Bande dessinée + FNAC (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Bande dessinée + FNAC
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

18 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>

Anomi
Newbie
Austria
Joined 4683 days ago
20 posts - 26 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

Message 9 of 18

02 March 2013 at 2:19am | IP Logged

songlines wrote:

Anomi, I'd like to second Emk's recommendation of
http://www.izneo.com/ . I've been a fan of the site
ever since Geoffw
mentioned it on these forums a number of weeks ago.

Thanks so much for all the info! I don't own any type of e reader or iPad but I'll
definitely check out their website, and I've downloaded their app on my iPod so we'll
see how that works out :)
I *love* the idea of a 4-5 page preview, that would be really nice just to get the feel
of the BD.

songlines wrote:

One more suggestion: Have you tried getting any BDs through your
public library?

I don't know which city you live in, but - if your library system doesn't have them -
you could try seeing if you
can get some titles from inter-library loan. (Check first to see if there's a fee; and
if so, how much.)

For example, a keyword search in the catalogue for my library*, Toronto Public
Library, under the terms French
graphic books, yields 665 titles which
circulate, of which approx one-
third are adult, one-third teen, and one-third children's.

Thanks a lot for the tip, unfortunately my local library has very few options for me.
I did what you suggested and turned back a wonderful selection of BDs translated into
English (Persepolis was one of them! Damn!), the only French-language BDs offered are
about 15 Astérix and 10 Tintin.
Still good to know, but as I stated before, I'm looking for a little more variety
:)

emk wrote:

Looking back over your questions, it seems like you might be a little
worried about accidentally getting too much exposure to the "wrong" kind of French. Is
this the case? I totally understand this concern, because it used to bother me a lot.

If so, I have some good news, based on a year of reading: Almost anything you pick up
will be 99% normal French. Maybe 1% will be words like "airlock" or "magic wand", but
hey, who doesn't love a few fun words like that? :-)

You know, I think you really hit the nail on the head. I suppose it's true that if my
goal is to become fluent in French, I'll eventually need to discover all that
vocabulary I'm trying to avoid right now anyway, and the only way I'll be able to
distinguish different 'types' of French is with exposure.

emk wrote:

Consider this as encouragement to go read or watch anything that amuses you
and not worry about what kind of French it contains. :-)

Thanks a lot for that :) it's very freeing.

Recently I've actually been watching Barbapapa and other childrens' shows when I'm
bored. It's really nice to just take a break and listen, because I like the animations
and I can understand the French, which gives me a sense of accomplishment since I have
a ton of trouble understanding spoken french compared to reading it (I know this is a
common problem, but something I should deal with none the less)

EDIT: The books I ordered from FNAC came today! Very quick delivery, only 4
days. They all look great and I've been flipping through them already. One of the three
BDs I ordered is still on its way, since they needed to order it separately. But I'll
make sure to share anything interesting I discover when it does get here :)

Edited by Anomi on 02 March 2013 at 3:32am
1 person has voted this message useful

songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 5201 days ago
729 posts - 1056 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

Message 10 of 18

02 March 2013 at 3:27am | IP Logged

Anomi wrote:

Thanks a lot for the tip, unfortunately my local library has very few options for me.

Which is exactly why interlibrary-loans could come in handy in this case, for titles you can't otherwise get. What
happens in an ILLO is that your library system requests the book/s from another library system, and
in turn lends them to you. Fees (if any) for this vary from system to system; some have a set rate; others allow
you to stipulate a maximum on the fee you're willing to pay, or to ask for the search to be limited only to free
sources. - Or it could be combination of the above. Often/typically, ILLOs from other Canadian public
libraries or the National Library can be free. Loans from academic libraries, special libraries, and outside Canada
will be available only for a fee ($10-$25 range, for example).

You can't put in a request along the lines of "send me half a dozen bandes dessinées": you'll need specific
authors, titles, ISBNs (the ten-digit # which looks something like 2-205-05199-7), publishers, and dates of
publication. The whole process can be quite a lengthy one, and your loan period may shorter than that of those
for your regular library books. So the TPL catalogue (or better yet, the one for la Bibliothèque et archives
nationales du Quebec.
http://iris.banq.qc.ca/iris.aspx will be useful for getting the
publication info., and Izneo for previewing the material (and making a
decision on which titles are a priority for the ILLO process).

The above is subject to availability, of course - some library systems won't send certain categories of material out
for ILLO. No library will lend new titles, for obvious reasons. And sometimes formats such as loose sheet-music
scores may also be problematic. (One tip, since BDs are unfortunately prone to mishandling: Before you leave
the library, check to make sure all the pages are present and undamaged; have any tears, markings, or loose
pages documented by staff.)

Best of luck!

(p.s. - And you're welcome.)

Edited by songlines on 02 March 2013 at 3:30am
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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 5201 days ago
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Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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Message 11 of 18

05 April 2013 at 3:41pm | IP Logged

Not specific to FNAC:

For the 5th and 6th of April only: there's a special offer of a free BD (selected from a list of 8 only) at
participating bookstores. The list of printed BDs has mostly ones for children (and I expect you may have to
be at a bookstore in France to claim your BD; the search box for participating bookstores requires that a
Department number be entered), but the digital BDs include Orbital, Murena, and Vie de Merde:
http://www.48hbd.com/offre-numerique.html

Updated to add: clicking on the link ("cliquez et lisez") from 48HBD to Izneo, and then to "8 BD numériques
offertes" brought me to copies of "Prof", which I don't want. What you'll need to do is make a note of which
titles you want, search for them by title in Izneo, then checkout the free "copy" - the one that has a 0 euro
price.

Edited by songlines on 05 April 2013 at 3:56pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Emily96
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 4420 days ago
270 posts - 342 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin

Message 12 of 18

06 April 2013 at 1:35am | IP Logged

One BD i really enjoyed was Pico Bogue. This is a link to the one i read, but there are 4 or 5 others. The main
character is adorable and i really loved the water colour pictures! I think it's pretty similar to Calvin and Hobbes.

http://www.dargaud.com/pico-bogue/album-1988/situations-crit iques/
1 person has voted this message useful

Tamise
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
jllrr.wordpress.com/
Joined 5235 days ago
115 posts - 161 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Dutch
Studies: French, Japanese, Spanish

Message 13 of 18

06 April 2013 at 9:16am | IP Logged

songlines wrote:

Updated to add: clicking on the link ("cliquez et lisez") from 48HBD to Izneo, and then to "8 BD numériques
offertes" brought me to copies of "Prof", which I don't want. What you'll need to do is make a note of which
titles you want, search for them by title in Izneo, then checkout the free "copy" - the one that has a 0 euro
price.

Thanks for posting this - I've just "bought" them all via Izneo. Not a huge fan of reading comics on screen, but given they're free, I can hardly complain!

Edited by Tamise on 06 April 2013 at 9:17am
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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 5201 days ago
729 posts - 1056 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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Message 14 of 18

06 April 2013 at 2:03pm | IP Logged

You're welcome. One caution, though (especially for people in Nth America and points west): if the "rental"
systems works like that of the other Izneo BDs, your access to the these titles will expire at the end of Apr
6th, *Paris time*. (So read quickly! )

1 person has voted this message useful

Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4901 days ago
2151 posts - 3960 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

Message 15 of 18

07 April 2013 at 12:20am | IP Logged

If you are interested in learning a bit of French history while reading BD's, try
L'Histoire de France in BD. Searching on Amazon, there are two series which come up with
this search. I have the first one in the Pour Les Nuls (for Dummies) series, and it
looks pretty good (I couldn't understand a lot of it when I tried to read it last year).
I can't say anything about the other series. But it's nice to kill two (or three) birds
with one stone: practice French, learn French history, have a good time.
1 person has voted this message useful

lecavaleur
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 4769 days ago
146 posts - 295 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Spanish

Message 16 of 18

08 April 2013 at 9:24am | IP Logged

In addition to Renaud-Bray, which others have mentioned, the other major bookstore
chain in Québec is Archambault. They usually have an identical inventory as Renaud-
Bray, but you may find a better deal by always checking both websites.

You can also consider purchasing used BD's from Abebooks.ca.

If you're in Mtl, hit up the used bookstores. Just outside of the Grande Bibliothèque,
on the south side of the building, there's the Allée des bouquinistes, where you can
buy used BD's for like $8 apiece. It sure beats the usual $15 to $30 you'll pay for new
ones.

I love the Fnac when I'm actually in France; it's the most amazing store ever. But
ordering from them and shipping it to Canada must cost a bloody fortune.

Edited by lecavaleur on 08 April 2013 at 9:28am

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