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Slow Learning: FR, HI, ancGR TAC 2015 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 129 of 164 14 January 2015 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm very excited this afternoon, because my DVDs of Boulevard du Palais arrived! Amazon.fr have a special on TV series: 2 coffrets achetés = le 3e offert. Since there are 3 DVD sets of Boulevard du Palais available, I decided to finally take the plunge and buy all of them. I haven't seen any of the episodes on the first two coffrets, but I've seen most from the third. Le problème, c'est que les DVDs ne ont aucune sout-titres. Ni en anglais, ni en français. (The problem is that the DVDs have no subtitles. Neither in English, nor in French.) So that will be a new challenge for me, which I haven't tried on anything so serious as this series.
Does anyone know of French or English subtitle files for Boulevard du Palais? I don't even know how to start finding subtitle files, nor how to read them.  Edited by Jeffers on 14 January 2015 at 5:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 130 of 164 29 January 2015 at 10:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It's been a while since my last update. I feel like I've been very laid back in my study of late, but if I tally the things I've done, I've actually been quite busy. That's the great advantage of building the language habit into your life: you learn a lot without even trying.
I've been reading La planète des singes by Pierre Boule, but it's not exactly compelling. I've read something like 60 pages in about 3 weeks, which is a pretty slow rate for me these days. It is certainly easier than my last novel, but not as interesting. The best thing I've done recently has been listening to Aubert chante Houellebecq - Les parages du vide ("near emptiness" or something like that...) Jean-Louis Aubert is probably my favourite French singer, but I wasn't very impressed by samples of the songs I heard. I finally bought the album a few weeks ago and have listened to it almost every day. Last week I went on amazon.fr and bought the special edition, in which the CD is in a book of the lyrics, which are all poems by Houellebecq. The pages are printed with the markings made by Aubert when he read the poems, and is interspersed with arty b/w photos of Aubert and Houellebecq. Last night I read through all of the poems while listening to the album and it was a really enjoyable experience. (A word count of the lyrics on MS word tells me it counts for 6 pages for the Super Challenge). 
I can't say I've really understood the poems, but here's a sample from Canaris I found touching: Je n’ai jamais été parfaitement lucide, Je n’aime pas le bruit et j’ai horreur du vide Le don total de soi est un état furtif, Incertain ; toutefois, c’est un plaisir très vif Et la fascination est une vie seconde ; Il y a une autre vie qui traverse le monde ; Certains êtres en s’aimant ont fait trembler la terre ; D’autres vont à l’amour comme on va à la mer Et plus je te connais, plus mon regard est fixe. Meanwhile, I've listened twice to another 5 episodes of L'avis de Marie (up to episode 40), and 4 or 5 episodes of Au coeur de l'histoire. Caïn has been back on TV5 Monde, and although I'd already seen most of this series, I've been enjoying this show immensely. It's "yet another French cop show", this time set in Marseille, but the unique angle is that the protagonist is in a wheelchair due to an accident, but has been allowed back on the police force as a trial. He is a bit of a dick towards what he calls "bipèdes". His working method is to wind people up, relying on the fact that they wouldn't hit a "paralysé". You'll probably recognize Bruno Debrandt from Engrenages. 
Of course, I've been watching the latest episodes of Engrenages as they come out. Although I'm pretty sure who didn't do it, and I'm not expecting any real surprises, I'm enjoying it, and I'm especially glad to be experiencing it as it comes out (which is also preventing me from staying up late for "one more episode"). I've taken a leaf from Luke's book (or a sheet off his roll), and have started reading Assimil French without Toil in the bathroom. So far I've done the "active wave" translation after reading the notes and doing the exercises, but I think I'll make a habit of doing passive in the morning and then active in the evening. I read lesson 6 this morning, and plan to do the active work before bed. I've been working on Pimsleur French IIIb when I can on my commutes. I worked on lessons 15-23 before Christmas, and a couple of weeks ago picked it up again from 18 to 25. Finally, I've started up again on FSI lesson 8, mainly on my evening walks. I worked on tape 5 this evening, and will work through tape 5 once or twice more before moving on. I've done a few other things, but those are the activities I've enjoyed the most. To leave on an enjoyable note, here's one of the videos from Aubert chante Houellebecq: Isolement Edited by Jeffers on 29 January 2015 at 11:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| redflag Senior Member Australia Joined 3845 days ago 123 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Indonesian, French | Message 131 of 164 29 January 2015 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm gobbling up Engrenages as the BBC puts them out with English subs too. I have it in
French with no subs but it's nice to actually understand the plot a bit more now. I looked at the subtitle sites I know and can't find Boulevard du Palais on them and the ones on torrent sites don't have subtitles. Dommage. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 132 of 164 30 January 2015 at 10:51am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You've got a nice synergy of materials happening there Jeffers: reading, listening, watching, courses. Caïn
looks interesting, do you watch it via your computer with VPN set to France? I'd like to get back to FSI myself but can't squeeze it in at this stage. Assimil has now become my default go to course that I am committed to doing every day. FWT will be next after NFWE. I'm trying to get some reading back into my routine, we'll see how that goes. As usual I'm dribbling about myself, anyway it's good to see you're keeping up the well- rounded French studying! PM 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 133 of 164 30 January 2015 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thank you for trying.
I still haven't tried doing anything like that. I have Sky TV, which includes the TV5 Monde channel. They tend to have a policier series running every week, usually with English subtitles available. So when Caïn finishes next week, something else will come on for a while. They don't tend to show the most popular shows (like Engrenages), probably because of cost. Still, I've enjoyed most of the policier series I've seen on TV5. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 134 of 164 31 January 2015 at 3:58am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Coolfred 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 135 of 164 31 January 2015 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Just when you get into a groove, things change. I've happily been enjoying French and ignoring my other languages, when I got a message from the wife of a friend who teaches in India. She wants to do a "Jeff exchange": she and their daughters will stay with my family this summer, while I go to India. He and I both teach RE (Religious Education), and we would spend a month photographing, filming and interviewing people, to gather material to use in classes.
The net result as far as any of my HTLAL friends are concerned is that I will be a lot more focused on Hindi until this summer. Fortunately, my French is at the point where I can safely let it drift along with a steady diet of media and books. So I'll be lightening my French studies, but I will definitely keep working on it. I'm anxiously awaiting the next two episodes of Engrenages which come on in one hour. :) Meanwhile, I've signed up to do Hindi for the 6wc, I've dug out my Hindi readers, and I've made plans to go to Leicester to watch a Hindi film tomorrow (PK). So it's full speed ahead for Hindi. Of course, knowing me things will change, and plans for the summer might not work out. But I'll enjoy myself anyway! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 136 of 164 01 February 2015 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Good luck with your Hindi Jeffers in the 6WC!
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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