A language learners’ forum

deleted

In case you haven't noticed, rdearman has started an Output Challenge for 2016. The registration thread is here.

I suppose one thing in Facile's favor is that it has transcripts, which can make content much more comprehensible than it otherwise would be.

Arnaud wrote:For me, the "journal en français facile" is a little slower than a normal news report.
The normal speed is the news report of Claire Servajean at 13h on France Inter, for exemple.
If you can understand it without problems, you're good, because she sometimes shoots verbal bullets at terminal velocity

The 'journal en français facile' is not only a little slower than a normal news report, they also use synonyms or short explanations of several words per episode.
I actually would train my listening by first listening to that podcast and then an episode of a normal general news podcast. One gets used to the speed. (Oh well, just today I realized that "gaz à effet de serre" is not actually one 'single word', no matter how much it sounds like one.)
Now, what's a lot harder for me is to understand ordinary conversations between people. Or, you know, people trying to talk to me.

Bao wrote:Now, what's a lot harder for me is to understand ordinary conversations between people. Or, you know, people trying to talk to me.

My experience is that news radio in general is one of the easier categories of listening comprehension, as it's clear (even if fast) and the language is quite standard and formal. Relatively speaking, "Français facile" is slightly easier than normal news programmes, but it's still news and if you can understand it you're probably fine with other news. I agree that its main advantage is the transcripts. The gap between news and other categories like everyday conversations and movies is much bigger than the gap between "facile" and "normal" news. For me, news was a good stepping stone between learning materials and these more difficult categories; at first it was very challenging and useful, but soon enough I got comfortable with it and it was time to move onto more conversational language.

Oops, didn't see that Tomgosse had already linked to RFI in the first post.

As emk said, native media is a good way to really get to know the more modern/used French. I'm not quite so good at understanding it but more exposure should help.


http://lyricstraining.com/

This can be a fun site, just listen and type along with the song.

garyb wrote:Relatively speaking, "Français facile" is slightly easier than normal news programmes, but it's still news and if you can understand it you're probably fine with other news.

My experience too. Actually, following lectures in French isn't too difficult either, the only thing I usually don't get are the jokes - like, what, it sounded like the physics lecturer just talked about the Daltons? Like in Lucky Luke? I must've misheard. - turns out he made a joke about the Daltons. But ordinary conversations between people are completely different.

I'd love to join this group if there's still space. I'm dabbling with French at the moment, and I'm planning to seriously starting with it in January. At the moment, I'm doing some flash cards (mostly verb conjugations) and Duolingo every day.

steyyan wrote:I'd love to join this group if there's still space. I'm dabbling with French at the moment, and I'm planning to seriously starting with it in January. At the moment, I'm doing some flash cards (mostly verb conjugations) and Duolingo every day.

You're in !

steyyan wrote:I'd love to join this group if there's still space. I'm dabbling with French at the moment, and I'm planning to seriously starting with it in January. At the moment, I'm doing some flash cards (mostly verb conjugations) and Duolingo every day.

Yay, it'll be nice to have another beginner! I'll be curious to hear how much your B1 Spanish helps you.