Recent searches
Search options
"Learning French is going so slowly!" I say to myself, feeling down about the fact that the audio being thrown at me is only now starting to make sense at full speed.
I look up at my Babbel streak, which I've kept going since I started on the app.
"10 days" it says.
Oh.
Well I guess I am doing okay?
Feels like a godsdamned slog tho.
Also I cannot pronounce French. I can say each word carefully, constructing it from its constituent phones. But I cannot string together long sequences of /u/, /y/, /ø/, /œ/, /æ̃/, and /œ̃/, all separated by random /ʁ/.
I sound like a toddler with a mouthful of marbles.
(I am making some progress with /ø/ vs /œ/, which was something I always struggled with a little in German.)
@tess
I have the opposite problem: I have excellent (for a learner) pronunciation, mediocre grammar, and terrible vocabulary. The result is that when native speakers hear me say a few words they charge off at full speed and then realize I don’t understand a word they’re saying.
Not sure which problem is worse.
@inthehands I have had literally that exact problem with every other language I've learned well enough to travel with.
It's just French that's kicking my ass.
Mumblecore-ass language.
@tess
“Mumblecore-ass” ← ha, accurate
@inthehands @tess that's the version I'm used to. In German so far I have bad pronunciation too, outside of the phrases I've practiced, and tbh I appreciate that people understand quickly that I don't have a goddamned clue what's going on. Although I've also noticed that that realization changes very little, compared to other places I've been a foreigner! I joke that they switch from fast German to fast-but-now-also-annoyed German, if they don't speak perfect English -- it's pretty bimodal.
@inthehands @tess the same thing happens to me! I'm better at mimicking sounds than listening fluently.