Sophia Hawthorne

Week 1

In February, I was accepted into a dual degree program with Sciences Po (a school in France) and UC Berkeley. The program consists of spending my first two years of college in Reims, France and then spending my last two years at Berkeley. In preparation for potentially partaking in this program, I have decided to study French as my Senior Independent Project. Although the classes I would take in France would be in English, having studied abroad in Japan my sophomore year, I know how helpful being able to speak a country's language is to facilitate both social connections and cultural understanding. After wrapping up my abbreviated novel project and taking my last chemistry quiz ever, I dedicated this week to learning the basics. I started with getting used to French sounds using YouTube videos like this one. Overall, French sounds are not necessarily that hard to master although the "r" will require some more practice. I think it will probably just be more difficult to get used to not knowing how to pronounce a word based on how it is spelled since French spelling is notorious for not making the most sense. Next, I watched a few more videos to get my ear used to hearing French. I also think that when it comes to learning a new language, repetition is key, so hearing the same phrases repeated over and over can be beneficial. It's not possible to remember everything the first time you hear it. After exposing myself to a decent amount of French, I then focused on learning and replicating the basics. This week, that consisted of learning the alphabet (both the sounds the letters make and how the letters are said so that I could practice spelling my name since "Hawthorne" is always a difficult name for non-English speakers to spell), learning basic greetings and introductions, the numbers from 0-50, how to conjugate the verb "être" (to be). Then, on Thursday, I put all that I had learned into practice with Madame Kelly. She introduced me to an online learning service that supplements the French textbooks the school uses that has various exercises. I focused on the listening comprehension exercises, and for the most part I was happy with how well I was able to follow along. However, there was one listening exercise where people spelled their names and the goal was to write their names down correctly. I realized that I had overlooked learning the names for the letters that do not exist in English (é, è, ô, ï, and ç). In hindsight, that was a rather silly thing to overlook, and it was frustrating to realize that I had not mastered the alphabet. Overall, though, I think that this small experience serves as a good example for what language learning is: always reevaluating what you know and adjusting to the unknown.

Going forward into the next week, I am excited to start my online French courses on Monday through Lingoda (more information to come), and I also hope to learn more vocabulary and begin to be able to string my own sentences together.

Week 2

This week I continued to get myself used to how the French language sounds and is used in modern day. I started watching The Parisian Agency with an extension on my computer called "Language Reactor" which allows me to see both the French and English subtitles simultaneously. I can also turn off either of the subtitles and click on individual words to see a translation. Because of this, I can consciously absorb a new language by watching a show intentionally to absorb new vocabulary words and mannerisms. Part of what makes this particular show so effective for language learning is that it follows real people and is unscripted, which means that I also learn the common interjections like "well" and "umm" that make conversation sound more natural.

Then, I started online French lessons with Lingoda this week. I selected the Super Sprint lesson plan, which means that I can take one lesson a day for two months at any time that works for me. If I complete all lessons, then I get a full refund for my classes. Unfortunately, I do not think I will be able to complete that challenge because of events like the senior retreat, college visits, etc., but I do think that it's an interesting concept to add financial motivation to learning a language. So far, the lessons have been super fun and engaging and have made the language learning process less daunting, because Lingoda recommends a handful of classes based on your current level to take next. That way, I do not have to guess which class to sign up for nor do I have to worry that I won't be able to follow along in a class that ends up being too difficult for me. I do think that I could learn faster in private lessons as opposed to group lessons, but given the time that I have to study on my own as well, I think the group lessons act as effective reinforcement and help me verify that I haven't made any mistakes as I self-study. I also like that the classes are so international. There are people from Chile, Germany, Canada, etc. in all of my classes and I find hearing the different accents and seeing how people understand French grammar differently based on their native language fascinating. It is also great motivation to be studying with other people because we are all in the same boat, and we can learn from each other's mistakes.

Finally, I have continued to follow along in the French textbook I mentioned last week. I learned how to conjugate the verbs avoir and aller as well as regular -er verbs. I then started to look at the dialogues in the textbook surrounding ordering at a cafe/restaurant and continued to work on introductions. I also focused a good amount of time on learning vocabulary in order to know enough words to put the grammar patterns I have been learning into practice.

Week 3

This week I have continued working on various grammar and vocabulary. I would say that I can successfully introduce myself, talk about where I am from, why I am learning French, and order food at a restaurant at this point. (At least in the context of practice exercises and French class. I imagine that doing so in France will probably still be more difficult as the situation is not set up for a French learner).

I have also started to learn more of the nuances of French. For example, I learned that you have to use a different preposition for "in" when talking about countries depending on if they are masculine or feminine (au or en). I have also learned how to negate sentences, which comes with its own bit of nuance with the articles changing from le/la to de or les/las to des. I am also struggling a bit with the subtle differences between Spanish and French. I am always tempted to pronounce "de" in French like "de" in Spanish, but the Spanish pronunciation means "des" instead of in French. I also have found myself calling 16 "dix-six" instead of "seize" because in Spanish the numbers change from having individual names to being 10 and then another number at 16, but in French it changes at 17. All in all, I'm trying to find the balance between focusing on being able to get my point across, while also paying attention to the rather tedious but important parts of grammar that I am learning.

I continue to enjoy the interactive parts of my French classes. There are so many interesting people who join the classes that are looking to learn French for a variety of reasons. On Wednesday, there was someone in my class who said he was part of an association of "friendly witches" that try to do good for the world, which definitely added a layer of interest. On Thursday, the French teacher who taught my lesson, had actually studied at the same university that I will be studying at next year, which was a super cool small-world moment. He told me a bit about his experience at the university and warned me about the gloomy weather, and it was just quite exciting to meet someone (albeit virtually) who coincidentally had gone to the same school I will be attending.

Finally, on top of lessons and Netflix in French, I have also discovered that a big French news company called Savoir makes resources for people learning French, which you can find here. While most of the exercises are still difficult for me, I am glad that I have found another resource that allows me to practice French in a modern day context.

ADVICE FOR FUTURE PARTICIPANTS:

I am very glad that I have had the opportunity to do an SIP this year. My advice to anyone considering doing one, would be to try to plan out exactly what you are going to do beforehand because the days are pretty unstructured and to make sure to focus on something that is truly important to you as you will spend a lot of time on your project. It's a great way to delve deeper into something you're really interested in.

Week 4

I started off this week on the rock climbing trip in Taos. I had to schedule my classes before the trip, so I had to best guess when I would be free to take French lessons. Unfortunately, I didn't get it quite right, and I ended up having French lessons while simultaneously cooking dinner with the seniors one night. The next night, I ended up doing half of my French lesson in the car (shoutout to Zach who's also doing an SIP for lending me his portable phone charger), and the other half in a closet back at the house we were staying at.

This week, I had the same Canadian French teacher twice, which ended up being very interesting. While she knew the words used in France, she placed a lot of emphasis on the Canadian French versions of words, which tend to be more similar to the English words. For example, in France a watermelon is a pastèque, while she called it a melon d'eau. While interesting, I also found the lessons with her a bit overwhelming, because I felt like I was learning two French words for every English word, and her accent was also very different to me.

As I begin to prepare more for the next school year, I am becoming increasingly aware of how important it will be for me to learn French. The apartment websites as well as Sciences Po's version of Rate my Professor are both either completely or primarily in French, and while the classes I take will be in English, everyday life will become easier and easier as I progress with my French knowledge.

One new resource that I found this week is called Coffee Break French. They provide free podcasts at various French levels, and listening to the beginner's podcasts has helped me improve my listening comprehension and reinforced grammatical concepts that I learned in class.

Since this is the last weekly summary I will write here, I want to take a second to explain in more detail what I am now able to do in French:

I can say the alphabet, say basic greetings, count, introduce myself, and ask for directions. I have also learned the definite and indefinite articles, the possessive (my, yours, his, etc.), learned how to conjugate -er verbs in the present tense, and I learned the conjugation for a few irregular verbs (être, avoir, devoir, pouvoir, faire). In addition, I can order food at restaurants, tell the time, and arrange plans (talking about days and times to meet, accepting and rejection invitations, etc). I feel like in four weeks, I have learned a lot. I wish I had been able to practice speaking more than I did, but I think that I have given myself the foundation necessary to continue learning French successfully. Now all that's left is to prepare my final presentation...