Another area that I was pretty stoked to have sharpened my consistency and focus on was my French learning journey: I started some 8 years ago but was always sporadic with my practice, hence the progress was at snail pace for the most of the years. It was only in 2021 that I finally decided I needed to commit to daily practice and started French lessons on Duolingo.
Besides the convenience factor, the modules were pretty terrific in covering practical topics that were relevant for most daily conversations, and it felt like a more constructive use of my time versus scrolling on social media or playing mindless games. Heh. I is proud that I've done daily lessons for 602 days now. Woohoo.
It was over these past two Christmas that I truly got to test out my progress, given that AH is native French but speaks very fluent English, but his parents are much more conversant in French than any other languages. While I am pleased that we definitely understand each other better and can hold more conversations, many times when they start to go hard and fast on their dining table discussions, I still get lost. Conversely when I'm trying to string together more nuanced sentences, my limited vocabulary (or tragic pronunciation) fails me and AH had to step in as interpreter on both sides, and it can get a little frustrating.
I guess it's time to start exploring more structured or in-person classes again to really brush up on my conversational abilities, to hopefully further improve in communication with the family.
The goal for this year is to improve fluency enough to have less lag in formulating my replies in conversations, and get to a level of familiarity where I can understand perhaps 80% of daily conversations. NB: NOT including political discussions, haha. That is another ball game entirely.
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| My inner Hermione is pleased. Hehe. |
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