Before I write this I feel like full disclosure is needed haha! I am by NO MEANS an expert at learning languages! I only speak my native tongue fluently, sadly, and to try to rectify this I am in the process of working on my French, which I’ve boosted on and off, with long breaks for law school etc… but as I’ve said in a previous post, I’m rebooting my efforts and jumping back into French now I’m safely settled in at my firm.
But advice I’ve implemented from other language learners and polyglots online that has made a huge difference not only to my motivation, interest and comprehension of audio in French is this:
- KEEP UP YOUR EXPOSURE TO THE LANGUAGE EVERY SINGLE DAY
Now I don’t study full time… I’m a trainee lawyer in a city firm, I have a fitness blog and whole host of other commitments. But I’ve really noticed improvements since making these small tweaks to my routine.
- Stop scrolling on instagram! Replace that dead time with watching fluent French you tubers.
- Listen to podcasts and songs in French on at least one of my commutes (which takes 40mins-1hour per day.
- Complete my duolingo app goal (30XP so basically x3 sessions – can be done in 10 mins or so!) every day.
- If I have time to watch movies/episodes – I watch them in French not English.
- When walking down the street, try to think about your plans, or describe what you see in the language you’re learning. Have little mini monologues in your head explaining your job, your interests, where you’re going, what you’ve just done…
- Send a message on Italki every day in the language you’re learning with a language exchange partner. Or at the very least write a notebook entry for native speakers to correct! I’m in shock as this one I wrote about the area of law I want to specialise in (private equity!) only got ONE correction and they gave me an A+ and I was blagging the entire thing as I’m not really v good at explaining technical legal/commercial stuff in English let alone in French! I’ve posted it below, with the corrections I was given!
It means that you’re exposed to lots of French audio every single day and your brain can start to make the links.
I base a lot of my routine on the tips given by Johan in his course Francais Authentique – check out his youtube!
Bisous ! x x x
https://www.italki.com/notebooks/923802
My original post:
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Mon apprentissage de droit, et quel est le spécialité que je voudrais a ce moment
Je voudrais (peut-être) avoir une spécialité en ‘Corporate’ (Google m’a dit en français c’est droit des sociétés), en particulier en ‘private equity’ (tu le connais? Je sais pas la traduction, mais c’est ou une enterprise, par example, va acheter un autre, normalement avec ‘leveraged finance’ (financement a effet de levier) et après environ cinq ans (ou au moins entre cinq et dix ans) il va le vendre pour un profit).
Mais pendant mon ‘apprentissage’, je travaille pour deux ans pour mon cabinet d’avocats et tous les six mois, je change le department ou je travaille, donc on peut ‘tester’ quatre types de droit, chacun pour six moins.
Corrected post by native speakers:
Mon apprentissage en droit/ma formation en droit et quel est la spécialisation que je voudrais (faire) en ce moment.
Je voudrais faire une spécialisation / je voudrais me spécialiser en droit des sociétés et, en particulier, en “private equity” (connais-tu ce terme? Je ne connais pas la traduction mais on parle de “private equity” (fusions-acquisitions) lorsqu’une entreprise, par exemple, en achète une autre, normalement avec un financement à effet de levier) et qu’après environ cinq ans (ou du moins entre cinq et dix ans), elle (= l’entreprise) va la (= l’autre entreprise) (re)vendre avec du profit.
Pendant mon apprentissage/ma formation, je travaille durant deux ans pour un cabinet d’avocats et, tous les six mois, je change de département. Donc, on peut ‘tester” quatre types de droit, chacun durant six mois.
spécialité = mot féminin –> l’article = la
private equity : d’après le site www.lexgo.be cela pourrait être “fusions – acquisitions”
Bonne continuation,
Si tu as des questions, n’hésite pas. If you need more information, don’t hesitate to contact me.
A+
Ingrid
Ma quete française 
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