward, rather than just maintain, but this is just one experience based opinion among many.

A catch: you need to get rid of subtitles and other crutches at some point and it will be discouraging. But you need to do it. The longer you postpone it, the later you'll get to it. I find it crazy that some people really wait with real use of the language until after a C1 exam.

I hope I didn't discourage you too much! The best news about all this: you can definitely reach this goal by having fun. By having fun for a few hundred hours. I had spread my 250 hours over three years or so. But I think half a year is possible, if you are in a hurry, don't need to spend majority of your French time on other aspects of learning it, and if you don't mind tv series addiction :-)

The numbers with those "many zeroes" Elenia mentions are for reading. Thousands of book pages (I take usual smaller paperback pages as a unit, but who cares about the differences in font and text density and page size at this point. It would make a difference, if we were talking about a few dozen pages, not a few thousand). The starting point is again something like B1/B2, the point coursebooks tend to leave you at.
5000 is a really nice goal to get almost comfortable, to miss just "details" (even though quite a lot of them), but you really can improve the fluidity and speed and general comprehension with just that few books (5000 pages, that's just 10-15 usual fantasy novels).
10000 leads to solid comprehension with few unknown words (that usually don't matter much), speed and enjoyment improvement.
20000 and you'll choose the language version of your next book just by the price and cover design, no problem with French :-)

To sum it up: It takes much more time and efforts than people think (and that is why they give up on extensive activities usually), but it is up to you how dense can your personal program be. It can take a few years. Or less (I can imagine a few fractures to be an ideal opportunity to devour a few thousand pages and spend a few hundred hours with a tv series, not that I'd wish anyone, including you and myself, anything bad). But it's fun. If it's not fun, you are not using the right tv series.
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