I've been lurking on this forum for a few weeks, and I finally gave in and registered an account. I've had a love affair with French language and French history for as long as I can remember, but I never actually learned the language since I was homeschooled and had limited access to language-learning resources. I'm in my mid-20's now and I find myself with lots of free time to study whatever I want, so I figured that now was as good a time as any to really dive into learning a language. There was no question about which language -- I've always known it was going to be French.
Past Forays into French
In the last few months, I almost finished my Duolingo French tree. Only when Duolingo pushed their new update (the "Crowns" system) did I realize that Duolingo was not getting me anywhere close to where I wanted to be. So I decided to do some research, and that's when I found this forum. I was amazed! I was a victim of popular language marketing schemes, like "No need to learn grammar!" and "Learn like a child!" and "You must have full immersion, and you will become fluent in two days!" and even "Language learning should be easy." (I exaggerate, but you get the point.) I believed this information even though it was completely contrary to the way I learn. My preferred learning method is to learn slowly, build a solid foundation, understand why as much as possible, and use lots of workbooks. (I really love workbooks...)
It was with great relief that I started reading all the opinions here, as well as the authentic advice that learning a language was indeed going to be difficult. I decided, after a few weeks of deliberation, to quit Duolingo, purchase the Assimil Français course (the one that used to be called New French with Ease), practice my pronunciation with FSI Phonology, and attempt to increase both the depth and breadth of my knowledge with any other supplements I could find. I'm not yet to the point where I can consume native media, but I'm hoping that it won't be too many months before that's possible.
Current French Study (updated 10/22/2018)
- Harry Potter Tome 4
- Grammaire Progressive du Français Niveau Perfectionnement
- Watching Netflix and YouTube videos in French
- Additional study (I have a running list of topics to study, I just pick a few and run with them)
Retired or Completed Resources
- Coffee Break French: 1 podcast per day (retired for now)
- Easy French Step-by-Step: 30 minutes per day
- French Pronunciation System (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc_X4Ho ... 3dxwP&t=0s)
- Kwiziq: 1 month of premium, Gold in A1, Silver in A2, Bronze in B1
- Assimil French With Ease (2014 version): 1 lesson per day + active wave lesson (completed all of passive wave, half of active wave)
- Harry Potter Tomes 1, 2, 3
- Intermediate French Podcast (retired)
Modern Greek
I added Modern Greek to my studies on Oct 22, 2018, after a very brief bout with German which I was not enchanted by. I am using these resources for Greek:
- Pimsleur Greek I
- http://langintro.com/greek/alphabet/
- https://www.loecsen.com/fr/cours-grec
- And hopefully http://www.kypros.org/LearnGreek/ when they respond to my email about their registration not working