Carofrench

Still At It

carofrench — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:06:37 +0000

I have finished the language course at GMS now and have begun my French study. I am using Assimil New French with Ease, which I am absorbing every day. Well, just got it yesterday, so I intend to absorb every day. I also am using http://www.lingq.com and watching movies in French and browsing a bit in French. I guess with Assimil it takes about 4 months to get the comprehension up. I suppose I can work harder at it. After I finish New French with Ease I’ll buy their Advanced French and do that. Assimil is highly recommended because it helps you become truly fluent ~ able to comprehend and speak. I like the emphasis on daily exposure to phrases. I think Paul Noble and Michel Thomas are great but not deep enough, unless you happened to be tutored with them personally.

Bonjour, Readers

carofrench — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:06:45 +0000

I still want to learn French, although I am waiting until I get to the language course in The School of Phenomenal Memory.

I am currently on Lesson 18, which is in Course 2, of GMS (or pmemory, as I sometimes call it.) GMS means Giordano Memorization System, and it’s what you learn at pmemory (The School of Phenomenal Memory).

Here’s how GMS works:

Course 1 is Basic Training. 12 Lessons and you learn how to make visual connections, do practice drills, and also learn your figurative codes (GMS can be called the language of memory, so you’re starting to learn the language in this very intensive course.)

Course 2 is Your First Database ~ you learn how to memorize all kinds of information in a database you keep in your head. For example, phone numbers, licenses, anecdotes, complicated signs, etc. Even how to memorize faces and names. Course 2 is Lessons 13-24.

Once you finish Lesson 23, Lesson 24 tests you on all you’ve memorized before. Then you write your testimonial on the pmemory forum, and you get access to the rest of the pmemory course – Lessons 25-60.

Course 3 is the Language Course (I think… this is what I’ve picked up from other student’s journals and reading the forum and website.) The language course uses Russian in the lessons but you can adapt it to use whichever language you’d like. Of course, I will be adapting it so I can apply it to French.

Now I think Course 4 goes into text memorization, which I am also interested in, and other kinds of information memorization, such as passwords.

Once I begin the language portion of GMS, I’ll start learning French. I have these at my disposal:

French in 3 Months book and CDs
French with Michel Thomas, beginner and advanced CDs
A Student French/English Dictionary
French flashcards
About 15 or so French movies
A book about French slang
A bunch of books about English people who live in France and have written about their experiences there
Suite Francaise, by Irina Nemirovsky ~ English version. I am thinking I can order a French version, maybe a French audio version also, and then also work on French that way
Additionally, there are many free resources for language learning online

I have also been reading about language learning from various websites.

I would like to learn French with pmemory since I do not want to have to waste time translating from English to French in my head. I’d like it to become reflexive or from mental images. While I like Michel Thomas, I find I can get through much of the CDs but the information does not stick. So I want to apply GMS along with Michel Thomas and the other resources. I will post here about my progress.

Incidentally I watched part of Panic Room in English and then in French and got nowhere. Except I could repeat “my room” in French. Only now I’ve forgotten it. Except my sounds like ma.

Fear not. One day I will be fluent in French.

Le Weekend French

carofrench — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:19:38 +0000

This weekend I watched deux French movies, Three Men and a Cradle and Deux hommes dans la ville (Two Men in Town).

Three Men and a Cradle was just like Three Men and a Baby, although I guess since I’m used to the English version, I prefer it.

Two Men in Town was pretty interesting although I didn’t like how the main character was getting so upset just because the Inspector kept inspecting him. In my opinion, if he wanted to show he was a reformed character, he wouldn’t let the Inspector’s stupid behavior bother him, and especially not enough to kill the Inspector! Hello!! I think he would have had more success getting the Inspector off his back if he wasn’t getting riled up all the time over it.

Anyway, I enjoyed listening to the French and can pick out words and phrases here and there, even if they’re only simple ones like “Hallo!”

French continues

carofrench — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:09:33 +0000

I’ve been slowly getting through Beginner CD 1, Beginner Review CD 1, and Beginner CD 2. I just finished Beginner CD 2 at my lunch so next up is the Beginner Review CD 2.

My only complaint is that I think the Review CDs should be more extensive and not only cover all the words that are learned in the training CDs, but then do some more constructions, so all this vocab will really stick.

All the same, I like it. And I’m much faster than when I first started. It’s coming back, I remember words from before.

It’s hot now and Je voudrais un verre d’eau. I had to check the spelling for “verre” and “d’eau”. It would also be nice if this included a list of all the words and phrases you learn so you could look at how they’re spelled.

Anyway, it’s still my favorite language program.

Starting again

carofrench — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:53:41 +0000

Yesterday I walked all the way home, stopping at Rainbow for some more cranberries and my carrot soap.

After stopping at Rainbow I started Beginning French 1 and ended up finishing it and getting up to about track 3 of CD 2. I did pretty well, although there were some words I’d forgotten. I think it’s a great program. I was much faster at constructing the sentences than when I first started learning with this program. It’s been many months since I’ve even thought about French. Which just goes to show what a great program it is.

I’m reading this book about how the brain is plastic and in there it says it’s really good for the brain to learn a language, even when you’re an adult and people think it’s too late. Reading that inspired me to start up the French again. Plus I like how French sounds.

Later I watched a bit of a French movie (subtitled). I was able to pick up some words and phrases the actors were saying. So far it’s about an illiterate maid. I stopped it because I was really tired. It’s an “eh” kind of movie anyway.

I’m going to take it much slower this time. I’m not in a big hurry to get through all the CDs. I want to make sure I’m soaking up everything as I go. I want to be consistent with it.

Time to get back to work.

returning student

carofrench — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:56:16 +0000

So I’ve been thinking about it and I think I might start up with French again. I kinda miss it. Mirjam’s been teaching me Dutch. I think I know 1-20 in Dutch but don’t know how to spell. Here’s how it sounds:

ain
twray
drree
fear
fivfe
says
zaven
ocght
nagen
teen
elf
twelf
deerteen
fearteen
fiveteen
saysteen
zaventeen
ocghtteen
nagenteen
twentig

Learning a little Dutch reminded me of learning French, so I’m thinking of going back to it. But I don’t want to pressure myself about it. I hate pressure.

Stalemate

carofrench — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:13:07 +0000

A day or two ago I took a walk in the evening and went over some of Rev. Beg. CD 5 and 6. I’ve still retained a good deal of it and it was neat to remember how to construct some sentences after so long. I need to do more review but lately I’ve been busy. I joined the YMCA and have started swimming after work some days, and then just busy in general. I like to review when I’m alone taking a walk in a secluded place rather than on the bus where I sit talking to myself. Also I like the tranquility of the music on my iPod – I have lots of beautiful movie scores I enjoy. So right now French is coming along rather slowly. C’est la vie.

First Complete Beginner Review

carofrench — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:58:53 +0000

Today I finished my total review of the Beginner Review CDs. I think I’ll go over all of them a couple more times. There were some things I forgot or had to think for a bit to remember, which basically means forgot. :)

I’m rather impressed with the program. Some sections that I remember having difficulty with, went smoothly, even though it’s been a while since I reviewed them. I wish I could spell though.

I think I have a French music CD somewhere. I want to find it and put it on my iPod. Learn through osmosis.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s only been a month but I already know so much. I don’t think there’s any other program out there that gives such fast, pleasant results.

Beginner Review

carofrench — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:08:10 +0000

Today I thought I’d start reviewing French right from the beginning, so I went through the Beginner Review CD 1 to about 4. I remembered a lot of it although some little things I forgot. For instance, “at the present time” is just “a present” and I had to think for a while to remember the word for “ready.” But overall, I’m pleased with my progress, considering just a month ago how limited I was in French.

Tomorrow I’ll continue with reviewing. I’ve been busy lately trying to find a classroom so I can teach Dr. McDougall’s health program. It looks like things can work out. I’m worried about not having any students or future headaches regarding the possible future classroom. Hopefully I can avoid the headaches by choosing carefully and doing lots of research. As for the students, hopefully I can market the class enough to get the few people in SF who’d be interested to go to the class.

Je regret. Pas plus France. (Forgive the spelling. I haven’t learned to spell in French yet.)

just reviewing

carofrench — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:14:35 +0000

I’ve gone through the Beginner Review CD 8 a couple of times and now feel I should go over all the review CDs and see where I need to check the lesson CDs. Once I’ve done enough reviewing I’ll proceed onto the Advanced CDs. Probably not for a while though.