I'm learning French in 1 year

[sdp]

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.

[ToTheNines]

Le **** you.

[Prowler]

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.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

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.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

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.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Prowler

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.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by Prowler

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.

[Cure]

I dunno, people have started using retarded memes and internet slang in their day to day vernacular now, unfortunately.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Cure

I dunno, people have started using retarded memes and internet slang in their day to day vernacular now, unfortunately.

Well yeah, that is true, but that doesn't mean English is killing foreign languages or that borders and different cultures will stop existing as Original TMNT Fan implied they will. In fact, memes get translated to different languages.

[plastroncafe]

Yeah, considering English is third for the Most Spoken Language on Earth, I don't think it's likely to happen.

Hey Cubed, want some extra job security? Learn Chinese.

Any severely dyslexic in English might also be helped by picking up Chinese, as the brain might do better with a different alphabet.

[sdp]

Well, it's been a year since I made this thread so I thought I'd bump it. Looking back it was a very ambitious project and I just didn't have the time to dedicate to it to get to the level I originally wanted which is a B2 level. I still practiced a lot, didn't give up, hit a few walls along the way which happens and passed them.

It's not a failure of a project though since I improved quite a bit and I'd say I'm a B1 level. For those not used to the european frame B2 is bilingual and B1 is intermediate. I can have conversations about pretty much any topic, I make mistakes and can't express everything but I can communicate just fine. I can't understand movies without subtitles but my listening is decent, my reading skills are much improved and I can now read news in French for the most part and I can't do complex writing but I seem to do just fine chatting with people on twitter in French.


I did blog about French related topics like reviews of French shows and apps as well as make notes of my progress every two months here. There's a few posts not linked there yet but the majority are. I plan to continue studying in french and let's see if by next year I can reach B2 level! It was a fun journey and I'm super happy that I can now communicate in French but I know i can improve a lot more and it'll be hard work but I'll do it.

[Wesley]

Well done, sdp. I know mainly English, though I know some French and Irish too.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Good for you! I have been off-and-on learning Japanese and Spanish, the first for story research purposes, the second because I work with so many Latinos. It is hard to find time and motivation, but the more I learn, the more proud I am of the accomplishment.

[sdp]

Well I took a B1 certification test and passed it which means I have a good understanding of the language, can understand and speak most of my ideas, I hit a few walls again but passed right through them with perseverance and will continue to do so. It's been a year and a half since I made this thread but I have a new goal...

I want to achieve B2 level which means I know the language, it's going to be tough since these levels don't increase linearly but exponentially. I'm giving my self one year, once again, I will study even more than the previous year and a half to be able to achieve it and let's see how things go. Right now it's a dream, I'm ready to go, I've learned to deal with walls and I think I can do it, I'm not that far away.