Mission: Be able to understand dialogue in French film by December 2012 | My language mission and my log | Forum

My overall goal is to be conversational in French by the time I leave for Switzerland in the Summer of 2013. Since that is so far away, my mid-term goal is to be able to understand the dialogue in a French film by the end of the year. If accepted, I will be going to Geneva to do research. By the time I leave for Switzerland I want to be conversational in my technical area as well as aware in the colloquialisms of the Swiss French. Conversational means being able to hold an hour-long discussion.

Until December, my mini-goals are:

30 minutes per day of active learning

30 minutes per day of active pronunciation practice

1 French film per month minimum.

1 Alliance-Francaise event per month (wherein speak mostly French unless approached by a non-speaker)

Yesterday, July 30th: When I got home after work, I watched another French film called TomBoy. I followed along the storyline, but understand only 10-15% of the dialogue. There were some exchanges though that I was really excited that I could understand! How fun. Also, no subtitles at all. I love this approach, I actually listen to the sounds more. Then before falling asleep I researched about common pronunciation pitfalls. Also, I bought a new radio for my car, so that I can plug in my mp3 player and listen to my language-specific tracks during my commute. That'll add 1.5 hrs of practice to my day!

Today, July 31st: I signed up for more Meetup french conversation groups. I'm really excited for starting practicing my conversation in a group setting. I figure, at the rate I'm going, one French film per day, I am going to run out of films by December! But, I know I won't keep up with this pace. Also, I can always watch my favorites again. I can't wait for the day when I can watch a movie I've seen a dozen times and finally understand what they're saying!

No more English subtitles for me!

Lizzie,

I am thankful for your inquiry . My reasons for learning French are multifold,  very strong, and well-founded on an interest and understanding of the connection between culture and language. I work for a Canadian company and I interact with French Canadiens quite often. My research would actually be through the Swiss government, and I'm not tied to a specific university, besides the requirement that I take 1 course per semester. Not all these classes are in English, and I want to have the ability to take a class in French if I so choose. I plan to interview as many people as I can, in the government, private companies, in the railroad workforce, and at Universities. I need to be able to read French research papers, news clippings, etc.  My experience in Quebec has shown me the true French-ness of any french-speaking country. Yes, you get along quite easily in the Quebec cities in English. But the moment you leave, good luck! Everything is in French, including the railroad radio, which is so very important when out on the tracks. As well, I want to complement them by respecting their culture and language. I hope that when I return from Switzerland I will have a very strong command of the language.

I am also frustrated by Netflix's language limitations, although I have found more than a few that will switch into French subtitles, I don't want those either. The paper works pretty well, I just fold it three times and tape it on. I'm willing to put up with the burned subtitles and piece of paper for the convenience of Netflix. But, I also rent movies from the library at the l'Alliance Francaise, where I volunteer. The late fees are really steep though, so I put up with Netflix.

Do you live in a big city? Maybe there is an Alliance Francaise near you.

Good luck!

Becky

"the Alliance Française in Boston has the largest private French-language library in the US or something."

 

I'm pretty sure they say that about any of them! They said the same thing to me. If you're ever in Chicago, you couldd check it out and see if it's true. 

I had to take a break so that I could focus on my grant application, which is how I plan to go to Switzerland, so it was certainly more important to work on that than learn French. It's submitted now, and I'm back with a vengeance. I found read-along books in French on the internet, these are really great--I spent a LOT of time trying to find these, and they're perfect for reading and listening because the phrase is highlighted when they say it, and they talk a bit slower than in a film. I've also changed all my computer systems into french. I listen to french internet radio when I'm in my car (that new stereo was totally worth it).

Also, I went to a MeetUp group this week and practiced conversation. It was hard because my Spanish kept slipping in there. I hardly noticed the difference. It was as if I walked from one room to the other without even realizing it. I said, "Yo aussi." I realized as the words were coming out of my mouth of course. When I want to say a French word, sometimes my mind goes from English to Spanish to French, and I get really frustrated when I know the word in Spanish but not French. Other times, I don't realize they're almost the same word anyway, or I know the French word but believe it to be Spanish so I refrain from saying it. I'm just going to have to go with the mix between the two at the minimum. Maybe no English, but as long as I speak 75% French and 25% Spanish then I can be satisfied.

I watched one of my favorite films last night with a friend, "L'auberge espagnole". He loved it. It was also so great to watch because it mixes the French, English, Spanish, and Catalan in one film. We watched it while drinking Beaujolais-Villages 2010. It was delicious. I made sure to look up the wine chart before I opened it. I had 2010 a year ago, and it just wasn't as good. One year older made it totally worth the wait.

Today I'm going to put on one of Benny's interviews for a little motivation, and then maybe find a french recording to play over and over again while I do the dishes. I have a lot of resources at my disposal, so I just need to use them!