Personal experience: how to prepare for a foreign language exam

How to quickly and effortlessly prepare for a foreign language exam? No way. I think it is clear that miracles do not happen. There is no magical “3-5 Ways to Quickly and Effortlessly” to learn a language up to the intermediate level that I needed to apply to the embassy. We need to plow. Many. Stubbornly. Plow.

I did it. I began to study something in a free rhythm six months before passing, in three I found out that without an exam I did not have enough points, in two I began to take French by storm.

During the work on the podcast "42" for Lifehacker, there were several ways to learn from scratch. I found something else myself, something suggested by my acquaintances. There were plenty to choose from.

Ecoutez et répétez

Everyone has their own approach. I am an auditor, so I focused on learning with the ears. First I downloaded the special Assimil dialogs. The principle is this: you listen to one dialogue on repeat until it stops, usually for several days in a row. You stop when you yourself can involuntarily pronounce it.

At this moment, you still do not know what they are talking about, the concentration is purely on the sounds. Then you look at the text, see the announcers' phrases with your eyes. And after that you look into the translation and understand the meaning. You learn the language, as children do, in short.

The necessary grammar and basic words automatically remain in the subcortex. The dialogues are composed in such a way that the maximum concentration of useful and frequently used constructions is archived in 30 seconds of audio. There is no need to memorize incomprehensible rules from the very beginning - the logic and structure of the language are visible after the very first exercises.

The trick of such dialogues is that after you overpower yourself (on repeat, your favorite song gets boring), you find yourself in a small comfort zone. Yes, it becomes just comfortable, because you already know all the words from this particular conversation and you can even reproduce them yourself.

It was useful for me, because when swallowing a heap of new information, the brain exploded and tried to reject it. And so, step by step, the frog gradually boiled.

Parlez-vous?

To speak, I took a course from Pimsler. In my opinion, this is the best course for a quick start. Makes you think and form sentences based on your almost zero vocabulary. Many variations of sentences. Many variations of different sentences from the current and past lessons based on your meager stock. I hope I explained the technique clearly.

The brain really moves and begins to apply what it has learned in the dialogues, plus what Pimsler gives. This feeling that you yourself can juggle even with a small set of words, is very cool, gives self-confidence, and this is very important at the beginning of the journey.

Les mots

When you already understand something and can say something, the question of a lack of vocabulary arises sharply. For a quick refill, I used Anki flashcards. There are alternatives like Brainscape.

I decided not to take ready-made sets like "100 most popular words in the language", but to add what I already learned during the course of study.

The brain needs context. Without it, it's just memorization, which disappears without real use after a while.

He did this: he took the same dialogue, wrote out words or phrases from it that he considered useful, which could be useful in the future, added to the deck. The brain already has associations (binding to the context of the dialogue, to mental images). Everything goes much easier with them.

Vocabulary grows rather quickly and does not fade after a couple of months due to constant repetition. The program automatically shows each card after a certain period of time, depending on how well you know it.

This is what helped me personally. I started listening to dialogues six months before the exam in a passive mode, then drowned in French for two months. As a result, I passed listening on B2 (dialogues helped), on B1 speech (Pimsler rules). This is a fairly high level in such a short period of time.

La grammaire

After the exam, I went through the e-book "French grammar for life". It contains the basic rules in a very accessible form. Nothing superfluous: a rule, an explanation in human language, examples. There are many things in French that are impossible to understand. We must forgive and remember. Here again flash cards come to the rescue.

I think this sequence is correct: listen, start speaking, and only then hone your grammar. Cramming the rules right from the start is not a good idea.

Here is a prime example of how to instill an aversion to language learning from the very first page. I'm not exaggerating, this is really the first page after the introductions.

I believe that a teacher or a partner from the environment is still needed almost immediately or later in order to receive adequate feedback and correct mistakes. Judging from Montreal, I think this applies to most Western countries. People will not correct you because it is considered impolite.

And without feedback, you start to reproduce your own mistakes and become more and more confident in them. It seems that since they understand you and no one corrects you, then you are already well done. I had such a feeling a couple of months after my arrival: first, a wild fear to say something, then a self-confident verbal nonsense, for which I became ashamed. Therefore, a little later, I agreed with a French colleague to correct me in French, and I in English.

You need to understand that passing the exam and knowing the language are completely different things. Just do it is about an exam. Do it - about further events. It takes a lot of work, as a language without support wears out faster than you might think. Sometimes I notice on my own: after the weekend you come to work on Monday, and your tongue somehow squeaks on unfamiliar topics.

À la fin

As an epilogue.

I have no superpowers, I am an ordinary person. But then I had a powerful motivation: I really wanted to leave. And there was also little money. All this pushed to self-education and gave the same result. Perhaps now I will no longer be able to master German as quickly, for example. There is no desire or meaning. And if there is no goal, then a stone flower is unlikely to come out.

Therefore, set your goals correctly, remember that everyone has their own approach, and choose your own style. And remember, there is no secret ingredient in a secret ingredient study. If my advice helps someone, I will be very happy.

Questions are welcome, I will monitor comments.

Bon courage et tout ça!