Songlines’ Deuxième langue. (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Songlines’ Deuxième langue.
Tags: 6 Weeks Challenge (6WC) \| Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) \| French
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243 messages over 31 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 7 ... 30 31 Next >>

Lianne
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Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French

Message 49 of 243

19 December 2011 at 8:22pm | IP Logged

Are you using the built-in Add Hyperlink functionality, or trying to do it manually?

You can do it manually like this: Type URL=http://www.something.com in square brackets ([]), then type what you want the link to say, then type /URL in square brackets. You can't use proper html I don't think. I hope that helps!
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songlines
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Message 50 of 243

20 December 2011 at 12:52am | IP Logged

Testing, testing... (trying again on a different computer):
Radio-Canada.ca
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songlines
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Message 51 of 243

20 December 2011 at 12:56am | IP Logged

That was with Firefox. Now with Google Chrome: Radio-Canada
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songlines
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Message 52 of 243

20 December 2011 at 1:00am | IP Logged

And trying now with Safari browser. Radio-Canada.ca

Edited by songlines on 20 December 2011 at 1:25am
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songlines
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Message 53 of 243

20 December 2011 at 1:02am | IP Logged

Rats. The problem seems to be with my computer. I'll have to get it sorted out.

Thanks for the suggestion, Lianne. I was using the Hyperlink button above the reply box, rather than manually; but
it doesn't seem to have been something that would have made any difference.

Edited by songlines on 20 December 2011 at 1:32am
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Lianne
Senior Member
Canada
thetoweringpile.blog
Joined 5108 days ago
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French

Message 54 of 243

20 December 2011 at 4:43pm | IP Logged

Yeah, the button produces the same code as what I wrote above; I just wondered if your browser was messing that up somehow. It was a shot in the dark!
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songlines
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Message 55 of 243

28 December 2011 at 7:26am | IP Logged

I'm still having computer problems, with my Internet access currently somewhat sporadic.

As mentioned earlier in my Dec 18th post, I've started reading Yann Martel's collection of letters to our PM,
ie=UTF8&qid=1325050623&sr=8-1">What is Stephen Harper Reading?

The language is a bit of stretch for me - it's my first attempt at reading more literary material in French -
but I'm nevertheless enjoying it because the writing is so beautiful. After the trio of Harry Potter titles, and
Guillaume Musso (fine as they were for my language-learning purposes), it's a real joy to read something that
unashamedly reaches for a heightened - even poetic - style. Martel's book is a wonderful celebration of books,
of reading, and of the power and value of art in one's life.

All of the letters are online at: Que lit Stephen Harper?
(French), and What is Stephen Harper Reading?
(English), but only snippets of the introduction are available through Google Books. (In particular, pages 6 and 7
in Google Books are not replies from Harper, but - although this isn't as clear because of the omitted page 5 -
they're imagined responses, written by Yann Martel. )

If I may, I'd like to quote a longer extract from the introduction:

Quote:

S'il y a un personnage autobiographique dans L'histoire de Pi, ce n'est pas Pi, c'est le paresseux. Pour moi,
un bon livre, c'est un copieuse brassée de feuilles, et ne je peux pas lire plus qu'un certain nombre de pages
avant d'être rassasié et de commencer à somnoler. Ma rampe, c'est plutôt une branche et j'y suis suspendu, la
tête en bas, à me nourrir du livre qui alimente mes rêves. Je lis lentement mais continuellement. Sinon, je
mourrais de faim.

L'art est le l'eau, et tout comme les humains sont toujours proches de l'eau, pour des raisons de
nécessité (boire et se laver et nettoyer et arroser) autant que pour des raisons de plaisir (y jouer, y nager, se
reposer sur la rive, y naviguer, y goûter quand elle et gelée, colorée et sucrée), le humains doivent toujours être
proches d'art sous toutes ses formes, du frivole à l'essentiel. Sinon, ils se dessèchent.

Voici donc l'image avec laquelle je voudrais conclure, la quintessence de la quiétude et une péroraison
visuelle de ce que j'ai essayé de communiquer au premier ministre Stephen Harper grâce à douzaines de lettres
courtoises et de bons livres: l'image d'un paresseux suspendu à une branche dans une jungle verte pendant un
orage tropical. La pluie est vraiment assourdissante, mais le paresseux ne s'en préoccupe pas; cette cascade
d'eau est vivifiante, et les autres plantes et animaux vont l'apprécier. Pendant ce temps, le paresseux a un livre
sur la poitrine, bien à l'abri de la pluie. Il vient juste de lire un paragraphe. C'es un bon paragraphe, alors il le lit
à nouveau. Les mots on tracé une image dans son esprit. Le paresseux examine l'image. C'est une belle image.
Le paresseux regarde autour de lui. Sa branche est très haut dans l'arbre. Il a une si jolie vue de la jungle. À
travers la pluie, il peut voir des taches de couleur vive sur les autres branches: des oiseaux. Tout en bas, un
jaguar en colère court sur la piste, ne remarquant rien. Le paresseux revient à son livre. Il exhale un soupir de
satisfaction, il a le sentiment que la jungle entière a respiré avec lui. La pluie continue de tomber. Le paresseux
s'endort.

Traduit de l'anglais par Émile et Nicole Martel.

Edited by songlines on 28 December 2011 at 8:02am
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songlines
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Message 56 of 243

28 December 2011 at 7:40am | IP Logged

English original:

Quote:

...If there's an autobiographical character in my novel Life of Pi, it's not Pi, it's the sloth. To me a
good book is a rich lode of leaves and I can read only so many pages before my tummy gets full and I nod off.... I
hang upside down, nursing the book that is feeding my dreams. I read slowly but continuously. Otherwise I
would starve.

Art is water, and just as humans are always close to water, for reasons of necessity (to drink, to wash, to flush
away, to grow) as well as for reasons of pleasure (to play in, to swim in, to relax in front of, to sail upon, to suck
on frozen, coloured and sweetened) so humans must always be close to art in all its incarnations, from the
frivolous to the essential. Otherwise we dry up.

So this is the image I'd like to finish with, the quintessence of stillness and a visual summation of what I've been
trying to convey to Prime Minister Stephen Harper with dozens of polite letters and good books: the image of a
sloth hanging from a branch in a green jungle during a downpour of tropical rain. The rain is quite deafening,
but the sloth does not mind; it's reviving, this cascade of water, and other plants and animals will appreciate it.
The sloth, meanwhile, has a book on his chest, safely protected from the rain. He's just read a paragraph. It's a
good paragraph, so he reads it again. The words have painted an image in his mind. The sloth examines it. It's
a beautiful image. The sloth looks around. His branch is high up. Such a lovely view he has of the jungle.
Through the rain, he can see spots of bright colours on other branches: birds. Down below, an angry jaguar
races along a track, seeing nothing. The sloth turns back to his book. As he breathes a sigh of contentment, he
feels that the whole jungle has breathed in and out with him. The rain continues to fall. The sloth falls asleep.

(... And, with a sigh of contentment, I go to sleep. )

Edited by songlines on 28 December 2011 at 8:08am

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