The French Front

Doing 15 to 20 hours a week on the French front has been challenging. I've been splitting the time among reading, listening and online lessons. I'm reading at least 20 paperback book pages a day of C1+ material. Before Covid I was trying to do 10. During Covid, a lot of days I'd do only a few or end up not doing it. I never stopped my online listening, but that's easier to keep up with.

Having a goal, passing the B2 or C1, has made a difference. My reading ability has exploded. I'm able to read and understand more easily than I was when I was doing 10 pages. I think part of it is that I'm having to look problem words up more often, and that seems to make them easier to remember. I think part of it is that even when not doing so much during Covid I was still learning with what I was doing, which included some reading online. I think the constant reinforcement of common words is helping a lot, too. My listening seems to be better. I ran across a learn French section on tv5monde.com and took the listening test. They rated me at B2. Last week I took a short test online that rated my reading level at B2. It makes me feel better about the B2 exam, but I know I still have a ways to go.

Udemy.com has courses for all kinds of things. I picked up a few of the French ones for cheap. One of them is a 12-hour course called French for you. French language course for English speakers. It claims to be A1 to B1. I thought it would be a great review and a chance to learn some grammar rules. The problem with reading books is that there aren't any grammar explanations. I need to know more of the rules if I want to pass a test on them. The course does have grammar, but I'm having a hard time seeing how someone could learn French from it. The first three sections feel random. Starting in section four, the lessons are taught in French. How could someone who doesn't know French possibly learn from lessons that are in French? Yes, immersion is great, but oh my goodness. I can understand it, but as a beginner I'd be completely lost. I give it two stars. Another problem it has is inconsistent volume level. I'm grinding through it.

I've mentioned Abebooks.com before and how it's possible to find books on there for $3, shipping included. Those are still there in English, but I'm having a harder time finding French books than I was last year. It's been a nightmare. Before Covid I found some books for $3+. Then they started being $4 or $5 or $6. Those are still there, but most of what I'm seeing is $10 and up. I've been looking online at French bookstores, etc. Eleven Euros for shipping. I've seen Canadian prices of $25 a book. I found a series on Amazon.com that cost $10.99 per Kindle book in French but started at $2.99 in Italian. It was even cheaper in Catalan than in French. I didn't buy it.

In France, if I could walk into a bookstore, the same books are $1 or $2 used in good or better condition, but they won't ship to the U.S. Amazon.fr's shipping to the U.S. for one book is $3+. French books should cost me $4 or $5 per book but don't. However, I found a 4-book series for $25 shipped plus $1 currency exchange fee and ordered that. $6+ a book isn't bad, considering they're 500+ pages long. If the cost of airfare hadn't exploded, it would probably be worth it to get a passport and fly to France and buy 100 books for a dollar each. At the prices I'm seeing that many books would cost at least $1,200 to $2,000 online, if I can't find cheap ones. A passport, airfare, hotel(two nights) and food, etc., would cost at least $1,021. It would be worth it just for the experience if I had the money to blow on that.

The solution to stores not shipping to the U.S. is to hire a shipping forwarder/freight forwarder. Instead of using my address, I would ship to the forwarder, and they would repackage and ship to me. Unfortunately, with all the fees the price still comes out to $25 to $30 a book. Can't do that. Maybe, if I keep searching, I'll find a bookstore that ships across the pond for the $3 that Amazon charges.

I'm thinking that maybe I could take the B2 in the summer instead of autumn. We'll see.

Have a great weekend.