I learned French for 10 years until I finished high school, and I started picking up the language again in 2013 to improve on what I managed to retain. Here I'll explain how I practice French...I'm planning on talking about how I study French right now in three posts.
This blog post talks about how I currently practice reading and listening in French.
Reading
Thanks to the internet, there are many ways to work on my French reading comprehension, so that's not too difficult even in a non French-speaking city. Sometimes I read news articles on the internet, like on the French language news site TV5Monde. I also read Wikipedia articles in French sometimes; I always tend to go on the site to learn about random things that capture my interest. Usually I read those articles in English. One day, a thought occurred to me: "Why not use Wikipedia to learn some new French vocabulary?" |
| Wikipedia article on French electro duo Daft Punk, who won five Grammy Awards this year. |
On occasion my Facebook friends and public pages I follow post status updates in French. (I still don't know how to say certain social media-related words in French, even though I have used Facebook in French before.) Those updates are a pretty good way to learn more colloquial language. :P I sometimes read French tweets on Twitter, mostly from French-speaking musicians.
Offline I turn to a rather unusual form of French language learning: playing computer games which have been translated into French. My favourite game is the Sims 3. Through playing this game alone my French vocabulary has expanded quite a bit.
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| I couldn't take a proper screenshot of the game for some reason, so I used a digital camera instead. The quality isn't so great but I hope you can read the French on the screenshot. |
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| Every day I get my Sim family to read the newspaper. I find that the news articles are pretty decently translated. |
The translation isn't perfect though. Sometimes I see some weird mistranslations in-game. For example, the word "Great", which is mostly used to describe the quality of food items, such as fruits, vegetables, fish, and cooked items. The word is also used to describe factors affecting job performance, like whether the Sim has enough Writing skills to advance in his or her career (see image below). Trouble is, "Great" is translated as "Un délice!" for all of the above...including the job performance factors. While it's fine having delicious food items, we wouldn't exactly say a Sim's writing skill is "delicious" now would we?
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| Writing skill is "great" enough for this Sim to advance. In French, it's "delicious" enough. |
However, even though I know enough French to be able to understand French-language Wikipedia articles and play the Sims 3 without major problems, I can't seem to find a good book in French to read. Right now I can't even find a good book to read in English or Japanese anymore, so I have no idea where to begin for leisurely reading regardless of language. Last November I tried reading Antoine Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" in French, but I found it impossible to read. :/
Listening
Even though Canada is recognized as being a French-speaking country, where I live? Not so much. Vancouver is mostly anglophone, and we have more Cantonese and Mandarin speakers than French speakers. As a result, it's a little difficult to work on my French listening skills.
The internet is still useful for finding French-language videos and music to use for listening practice. My sister (who's also learning French) recommended me the Parapluie French channel on YouTube, which talks through French grammar (which, for those of you who know some French, can be very complex). I`m on the hunt still for some more awesome French-language shows to watch.
Recently I started tuning into a French show at CJSF 90.1FM, where I volunteer as a radio show host. The show's called Franco Délice, and it airs at 3pm on Fridays...2 hours before my own show. Franco Délice showcases French music, news and events, as well as having some French students at SFU talk about things like good restaurants to eat in Vancouver and the Olympic Games. To me it's a great way to practice listening, as the speakers and hosts don't speak too quickly.
I also go to LanguageCast, a language exchange group. There aren't many French speakers or learners in LanguageCast Vancouver, but luckily I've found a small group of awesome French learners and speakers who are willing to practice. I go there every Monday evening to practice listening and speaking French.
Sometimes I try and work on my Japanese. There are a lot more Japanese and Korean speakers, so learning those languages would be a lot easier.
LanguageCast takes place at Lost & Found Café at Hastings and Abbott in Vancouver. If you do go to the café (for LCV or not) I recommend you try their honey lemon ginger tea, which I order every week...as the Sims would say it, it's "un délice!" ;)
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| Really cute teapot, and my favourite tea. Perfect drink for the winter. |
Coming up: Studying French: Part 2 (Writing & Speaking)
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