Personal Blogs

I am preparing for the end of year exam.  It reminds me of the radio show “Just a minute”, where you have to talk for one minute, without hesitation, deviation or repetition.  My aim is to avoid hesitation and deviation; I’m not so worried about repetition, as long as I can keep talking.  Two minutes of presentation I can prepare.  Talking to the examiner, that’s a little more challenging.  I really need to avoid painful gaps where there is a silence while I try and find an answer.  A little repetition while I gather my words, is not a problem, this part of the exam is supposed to be a conversation, not a quick fire quiz round.

And with game shows still in mind, I have to remember like Mastermind, the examiner won’t give me any points for “Pass” as an answer, although the occasional “I don’t know” or “Can you repeat the question” if spoken in grammatical French will be perfectly acceptable.  Although there won’t be a whistle or a buzzer at the end of the four minute talk just a polite indication that the conversation is complete. 

While this is scary, unlike the previous assignments which are prepared and polished as much as possible before submission, this conversation is live and unrehearsed.  I get to use the French I have learnt this year in something like a real conversation.  I think I’m a little bit excited as well.

Studying, practising, worrying about assignments.  Sometimes I wonder why I am learning french.  This little article made me smile and think about the ways in which I am not just studying a language, but also a culture.

 http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2015/02/eternuer/comments/page/3/

Going to a french restaurant in France and being confused by a menu in English, because I know all the menu items and food names by their french terms.

Going to an french restaurant in England and wondering why everyone is speaking english.  And replying to the waiting staff in french.

Missing the little brasseries where we often go when we don't want to cook in the evening.  They don't seem to have an equivalent here in the UK or at least not in the sticks where I live.

Coffee seems far too weak and I have to drive a long way for decent croissants and french bread.

I want to use the word "on" instead of using the awkward construction of she/he or they or putting phrases into the passive tense.  Why don't we have a gender non-specific word like this.

Saying ce n'est pas grave in response to little problems.

Now I remember why I am learning french.  What about you?  What makes you think you are becoming more french?

 When I say I'm studying French, a lot of people say, “oh I can't do languages” or “it's so much easier to learn as a child”. I like learning languages, or I thought I did before this course, but it isn't easy. I don't think this is a matter of age. My personal opinion is this is a matter of available time to focus on any given activity.  When you're a child you go to school, come home, get the homework out the way and the rest of the time is your own.

I have a full time job and when I come home from work I do my share of the chores. What time is left is for studying or trying to relax. I don't expect my brain to be as efficient, I accept reluctantly that there are days when nothing makes sense. I've learnt to stop trying to force information into an unwilling head and do more when I have more space and time to focus.

If this was school, I would be celebrating because this is the end of term. As an adult, a break in the scheduled study period is a time to catch up rather than relax. But I will take a break, as I know this helps the information settle and assimilate.

Time to enjoy the yule log, celebrate reveillon, and admire the sapin de noel.

I'm finding this course the hardest thing I have studied. I understand what I read and I understand the grammar in the lessons. But my mind seems to move so slowly. What makes sense in theory, refuses to work in practice. I feel like someone watching an ice skater effortlessly glide around the rink. It looks easy. I step on to the ice and fall on my face and all I can do is hang on to the wall at the edge or crawl on hands and knees.

I listen repeatedly and sometimes I understand in the first attempt, sometimes two or three times later, I still don't get all the words. Reading is relatively straightforward. The words wait patiently on the page and I can move at my own speed. Speaking is daunting and I find myself making stupid mistakes, forgetting things I know perfectly well. Writing is painful and frustrating as I feel this area at least should be less challenging. The simplest description becomes wooden and repetitive.

I've left my comfort zone far behind, in this attempt to speak more than holiday French. 

I have friends who speak English as a second language.  And not only do they communicate successfully, but they are inventive and funny.   I wonder how I get to that point and how long it will take me.

I feel ponderously slow.  The mechanics of language and grammar are fine.  I can read and understand.  But writing and speaking involve efforts of will to build sentences more complicated than a simple oui or non.  And listening is a lottery, where sometimes I win and my prize is comprehension.  Other times I just don’t get it at all.  A stream of sounds, where the shapes of words are hidden. 

Today I am very tired, I feel daunted.  But in two weeks time, I will have submitted my first assignment.  A moment of truth.  “Try harder” or “you’re doing ok”. 

System overload, I have course books, online exercises, online forums, technology for recording, online tutorials and meetings.  My previous OU modules weren’t language based, so there was none of this speaking and recording stuff.  I feel far more nervous.  I have a fear that my first assignment will be two minutes of silence, then in English, the words “End of Assignment, aaargh.

I think in a month’s time, I will be ready.  After all this first assignment is just a presentation, not a dialogue.  Between now and then, there are tutorials, on and off line.  Introductions to the OU way of connecting online.

There’s always skype to get my French friends to test out my pronunciation.  And perhaps give some feedback on style.  Do I sound as if I am reading a message at gunpoint or if I am talking naturally about something that interests me?  Can they hear that tremor in my voice?

 Bonne chance to us all.

How do you measure your progress in learning a language? It's not like weight or height, you can't physically see it when you have lost a pound or grown an inch. You study, you practise, you feel depressed when it seems like none it is going into your head. Some days I am happy as I understand enough of the recordings, other days, I am frantically guessing and replaying every sentence hoping for clues.

At the moment I am studying the sixth and final book of Bon Depart and waiting for my course materials for Overture to arrive. I'm eager to see what's in the box but I'm also feeling a little nervous, as I'm not sure I am ready for the next stage. For the last few months I have been studying about an hour every day but I don't know whether I am learning or just completing the exercises.

This is one of the reasons for making myself sign up to a formal course. If I teach myself, I reach a crisis of confidence like this and give up, or try out another language. Now, I am committed, at least until the end of this module. Being part of a group will be good and having a tutor to ask for advice if I am really floundering might silence some of my doubts. And the assignments over the year will give me an answer on my progress.

I am working through the Open University Bon Depart books and am filling in the gaps in my grammar knowledge, fixing some of the areas where I had stumbled over. While I am not formally studying this module and don't have tutor or fellow students to interact with, I really appreciate the format of the books on their own or with the CDs.

The books and the cds are not cheap, although in my opinion, they are very good value for money. However, I wanted to talk about some of the free aids to learning French that are available on the internet.

Over the years, I have subscribed to several blogs and teaching emails to help me learn French. As they arrived faster than I could read them, I set up a separate folder for these two.

For anyone looking for detailed information on French language, grammar, vocabulary and links to anything French related, the one to read is Laura K Lawless. Her regular emails have now been replaced by a new website. I haven't used this yet, but based on her previous work, I am sure it will be comprehensive and easy to use. I have also kept all the old emails to allow me to look up grammar points. Hopefully the new site will have quizzes to keep us learners on our toes. Sadly this was one of my favourite parts of the emails.

http://www.lawlessfrench.com/

More a cultural or day in French life blog is Kristin Epinasse's stories of her life in France, illustrated with beautiful photographs. She cleverly inserts French phrases in each edition, although most of the blog is written in English. She provides more colloquial words and phrases which are set in everyday stories.

https://dub117.mail.live.com/ol/#

For a more structured learning experience, try duolingo. This language learning website is strangely addictive and the numbers of different languages available can be distracting if you enjoy learning multiple languages.

It is split into a language learning section and a translation section. Both generate points and builds language skills. The site encourages you to log in everyday, by giving bonus points for using it for a week or more. It's very hard when you miss a day and end your streak.

Www.duolingo.com

And one of the nicest parts of these free sites, is the comments and communication between the users who share their links, ask and answer questions and generally support the learning experience.

Distance learning can be challenging and sometimes you need to speak to a real person, face to face or at least on the phone.  As part of my preparation for studying L120 I am gathering a group of people who can help me when I start to feel completely defeated by something like French grammar or the pronunciation of certain words.  I know the internet is full of useful resources for studying languages, but there are times when I want to be able to repeat my questions until I understand the answer. Luckily I have a group of native French speaking friends I can call on.  A colleague at work, several French friends who live in England.  I don’t intend to harass them on a daily basis with queries but it gives me more confidence knowing I can call on them, if I need to.

And this leads me on to thoughts of practicing my conversation.  Will talking French with other learners just teach me new errors to add to the ones I already have?  I want to find a French conversation group, so I can talk with other people and see if they understand what I am saying.  And do I know what they mean?

Any conversation beyond a simple order in a restaurant becomes difficult.  In your native language, you hear, understand and respond.  In a foreign language, you have to hold the words in your mind as you translate them, or at least extract the meaning.  Then you need to compose an answer and translate it into the foreign language. 

Practice, practice, practice, the only way to move from conscious and painstakingly slow diction to an unconscious delivery of speech and conversations that move at a natural pace.  Simple in theory, let’s see how I can put this into practice.

I'm starting this blog, my first blog, to help me meet the challenge of studying French as part of my degree. I want to share my experiences and hopefully learn from others as I work through the Overture course starting in October.

Becoming a better writer at the same time would be a good thing, as the other half of my degree is creative writing.

At the moment, I am intensively studying the course books 1 to 6 of Bon Départ in preparation. So far, I am familiar with much of the grammar and vocabulary, based on 'O' level French studied many years ago. The books are actually quite fun, but intensive. If this course feels challenging at times, what am I going to feel like when I actually start Overture?

I haven't yet signed up to for the course in October. I'm not sure if I'm scared of receiving another box of books before I have finished studying the ones I have or if part of me wants to keep my options open. I will report in this blog, when I have signed up for the course and reached the point of no turning back. So far I have completed 60 and 30 point modules in Arts and Humanities, so there is always the options of staying in that area for the last 30 points for year one. Classics looks tempting, or possibly linguistics.

But seriously, my goal is to be able to speak a second language fluently and use it for work if possible. I hope to re-read this blog, this time next year and laugh at my fears, or at least feel I have meet the challenge.