Je Parle Français? I'm Getting There

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my goals for 2019 is to learn the French language. For six weeks now, I've put in a lot of time each day (J'étudie beaucoup--I study a lot) using the four resources I mentioned in my The Thing About Learning Languages post. These sources compliment one another nicely, and I've learned much since the beginning of the year.

So, can I parle français yet? Un peu (a little) but I'm still in the early stages of learning. I've picked up words, sounds, and phrases, memorized and conjugated a few verbs, and am learning the gender of various words, but I don't yet know enough to make good use of them. However, I have learned a few simple sentences, such as:

Je suis une femme américaine (I'm an American woman.)
J'ai deux filles et trois petit-fils (I have two daughters and three grandsons.)
J'ai un chien et deux chats (I have a dog and two cats.)
Je vais a l'hôtel (I am going to the hotel. I'm not, but I know how to say it.)

And so on. However, at this early stage, I'm reading the language better than I'm speaking it. Far better than I'm thinking in French. It will take some time for that to happen.

It's a slow process. Various articles (de, du, aux, au) and a seemingly lack of pattern when it comes to word gender continue to trip me up, but I'll get it eventually. I just need to apprends more. Especially since I had to look up that word in order to use it.

Each day is a new opportunity to learn, and I intend to take advantage of that.