French Progress #1 – July 2025

Week 1–2: June 30 to July 6 + July 7 to 13

Study Progress:

To ease back into French, I started with a review of chapters from French Experience 1 that I had already completed. My review focused on:

• Listening to the audios
• Reading along with the scripts
• Refreshing my memory on grammar topics through notes
• Reviewing vocabulary on Quizlet

Originally, I thought about redoing all the exercises, but I realized that wasn’t the most practical use of my time. Instead, I focused on reviewing and reinforcing what I had already learned.

✅ I managed to review 6 out of 9 chapters — progress I’m quite happy with!

Learning Thoughts:

• Listening: Still tough, but I can now catch some words. Definitely better than when I first started, where everything sounded like noise.
• Reading: My strongest skill. I can now follow audio at full speed without constantly pausing and replaying.
• Topics:
  • Countries: Starting to click
  • Nationalities: Still tricky
  • Numbers: Improving — I can now picture the number when I hear it
  • Time (24h format): A struggle since I grew up using 12h format in the Philippines
• Study approach: I stopped rewriting entire scripts into a separate notebook. Now, I just use the book directly and note translations for unfamiliar words.

Study Hours:

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Week 2: July 14 to 20

Study Progress:

Goals:

• Finish reviewing Units 5–7 → ✅ Completed by Friday
• Added goal: Finish Unit 8 → ✅ Completed

I also discovered I had left one lesson unfinished in Unit 7 — glad I caught that!

For tricky sentences, I started using ChatGPT. I only turn to it after checking a dictionary and Papago. What I like is how it breaks down each word and explains nuances — something a dictionary or translator can’t do.

By the end of this week, I officially completed all reviews from Units 1–7. Starting with Unit 8, I’m taking a new approach: I won’t move forward until I understand the lesson well enough. That means:

• Text: I should fully understand the written dialogues.
• Audio: It’s okay if I don’t get every word by ear yet, but I should at least grasp the meaning.

Learning Thoughts:

• Honestly? Sleepy 😂
• Directions/locations: Hard to memorize
• Listening: Still struggling, especially with time expressions (13–24, half hours, “quarter to,” etc.) and place names.
• Reading: Much stronger — I can understand most of the text once it’s in front of me.

Study Hours:

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Week 3: July 21 to 27

Study Progress:

Goals:

• Finish Unit 2 quiz/test → ✅ Completed
• Finish Unit 9 → ✅ Completed
• Finish Unit 10 → Halfway there

The French Experience 1 unit tests have three parts:

1. Grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure
2. Listening
3. Speaking

I’ve completed two unit tests so far, and surprisingly got the same final score both times: 82/120 (68.33%). My strongest skill was listening, followed by grammar, with speaking being the hardest.

💸 I also bought a mini French course on sale… and regretted it. The site kept asking me to pay again even though I already purchased it. I reached out to get a refund.

Learning Thoughts:

• I had the urge to re-review all my test mistakes, but instead I decided to note them and move forward. Like with numbers and vocab: at first I couldn’t get them, but with exposure, they eventually clicked. I believe the same will happen with these grammar points.
• Big win: For the first time, I almost fully understood a short Culturoscope text in French. Out of two paragraphs, I only missed about four words — and still understood the gist!
• Found a new listening resource: My Melody & Kuromi on Netflix. It has both French audio and subtitles that actually match (rare!). This might finally help me get more consistent exposure.

Study Hours:

Week 4: July 28 to August 3

Study Progress:

Goals:

• Finish Unit 10 → ✅ Completed
• Finish Unit 11 → ✅ Completed

Update on the mini course refund: after multiple emails and video proof, they finally refunded me. Relief!

Learning Thoughts:

• Despite owning the French Experience 1 book for months, this is the first time I’ve made real, consistent progress.
• My “3-month focus” method seems to work (similar to how I prepped for my CAPM exam). Concentrating on one goal at a time helps me move forward.
• I still don’t fully understand longer French recordings, but I’m now able to catch individual words and get the gist. With short and slower dialogues, I can sometimes understand everything without needing a translation. That’s a huge step forward!

Study Hours:

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Month 1 Recap (June 30 – August 3)

Total Duration: 5 weeks
Total Study Hours: 56:38

• Week 1: 7:11
• Week 2: 11:29
• Week 3: 15:07
• Week 4: 12:05
• Week 5: 10:46

By Category

• Active study (French Experience 1): 36:17 (64%)
• Vocabulary practice (Quizlet): 15:28 (27%)
• Exposure (shows/dubbed media): 4:53 (9%)

Month 1 Goals vs Results

🎯 Goals:

• Review Lessons 1–7 + Unit 1 test
• Finish Lesson 8
• Complete Unit 2 test

✅ Achieved all — plus I completed 3 additional lessons!