Do play the patience game

Sometimes progress isn’t as fast as we want when learning a language.

There will always be periods where progress feels elusive and we get frustrated.

A few months ago, I was going to improve my French listening skills for conversations by switching off French subtitles on TV shows.

But lately I haven’t been watching that many French TV shows so I haven’t made much progress understanding rapid-fire conversations without leaning on subtitles.

Which is a bit discouraging.

Improving this listening skill is taking longer than I anticipated.

I also know this is just a phase and I have to be patient.

For the moment, I’m compromising (not cheating):

When I watch a TV show the audio is still in French but I’ve switched from French to English subtitles. So I’m not slipping into reading French instead of listening to French. I’m trying to catch what’s being said and using the subtitles to check what I’ve understood plus fill gaps.

One day, I’ll be able to turn the subtitles off.

In the meantime, I’m being patient and I’ll keep practising regularly.

Learning on your own doesn’t mean learning alone.

I can help you set up and stick to your DIY language project.

Back to The Trunk