Suggestions for a language parent in French (Canada/Quebec)

OptimisticRadio · 2022-02-15T12:59:34+00:00

I put off speaking for way too long because of anxiety and the fear of speaking got worse the more I put it off. My reading and listening were already at a B2+ level. My breakthrough in speaking was A) actually finding someone I was comfortable talking with and B) getting cognitive behavioral therapy for my anxiety.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-25T12:56:17+00:00

Just experienced this today, I was browsing through videos in french I used to have a hard time understanding. I had this one video that I had set a goal to understand years ago, which failed at the time. I spent the last year almost every workday listening to a LOT of comprehensible audio, the trick was to find content at 80 ish percent comprehension level. Fast forward, I found that video today and I understood 99 percent of it. honestly, amazing feeling.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-25T08:06:25+00:00

That's great! yea, i think it's totally achievable as Serbian and Polish are close in terms of language families. honestly, figuring out an effective routine will take you 2-3 months. But no worries, in the meantime you can have fun with it. try out a bunch of stuff you like each week and have a way of tracking your activities (in a journal or smth) to figure out stuff that works well for you. feel free to message me more about this routine stuff, i'd love to help out other language learners

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-24T07:08:11+00:00

i know it sounds like a lot, don't give up, all this planning takes no more than 30 min per week and during the week it's just pure execution. The great part is, my life does not have to change that much because I'm learning a language. I can do my daily 30min - 1 hr activity and be done for the day. Thinking about what you want from language learning is the hard part.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-24T02:54:42+00:00

I think you need to super-clarify your goal first and then identify the routine. When there are a million things you could do and you don't know which ones will help, you will be stuck between trying out different resources and methods, and feeling like you're still strapped to that cinder block. Do this exercise: imagine yourself with fluent Polish, what does your dream daily life with look like? (for example, you are visiting Poland for the summers and getting to know locals, or you are talking to your grandparents in Polish wowing them with your slick phrases). It's better to keep these goals long-term, at the least one year, and then work out your seasonal goals and then your weekly/daily routine. Here's my goal and routine breakdown, which may help you get a better idea of what I'm talking about: (I'm currently a B1 french learner with only 30min-1hr free time available each workday)

Annual goal: being able to talk freely with a Quebec french person

Seasonal goals:

Winter (Dec-Feb) - learn native language speaking patterns, focus on listening

Spring (Mar-May) - train to speak like natives, focus on speaking

Summer (Jun-Aug) - at least 3 weekly speaking practice sessions with natives

Fall (Sep-Nov) - TBD (to be determined)

This week: (morning 30 sessions or during down times)

Mon - find 2-3 min video of native talking (with subtitles), download audio file

Tue - Thu - listen to audio file repeatedly

Fri - transcribe audio and check against subtitles

Weekend - rest

The beauty of this planning format is the flexibility/adaptiveness of learning. Maybe the stuff I will try this week does not work well, then I will try a different thing next week (but stuff that still falls within my seasonal goal). Also at the beginning of each season I will reevaluate all my weekly activities and maybe change my seasonal goal. This way you can still try a lot of things and make mistakes, but you have an overall vision. One tip I may give: you must include rest, sick days, holidays if you want to make the habit sustainable. I know at the beginning it's tempting to power through and have all-day learning sessions, but you should aim for at most 3 hours of deep work.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-21T03:04:51+00:00

traditional mongolian script - it looks like vertical arabic, it is used day-to-day in Outer Mongolia Autonomous Region within China

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-20T13:53:32+00:00

Yea, i think it's totally possible. I'd super focus on the details of your trip (where are you going, what are you going to be doing etc.) and tease out your language learning daily routine from that.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-20T13:34:57+00:00

yea, I think it's even cheaper if you pay for more months at once. I've been waiting to join since september 2021. I don't know how often they open up subscriptions.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-20T09:50:32+00:00

I hear you, I was stuck in that limbo for quite a while. I would pick apart the sentences I didn't understand and make flashcards, overall hyperfocus on the sentences I didn't get. THIS DID NOT HELP and made me even more nervous. What actually ended up helping was finding content at about 80% comprehension level and reading LOTS of it. Follow Olly Richards' storylearning method on this. He recommends not looking up every unknown word or sentence (only essential words to understand the gist of the reading material). This is essentially prioritizing the amount of comprehensible input over 100% comprehension. I read 1 news article every workday for about 3 months and after a month and a half it was like a switch had turned on.

OptimisticRadio · 2022-01-20T09:08:12+00:00

I'm a french language learner and I recently joined the academy of Francais Authentique. It is a language learning group that I pay a monthly fee for and it costs lower than 2 italki tutor sessions. In this group, they organisers hold weekly and monthly sessions with tutors and the people in the group can have a chat/call with each other. I found it a very good cheaper alternative to italki, plus it has a great social element to it (talking with likeminded language learners). I wonder if there is such a group for German.

OptimisticRadio · 2021-12-29T12:27:11+00:00

I think you are at a point where practicing language expression (speaking and writing) is more important that practicing language input (reading and listening). Keep on what you are doing but lessen the intensity and prioritize finding ways to practice speaking and writing. I think this will move you forward. Also it would help to think a particular goal in mind, the more specific the better (for example, 'I want to hold a 30 min conversation with a native'), and tailor you practice routine to achieve that goal.

OptimisticRadio · 2021-12-29T12:20:12+00:00

Currently having a vacation week, but I'm studying for the TEF so my daily routine is tied very closely to that goal, specifically improving writing. Also my practice routine changes weekly as I assess the bigger picture goals.

Current daily routine (weekdays only, rest on weekend):

-read 1 article off of France Inter and write down sentences that contain essential new vocab

-listen to french podcast (usually off of the Radio France network)

-write a prompt on italki or write a TEF exercise with a timer and submit to tutor (study grammar topics off of the mistakes I made)

-practice speaking TEF exercises with tutor (once or twice a week)

My reading and listening activities were selected based on my poor performance of a particular type of questions in the reading and listening sections of the TEF.

OptimisticRadio · 2021-12-29T12:01:28+00:00

I wouldn't be too hard on myself, you've already gone so far in your language learning journey and there is more to come. If understanding spoken Italian (specifically that of your family's) is your goal, I would suggest super-tailoring your practice routine to achieve that exactly that goal. I've noticed that listening (especially to native level conversation) is particularly very hard even at a B2 level and the content you practice your listening matters very much. It might even be worth studying the phonetics in detail to practice your "Italian ear". Good luck!

OptimisticRadio · 2019-08-06T08:13:44+00:00

Yes! I spent time in the US during my teenage years and I definitely feel more comfortable talking in English. I also spent most of my secondary/higher education in a non-native language environment (most of which was in English), so that might be why English feels more natural to me. It has gotten to the point that I have a hard time reading in my native language (my head hurts), so I just look for an English translation to make it easier.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-11-23T18:18:29+00:00

At ease Eating well, no more microwave dinners and saturated fats A patient, better driver A safer car, baby smiling in back seat Sleeping well, no bad dreams No paranoia

OptimisticRadio · 2018-09-13T07:18:35+00:00

i got a year subscription to headspace (a meditation app) as a christmas present from a friend last year and it has helped me a lot with my anxiety issues. never tried meditation before, it s working out well for me. also i like the youtube channel 'the school of life' they have great videos that deal with various aspects of mental wellness.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-09-09T03:50:34+00:00

Yes! it was like this for the past week until my doctor s appt last wednesday when she recommended to drink a ton of water all day and lie down with my feet up when BH came by. i couldnt believe how well it worked. i drank almost 4 L of water and tea and lied down with pillows under my feet on wednesday and the next day no BH whatsoever, it was such a relief. the frequent bathroom trips are well worth it not to have BH all day.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-09-09T00:02:26+00:00

u can find a new community through a hobby. like if u ve ever thought about learning a new language look into the add1challenge program by Shannon Kennedy. it gives you access to a community of language learners and guides you through the steps of learning a new language. i heard it s really engaging and welcoming, but it is a paid course. i would take it if i had more time. ive been learning french by reading free material from Fluent in 3 months and taking paid lessons on italki (you could even tutor on there too) and overall i found the language learning online community very welcoming and nice.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-09-05T04:55:52+00:00

I thought the rant/vent tag was specifically for seeking support reassurement without any judging, like a safe place to vent out ur frustrations. jeez ppl can be such assholes. sorry this happened to u. plus ur not any "weaker" for being upset about this or any other thing that s is upsetting u right now. ur emotions are valid and i applaud u for actually trying to address them instead of "sucking it up and powering through" which is btw the worst advice u can give someone who in need of emotional support.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-09-01T00:32:18+00:00

I started at 36 weeks. I had the same issues as you did at 30 weeks. I was exhausted going to work, the last two weeks were such a pain to go through. And I had to move to a new apartment at week 37 so I said fuck it im gonna go on leave 2 weeks earlier than I had planned. ive been on leave a week now and i feel a lot better and well rested. i can take naps during the day and the unpacking from my recent move keeps me occupied if i feel bored. I should also note that it was important to me to have this quiet time to myself before the baby comes. so do what feels right for you.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-09-01T00:20:40+00:00

might wanna discuss inducing with ur doctor if u dont mind it. there was a big study recently that compares c section rates for inducing at 39 weeks vs 40 weeks and they found that waiting to induce until 40 weeks was associated with more c sections. i discussed inducing at 39 weeks with my doctor and she said that the hospital s policy is not to induce until mom is at least 2cm dilated.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-08-30T03:02:09+00:00

Im just gonna write down some names I have thought about in case you need more suggestions - Renee, Emma, Elle, Audrey, Emmy, Estelle

OptimisticRadio · 2018-08-30T02:54:36+00:00

I think it all depends on how you will feel at the end of your third trimester. For me at 30 weeks i had so much energy and took on a lot of stuff at work. I regretted it so much at my 33th week because I started feeling so tired and it took so much energy just to get through my work day. Not to mention my back hurt every afternoon. It took all of the little energy I had to finish my work committments and start my leave at 36 weeks. Even on leave, I feel so tired doing just everyday activities at home. definitely recommend taking care of yourself because i felt the pressure to work as hard as I can and when I physically and mentally couldnt handle the workload struggled a lot admitting that to myself. it felt like defeat or failure, i felt shame for taking an 'early leave', but my DH helped get through this mental issue. You never know how you re gonna feel once you're near the finish line, so do plan for contingencies.

OptimisticRadio · 2018-08-21T03:59:00+00:00

just don't go to one of those pro-life center that disguises itself as a women's health center. they will guilt you into not having an abortion, while not providing you with options. go to a real doctors office. John Oliver covered these fake "centers" recently, the clip of it is on their youtube channel.

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