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

[Sarafina]

But the reason is, in my opinion, the huge offer of resources combined with the well meant intention to be thorough and serious about learning.

I agree.. that's what I usually do to myself

This and what I said about inability to evaluate self and resources are not mutually exclusive. You can want to be thorough (which is a personal choice and not for others to advise against), but not know what you need now and what each resource or activity can offer, thus finding every resource and activitaty suitable for you now and want to do them all now. Whereas if you're clear about the current situation, then only 1 resource or activity would appear appropriate for now (if that), and everything else would appear a waste of precious time. Like how you get a lot more picky towards the end of a buffet when you're 99.9% full - the bread rolls no longer look tempting, only your top favourite food does.

But this forum takes a "the more time, cost and effort the better" approach, a laid-back and luxurious approach, so probably little point to discuss this here. Don't mind me.

Do you mind explaining what you mean? I understand that I should waste time by using resources that aren't appropriate for my current situation. My current situation is that I'm currently have B1 listening and I aspire to get to a high B2/low C1 in terms of listening comprehension by May-August.

Would you say that I'm using too many TV series and podcasts and would be better spent focusing on just one or two? The reason why I have so many series is that I thought it would be better to exposure myself to many different types of shows. But I could say how it could cause me to burn out quickly.
I have considered perhaps just watching one TV series at a time.

[Ani]

For the OP, I didn't read everything carefully so sorry if I missed this, but did you say what your level estimate was for other aspects of the language? I was just going to throw in a reminder to keep pushing along in grammar and vocabulary from a written perspective. It's pretty hard to have C1 listening comprehension if you have ~B1 level of vocabulary, kwim?

Could you go back and add quote tags to this section of my post from your post? It gets a little confusing without them.

In terms of reading, I can comfortably sit a B2 reading paper and expect to pass. When I looked at the C1 reading paper, the texts there was reasonably accessible and understandable. If I watch TV series like Daredevil with French subtitles then I have no problem understanding it but when I watch it without any subtitles then I'm lost like 40% of the time. The problem is that I am unable to hear the words when spoken due to lack of French audio input. I heavily focused on reading French texts and rarely ever listened to much French hence the massive disparity.

So it seems that you have attributed the problem to lack of audio input, but are you sure? Are you sure that it isn't misrepresenting phonemes in your head so that what your expect is not what you get? A phonology course could go a long way in that case.
B2 reading/B1 listening doesn't seem like a massive disparity to me at all.

[smallwhite]

Do you mind explaining what you mean?

Like what Ani is doing right now, pinpointing exact problem and finding a specific resource to fix the problem.

Would you say that I'm using too many TV series and podcasts and would be better spent focusing on just one or two?

I wasn't commenting on your choice of resources. I was just replying generally to Cavesa's mention of spreading oneself thin.

[rdearman]

Would you say that I'm using too many TV series and podcasts and would be better spent focusing on just one or two? The reason why I have so many series is that I thought it would be better to exposure myself to many different types of shows. But I could say how it could cause me to burn out quickly.
I have considered perhaps just watching one TV series at a time.

I think you should pick one TV series. You'll have a better understanding of context, characters, etc. I also think you should stop using sub-titles, they are a crutch. Watch an episode, watch it again and again until you feel you've understood most of what is happening. (You don't have to watch the whole thing repeatedly, just the parts you didn't understand).

Don't know if you like Star Trek, but if you decided to watch the whole of Star Trek Next Generation there is seven seasons totalling 178 episodes of about 50 minutes. So almost 150 hours of TV. That should get you well on the way to listening comprehension.

[smallwhite]

I also think you should stop using sub-titles, they are a crutch.

Crutch and thus should be removed at an appropriate time carefully determined by a doctor or else you risk either breaking your leg again (removing too early) or not healing properly due to lack of muscle strength (removing too late)? When is the appropriate time to remove this crutch / sub-titles?

[Cavesa]

... spread yourself too thin
... to buy all five coursebooks in the bookstore and dive in all of them
... 6 series, 4 podcasts, and several youtubers

I think that is due to either OCD or the inability to evaluate one's current level, one's needs, how to meet one's needs, the purpose of each resource and activity, the outcome of each activity... Can be solved by simply sitting down to think through everything.

I am extremely careful with the labels like OCD. The fact someone is a bit too punctual, a bit too perfectionist, or a bit too orderly doesn't automatically make them OCD. The same is true about many other labels coming from psychiatry or other medical fields. The overuse of such terms leads to nothing good. Nothing good either for the real patients (or people considering getting examined) or the healthy (in this aspect) people that just differ a bit from someone else's idea of the norm. I've spreaded myself too thin a few times too and I am definitely not OCD.

It is not the inability to evaluate one's levels either, most people spreading themselves too thin (usually beginners) know very well where they stand. The purpose of each resource is clear too, it is not about choosing the wrong resources.

Yes, sitting down and thinking through everything is usually the cure. But the reason is, in my opinion, the huge offer of resources combined with the well meant intention to be thorough and serious about learning.

But the reason is, in my opinion, the huge offer of resources combined with the well meant intention to be thorough and serious about learning.

I agree.. that's what I usually do to myself

This and what I said about inability to evaluate self and resources are not mutually exclusive. You can want to be thorough (which is a personal choice and not for others to advise against), but not know what you need now and what each resource or activity can offer, thus finding every resource and activitaty suitable for you now and want to do them all now. Whereas if you're clear about the current situation, then only 1 resource or activity would appear appropriate for now (if that), and everything else would appear a waste of precious time. Like how you get a lot more picky towards the end of a buffet when you're 99.9% full - the bread rolls no longer look tempting, only your top favourite food does.

As I said: most people spreading themselves too thin know very well where they stand. Because most people with this problem are beginners, even though it happens at later stages too. When you are right at the beginning, there is not much space for guessing a different level

And I cannot agree with you. It is not choosing the wrong resources, it is the "overthoroughness". From the list of Sarafina's resources, it is pretty clear they know what they need and all those kinds of resources were recommended as suitable by various people in this thread. None of them is a wrong choice at this point. The problem that may occur is being so responsible and wanting to learn as much as possible at this stage, which could lead to too slow progress in all of them and subsequent frustration. We usually see it with coursebooks, where each of the choices is good, there are just too many.

I disagree that 1 resource and 1 activity is the way to go. I wholeheartedly disagree with it, as it has never worked for me. With this approach, one may not have the time and enough practice to digest the learnt stuff, and it is boring which is never a good thing, if it lasts. Many successful learners on this forum use more resources than one.

Sarafina was basically recommended to spend some time on extensive listening, with two mainly mentioned resources being audiobooks and tv series, and some on intensive listening, requiring a shorted type of listening exercises. I would say a good choice could be three activities going on at once: One shorter podcast for intensive listening, one tv series for extensive listening, and one audiobook for extensive listening on the go.

As we've just read, a combination of various types of exercise seems to work really well in this case. The only risk is in combining many resources and being exhausted by this avalanche.

But this forum takes a "the more time, cost and effort the better" approach, a laid-back and luxurious approach, so probably little point to discuss this here. Don't mind me.

I find your participation in the discussion interesting in useful. Disagreeing on some points definitely doesn't mean "go away and hide under a rock". And I don't think you are right about the "more time, cost, effort" assumption. You may have noticed that most resources on the OP's list are either free (Youtube, LeMonde) or quite cheap (Netflix), that is no waste of money. More time and effort, that is a common approach on this forum, because it makes a balance to the very popular "hack any language in a weak" attitude spreading around. I think most of us just share an opinion based on experience, that more time and effort spent now often leads to better results in the long run.

Actually the shortest and most effortless path to DALF C1 listening would be just drilling model tasks ad nauseam, then being extremely nervous on the day of the DALF exam, dealing with a task that will seem to be difficult, passing the exam, and later finding out this kind of C1 is useless in the real life.

[Cavesa]

Would you say that I'm using too many TV series and podcasts and would be better spent focusing on just one or two? The reason why I have so many series is that I thought it would be better to exposure myself to many different types of shows. But I could say how it could cause me to burn out quickly.
I have considered perhaps just watching one TV series at a time.

I think you should pick one TV series. You'll have a better understanding of context, characters, etc. I also think you should stop using sub-titles, they are a crutch. Watch an episode, watch it again and again until you feel you've understood most of what is happening. (You don't have to watch the whole thing repeatedly, just the parts you didn't understand).

Don't know if you like Star Trek, but if you decided to watch the whole of Star Trek Next Generation there is seven seasons totalling 178 episodes of about 50 minutes. So almost 150 hours of TV. That should get you well on the way to listening comprehension.

Unlike Smallwhite, I don't think pinpointing problems is a major problem here. The overall problem seems to be lower comprehension skill as understanding smaller than ideal part of the content, and not being comfortable while listening. The main solution is the huge amount of listening.

I totally agree with Rdearman. Out of the huge "watch a lot of tv series" task, choosing one TV series at a time is a good choice. Preferably one already finished, so that there is no other limit to how much can be watched at a time than your decision. And another point: get rid of the subtitles. They can slow down the progress endlessly.

[smallwhite]

I disagree that 1 resource and 1 activity is the way to go.

And I didn't say it is.

> Disagreeing on some points definitely doesn't mean "go away and hide under a rock".

No, but we're disagreeing on these points because we have different underlying beliefs. And I don't like puzzles or discussions with no model answer like case studies, I hate them I prefer maths and multiple choice questions

[Cavesa]

I disagree that 1 resource and 1 activity is the way to go.

And I didn't say it is.

> Disagreeing on some points definitely doesn't mean "go away and hide under a rock".

No, but we're disagreeing on these points because we have different underlying beliefs. And I don't like puzzles or discussions with no model answer like case studies, I hate them I prefer maths and multiple choice questions

You are right. I am all about case studies, as that is the most important thing. The reality. Life is a puzzle and people are case studies.
And I hate multiple choice questions, as they require learning how the test maker wants me to think, not the real knowledge. I understand why people love maths, the truths there tend to be universal. But that is not common.
You are right, this is an important underlying difference.

[DaveBee]

. And another point: get rid of the subtitles. They can slow down the progress endlessly.

Are subtitles really so terrible?

I'm regularly watching two TV shows at the moment, one that comes with subtitles, and one that doesn't.