Old Log

[Fortheo]

I think you are doing the right thing with your "transition." I was really into listening to audio books while following along with the text. I did several books that way. I thought that is what I would do for years and years. I bought several books and audio books for the future. Then I "transitioned" to just regular old reading without the audio. I had seen experienced language learners say that just reading would help me more than following along with the audio. I did not understand why. I get it now... it really is helpful to just read. Now, I have a bunch of audio books that I probably won't ever use.

I am enjoying your log as I am thinking of getting into French and would like to do it more or less the way you have done.

I'm not sure if I think one option is superior than the other, instead I think that both options help learners learn in slightly different ways. Just reading is extremely important because it gives the reader more time to figure out and comprehend the language on her/his own. Whereas with following along with the audio, a reader is more focused on sound/pronunciation and simply following at the pace of the speaker, which may not be at the pace that the learner can comprehend the text/language. What Rinv is doing seems like a great option: Just read the text once, then go through it again while listening to the audio. That way you get the best of both worlds. Obviously, that is all just my opinion.


Oh and thanks for the idea of slightly slowing down audio in audacity Rinv. I've never thought of that and it will definitely help me with a few things.

[PeterMollenburg]

Looks like a solid plan rlnv,

I like your plan of focusing 100% on Buffy. It's something I should do to (don't own the set at this stage), but I honestly can't fit it in to my schedule aside from the odd listen while walking the dog.

As for how you have been slowing down the audio with audicity, great idea indeed. I couldn't be bothered messing about with audicity, although I'm sure it's not hard... maybe i'll fiddle with it one day. Lately i'm so short on time that I don't want to open any potential cans of worms if you know what I mean. I've often considered signing up for News in Slow French in the future to get full access (rather than just the older audio files that you can source for free). That would be a good transition in my opinion, but i'm not sure I like the quality of News in Slow French. It's better than nothing but not my favourite resource by any means. Your work with audicity is a much better I think. Well at least you can choose what to slow down.

It's good to see your strong enthusiasm lately btw too. The one thing that is bringing people success in learning languages here in this supportive community is consistent effort, whatever materials keep us moving forward for each individual is what's doing the trick!

Keep it up!

PM

[rlnv]

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[PeterMollenburg]

Thanks for the kind words. And btw, your recent posting of readings has given me good insight in what is possible with respect to accent. I can see you have put in a lot of work, and it’s paid off well for you. At some point when I get to the output stage, I think I’m going to definitely concentrate on some of the phonic areas you’ve outlined so well in your log.

Your most welcome rlnv Just a little side note, i'm trying to get the French team thread active again too, feel free to drop by. It's currently in the challenge section but i've requested it be moved to the language log section.

PM

[rlnv]

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[Mohave]

I'm still reading Étreinte daily. I'm at chapter 25 which is 42% completion, or ~531 Kindle pages. At my current pace, I've got between 2 and 3 weeks remaining.

Thanks for mentioning this rinv! I've been looking for a fun French read, and I downloaded it from iBooks to read next!

[rlnv]

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[tomgosse]

Grammar
I started doing CLE International - Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau débutant. I'm starting to wonder if it's time well spent or not. It seems like review. I may need to get the next book in the series. I'll go a bit further and see if how it goes.

This summer I took a French course at my public library. Our instructor used Grammaire Progressive du Français - Niveau Intermediare. I found the Intermediare level quite challenging and had to turn to two books to understand what was being taught: English Grammar For Students Of French and McGraw Hill's The Ultimate French Review and Practice.

All the best in your studies. I look forward to reading more of your log.
Tom

[extralean]

[ Unfortunately as many before me have mentioned, they (ebooks) are not as plentiful as they could be in the US.

There may, or may not be a torrent out there which has about 7000 french ebooks in it. Not that I condone such a significant breach of copywrite, but I'm sure that it would be very beneficial for a language learner if someone were to download it.

[rlnv]

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