So I have been trying to apply the Antimoon method in my endeavor to learn français. I am a student here in Paris so it offers an immersion environment (except for the fact that many of my friends are American :-( )
and I am also taking intensive french classes. While I feel that my french is improving, especially since it had been 4 years since I took any sort of French, I feel that it is a daunting task to learn the language.
I certainly feel that the endless conjugation and grammar exercises I do in class don't help much so I went to buy some french books and try to read like Antimoon says one should do. While I just started a few days ago, that also seems daunting! I can see how it would help with vocabulary--I underline words I don't understand and look them up...but how can I really learn grammar and how tenses are used by just reading them if I don't get them? At what point am I supposed to just get it? Should I just expect that if I see the plus-que-parfait a million times even if it doesn't quite click while I'm reading and have to always think about it for a second to get it, that it will just eventually click? I almost feel like I need to see a conjugation chart of some sort if I don't understand a verb for example the same way I look in a dictionary for a word I don't understand....doesn't that defeat the purpose of the Antimoon method when it comes to grammar?
I guess my main point is that I want to be able to speak french naturally without having to think in English first and I'm not sure that by reading stuff...which I still seem to have to think in English after reading it...is going to help much?
At what point will I stop thinking in English and stop translating stuff? It seems so very hard to do....
and I am also taking intensive french classes. While I feel that my french is improving, especially since it had been 4 years since I took any sort of French, I feel that it is a daunting task to learn the language.
I certainly feel that the endless conjugation and grammar exercises I do in class don't help much so I went to buy some french books and try to read like Antimoon says one should do. While I just started a few days ago, that also seems daunting! I can see how it would help with vocabulary--I underline words I don't understand and look them up...but how can I really learn grammar and how tenses are used by just reading them if I don't get them? At what point am I supposed to just get it? Should I just expect that if I see the plus-que-parfait a million times even if it doesn't quite click while I'm reading and have to always think about it for a second to get it, that it will just eventually click? I almost feel like I need to see a conjugation chart of some sort if I don't understand a verb for example the same way I look in a dictionary for a word I don't understand....doesn't that defeat the purpose of the Antimoon method when it comes to grammar?
I guess my main point is that I want to be able to speak french naturally without having to think in English first and I'm not sure that by reading stuff...which I still seem to have to think in English after reading it...is going to help much?
At what point will I stop thinking in English and stop translating stuff? It seems so very hard to do....