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sturlsons · 5 years

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french in 1.5 years anon

Kinda random but I just found out that I’ll be required to be intermediate/advanced in French by the next 1.5 years; ALL I KNOW IS THAT MEIRDE IS A BAD BAD WORD! Idk if you’re a native speaker but I was wondering if you could provide me of any good French language resources (or language in general since I’ll be needing to learn Arabic soon as well), and like tips for language learning and how to go about it? Sorry to bother you haha this is MY stress but I appreciate any help! Have a great day!

HEY. so i really fucking dropped the ball on this one, i’m sorry. 2019 has been one health fiasco after another (or more like the same fiasco again and again) and i kept telling myself i want to sit down and make a proper post for this, until i realised that that’s just never going to happen given the way things are rn. and i’d rather give you a quickly-written post which is actually helpful than never write that perfect bullet-pointed one.

first of all, i’ve been in your EXACT position (so no, i’m not a native speaker) except i had about...six months to go from je m’appelle teesta to voyez-vous, le problème qui se cache derrière tout ça n’est pas le manque de respect mais la personne dont il s’agit or whatever. i was like, i can so do this. (spoiler: i didn’t, because i was 18 and overconfident and stupid and didn’t actually know how to learn a language.) GOOD NEWS: having learned 3 more foreign languages since then, i am now REALLY GOOD at learning languages REALLY FAST. 1.5 years is a good amount of time, so don’t stress.

i’m going to go generic on this, with some extra tips about french since i speak it, unlike arabic.

first thing, that typical thing everyone hates to hear but knows is coming from the mouth of an accomplished person (pat on my back) in any field whatsoever: you’re going to have to work really hard and practice like fuck.

there’s just nothing else that can replace it. i’ve filled up notebooks and notebooks with japanese verb conjugations, once i did like 1800 of them in one sitting. but you better believe that a bitch will never forget those now. resign yourself to putting in at least three hours of your day to this until you get to the level you need. (and three hours is...kind. at my peak i was literally reading through french dictionaries at the library, 10 AM - 8 PM. i treated it like a workday.)

now, what you need to establish is: are you a hands-on learner or a digital one.

i don’t really care for all the auditory learner and visual learner stuff, i don’t know about anyone else but i personally used those as excuses to avoid certain exercises. unless you have actual disabilities preventing you from accessing certain methods of learning, you can train yourself into anything. it’s a matter of practice. i could barely understand a new song without reading its lyrics first, now i eat up podcasts.

SO. the question here is different. a hands-on learner, like i used to be more or less throughout my bachelor’s, is someone who absolutely cannot retain information unless they’ve written it down BY HAND at least once. pen and paper. (i’m still like this but i’ve learned to combine it with digital methods to go faster.) if this isn’t a hurdle for you, congratulations. your process is going to go that much faster, at least for french. (you’ll have to spend hours practicing your written arabic however, if you’re not familiar with the script.)

now, if you’re a hands-on learner, you need to add an extra hour to your daily time. no matter how fast you write, you will take that time. and you cannot shorthand your way into languages. you need to understand how french is spelt, what accents it uses, that they put a space before exclamation points, question marks, and semicolons. (side tip: learn the IPA. it will be useful to you forever in language learning, at least for the romance languages.) i’m not gonna teach you how to make notes since i’ve never benefitted from copying someone else’s style, so if you don’t have a set method start establishing that. you need regularity and rhythm when you learn a language. my grammar notes look the same regardless of the language. i don’t have my french ones since it’s been years and i didn’t take good ones then anyway, but here’s my japanese and russian stuff.

JAPANESE NOTES // RUSSIAN NOTES

now, it bears mentioning that these notes are NOT the notes i take when i don’t know shit. these are final level notes. they’re brief, idiosyncratic, and only reminders. something to refer to when i’m revising and suddenly forget a rule. the first notes i make are much more elaborate, whether they’re pretty or not. i’ve gradually lost the fucks i had about really going ham on academics so my russian notes are very messy, but my japanese ones from back in the day are magnificent. here’s a look. during lesson one i realised that japanese and my mother tongue, gujarati, are syntaxically similar as shit, and i started taking notes with references in gujarati. it sped up my learning process 2x while my french classmates were still going “BUT WHY IS IT LIKE THAT”.

PRACTICAL GRAMMAR // THEORETICAL GRAMMAR

if you plan to learn more languages in the future, this will be so valuable. sometimes a phrase i learn in russian doesn’t make sense in its french explanation, but a phrase in english might use the same logic. bam, put down the translation in english then. you get what i’m saying? the more languages you learn, the easier it gets to learn languages.

now if you’re a digital learner, i’ve got great news for you. duolingo and anki are your best friends. duolingo’s memed to hell and has a system that might not work for everyone, but they’ll do the brunt work of compiling grammar notes for you in the beginnings/ends of their lessons. note those down and transform them into anki flashcards, and you can learn grammar concepts without doing 20 exercises. (do those exercises if you can, though, nothing beats mindless practice.) now anki is an intimidating-looking but actually super intuitive app that basically builds digital flashcards for you and shows them to you in a rhythm based on your own learning speed. it’ll show you the front of a card, let’s say merde. you say the english translation out loud, shit, and hit enter. correct! was that easy? anki’ll show it to you in 10 minutes. hard? it’ll show you in 1 minute. super easy? merde won’t come up again until tomorrow. eventually you get so good at it that you can bury a card for 2 months. anki will also show you the same cards reversed, which is harder but trains you better. you’ll see shit and have to remember what it’s called in french, which is more difficult than you’d think it is.

you can use anki for more than just vocab, like i mentioned. it’s a little tricky learning to convert grammar concepts into front/back flashcards, but you can do it. for example, here’s a sample of one of my russian grammar cards:

front ^^

back once i hit enter^^

see? not that difficult. now don’t be an idiot like me who manually entered every single flashcard into anki. you can find pre-made packages online (but you can’t guarantee they’ll be correct) or you can make your own without killing your fingers. what you wanna do is open up a spreadsheet and make two columns, A for front of the card and B for back. it’ll look like this:

then you’re gonna save that spreadsheet as a .CVS (comma separated values) and import that into anki. bam, your flashcards are made for you with half the effort. there’s also a script floating around somewhere to make excel translate words automatically for you, but i don’t recommend that unless they’re really easy words. google translate can fuck up. reverso is your friend.

you need to review your anki cards every day. it’ll take less and less time as you go along. i can review 300 russian cards in 15 minutes now. but you need to keep the rhythm going. download ankiapp and sync your cards, review them on commutes or in the hallway or whatever. trust me, it’s magic.

apart from this, if a traditional textbook helps, go for that. i’ve always used textbooks and workbooks, more as supports than as principal methods, but it does help. it’s structured and organised and these people know how to train you. bescherelle is a good go-to for french.

media is always a great way of immersion too, until you get to the country itself. it’ll show you how french people speak french. when i first came to france i didn’t have that experience and even though i spoke an arguably decent amount of french when i got here, it was like, if this is french then what the fuck was i learning in high school. if you like watching movies this is your chance. watch the classics first so that you can get an idea of french pop culture. amélie (though the pop culture aspect here is about shitting on it) and les intouchables, for starters. watch your favourite films, first subbed, then subbed and dubbed, then just dubbed. i watched all ten seasons of friends with french subs, it was wild. with music you want to start off with some indie-ish singers since they will universally sing softer and slower, making things easier to understand than idk, la tribu de dana. (if you’re into bts there’s a hilarious video of their baepsae choreo set to la tribu de dana.) anyway - angèle, cœur de pirate, céline dion, fréro delavega, uhhh that fucking french sufjan stevens. what’s his name. VIANNEY. don’t fucking listen to biglo and oli or like, fatal bazooka right away. you will not understand shit. i barely understand it. white people are wild. ooh listen to stromae. orelsan too, he’s a rapper but he has a relatively clean diction imo. he also sang the french opening for OPM. they call him orelsan-san in japan.

last but not the least: if you have the opportunity to interact in french with people, DO IT. native speakers will do their best to help you and be kind about it. people who learned french might sometimes be assholes from experience. it’s a whole superiority complex thing, and very hypocritical. anyway - online or IRL, wherever you can practice your french, do it. it’ll be immensely helpful. there’s nothing like the frustration of not being able to express simple things to get you motivated to get better. do your best to immerse yourself - changing the language on your devices can make a difference too.

i think that’s all i have and again, i’m sorry for taking this long to finally deliver, thanks for your patience! if you have any specific questions don’t hesitate to hit me up, on anon or not.

good luck - it’s not going to be the easiest but nothing is as gratifying as beginning to understand the workings of a language. you’re gonna love it!

#teesta talks for ts #uni tag #anons #replies

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kafechewcom · 7 years

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My general guide to learn Any Language in 30 hours

This is my general guide to learn Any Language in 30 hours across a month, i.e 1 hour per day.

Phycho-physiological State Preparation

Motivation: Want < Need (Genuine Desire)

Commitment to learn

Set the right expectation/goal: To be able to express and understandable by local, not being perfect.

Have a practical and specific short-term (3 months) aims:

Can have a 5 minutes conversation fully in foreign language with native speaker OR

can travel totally using local language

able to understand half of the foreign language movie without subtitle.

Daily goal: something can be achieved immediately or by today.

Be confidence & focus on the positive from the starts (not negative like “it is hardest language..) AND nothing to be shy.

Be happy, relaxed (Take a very deep breath), curious and specifically to be tolerant of ambiguity (forget about perfect)

Mistakes are a natural part of learning progress, accept that they will happen and know this doesn’t prevent you from communicating (the main objective)

Luck, talent or genes is not an excuse. you can overcome challenges to reach your goals

Forecast milestones (8 units)

sugar high @ 1st unit

immediate drop and low point @ 2nd unit

rapid progress after low point, followed by a plateau @ 3rd unit

inflection point @ unit 6

fluency @ unit 8

For cramming: choose something that improving exponentially, instead of incrementally.

Instant Conversation Preparation

Basic pronunciation: Vowels, Consonants

Scrap the foreign alphabets, how it sounds.

Tool: Forvo – Crowdsourced Pronunciation

Portuguese: real -> he\y ou\ch -> /heou/!!!

Be-careful, this contradicted with No-English rule

Copy the Face. Hear how it feels and feels how it sound

Backchaining : Go backward. Say the end of the word, then add one letter at a time until you can say the whole thing.

Example: vzdrognu -> nu -> gnu -> ognu -> rognu -> drognu -> zdrognu -> vzdrognu

Cheat code for tongue twisters

Physiological training (keep hearing the sounds and Listen a lot, the rhythms, patterns) - Ears and Mouth training for new sounds with Mimic Method by singing target language songs, syllable by syllable.

Language Matrix (Tony Marsh Method) - Choose vocabulary (verb) around a relevant conversational theme, i.e. Basic, Self-Intro, Food, Travel, ... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RzZ6zfIzddM_GMgo0PpCBPZ_oNxFryd2rnwNEnE-llk/edit?usp=sharing

Basic Grammar Deconstruction with Tim Ferris’s 13 sentences

The apple is red.

It is John’s apple.

I give John the apple.

We give him the apple.

He gives it to John.

She gives it to him.

Is the apple red ?

The apples are red.

I must give it to him !

I want to give it to her !

I’m going to know tomorrow.

I can’t eat the apple.

I have eaten the apple.

Language matrix + grammar/structure cheat sheet = MED (Minimum Effective Dose) = condense the most important 20% information down into a digestible, easily graspable one pager.

Speaking

You will never be ready. Just use your new language as a Tool to communicate from DAY 1

Skip through any grammar or vocabulary that is not essential for communication at your current level and learn what you need to speak without hesitating too much.

Game of Taboo. Instead of “Umm…” awkwardly or abruptly starting to speak a language, you can ease yourself in by first throwing in a few words that you know, then using the foreign language structure with some of your native language, and eventually making this a majority of the target language. This may be “imperfect”, but it will get you into the flow you need to be familiar with a language.

Conversation connector.

Rather than abruptly ending the conversation when you give your answer, you are softly bouncing it back at them and inviting them to continue their end of a conversation

agreeing/disagreeing

opening

general fillers

qualifying

switching

Vocabulary Tool Box/Plan

Focus on getting the meaning First (before the words) -> Body Language

Start Mixing

10 verbs x 10 nouns x 10 adjectives = 1000 possible phrases

Focus on the Core.

1000 words = 85% coverage (English) only learn the most frequent used words and phrases.

Directions and Prepositions

the Days of the Week

Pronouns (you, that, me)

Common Verbs & Adjectives (give, hot)

Simple conversation

what is this?

how do you say?

I don’t understand…

repeat that please

Glue words (but, and, even though)

Encoding/recalling with Anki Spaced Repetition System (SRS) Flash Cards

Many simple cards are better than a complex card

Always ask for one correct answer at a time

Don’t translate. Image association. Direct connect the targeted language to mental images.

Level of processing: structure, sound, concept (abstract/concrete details) & personal connection

Word, Picture, Pronunciation (IPA), Recording, Personal Connection

Mnemonic Imagery Game: we’re good in remembering images especially violent, sexual and/or funny

Example: masculine = exploding! // feminine = catch fire // neuter = shatter like a glass (裂开）

Sentences Mnemonic -> PAO: Person (Grammar Form) -Action (Masculine/Feminine) -Object

use all the senses: touch, smell, look, taste, listen/speak (sound), feel

Personal connection

Concrete Nouns: When’s the last time I saw my mere (mother)?

Abstract Nouns: How has the economie (economy) affected me?

Adjectives: Am I timide (timid)? If not, do I know someone who is?

Verbs: Do I like to courir (run)? Do I know someone else who does?

Practise

Self practice/rehearsal/visualise (acts as 2 people talking) during any free time (bath)

Get a Language Parent (guru, mentor)

works to understand what you are saying

does not correct mistakes

confirms understanding by using correct language

use words learners knows

Get a language buddy that the best language in common is the target language you want to learn (talk with korean who don’t know chinese, english, the languages i knew)

Commit no English rule… only speak the target language to the buddy even though have to pull out dictionary or translation OR body language!

Remember When you first Understand the Message, you will unconsciously acquire the language

Immersion & Exposure EVERYDAY… listen to foreign language song … or watch foreign videos

No subtitle allowed, even targeted language because we don’t improve our listening.

no comedy… at least for beginning. you don’t understand the slang, punchline

tv series better than movie. you can figure out who and what’s going on in the first 1-2 episodes and enjoy for the later.

read about the synopsis and summaries by episodes beforehand (Native, then Targeted Language)

vocabularies used

characters

plots

Make a Public Language Log. Documenting your progress (struggles or …). Get encouraged or pressured from others.

Speaking to Natives. Just Ask! Could we speak your language? I’d really like to practise!” (and say it in the actual language, of course!) most of the time they will be very happy to oblige! “why I am learning the language”

Changed language to Vietnamese

Facebook Language Setting

Macbook

Handphone

Frequency

All learning is physically limited; you have a finite number of neurotransmitters (for memory), and a finite amount of REM and non-REM sleep (required for consolidation).

based on Von Restorff Effect: 1 Hour each session

20 minutes: Learning 1 while doing simple physical exercise or simply move your body (increase neuron connections)

5 minutes: shifting content, something unique than Learning 1 & 2 (i.e. throw in some new vocabulary or concept) and by moving from “words to phrases” (i.e. work through an example exercise).

20 minutes: Learning 2

10-15 minutes break: stretching & push ups

Review = daily blog

Stakes : create real consequences and guarantee I follow the program.

Don’t eat meal every day until you’ve accomplished a certain task (meal is your reward)

Reference: 1. http://remotemanifesto.com/the-spanish-in-30-days-experiment-conclusion/ 2. https://medium.com/@matthiasak/my-art-of-learning-5f43d8fdbfd4

#language #blueprint #featured

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