Of course I worry about some of the cultural assumptions I’m picking up. Should I be concerned at how easily I can complain that the bread is old and that I wanted wine, not water, with dinner?

I don’t think that’s something you should worry about. I mean, if it’s a genuine aspect of the culture, I don’t really see how learning it could harm your usage of the language.

I hope the reading with feeling continues to work well for you. I’ve found it really helps me get into the spirit of the language. Of course I worry about some of the cultural assumptions I’m picking up. Should I be concerned at how easily I can complain that the bread is old and that I wanted wine, not water, with dinner?

Are you sure you didn’t work through Using French? I only know of French with Ease and Using French. Title of the work aside, thanks for your input. I’ve done a few more “active” lessons, and I believe you’re right in that the translation aspect isn’t much help.

I think my own gripe with everything from LingQ to Assimil to the Colloquial Series to Anki and across the board (fine enough programs, all, for what they do) is that while you can pick up a lot through exposure and study, actively using a language to communicate your own thoughts requires actively using a language to communicate your own thoughts, and it’s hard to structure activities to accomplish that.

Amen to that! It’s really hard to go from “okay, I’m going to do my daily French / German / language X lesson today” to “alright, I’m going to go out and communicate in this language.” There are online programs to set up language exchanges, but it’s still not as easy as sitting down and opening up the grammar book; you are, after all, relying on the other person to show up for the chat / Skype call / etc.

I’ve been trying to follow your lead on reading sentences with a realistic tone, rather than a bland, “here-I-go-again-repeating-this” voice, and I must say, it helps. When I read my Assimil dialogues out loud, I try to bring along emotions into it, to recreate the scene (at least as much as one can with 1 person with 1 voice!), and while my family members throw peculiar glances at me, it helps me get the sentences to stick in my head. It also makes the process al that more enjoyable.

Lastly -

Or if it’s a childish phrase, like the mountain is big, then I’ll say, “The mountain is big!” all wide-eyed. I don’t recommend doing this in public cafés, of course, but it’s a great way to make the language come alive in your mind as something you’ve lived.

Chuckle. Indeed, it’s unfortunate that most people don’t have a passion for languages. If they did, we could all walk around in public, saying things in foreign languages, and no one would see anything strange with it.

I think the best thing to do with the active phase is to skip the translation bit and read the old passages aloud again, without reference to the English, and with an effort to feel what it’s like to be speaking French since this time you know enough about what you’re saying that you can focus on expressing yourself in French instead of on understanding what’s going on.

The active phase of language learning is hard, and if I had a good idea how to teach it I’d be selling the latest “All you need to speak…” program instead of blogging about my own language learning. I think my own gripe with everything from LingQ to Assimil to the Colloquial Series to Anki and across the board (fine enough programs, all, for what they do) is that while you can pick up a lot through exposure and study, actively using a language to communicate your own thoughts requires actively using a language to communicate your own thoughts, and it’s hard to structure activities to accomplish that.

With Breton, I started in the main Assimil book and kervarker.org, then stumbled upon the Initiation book for absolute beginners. I’m a long way from active phase use of any of them. But one thing I’ve found that helps is that whenever I stumble across a phrase that sounds to me like something someone I know would say, I seize upon it. Coming from Michigan, I’ve known a lot of people who complain about the weather. And so when I get a phrase like, “God it’s hot today,” I put serious effort into reading it with the same tone and manner as that of people I’ve known, almost like I’m telling a story about them and making fun of the way they’d exaggerate. Or if it’s a childish phrase, like the mountain is big, then I’ll say, “The mountain is big!” all wide-eyed. I don’t recommend doing this in public cafés, of course, but it’s a great way to make the language come alive in your mind as something you’ve lived. Contrariwise, I don’t think much of the translation bit because actively using a language doesn’t mean figuring out how to turn an English thought into a French one. It consists in having the French thought be your own.