Learning french

[Ad78]

I am sharing my story in the hopes that it will inspire others.

I studied French for 8 and a half months and sat for the TCF Canada on 26 July 2020. I got my TCF results on September 3 2020:

EO = 13
EE = 13
CO = 480
CE = 699 (No, that is not a typo!)

My points went up from 442 to 486. I created my EE profile the same day and got the ITA in the 16 September all programs draw.

I remember some people trying to scare us off by saying things like: "I am a native speaker of French and I have spoken French all my life and I have been educated in France but even I cannot get C1 in TCF/TEF, so it is impossible for others to think of B1 or B2".... I am not making this up. I have seen posts like that on threads. Others have quoted their native-speaking friends with similar opinions, but as my case proves, it is doable. I know others on this forum who have done it in a similar timeline.

My Canadian adventure is a strange story. 16 years of heartbreak seem to be coming to an end...

2004 = no job and no money (This is when I first started thinking seriously about moving to Canada)
2007 = job in eligible NOC but not enough money (everything else was fine: master's degree, IELTS, age etc.)
2011 = job + money but by then my NOC was not in the list
2015 = by the time EE started, I had lost way too many points because of age and I had given up on my Canadian dream
November 2019 = I find out about the 30 extra points for French thing, immediately dive head-first into French.
September 2020 = Got the required result in TCF Canada and got the ITA.

Moral of the story: Never give up on your dreams!

For those of you wondering how I studied French:

I studied at home by myself... No teacher, no nothing. Here are the things that I used/did:

1) Pimsleur (all five levels, with each lesson repeated at least 4 or 5 times)

2) Assimil French with Ease and Assimil Using French

3) Various textbooks (Alter Ego 2, 3, 4, and half of 5; Belleville B1, B2; Rond Point 2; Streetwise French [this one isn't exactly a textbook])

4) YouTube videos to try and understand specific grammatical points (Learn French With Vincent, Learn French With Alexa and some others)

5) Watched French TV online (BFMTV, CNEWS, Franceinfo, France24)

6) Watched French parliamentary debates (That Melanchon dude is awesome; I know nothing about politics, but he speaks with a lot of conviction and gets you hooked)

7) Weekly calls with language partners on the app HelloTalk to practice my speaking

8) Towards the end, I would write a paragraph or two and send them to my language partners for correction; that REALLY saved my life

9) Changed the language of my devices to French

10) Read ALL Sherlock Holmes stories in French

As for how long every day, I am lucky in that I have tons of free time every day, so I studied French a lot... At least 3 or 4 hours even on a "bad" day.

Good luck!

 

[jrossi]

If my experience can stimulate others to do the same:

I started thinking about the idea of studying french on December 2019, and at that time I started doing some Duolingo lessons. Very basic stuff. I wouldn't even count this on the amount of time I spend studying french.
Then, in mid January I downloaded the app Busuu, and started following daily lessons, regularly. By early March I attempt the TCF Canada for the first time, and was able to achieve a C1 level on both Reading/Listening, mostly because French and Portuguese (my native language) are quite similar. With these 2 C1s, my score went up to 475 (from 469).
I then stopped studying, because I thought I would have enough points to receive the ITA. Of course, COVID arrived and I realized I would need to improve my score, or otherwise would not receive my ITA.
Then, on April I restarted my studies. Between April and August, I wake up at 4AM every weekday, to study before going to work, and of course, continue to consume french throughout my day (listening podcasts during my commute, having all my devices languages set to french, and receiving news notifications from french journals).
Finally, on late August I attempt TCF for the 2nd time, and got

CE: 525 (C1)
CO: 505 (C1)
EE: 13 (B2)
EO: 13 (B2)

With that, I earned the 30 bonus points for achieving CLB7 on french, and my score went up to 508 points, without a masters, without canadian degree or canadian experience, and being 31 years old.
So, from zero in January to lower C1/upper B2 on late August. Totally feasible! Specially if you consider that I only needed 10 points on Speaking/Writing, and got 13. So, maybe if I tried to pass the test earlier, I would be already prepared to get these 30 bonus points.

 

[Jiyva]

I am sharing my story in the hopes that it will inspire others.

I studied French for 8 and a half months and sat for the TCF Canada on 26 July 2020. I got my TCF results on September 3 2020:

EO = 13
EE = 13
CO = 480
CE = 699 (No, that is not a typo!)

My points went up from 442 to 486. I created my EE profile the same day and got the ITA in the 16 September all programs draw.

I remember some people trying to scare us off by saying things like: "I am a native speaker of French and I have spoken French all my life and I have been educated in France but even I cannot get C1 in TCF/TEF, so it is impossible for others to think of B1 or B2".... I am not making this up. I have seen posts like that on threads. Others have quoted their native-speaking friends with similar opinions, but as my case proves, it is doable. I know others on this forum who have done it in a similar timeline.

My Canadian adventure is a strange story. 16 years of heartbreak seem to be coming to an end...

2004 = no job and no money (This is when I first started thinking seriously about moving to Canada)
2007 = job in eligible NOC but not enough money (everything else was fine: master's degree, IELTS, age etc.)
2011 = job + money but by then my NOC was not in the list
2015 = by the time EE started, I had lost way too many points because of age and I had given up on my Canadian dream
November 2019 = I find out about the 30 extra points for French thing, immediately dive head-first into French.
September 2020 = Got the required result in TCF Canada and got the ITA.

Moral of the story: Never give up on your dreams!

For those of you wondering how I studied French:

I studied at home by myself... No teacher, no nothing. Here are the things that I used/did:

1) Pimsleur (all five levels, with each lesson repeated at least 4 or 5 times)

2) Assimil French with Ease and Assimil Using French

3) Various textbooks (Alter Ego 2, 3, 4, and half of 5; Belleville B1, B2; Rond Point 2; Streetwise French [this one isn't exactly a textbook])

4) YouTube videos to try and understand specific grammatical points (Learn French With Vincent, Learn French With Alexa and some others)

5) Watched French TV online (BFMTV, CNEWS, Franceinfo, France24)

6) Watched French parliamentary debates (That Melanchon dude is awesome; I know nothing about politics, but he speaks with a lot of conviction and gets you hooked)

7) Weekly calls with language partners on the app HelloTalk to practice my speaking

8) Towards the end, I would write a paragraph or two and send them to my language partners for correction; that REALLY saved my life

9) Changed the language of my devices to French

10) Read ALL Sherlock Holmes stories in French

As for how long every day, I am lucky in that I have tons of free time every day, so I studied French a lot... At least 3 or 4 hours even on a "bad" day.

Good luck!

If guys like you can't succeed in Canada, who will?