Oops - I’m sorry, I forgot to look at Lemmy for ages!

I ultimately gave up on apps and did the thing called “comprehensible input”. That’s where you watch a bunch of stuff you’re inherently interested in, and you eventually pick up on the sentence structure, pronunciation and vocabulary they use.

They stress emphatically that it must be something you’re interested in enough to pay attention to. If it’s something you’re watching as a chore, or something you’re tuning in and out of, stop and watch something else.

I’ve realized that there’s a massive difference between the ‘relationship’ I build with words and grammar from something I want to watch versus something that’s “neat but essentially just fun homework.” I remember how a certain word was used, I recognize the exact context in that moment (rather than every single possible context that word might have), I learn entire ways of communicating an idea that sticks to me in French rather than directly translating something I’d say in English, and I care enough to be able to watch it a few times to force myself to understand the whole thing. So I find that I’m watching lots of content related to horror and violence, which does leave me with many words I wouldn’t say in a test, but gives me so much clarity on how to express ideas. Think of most horror movies and how they’ll have those bland, small talk conversations to establish the happy victims, or how they problem-solve to escape - all of that is excellent vocabulary, and the extra effort I put into learning words I should definitely not use ends up helping me learn all the other ones I can use. :)

I think apps - even Duolingo - would work if you have zero vocabulary, maybe. But as someone trying to go from a B to a C, the apps just aren’t doing it for me.

As for localization, I’m just watching some stuff specifically about Québec vocabulary, and trying to take the pressure off myself over having to be perfect right now. I’m clearly an anglophone so it’s not like I’ll be fooling anybody, so my goal is to just understand what everyone else is saying. :) Baby steps!