A language learners’ forum

Hello fellow french travelers. I would like to join the group.

I have started following the FSI course (still only at unit 2), but I am considering changing courses because it seems it takes years to finish it.

Am I wrong? Has anyone actually done it? I am not a beginner, I just need a course to give me a seriously strong revision, in order to be able to take my knowledge further that B2. I have knowledge but it is scattered, half forgotten, unorganised.

Any ideas? Au secours mes amis!

Language patzer wrote:Hello fellow french travelers. I would like to join the group.

I have started following the FSI course (still only at unit 2), but I am considering changing courses because it seems it takes years to finish it.

Am I wrong? Has anyone actually done it? I am not a beginner, I just need a course to give me a seriously strong revision, in order to be able to take my knowledge further that B2. I have knowledge but it is scattered, half forgotten, unorganised.

Any ideas? Au secours mes amis!

Many people have completed the FSI course. You might also like to look at the DLI course, which I believe is shorter.

Znewna wrote:Bonjour! Est-ce ici le forum correct pour converser en français? Je suis une nouvelle membre et je n'ai pas compris où il faut écrire pour juste faire de conversation en une langue différente de l' anglais...

Bonjour et bienvenue ! Le « Multilingual Forum » est très lent, mais c'est probablement le meilleur endroit pour démarrer un fil pour écrire en français.

Thanks/merci! Je vais y regarder...

Question for those of you who have used French in Action: is just watching the show portion of the course worthwhile for someone who is a rough B1? I can read novels on Kindle (i.e., with vocab lookup) but my comprehension of regular speed podcasts/shows (vs. InnerFrench, for example) is not that great and I just remembered FIA is a thing and could be beneficial here and easier to get through than struggling through real TV for a bit. I'll probably give it a shot anyway but wanted to see if anyone here had anything to add about using that prior to moving on to native TV content.

jmar257 wrote:Question for those of you who have used French in Action: is just watching the show portion of the course worthwhile for someone who is a rough B1? I can read novels on Kindle (i.e., with vocab lookup) but my comprehension of regular speed podcasts/shows (vs. InnerFrench, for example) is not that great and I just remembered FIA is a thing and could be beneficial here and easier to get through than struggling through real TV for a bit. I'll probably give it a shot anyway but wanted to see if anyone here had anything to add about using that prior to moving on to native TV content.

Yes, I think FIA can provide a helpful step up to real TV, especially the conversations outside of the classroom.
The proceedings can be a bit slow, so you might want to peek at a few video cartoons on line. On this forum there is a short list of them, courtesy of Reineke, but for the life of me I can't find it. But I know that Tintin is on that list and on Youtube as well. Here is one episode of several https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9NlFNp ... CeD5mzzs_N, and another on Youtube is a science-fiction show Valerian et Laureline, courtesy of rdearman. This is a compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiBAubZ2R_g. (for whatever reason I'm not getting the url to work correcly , so those are the raw addresses.) Sorry about that, and also sorry if you already knew about these cartoon shows.

jmar257 wrote:Question for those of you who have used French in Action: is just watching the show portion of the course worthwhile for someone who is a rough B1? I can read novels on Kindle (i.e., with vocab lookup) but my comprehension of regular speed podcasts/shows (vs. InnerFrench, for example) is not that great and I just remembered FIA is a thing and could be beneficial here and easier to get through than struggling through real TV for a bit. I'll probably give it a shot anyway but wanted to see if anyone here had anything to add about using that prior to moving on to native TV content.

I have used FIA on and off, but never completed it. I generally advocate for using the entire FIA course with all of its components as that's how it was designed for the most comprehensive learning purposes. It's a bit like iguanamon's multi-track learning approach in that all components weigh in like a kind of synergy and act together to enhance one's learning. However, given what you describe, I'd recommend watching the show for the purpose you describe. I think it would work quite well for you.

On another note, using something like Yabla might work wonders for you. Here's a link to a recent promotion https://french.yabla.com/special_offer.php?promo=blackfriday&a=2668&utm_source=Yabla+French+ExSubscribers&utm_campaign=37d8082f77-FinalCyMonFrXs&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2b27bde0c6-37d8082f77-31381397 which might interest you. The videos are graded according to difficulty and there are thousands of them. They are generally short clips of a few minutes. You can turn English subtitles on and off as well as French subtitles on and off. There are games built into the video, you can slow the audio, you can hover over words for definitions and so on. It's probably right up your alley. I sound like I'm selling it, but I'm not. I'm not affiliated with FIA nor Yabla. I just like them both and they both have strong points. There are alternatives to Yabla if it doesn't interest you, but the concept I think is ideal given what you describe. Still FIA videos would suit as well.

Arnaud wrote:Afaik, it's a new version: you can read the introduction in pdf and see the list of the lessons. They are different from the previous edition.

This is definitely a completely new version. At the moment it seems it is only available in French (I was hoping for a Dutch base, I know I'm getting a little greedy), but interesting all the same. I think I'll purchase it at some point even though I don't need to, just to go through it for fun Yes I might be a little odd, but who isn't here, right?

Having been through the entire FIA I have mixed views. I am, like you, a B1 also at this point.

Just sitting back and watching the videos could be worthwhile but relevant to time spent elsewhere is the question.

I think that Alice Ayel is excellent for numerous reasons. She has a very inexpensive firewall that once you pay it you can find lots more stuff. She has a beginners and an intermediate level of material. Since I don't have confidence she is totally excellent for me in giving me confidence.
https://www.youtube.com/user/aliceayel

Francais Authentique is also good:
https://www.youtube.com/user/francaisauthentique/videos

Francais avec Pierre is very worthwhile:
https://www.youtube.com/user/francaisauthentique/videos

Comme une Francaise also very worthwhile:
https://www.youtube.com/c/Commeunefrancaise/videos

Home Language is good
https://www.youtube.com/c/HomeLanguage/videos

The thing is that each of the sites above has a large volume of episodes on which to build so you can definitely pick and choose what you need specifically.

If you need a French language course evaluation, Peter is your man. He can point you to the place where he has evaluated them all. He is very helpful and is pretty much the Consumer Reports of language training.

Hope that helps. If you have questions please do let me know.

MorkTheFiddle wrote:Yes, I think FIA can provide a helpful step up to real TV, especially the conversations outside of the classroom.
The proceedings can be a bit slow, so you might want to peek at a few video cartoons on line. On this forum there is a short list of them, courtesy of Reineke, but for the life of me I can't find it. But I know that Tintin is on that list and on Youtube as well. Here is one episode of several https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9NlFNp ... CeD5mzzs_N, and another on Youtube is a science-fiction show Valerian et Laureline, courtesy of rdearman. This is a compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiBAubZ2R_g. (for whatever reason I'm not getting the url to work correcly , so those are the raw addresses.) Sorry about that, and also sorry if you already knew about these cartoon shows.

Thanks Mork, I'll give those a look tonight.

PeterMollenburg wrote:I have used FIA on and off, but never completed it. I generally advocate for using the entire FIA course with all of its components as that's how it was designed for the most comprehensive learning purposes. It's a bit like iguanamon's multi-track learning approach in that all components weigh in like a kind of synergy and act together to enhance one's learning. However, given what you describe, I'd recommend watching the show for the purpose you describe. I think it would work quite well for you.

Thanks Peter. When I did some research on FIA to refresh my memory I saw a lot of people saying it was similar to FSI (better? the reviews were glowing on HTLAL) but I'm going through that now so I don't want to dive into another course. I have the opposite problem as you...once I do a couple courses I get ADD and want to go through native material (and don't mind the struggle generally, but that's easier reading on Kindle vs trying to watch TV). I'll give Yabla a look tonight as well to see what I think. I know part of my problem is a vocabulary issue that could be/will be ameliorated by extensive reading, but I didn't want to put off TV as late as I did with Spanish and think FIA (and these other resources) may be a good way to bridge the gap for now.

Appreciate the recommendations!

Edit: Thanks Carmody, you posted while I was composing this so I missed it at first. But I'll give those a shot as well...I've started watching more YouTube (in English) and have been trying to find good foreign language YouTubers to subscribe to.