FSI French Basic adventure, Polish and beyond

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lusan
Green Belt
Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:25 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC, USA
Languages: Spanish(Native)
English (Naïve)
French(Intermediate)
Italian(Intermediate)
Polish(In Alcatraz)
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby lusan » Sat Feb 08, 2020 2:54 am

Status on Finishing FSI
FSI Basic French. Completed. It took 6 months.

Books Read
1. Le dernier verre-A2
2. Colo en Auvergne -A2/B1
3. Danger à Lyon -B1
4. Un été à Paris - A2
5. Les perles de Pyla -B1
6. Le train bleu - Agatha Christi
7. Harry Potter - All 7 volumes
8. Le Petit Nicolas.
9. Justicière vol 1 & 2 - 1723 pages
10. La voie de Rois vol 1 & 2 - 1430 pages
11. Le livre des Radieux vol 1 & 2 - 1567 pages
Overall = 9966 + pages !!

Films Watched

Buffy the vampire killer- All 7 seasons - 144 episodes
Stargate Atlantis - 17 episodes
Alita: Battle Angel
Cosmos 1999 - 2 Episodes

All films were watched without any subtitles.

Podcasts Heard
Les Ballades. 50 episodes listened and 99+ % understood.

Grammar - Kwiziq levels
A0 - 98.66 %
A1 - 90.19
A2 - 90.22
B1 - 80.83
B2 - 75.82
C1 - 76.05

Added to a Grammar Anki deck all my grammatical errors as well as all verb conjugations -Regulars and Irregulars.

Anki Status - Mature cards
Listening: 4668 - target 7000
Active: 1506 - target 2500

Active conversations
I attended weekly meetings with other francophones.
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Abilities Self-assessment

Reading - Able to read extensively adult modern novels knowing 98 % of the words. Sufficient to read paper novels and move forward at an enjoyable pace.

Writing- Able to write small notes using simple sentences or whatever. The simpler, the better for me, even in English or Spanish.

Listening - 90 % or so understanding of the dobbed films. However, in some episodes understanding could drop to ~ 50 %. An area of improvement.

Speaking - Able to express my thoughts and needs though with a bunch of mistakes. I can hold a conversation about complex topics but I have trouble if the sentence become too long. Created Anki deck for all the translations exercises to implement a 2nd wave Assimil strategy. Area of improvement.

No more interference from Polish while speaking unless I am tired. I have worked to suppress Polish, it went to sleep completely. Och!... It hurts.

In summary, I worked very hard but I am feeling very satisfied with the results. I can speak, read, write and even understand normal conversations and dubbed films. Understanding of the news is uneven but enough to hold the attention and follow the subject matter. Not bad for 6 months of work. French became part of my mental matrix. I will be visiting Provence in the near future and have a real test of my abilities. Ja ja ja...
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6 Months Study plan

1. Anki - Continue
2. FSI - Redo one tape/day. Only drills because I feel that I could benefit further from the repetition practice, and I got used to listen and repeat. I like it.
3. Les 500 Exercices de Phonetique - 30 min/day. This must be done for a while. I will work on both A1/A2 and B1/B2 levels.
4. Kwiziq - Bring all level to 90 % then recycle to a different level daily until I get really tired with grammar
5. RFI - Every day while walking the dog. Move unknown words to Anki and create sentence cards with the actual audio.
6. Stargate Atlantic - 1 episode/day till completion.
7. Weekly Italki Conversation professional teacher - All errors to Anki.
8. Books. I am moving toward Les Polars. First book is Le Serment des Limbes de J-C Grance
12 x
Italian, polish, and French dance
FSI Basic French Lessons : 10 / 24 17 of 24 goal

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badger
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:33 pm
Location: UK
Languages: native: English
intermediate: French
dabbling: Spanish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... p?p=135580
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby badger » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:57 am

that's an amzing effort lusan, congratulations! I hope you have a fantastic time in Provence. :)
0 x

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cjareck
Brown Belt
Posts: 1047
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:11 pm
Location: Poland
Languages: Polish (N) English, German, Russian(B1?) French (B1?), Hebrew(B1?), Arabic(A2?), Mandarin (HSK 2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8589
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby cjareck » Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:14 am

I'm really impressed! Congratulations!
0 x
Please feel free to correct me in any language


Listening: 1+ (83% content, 90% linguistic)
Reading: 1 (83% content, 90% linguistic)


MSA DLI : 30 / 141ESKK : 18 / 40


Mandarin Assimil : 62 / 105

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lusan
Green Belt
Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:25 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC, USA
Languages: Spanish(Native)
English (Naïve)
French(Intermediate)
Italian(Intermediate)
Polish(In Alcatraz)
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby lusan » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:24 pm

cjareck wrote:I'm really impressed! Congratulations!


badger wrote:that's an amzing effort lusan, congratulations! I hope you have a fantastic time in Provence. :)


Thanks.
0 x
Italian, polish, and French dance
FSI Basic French Lessons : 10 / 24 17 of 24 goal

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joecleland
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Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 3:09 am
Location: Saint Petersburg, FL
Languages: English (N), French (A1/A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 18#p147718
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby joecleland » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:41 pm

Super Impressed! It makes me think maybe I should give FSI a go. I started this online platform to learn grammar and to practice speaking. But it sounds like you reached in 6 months where I hope to be in 1y6m lol.
0 x
    Complete
  • Pimsleur French 1
  • Fluent Forever 625 Word List
  • Assimil NFWE - 77/113 Lessons (68%)
  • iTalki Conversations - 26 Hours

    Currently Using
    Lingoda Level A1 - 100 hours
  • A1.1 - 45/50 Hours Complete (90%)
  • A1.2 - 7/50 Hours Complete (14%)

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lusan
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Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:25 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC, USA
Languages: Spanish(Native)
English (Naïve)
French(Intermediate)
Italian(Intermediate)
Polish(In Alcatraz)
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby lusan » Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:25 pm

This pandemic has zapped almost all my language learning energy. Still I have a little left, so I restructured to:

Doing
1. One serial episode per day. It is a habit before bed. Almost finished Stargate Atlantic.
2. Anki reviews for listening only.
3. RFI - Le Journal en français facile - Too easy, but good for listening practice.
4. Random youtube -

Stopped - No interest/energy.
1. Reading
2. Speaking - No French group or Italki
3. Grammar
4. Anki

I consider doing Assimil using French. However, it is too easy, it might be a waste of time. I think about it.
Maybe this low level activity is enough.

I have no idea when I will be psychologically ready to seriously study French and Polish. I just hold the tent for a long while. Of course, trips to Poland and France, -actually all trips- are cancelled this journal. I am terrified of taking an air flight!
Last edited by lusan on Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
5 x
Italian, polish, and French dance
FSI Basic French Lessons : 10 / 24 17 of 24 goal

jmar257
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby jmar257 » Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:02 pm

lusan wrote:I consider doing Assimil using French. However, it is too easy, it might be a waste of time. I think about it.
Maybe this low level activity is enough.

FWIW I really enjoyed Using French (vs. Using Spanish, which was garbage), and it ramps up in difficulty a good bit as it goes along. That said, I think your French is a bit better than mine, but it may still be worth it.

Congrats on finishing FSI, I plan on doing it for French once I finish with Spanish.
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Feel free to give me corrections in any of my target languages!

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lusan
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure and beyond

Postby lusan » Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:35 pm

After 1+ month of this pandemic hell, finally I recovered the energy for French work. So I began to read again. The plan is for the rest of the year to watch movies/serials and read. No grammar or speaking. After all, I do not need to activate the language. Where am I?

Serial
1. Stargate Atlantis - 100 episodes - done !
Very happy about it. I finished feeling pretty satisfied with my listening skills. Some episodes were easier than others, but I managed. It seems that the approach I took of French without subtitles is efficient and fun.
2. Stargate SG-1 - 212 episodes + 3 films. - Began.

Current approach is to watch 2 episodes par jour. Of course, without subtitles.

Reading
La Ligne Noire of Jean-Christophe Grange - 600 pages.
Read so far 282 pages. A very enjoyable book. Definitely, the native books have a different feeling to those translated from English. I think that I will read only those. I read extensively. Missing range per page: 0-6 words. I estimate my average is 3 unknown words/page. I read about 30 pages/day.

Anki
Listening cards - 5126 matured cards. 11 new cards added every day.
All other decks stopped.

RFI
Unhappy with RFI: too restricted and limited vocabulary for my taste, and, sometimes, the articles are read poorly. So I began to work with FranceInfo, France Culture and others. I prefer high quality written/media combo articles to listen and create Anki cards.

Sub2rs
Started again creating cards from films. It takes too much time to create cards from books. I began to dislike the unnatural voices of Google translator and other text to voice softwares. I want more native sounds. I'd wish to find native films with French subtitles.

It really feels great to begin accessing French Culture, books, movies, lectures, news, etc... It took 2 years to get here, and there is still a long path forward.
6 x
Italian, polish, and French dance
FSI Basic French Lessons : 10 / 24 17 of 24 goal

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lusan
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Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:25 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC, USA
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Polish(In Alcatraz)
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure, Polish and beyond

Postby lusan » Sat Aug 22, 2020 11:00 pm

French

Wrapping thing up with French

Objectives

Reading: Extensive understanding at 98 % of contemporary novels. News and general internet info. I read a bunch of Polar novels that I enjoyed very much. I can read them at a good comprehension rate. DONE

Listening. Of the news, I get between 80 and 100 %; all depends on topic and speaker French accent. I get topic and I could follow arguments though I miss many words. I have difficulties with long dialogues. Need more work, but good enough to enjoy watching FranceInfo, Channel 2 or 24. With serial I am very happy. I immerse into the films without problems even though I miss a lot sometimes. I suspect that after another 500 hours, it will be fine. After all, the point is that I am finally enjoying the language outside of training material. It is a lot of fun and I look forward everyday to my 2 serial episodes. The view from this level is very different than A2. Just finished The Killing. Tonight I will start a new serial. DONE

Speaking. B1. UNCLEAR. Pandemic stopped speaking activities. I have no idea but I think I can express my thoughts with short sentences. Of course, I am using a lot of Spanish grammar! Actually I don't care much. I have no plan to visit France till next year.
ART channel is very important at this level. Since I live in USA, I am using VPN as the way to via pass the geographical filters. I think it is a must have for B1+ levels.

Writing: None. There is/was no particular reasons. I do not see myself writing in French but very short notes once every 1000 of years. So... better watch TV or read a book.

Daily Plan
1. News - 30 min of FrenchInfo and Channel 2
2. Serial: 2 episodes
3. Reading: 20 - 30 pages of Contemporary Fiction. I have long queue which will be enhanced from best seller books from Amazon.fr list.
4. Anki: 30-40 min of reviews/new cards. Mature cards: 6279. I am adding only interesting words and expressions now. I guess that when I reach 7000 or 8000, I will stop French Anki.

Summary
Very satisfied with this language. I began on Nov 2018. It took less than 2 years to get where I wanted.

Polish

Today, I returned to Polish which I have not touched for almost 2 years. I am surprised that it is still there. Because of this pandemic, we plan to visit Gdansk next year, rent an apartment to remain for an extended 6 months vacations. So I need to refresh the language at least to converse with my in-laws.

FSI taught me that, for me, listening has the highest importance. (Of course, reading is important too, but only as a source to assist my listening comprehension.) So I am taking a very different approach. I will be using mostly Audio-lingual method. I already know/recognize ordinary vocabulary as well as basic grammar. I just need to get it out fast enough without much concerns about this darn Polish grammatical cases!

Objectives
Speaking: A2 - probably I am already there, but after 2 years I assume the worst!
Listening: B1+. No desire to listen to Polish news or TV.
Reading: B2. Must be able to read around.
Writing: None

Plan

Beginning Polish, vol 1, 2 of Alexander M Schenker. I will do all the lessons as well as the drills. One lesson per week. I will take 25 weeks. I got the books and all the recordings. So I should be done prior to our Polish trip; pandemic allowing.

Extensive listening
Serial: Ranczo. It has 130 episodes. I hope it will be enough to address all the small talks with my belle-mère.

Extensive Reading
Pierzsze pryzgody Mikołajka and others-this is unclear. I already read a bunch of Polish books. Whatever I choose must be contemporary and linguistic level no higher than lyceum. (Edit: I began to read this child book. I was happily surprised that after almost 2 years without touching it, my reading abilities did not suffer much. I could read easily, missing 1-2 words per pages. So I am pushing for B2 reading skills. After this book, I would have to purchase adults contemporary Polish novels. I was worry about the language degradation after so a long time.)

Anki:
None. I will not use Anki. I am targeting active A2 level and Listening B1. Of course, I might change my mind after I reach Poland.

Grammar
Polish Verbs Essentials of grammars by Oscar Swan is probably enough, and only for reviewing and checking.
2 x
Italian, polish, and French dance
FSI Basic French Lessons : 10 / 24 17 of 24 goal

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lusan
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Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:25 pm
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Polish(In Alcatraz)
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Re: FSI French Basic adventure, Polish and beyond

Postby lusan » Sun Aug 23, 2020 4:23 pm

The first lesson drills of Beginning Polish were too easy. I do not think I could repeat them several times without been bored. I am modifying the approach. I will work every lesson until I feel bored with it -we have to fight boredom to keep the brain engaged. I estimate that I will finish the drills sooner than the 6 months I had in mind. I will take the remaining time prior to the trip on watching Polish serials and movies.

These drills are very similar to FSI but simpler. The complexity of the French structure can be overwhelming after FSI lesson 8. I think the BP did a better job. I remember having to struggle so much in FSI with grammatical structure that I thought would be useless. They are a little taxing for the brain, but satisfying for me.
1 x
Italian, polish, and French dance
FSI Basic French Lessons : 10 / 24 17 of 24 goal


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