#how to reactivate french skills best?
low coral
Already having knowledge will speed the process up a lot more than you'd expect. I'd start with getting your listening and reading back up to speed as much as possible (voice chats here are good, but always good to have a variety of input)
I wouldn't necessarily start over since it'll probably frustrate you more than anything, but going through something like lawlessfrench and kwiziq and testing your skills to check for areas of improvement would be a good way to avoid wasting time on things you're already decent at.
Aside from that, practice and ask questions, pretty much!
;resources
smoky roverBOT
Check out our Big List ™ of resources here! https://www.reddit.com/r/French/wiki/resources/
low coral
^ I'd also go through this to see if there's anything you're interested in. Wordreference and wiktionary are your biggest friends for translation and definitions
OQLF and LawlessFrench for grammar
If you've been good at the grammar though, you'll be much more likely to pick it back up naturally through just listening and speaking without a large amount of effort. I'd generally recommend keeping some kind of french media (or a voice chat) going in the background while you do other stuff, to get your ears used to hearing the sounds again. You don't have to pay attention, but it can be helpful to try every so often. The main thing is consistency and making it feel as natural as possible. No need to overwork yourself.
boreal vale
Thanks, everyone! I am looking into lawless french at the moment and I like what I see😁. Quick question about the Kwiziq tests that are linked there: If I sign up for free, will it stay that way or automatically transition into a paid subscription? Sorry if this sounds paranoid, but you never know where such things might hide😅
low coral
Thanks, everyone! I am looking into lawless french at the moment and I like what...
Kwiziq is free, but certain features are premium (mostly just unlimited quizzes & tracking)
After you take a few quizzes, you should get a week trial of premium, no credit card or anything required. So, if you ever have a week free to just zoom through it, that's probably your best bet to try it out. But you still get a certain # of quizzes for free each month, just save them for the big quizzes. The rest of the actual content should be free last I checked.
remote slate
Check out this site for info on learning plan: https://fussfreefrench.com/
I did some kwiziq but I found that it's always better to learn grammar after you have picked it up from the content you consume, like if you're trying to learn kwiziq contents speedily it may not click
low coral
for me it's often the other way around
I learn the general concept, it clicks with usage, then I don't have to worry about the "rule" anymore
typically if I do it the other way around I end up getting more caught up on exceptions and doubting myself, but everyone's different
remote slate
It's my opinion as someone trained in ESL teaching and who has spent a lot of time with people in French courses
You'll see people trying to understand / memorise logical connecteurs (tandis que, alors que, blah de blah) when these are the first times they're seeing it, then they need a lot of explanation to even get to the point of understanding
low coral
oh, yeah, no, I would never recommend just flat memorizing
remote slate
IDK what you're disagreeing with me then, I'm just saying drilling grammar has its limits, and TBH I find the kwiziq format quite limiting
remote slate
It's the same thing, if you go around trying to memorise MRS VANDERTRAMP when you haven't consumed enough content that you instinctively know "je suis parti.e" you won't be as effective as applying it, especially after years not being exposed to it
Of course kwiziq as a recall-based assessment (test, teach, test) is more effective than a grammar lecture to find and review your weak spots
low coral
this person stated they were at a B2 level so yes that was the idea
remote slate
that was just an example of a grammar concept where context comes into play, I wasn't saying that that was something they would be studying
I feel like you're just disagreeing with me for the sake of disagreeing with me, so I'm leaving this thread. à chacun son point de vue, je crois avoir bien expliqué le mien
low coral
I'm only stating my own experience, I don't care to disagree for no reason
remote slate
ok but you've poked holes in multiple messages for no reason without recognising the core point i'm trying to make
low coral
I had almost the same situation as the person posting, so I gave what worked the best for me
I suppose I don't understand the core point then? There are many things I don't disagree with, again, was only giving my own experience
remote slate
I suppose I don't understand the core point then? There are many things I don't ...
well for example with my point above, about the limits of studying grammar, i gave the example that if you consumed content you would be accustomed to the "right way of saying things" and then by the time you went and studied grammar you would know 90% of it and then kwiziq would be helpful for making sure you understood the core concept and any edge cases (and btw i find kwiziq focusses overly on edge cases, i've done a lot of quizzes and i felt a lot of them didn't end up being that relevant)
to back this up, i gave an example of MRS VANDERTRAMP and you just automatically shot down my example without thinking of how that could apply more generally, which made me not want to participate in this conversation anymore, and the same for connecteurs logiques
low coral
I'm not even sure where I stated I was disagreeing with you
this person already had a B2 level
I assume they have enough knowledge of the language to not need much more accustomizing
which I also suggested
remote slate
again, the example i gave above was just an example of how I felt that consuming content made me a stronger learner, you shouldn't just shoot it down as irrelevant
i can give other examples of grammar rules that are B2-appropriate but i don't really want to participate in this conversation again bc i've explained myself multiple times and you don't seem to be actually listening even though you wanted to 🤷♀️
low coral
I simply suggested kwiziq to fill in any grammar concepts that might be missing, aka to get an idea of what atrophied
they already know the grammar
which you then stated it was good for, which was my only point
remote slate
i'm leaving this thread, i don't think it's meaningful for me to continue to engage
sorry i didn't leave earlier
desert briar
No one’s shooting anyone down? Your opinion is valid but alby isn’t required to agree with it
low coral
I never disagreed with it either as far as I can tell
remote slate
hope my link was helpful
i'll pm you if you want to continue this conversation albatros, to avoid further spamming this thread (apologies to OP)
^ this is my last message here
desert briar
I never disagreed with it either as far as I can tell
Yeah, tbh I’m really confused about the venom in this thread when you never said anything confrontational
boreal vale
I did the placement test on lawlessfrench and it put me in B1 which I think, as of right now, is too generous. But at least the test showed me that THE main problem for me are the verb tenses and conjugations
for the rest, i had some kind of "gut feeling"
low coral
Nice! Glad to hear 👍
Tenses are good to learn, conjugations are generally pretty easy to pick up on from writing + reading a bunch
boreal vale
Honestly, the first thing I am going to do is revisit my old grammar notes from school, the teacher was A0 digitally but the way she explained grammar on the blackboard was very intuitive.
Additionally I am just going to read along here (plus likely revisit one of the French books we read in school) and maybe get back into writing longer texts, yes!
Thanks again everyone for the recommendations☺️