Yesterday, I had a very relaxing Saturday, which gave me ample opportunity to plot out the strategy for learning French to an advanced level. Depending on your level of proficiency, you should focus on different aspects of language learning, which I summarize as the following:
At the beginner’s level, you should focus on the three main pillars that constitute the foundation of your language skills, which are grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. A beginner’s textbook with audio clips is an ideal material for learning the basics. Grammar and pronunciation are particularly important at this stage - for grammar, you can train your skills through a few grammar drills books; as for pronunciation, repeating words and sentences several times with the help of an IC recorder is key.
At the intermediate level, the three main pillars previously mentioned are still important, but the emphasis will gradually shift to building up a robust vocabulary. There are only so many words that you can learn from a beginner’s textbook, so you need to make a deliberate effort to learn and memorize words from vocabulary lists and dictionaries. You can begin with a basic vocabulary list with 1,000 words or so - it’s important that the quantity is small enough for you to learn within a month or two, lest you get fatigued and burn out before you finish the list.
When you’re done with the first vocabulary book, you can progress onto something more advanced, but once again, you shouldn’t overestimate your learning capacity. You should find a compact-sized dictionary for intermediate learners that can be handled within a few months. Apart from normal dictionaries, you can also study dictionaries of slang and idioms, depending on your needs.
By the way, when it comes to memorizing words, I used to be a stickler for creating flashcards, either by hand or by computer software. However, over the past few years, I’ve become more neutral about the use of flashcards, and I no longer view it as a must for vocabulary building.
Using flashcards for memorization can indeed be very effective, but it’s also extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. If you’d rather avoid that cumbersome process, it’s perfectly fine if you just read through the dictionary and pore over the entries meticulously. Regardless of which method you use, the key to success is repetition, so you should go over the same entries multiple times before moving on to the next chunk of words.
As you progress from the intermediate to advanced level, your daily consumption of native content, such as novels, shows, and movies in your target language, should gradually increase. When you have acquired a large enough vocabulary, you should be able to read books without constantly reaching for the dictionary. You should definitely read extensively to get the feel of how the language is actually used by native speakers.
In addition to enjoying native content, at the advanced level, you should start practicing to express yourself in your target language, whether it is in spoken words or written form. The way things stand now, with the advent of ChatGPT, I believe that practicing to write is much more effective than practicing to speak, in the sense that the former is easier to proofread and correct than the latter, and you can therefore learn from your mistakes in a much more reliable and straightforward manner.
If you want to progress from C1 to C2 level as per the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), this practice of expressing yourself in your target language is crucial. However, having said that, this is a significant undertaking that requires years of practice, so it’s definitely not a must for everyone.
In my own case, I’m not aiming for fluency in the French language, so I’ll probably skip the final step. I’d be very content if I could read books and watch movies in French. Now, enough talk and strategizing. It’s time to get down to brass tacks of studying the language of Rousseau.
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