(Translation: “The Lesson of Repetition: Revision Became Revelation”)

Last week, I shared my Halloween-inspired grammar adventures with Kwiziq—the app that turned my mistakes into my teachers. It’s only appropriate that this week the ghosts of my old mistakes came back for a visit. 👻

📝 A Week of Tests and Trials

It was one of those weeks. I was sick. Cold, cough, fever, and other gross things. 🤧🤒😷

I also had my IELTS test, two assignments due, and very little time to breathe—let alone binge Oh La La, I Speak French like I’d planned. But something unexpected happened: instead of adding new lessons, I went back to old ones.

Revision became my comfort zone—my warm cup of grammar tea. ☕

I revisited everything from A0 to A2 on Kwiziq, polishing what I thought I already knew. The results surprised me:

• A2 topics covered: 63.8% → 88.85 %

• A2 score: 38.9% → 54.7 %

A2 had a big jump.

Let’s Go!

And then, B1 said “hold my café.”

• B1 topics covered: 64.3% → 94.3 %

• B1 score: 39.6% → 59.5 %

I’ve now crossed the 50% mark in A0, A1, A2, and B1—bronze medals in each. Let’s see how long it takes me to reach gold!

And I even dipped my toes into C1 territory with a modest 7.32 %. Baby steps into the big leagues!

Woohoo! All greens in B2 now. Some reds in C1, but I’ll happily take those losses — I even got a few yellows in there, meaning I’m halfway to green. The Improvement Timeline looks rough though 🫣 (blame the gross things I mentioned earlier hitting hardest in the last three days). I guess Halloween do bring ghosts!

🧠 Revision Is the Real Progress

Here’s what hit me this week: revision is a revelation. Every time I revisited a topic I thought I’d mastered, something clicked on a deeper level.

Kwiziq’s analytics made that visible. Watching my Brainmap fill with more greens and fewer greys was like seeing confidence take shape.

Meanwhile, my Duolingo French score stubbornly stayed at 86, but I’m not worried. Sometimes standing still is part of the climb. Next week, I’m calling it now—87, maybe 88.

🎧 Listening Practice: Learning to Hear French, Not Just Read It

My biggest takeaway this week was about listening—truly hearing French, not just decoding it. I stumbled upon Learn French with Lexie on YouTube and watched her video “The Secret to Understanding Fast French No One Taught You.”

Spoiler: it’s repetition and practice.
By the fifth listen, everything that sounded like a blur at first suddenly became as clear as day. It seemed like magic, but it was familiarity earned through patience.

That led me straight into another video: “The Right Way to Pronounce French Vowel Sounds.”

Wow! I was pronouncing so many of them wrong all this time. For instance, I had been pronouncing sœur (sister) like sir. Uff! 🫣

Also, I didn’t think vowels could be so philosophical—yet somehow, they are. The way French vowels demand shape, rhythm, and breath reminded me of why I love this process: it’s not just about speaking a language; it’s about sounding like it belongs to you.

Also, LOVE how YouTube’s algorithm has caught on. And now my history is full of those vids. My feed is now 90% French phonetics and I’m not mad about it.

Watching these lesson videos has already become my favorite time-pass.

💬 Reflection

This week reminded me that learning isn’t always about moving forward. Sometimes, it also involves circling back—hearing, revising, and relearning until things stop sounding foreign. I used to think repetition was boring; now I see it as the bridge between knowing and understanding.

Next week, I’ll (finally!) dive into Oh La La, I Speak French and probably come back with more pronunciation revelations and slang I can’t use in polite company. 😅 Fingers crossed 🤞🏼…

Before I sign off, I’ll leave you with these Halloween pics shared by Reddit user u/saguarolibrarian whose family dressed up as characters from Duolingo!

(From left to right: Lily (lavender), Eddy (red), Lucy (yellow), Oscar (pink), Falstaff (the bear), and Duo (the owl).)

As another Reddit user, u/Consistent_Power_914 said:

Aww, this is hella cute…

SOOOOO WHOLESOME 🥹

Until then…

Living my French learning era,
Dishant