Update on the French, which I first mentioned a week ago. I’m now in the tenth chapter of the book, and I think it’s going pretty well. The book is set up in a way that makes learning the language pretty straightforward. The author introduces a point of grammar and some accompanying vocabulary, discusses it with some examples, and then provides translation exercises using the new grammar and vocab. The end of each chapter has a multiple-choice quiz, a passage to translate, and questions on the passage.
I’m pleased with my progress. I usually struggle through the exercises at first. I chunk them into groups of two or three and run through each group two or three times until I’m satisfied with what I’ve learned. I then move on the next group. When I reach the end of the chapter, I run through the exercises one more time before doing the multiple-choice and translation sections.
The book has twenty-one chapters, so I think after I finish this chapter, I’m going to run back through what I’ve covered to date as a kind of midterm. The review will do me well.
The next step is to start reading real stuff in French. I have an issue of Paris Match, and the funny thing is, it features an interview with Enki Bilal. Bilal is one reason I’m doing this; his work with Pierre Christin on The Hunting Party (Partie de Chasse) and Black Order Brigade (Les Phalanges de l’Ordre Noir) were the first comics I read (other than Tintin as a child) of French origin.
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