New to LingQ but would like to ask the knowledgeable folk on here a question. I also really believe in the listening and reading approach and since May I have listened to about 45 mins of beginner 2 star French videos on Yabla which I can now listen to and understand without the subtitles. Example video: Yabla Player: Learn French: Mon Lieu Préféré - Place Édouard VII
I’m enjoying this process and my intention is to continue this “silent period” before moving onto speaking. My question is how long would you continue this period for and also is it possible by the end of the year to reach a level of “natural listening” of these beginner videos so understand say >90% without hearing them before? Maybe this natural listening target of basic videos should be my cut over point if achievable by year end?
Not sure if I’m shooting for something which is unachievable. I’m going to French Polynesia next summer 2020 so was aiming for the ability to understand a good bit and have a basic conversation by then.
You can definitely achieve a level that allows you to engage in basic conversation by next summer. Make sure you do some reading/listening on a nearly daily basis.
Believe it or not, face to face conversation is much easier than understanding audio material, so you may find that you still struggle with the listening comprehension of new material, even at the supposedly “beginner” level in a year’s time, . Don’t worry about that, your goal is not to understand the audio, it is just a training, if you expose yourself to it your comprehension will improve and you’ll be able to talk. Don’t think of audio comprehension as a test. If you want to get fit for a trekking in the mountains, you may decide to take up jogging. That will help you achieve your goal but it doesn’t matter how fast you jog, it’s just a means to an end.
As for the “silent period”, my advice is to not overthink it. Begin speaking when you feel like doing so. It’s true that your first priority should be understanding but you’ll eventually want to talk and it doesn’t matter if you begin earlier or later.
I wish you success
So many interesting points in 1 post, thank you. Points like audio potentially being harder than speaking in person, not knowing beginner audio fully in a year from now and not to treat listening as a test are all things I wouldn’t have known before today.
I definitely treat these videos as a little test so by the end I know them well. Sometimes I do worry whether I have them memorized though and fear I’m cheating a little but it’s hard to know. At least vocab is going up anyway and I’m starting to be able to hear word boundaries. Thanks