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My French Log [TAC 2015] | ||
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| redflag Senior Member Australia Joined 3632 days ago 123 posts - 182 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Indonesian, French | Message 25 of 60 09 December 2014 at 7:39pm | IP Logged |
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The prices for a lot of things at Abbey's aren't so bad actually. They have a lot of French grammar/vocab/practice
books in the $20-$30 range. Although of course there is disparity it's not as wide as you might think and of course with the AUD falling it closes the gap a lot between prices online. Buying from Amazon or the Book Depository is a lot cheaper at parity than at .84c. It's basically my favourite place in the city, upstairs at Abbey's .... Get on their mailing list at least so you'll know when their yearly sale is mid-year, I buy a lot of language books for $1, $3, $5 etc there at that time. While in the city it might be worth to go to the Alliance Française in Clarence St - only about a 30 secs walk from Abbey's - and look at their library. You have to join to borrow (which is about $80 or something so not cheap unless you are taking a course with them in which case it's free) but you can browse the collection. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3544 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 26 of 60 10 December 2014 at 3:02pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you redflag for this information; I saw your post just before I walked to Abbey's... you're right, a lot of the stuff there is not overly expensive. I have now signed up to their mailing list: I can't wait for the mid-year sale! I did purchase one item though: Collins French Dictionary and Grammar. It looks great on my shelf. So my 'French study' today was reading through a lot of the grammar stuff in this book (there's a lot of it! Most I won't need to know for quite a while).
I also looked through my vocab lists as per usual; tomorrow I must start to make more lists of words. I plan to learn around 550 words a month. That's slightly less than 20 a day on average. So around 2000 words in 4 months? Sounds pretty good, 'ey? I didn't end up going inside the Alliance Française, but at least I know where it is now. I'll probably take a course there one time, but I don't plan on doing an exam till I'm at a B2 level (so in other words, not for a long time). Now, I am absolutely certain that all the stars are aligned, as if the heavens above need me to learn French; let me explain. Just a hundred metres away from Abbey's a young man working for the Cancer Council calls me as I walk past. We get talking, and I discover that he's from France and has travelled quite a fair amount. I tell him of my latest endeavour to learn French, and he gives me a tip. Cooch Soofing (as he pronounced it haha), or Couch Surfing, he said, is a great way for one to not only have free accommodation, but to also get to speak with native speakers. He told me that there are tonnes of young French people in Sydney, and he encouraged me to use the Couch Surfing site to connect with them as soon as possible (I'll have to check it out, I'm not entirely sure of how it works). I'm probably a bit young at the moment, but who knows, maybe in the future (when I have my own place or something)... More language-related stuff today: at the Sydney University morning, I enquired about the possibility of studying languages and philosophy. This is what I have my heart set on at the moment. At the Macquarie Uni information evening (yes, busy day) I also enquired about this. Sounds really good. But I have a question:: French or Spanish? I really don't know. If I focused just on languages then I could definitely do both, but I think that I'll eventually just pick one or the other. Because I was just thinking this: if I was to do Spanish next year then I should really be studying Spanish right now, and not French. Also, at Mac Uni it was suggested to me that I look into a Bachelor of International Studies. A requirement of the course is that one must learn another language and spend a few months in a country which speaks this target language. I've never considered this course, but I'll check it out, sounds interesting... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4799 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 27 of 60 10 December 2014 at 5:06pm | IP Logged |
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Well, careful about joining your university studies and your language passion, check
the currirulum first. When it comes to many universities, the language studies consist mostly of humanities related to the countries speaking the language and less of the practical skills, while elsewhere, the languages are taken as a very useful tool but something else is a priority (such as economy, geography, politics, whatever). Even lingvistics is different from what some language enthusiasts expect it to be. And the language classes per se may be of various quality. If you can, ask current and former students about their experience. Many students gather on internet forums and social networks to share. So, if I can give you one piece of advice: base your university studies choice on the curriculum as a whole and other practical aspects in order not to be disappointed. After all, languages are much easier to learn on your own to high level (and get a certification independent of any university) than philosophy, economy or science. Whether Spanish or French: whichever you like but I'd recommend you to continue with French after such a good start. Once your French is at least intermediate or better, Spanish will be much easier to acquire. ;-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| redflag Senior Member Australia Joined 3632 days ago 123 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Indonesian, French | Message 28 of 60 10 December 2014 at 10:46pm | IP Logged |
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I'm going to New Caledonia for some French practice after New Year, it's only a three
hour flight from Sydney (although not super cheap.) There's a Sydney French group on Meetup that is very active, generally at least something every week and fortnightly there's a general social occasion on a Tuesday night at a pub in town. And Alliance Francais has a fair few free activities. Tonight I'm going there for a talk by former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin who is talking en francais about a book he's written on Napoleon. If I understand more than 'bonjour' and 'merci' I'll be stoked but I couldn't pass up the chance. So yeah there's quite a bit francophone happening around town. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3544 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 29 of 60 12 December 2014 at 1:42am | IP Logged |
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Thank you Cavesa for the caution... I have never really thought about that. Indeed, I must make sure that I know what I am signing up for. Et merci beaucoup for your advice on where I head with my language learning; I was always quite sure (ok, absolutely certain) that I'd continue with French as I have been, but I think I just needed the reassurance. Indeed, I can't imagine studying anything else but French at the moment...
Having not 'actively' studied French for around 2 weeks now, it was a little bit of a 'step' to start again today. But it's good weather for studying at the moment; quite cold and rainy. I definitely see why it's so important to do at least something French-related every day. I certainly do have all the inspiration in the world right now to learn French (other than perhaps being in France!) Yesterday night I was thinking about how to continue my French studies. I decided that I'm going to try a bit of 'vocabulary cramming': I plan to learn 25 words a day for as long as I can. By 'as long as I can' I mean until dozens of words start piling up that I simply cannot remember; in other words, till it all goes out of control. When this happens I'll simply reduce the number of words I'll learn each day, even if that means only 5 new words a day (hey, that's still 150 words a week). I am currently setting myself the goal of trying to handle learning 25 words a day for a month. Ideally, I'd like to have a vocabulary of around 2200 (more realistically 2000) words by early March (this is around when university starts), and this would require me learning 25 words a day. Or, relating the goal to my '3 month challenge' around 1500 words by early February. So today I chose 25 new words. I also took the time to make flashcards for all of the words on my vocab lists (so far I'm up to 80 words). I just folded A4 sheets of paper up into 16 even-sized rectangles, cut 'em out, and then wrote the French word on one side and the English translation on the other. For example, first I would write 'Le sol' on one side of the card; then I'd turn over the card and write 'floor'. I'm keeping the cards in piles separating them by which day's list they were written on. For example, all the flashcards which have on them the words I originally wrote down on the 24th of November, I keep in a pile, separated from other piles. As I fully learn the words from each pile I'll combine them with other piles of words which I've thoroughly learned. Now I'm going to do a little bit of lesson 7 of the FSI course, and then I'm off to bed. [Note: I typed this all up last night, but then my *hitty laptop crashed... luckily I'd saved this log entry. I am about to start lesson 7 now...] Also redflag, it sounds like you'll have an awesome time in New Caledonia! What a brilliant experience it'll be for you. Ah yes, Meetup.com was recommended to me one time before (when I was learning Spanish), and I did see the French group. It looks really good! Well, perhaps I should set myself a goal now? To go to the French meetup group in Sydney by the end of March... does this sound good? I mean, I could go anytime I want, but it's just that I'd want to be able to communicate with 'em in French, even if only in a very simple manner! Also, let me know how tonight's talk went! Lastly, I should mention a couple of ideas which popped into my head about how I could best utilise my DIY flashcards: - Firstly, I don't want all my knowledge to be passive. One of the main reasons that I want to gain such a large vocabulary in such a short amount of time is so that I can start to read books in French fairly soon. A way for me to ensure that I'm not just recognising the words, but that I can also write them out and use them in conversation is by doing this: Sitting down at a desk with a blank piece of paper (it can just be scrap paper) and having all the flashcards turned 'English-side up'. Then select a card, and write down the French translation on the piece of paper (along with saying the word out loud and visualising it... for example, if the word is 'la porte' then imagining a door, or better still, pointing at the door). Put the card aside. Then do this many times. Then check my answers. The same thing could be done but instead translating the French word into English. I don't think this would be very helpful though, since recognising what the French word is in English is a lot easier than the other way 'round (if you know what I mean). - Secondly, once I add verbs to my flashcard list, this may prove very helpful. [Note, I have now done this. I made cards with the subject pronouns on them, as well as cards with the following infinitive verbs written on them: être, avoir, and aller. I also have cards with the present tense forms of each verb on them (for quick reference).] Firstly, make a set of cards with the subject pronouns on them (one card for je, another for vous, nous ext). Have the cards with the infinitive verbs on them (avoir, être, aller ext.), and then select both a subject pronoun card and then a verb card. For example, I selected 'je' and 'être'. Now I need to properly conjugate the verb. So in this example, I'd say 'je suis'. The written element can also be added, so along with saying 'je suis' I have to write down 'je suis'. So I'll let you know how effective I find these exercises. If you wanna copy 'em then please let me know how effective you find them. I also think it quite effective to do this: instead of just reading out the word (for example) 'la maison', also make a little sentence out of it. For example, 'la maison est la-bas'. [Well, now to get back into FSI!] [Also, my pen pal still hasn't replied... I'll probably have to get a new one to practise my French with! Actually, I have a British friend who is very good at French, so I'll probably just practise with her for now. And then there is my French neighbour...] 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3544 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 30 of 60 13 December 2014 at 3:08pm | IP Logged |
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Ok, quick update. I meant to do this yesterday but then my *hitty laptop crashed again.
Well, my '25 words a day challenge' has now turned into a '64 words a day challenge'. And today I added almost 50 words. At the rate I'm going I'll be able to start reading simple French literature in a matter of only a couple of months or less. Now, why do many words? Simple. I am adding words to my lists that I have already learnt previously. I am trying to extract all the words from the FSI course and elsewhere that I possibly can. I am yet to go through the vocab lists from the lessons and add those words to my list... honestly, just so many words! So this is why I am able to 'learn' so many words a day; they've already been learned pretty much. Still, I want to keep a track of all the words I know, although I'm focusing on learning nouns (mainly concrete nouns as opposed to abstract nouns). So all in all, it's making me feel really smart learning all these new words! Of course, this vocabulary 'jet rocket' will run out of fuel once I catch up to where I'm at in the FSI course. Still, I plan to be learning well over 25 words a day, at least for quite a while. In saying that, it takes up a lot of time locating and writing down all these words. However, at the moment I am simply copying words to my list, so it's a fast process since I don't have to 'search' for words. On a side note, I'm really liking my new dictionary. It makes me feel very professional :) One day when I don't know what words to choose, I may just flick through my dictionary until I find a word I like... I was working with my dad in the garden all day today, so I didn't end up doing much 'actual' French study, other than listening to the lesson tape again, along with finishing off lesson 7 (pronouncing all the place names, along with the numbers). Speaking of numbers, I've added the numbers up to 20 on my French vocab list, along with the words for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Not much else to say here, except... I have a question about TAC: Having seen 'TAC' pop up lots of times (to say the least), I was thinking that maybe I should try doing it next year. It sounds fun and motivating. When is the 'sign-up thread' for it usually made? Will I need to pay to upgrade to a pro account in order to do it? Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3544 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 31 of 60 13 December 2014 at 3:40pm | IP Logged |
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Aha! I just saw the link to the official TAC 2015 on 'active topics'... I'm going to save the URL so that I can always find it again :P (but if I post on it then I'll get emails when people reply, so that won't be a problem...)
Does anyone have a suggestion as to whether I should make a new log or whether I should just rename this log? I'm thinking that I might just rename this log... Also, I assume that I should just sign up to a French team, as I probably won't go back to Esperanto or Spanish until towards the end of next year... any thoughts? Cheers 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| liam.pike1 Groupie Australia Joined 3544 days ago 84 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, French | Message 32 of 60 15 December 2014 at 3:59pm | IP Logged |
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Firstly, I'd just like to take this little bit of space to give my thoughts to the hostages currently being held in the Lindt Cafe in Sydney, as well as their friends and family. For any of you who haven't heard, Sydney is currently experiencing its first terrorist attack. It started today (Monday) at 10 o'clock. It's after midnight now, and still the whole of Australia and the rest of the world wait to find out what will become of this terrible situation. Again, my thoughts go out to these people.
Yesterday was one of the only days I've had to dedicate almost all to language learning. We did have family friends over for dinner, but otherwise I had a few hours of language learning during the day, along with a nice sleep in (I must not go to bed so late). Today has been the opposite. This post will be my only bit of 'language learning'. I -- along with rest of Australia -- have all had our minds on other things. I spent many hours enjoying the sun whilst gardening, pulling out weeds. I helped my mum take the doggies to the vet for their annual check-up; we bought some medication for their rashes. Some of the weeds are what are triggering them. Thankfully I got rid of 'em all today, so the dogs can thank me later... There has been a development in my thinking for this little '3 (or 3 and a half) month challenge', though... I realised that I really need to be getting a move on. Not just getting through more material, but actually getting through more of the language. I looked through the FSI French FAST course... it isn't till lesson 22 that they start to teach the perfect tense, and they don't introduce any new tenses or anything else major until then. Although, they did introduce the imperative form and the future tense using avoir early on. From what I saw, the course really does teach the ins and outs of the language. But I don't need to speak perfect French yet. I simply need to make myself understood in as quick of a time as possible. The New Caledonian boy I met in Queenstown made lots of slight grammatical errors (like 'two week' instead of 'two weeks') but that doesn't matter. I still could understand him perfectly. The experience of conversing with him also made me aware of what I will need to know in order to be speaking with people in French adequately. By having forced myself to speak slowly and very simply, I could make myself understood; likewise, I'd hope that people I talk to in French would do similar. So in other words, my lack of 1000's of words or understanding of the subjunctive will (hopefully) be compensated for (although I wouldn't bet my chances on that... the French are known for being, well, very 'French'). So, this all means to me that I simply need to just learn what I need for having a decent conversation in my target language. Or, taking baby steps, I need to only know what will allow me to express simple ideas, such as "the cutlery is in this draw" (ah, new words I need to add to my vocab lists) or "do you want to go to Bondi Beach today?" In the spirit of Benny Lewis, I must say that it doesn't matter if my grammar is terrible, or I say things which are literal word-for-word translations from English which wouldn't be expressed the same way in French (eg, weather expressions). However, the grammar guide section of my new acquisition, Collins Dictionary and Grammar, has a really useful section called 'translation problems'. I'll make sure to read that a number of times. This is where I think I am advantaged in having studied another language before (two counting a very rewarding month of Esperanto). I think this is where I can jump ahead of a complete beginner to language learning, because so far I think we'd be neck and neck in a race to become the best at French. I am more confident now, and I'm ready to break out of my mould a little. Indeed, learning French has helped me become more flexible and pragmatic. So what I'm going to do now is just do the specific sections of the FSI course which relate to important aspects of the language, such as tenses. If I didn’t care how long it took me to get to a certain ‘level’ at French then I’d definitely just continue working through the course as per normal, as considering it is only a FAST course (albeit a very large one, 40 lessons) it appears to go into great detail about various aspects of the language. I put the word ‘level’ in hyphens because I really mean ‘how good of a French speaker can I make myself appear to be (as opposed to really be) to a French person (I just any person)’. Finally, I will work on vocab. I will be now working on learning verbs and mastering their forms. So I plan to learn half a dozen new verbs a day (for as long as I can until I ceebs), just learning the forms of the verbs which are essential to be able to express most things that I will be expressing. In reality, I actually won’t have any real reason to use French in February, as my pen pal hasn’t replied to me in many months now. But that doesn’t mean a thing to me and my French studies. Tomorrow I’ll attempt to add all the words that I’ve learnt in the FSI course so far (there’d be around 200 or so I think), so I’ll probably have around 400 words in total. Pretty good, ‘ey? Finally, here is the link to the 2015 TAC challenge, for your quick reference: TAC 2015 Sign-up thread If you’re a beginner in French then you may get to be in my team! :P And finally just some brilliant, 'English' music by the greatest Kiwi band of all time... Crowded House -- Greatest Hits 1 person has voted this message useful |
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