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Old 06-23-2017, 08:24 PM   #1
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I'm learning French in 1 year

A public statement to be able to achieve my goal and be able to look back a year from now at how successful or unsuccessful I was at it and hopefully find someone who is interested in joining in as well as that would be much helpful.

I've tried learning French a few times, first in High School, not because I wanted but because I already knew Spanish and Japanese wasn't offered. Studied for 3 years left it for a few years and when I got back to University I retook it for a year and a half only to leave it again for Chinese which was a failure and just recently picked it up about a year ago. But yeah, learning a language needs more than just two classes a week, you need more dedication to it. If you want more details on this I wrote about it on my blog.


But yeah, this time I want to really dedicate to learning the language and be able to use it. Any help would be appreciated and again even better if someone wants to join. I'll be continuing my classes at University this semester but that's not enough practice as I'm still rather lacking in all 4 skills (reading/listening/writing/speaking) so yeah I'm finding extra content for listening like podcasts (News in Slow French), websites (various;Reddit/r/French), youtube channels, and apps (duolingo, memrise, others). I'd really like to be able to have a decent level of communication in a year. Let's see how this goes, wish me luck.
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Old 06-23-2017, 08:51 PM   #2
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Le **** you.
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Old 06-23-2017, 08:58 PM   #3
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I don't think you can achieve fluency in a foreign language in a year only.

Subscribe to youtube channels of French vloggers, gamers and French media outlets such as France 24 and TV5 Monde.

I've been learning German on my own for some years now, and sometimes get a bit rusty. Had French from 7th to 9th grade but that was a long time ago. Perhaps I'll try to learn it again someday but I'd do it more to complete the trifecta of the most useful European languages(English, French and German) than for the enjoyment of it. I find it to be a quite overrated language, but not as bad as Spanish or Italian, two languages that actually annoy me to no end. Been entertaining the idea of learning Russian lately but am yet to pull the trigger.

Good luck.
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Old 06-23-2017, 09:22 PM   #4
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Ego scio parva Latina. Three years in high school. I used to be quite fluent but I have gotten rather rusty over the years. But it HAS helped me to understand some Spanish, French, and Italian.
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Old 06-23-2017, 09:35 PM   #5
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Ego scio parva Latina. Three years in high school. I used to be quite fluent but I have gotten rather rusty over the years. But it HAS helped me to understand some Spanish, French, and Italian.
I had Latin for about 2 weeks in 10th grade before I dropped it. For some reason I thought it'd be cool and I blame my love for Astérix for picking that dead language up. But it's only interesting to help you learn the meanings of famous sayings such as E Pluribus Unum, Mens Sana in Corpore Sano, Art e Labor and Alea Jacta Est, imo.
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Old 06-23-2017, 09:39 PM   #6
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I don't think you can achieve fluency in a foreign language in a year only.

Good luck.
Thanks!

Well, I'm not starting from 0, I just want the next 364 days to get me to a higher level than all my prior attempts have. As far as my expectations, I would like it if I can achieve a B1 level and I think that's definitely possible but we'll see. Knowing English and Spanish also helps tremendously, it'll be tough as this will also be my last year at University so I have to finish off but I'll try my best.
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Old 06-23-2017, 10:53 PM   #7
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I had Latin for about 2 weeks in 10th grade before I dropped it. For some reason I thought it'd be cool and I blame my love for Astérix for picking that dead language up. But it's only interesting to help you learn the meanings of famous sayings such as E Pluribus Unum, Mens Sana in Corpore Sano, Art e Labor and Alea Jacta Est, imo.
Not neccessarily. It is also the root of all the aforementioned languages, so if one knows the root word of a word spoken or written in French for example, one can infer what the French word means. There are some variances of course but you'd be surprised how much Spanish I've picked up just by listening and then picking out the Latin root. Plus two weeks is hardly enough time to get a real feel for any language. I spent three years getting to know it and was actually to the point where I could write a story in it or translate full stories from it. One in particular I found interesting was a Roman werewolf tale! It's also useful for knowing certain terms in science (science- which comes from the Latin scio, literally "to know"!) and medicine. I also learned a lot of history and ancient culture and mythology in that class too.
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Old 06-23-2017, 11:32 PM   #8
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I am part French myself, from a noble who move to America to well not get his head chop off during the great terror. Ending his days as a fur trader.

sadly I never did learn French myself. Than my bloodline really got mix up with English and Scottish later on in the 1800's.
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Old 06-23-2017, 11:52 PM   #9
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A good language to learn. I've always wanted to learn Franch. I hope you can reach your goals.
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Old 06-24-2017, 06:07 AM   #10
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Earth should be made an English only-speaking planet.
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Old 06-24-2017, 06:20 AM   #11
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Earth should be made an English only-speaking planet.
Where is the fun in that? I myself would like to learn japanese.
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Old 06-24-2017, 07:33 AM   #12
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Earth should be made an English only-speaking planet.
That's a pretty ridiculous statement to make.
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Old 06-24-2017, 08:36 AM   #13
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Where is the fun in that? I myself would like to learn japanese.
More practival. When it comes to Japan, I think it's the traditional culture and history of Japan that's more fascinating, not so much the language of Japanese.
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Old 06-24-2017, 09:42 AM   #14
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I'm fairly certain the Japanese people would agree with you on that.

I don't know another language, but I am a student of human anatomy...which is kind of it's own language.

I think it's more than possible to become fluent in a foreign language in a year if one is immersed in it. So my suggestion would be to find someone who speaks the language fluently and talk with them daily if possible.

You may want to check out your local library. A lot of them have English as a Second Language groups who might just have some native French speakers looking to trade their language skills for yours.

Good luck!
And keep us posted on your progress!
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Old 06-24-2017, 02:38 PM   #15
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I am part French myself,
sadly I never did learn French myself.
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A good language to learn. I've always wanted to learn Franch. I hope you can reach your goals.
Thanks, but both of you if you really want to, it's easier than ever to learn a language, well when it comes to finding material and tools to do it.

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Originally Posted by plastroncafe View Post
I think it's more than possible to become fluent in a foreign language in a year if one is immersed in it. So my suggestion would be to find someone who speaks the language fluently and talk with them daily if possible.

You may want to check out your local library. A lot of them have English as a Second Language groups who might just have some native French speakers looking to trade their language skills for yours.

Good luck!
And keep us posted on your progress!
Well I'm not living in the US so finding French speakers is even more difficult but I do have a friend who has a higher level than mine and I try to practice as much as I can speaking, immersion is indeed key but difficult to do in another country.

But thanks and I do intend on posting updates at least monthly, or bi monthly here, depending on the interest, in my blog It'll be more frequently since no one can tell me to shut up there.
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Old 06-24-2017, 04:03 PM   #16
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That's a pretty ridiculous statement to make.
Not to mention against human nature as well. It's not possible for there to e only one language and culture in this world. It just isn't. Humans are tribal.

And besides, if you want the world to speak one language only, at least let it be your own. Why did Original TMNT Fan pick English and not Swedish? Do you not like your native language or something?
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:12 PM   #17
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For me, there's no real incentive to learn another language. I live in the U.S., so while it would be nice to understand spanish since so many people speak it here, it's not really something I have to spend time investing in. You can never speak a foreign language that fluently either unless you were very young growing up in a bilingual household.
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:22 PM   #18
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Not to mention against human nature as well. It's not possible for there to e only one language and culture in this world. It just isn't. Humans are tribal.

And besides, if you want the world to speak one language only, at least let it be your own. Why did Original TMNT Fan pick English and not Swedish? Do you not like your native language or something?
In the near future, people will form culture with the Internet, independent from countries and borders, and English is the ultimate language for that. Also, you can't force all Earth to speak Swedish, unless you threat with atomic bombs.
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:53 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan View Post
In the near future, people will form culture with the Internet, independent from countries and borders, and English is the ultimate language for that. Also, you can't force all Earth to speak Swedish, unless you threat with atomic bombs.
That has to be the most ignorant statement I've ever heard.

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Old 06-25-2017, 01:17 PM   #20
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In the near future, people will form culture with the Internet, independent from countries and borders, and English is the ultimate language for that. Also, you can't force all Earth to speak Swedish, unless you threat with atomic bombs.
...and how will that kill every language that isn't English? Also, what makes you think that in 50-100 years the world landscape won't be very different and that English won't lose some power to other languages?

And you cannot force people to adopt English as their mother tongue without dropping some bombs n them either... hell if you drop atomic bombs on people they won't learn any language since they'll just perish instantly.

Independent from borders? Yeah because that clearly will happen
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