Personal Page Brian Sumner

Summary: we spoke about learning techniques. I shared my view that rationalization and understanding and good old “pen and paper” makes it possible to eliminate any grey zones in the grammar or the conjugation. We can have the full assurance that we visited the “map of French “in full and didn’t leave any parts out. Listening is important also because it has the effect of comparing what we know to what natives are saying. It has the reassuring effect of realizing that they too use the thing that we studied. Most importantly, I believe we must remain the hero of the story and be curious about new discoveries. We can also compare our use of French to that of the greats, such as authors that aren’t too distant: Maupassant being one among others. It has the advantage if exposing is to new vocabulary.