I have been watching commercials proposing that Babbel can teach you French in only 4 weeks. Middle-aged students can be seen exuding confidence in their conversational abilities after a lifetime of yearning to ‘parler’.
Really. Four weeks. What am I doing wrong?
My goals this year include the long-time goal of passing the DELF French fluency exam at the B2 level. Here is what my current plan includes:
- talking twice a week for an hour and a half in French with my friend René
- translating and reading for pronunciation a two page newpaper article weekly.
- speaking for an hour a week with a French teacher who is preparing me to take the DELF exam, which requires the student to argue a technical proposition with a French examiner.
- reading ‘Revolution’ by French President Emmanuel Macron, and
- take six French grammer tests daily at the A2, B1, B2, and C1 levels.
I am thinking of scrapping all of this and replacing it with Babbel. But then, what would I do with the other eleven months?