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Gary’s 2015 TACtivation: FR, IT | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4657 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 25 of 187 13 January 2015 at 1:50am | IP Logged | ||
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In my experience it's often true that Spanish speakers are the friendliest and the most willing to chat in the language with you. It seems rare for them to even care much what your level is; they just enjoy talking. Makes it that much more enticing to practice the language.
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| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5199 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 26 of 187 13 January 2015 at 10:27am | IP Logged | ||
Absolutely; sometimes I regret quitting Spanish when these opportunities to speak it just appear with little effort on my part. I thought the party was a good example because I went there fully expecting to speak Italian but ended up taking the path of least resistance and chatting in Spanish instead... or trying at least! It's nice to be able to periodically have a conversation to help maintain what I do know, and it's something to look forward to for whenever I do pick it up again. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5199 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 27 of 187 14 January 2015 at 11:50am | IP Logged | ||
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Music for this week: I've managed one album for each language.
Keny Arkana - Tout tourne autour du soleil Continuing last week's hip-hop theme. Good rapper and her songs are very varied. Pino Daniele - Nero a metà His recent death was big news in Italy, and I finally gave his music a listen. He does all sorts of styles, and while not all of the songs are my thing, the good ones are very good and he was clearly a great musician. Some songs in Italian, some in English, some in Neapolitan. On the subject of Neapolitan, I recently watched the film Reality on Netflix. It had subtitles, and I absolutely needed them! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5199 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 28 of 187 19 January 2015 at 12:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Exchanges
As I mentioned, I've had another little foray into the world of language exchanges, and long story short it's just reminded me of why I gave up on them and opted for tutoring instead. I complain about language exchange partners mostly being incredibly unreliable, which isn't inaccurate, but I'm guilty too: I work full time, which only leaves evenings and weekends to go online, and I tend to have a lot of things on already in evenings and weekends so it's difficult to be on Skype consistently or even arrange a time. I think these types of exchanges only really work for people who have a lot of flexibility, for example students or those who work from home. In fact, work is often the nail in the coffin for language exchanges and even friendships with native speakers: several past ones were going quite well until the other person found employment (or began intensive study like a Masters) and no longer had the time. I suppose the way to look at it is that tutoring is for when you know you'll be free and can commit to a time in advance, and exchanges are for when you find yourself with a couple of spare hours so you sign into Skype and see if anyone bites. Reading I've been reading Dans le café de la jeunesse perdu by Patrick Mondiano. It's an enjoyable book, and the writing style is quite simple and modern, although from a language learning perspective I'd prefer more dialogue. TV I've seen a few more episodes of Fais pas ci, fais pas ça and I can definitely recommend it for French learners. It's a bit silly at times as that type of show tends to be but it's good fun, and it's probably the best series I've come across for everyday social language: it's all about really normal family things as opposed to crime or whatever, and you hear the language spoken by kids, teenagers, and adults. The parts where the two sets of parents are not so subtly criticising each others' lifestyles and parenting methods always raise a laugh. The language is informal yet clearly spoken, correct and not too slangy, which is what us learners aim for. It's easy to understand, not exactly one to challenge your listening comprehension (on that subject, the new series of Engrenages is being broadcast here now...) but that's good because I don't have to make a big effort to decode their speech so can focus more on its content and context. I've already picked up a few nice expressions from it. The closest Italian equivalent is probably I cesaroni, which I've mentioned in previous logs. I've not watched it for ages but maybe I'll come back to it. Again it's a bit silly but it's surely useful. Speaking An Italian I know was visiting the city for a couple of days with some friends and we managed to meet one evening. These friends were all, wait for it... Spanish. Similar situation to the party I wrote about a few posts ago, I spoke a lot more Spanish than Italian. I had a bit of trouble following their conversations since we were in a noisy bar and I was a little tired since I had woken up at 6:30am for a day of snowboarding. Another Spanish opportunity the previous night: I was at a ceilidh (Scottish dance) and there was a huge group of Spanish people there. Good laugh since nobody really knew what they were doing. I'm supposed to be meeting a couple of other Italian friends this week so I'll get some much-needed practice. And I had a lesson last night, which was quite a challenging one as we got into discussions on culture and politics; I was still tired so it wasn't my best performance. Great practice though; these subjects clearly push my limits so they would be good for self-talk and future lessons. Travel My trip to France in April is confirmed! I'll visit Marseille and Nice. Nice bit of extra motivation to work on French in the next few months. In particular I'd like to do some pronunciation work and some lessons. I'm not sure how these places are for practising French, I'm wondering if especially in touristy Nice people might insist on English, but I'll find out! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 3999 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 29 of 187 19 January 2015 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | ||
I haven't read anything by Patrick Mondiano, and I will add this to my "to-read" list. Have you read Musso? How does the difficulty compare? I've also enjoyed Fais Pas Ci, Fais Pas Ça, and if I recall, there are several seasons available. I agree that the speech is clear and not too slangy. I watched the first few episodes with subtitles before the holidays, but I thought the language was clear enough for me to be able to try without on my next watch. I'll have to add this back in to my rotation. Have you watched Les Hommes de L'Ombre starring Greggory Fitoussi? I greatly enjoyed it, but I definitely needed subtitles for it, although you probably wouldn't. How exciting to be headed to France in the Spring! What motivation! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5199 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 30 of 187 19 January 2015 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just realised I've been getting the author's name wrong all this time, it's Modiano not Mondiano... I've not read any Musso, but maybe I should. I'm always on the lookout for modern authors. Any recommendations from his books?
I've never heard of Les Hommes de L'Ombre. Looks quite political, so it could be challenging. I'll add it to my list. How difficult would you say it is compared to Engrenages if you've seen that? I watched series 4 of Engrenages without subtitles, and while I could follow the story, I think I missed some details. That was two years ago, my comprehension should be better now, but I still doubt I'd understand everything as it's quite a challenging show. Yes I'm excited about France! My main complaint about learning French is the lack of practical use for it, so that will give me a chance to use it sur le terrain. Plus I've always wanted to visit the South, it's the one part of the country that I've never explored. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 3999 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 31 of 187 19 January 2015 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am reading my first Musso book now - L'Appel de L'Ange right now - about 125 pages left. I'll make sure to
review it when I am done. As I understand, Musso is the top-selling French author currently - hence why I selected one of his works to read. Lots of slang, lots of idiom, which has been good for me, but I just started reading "adult" books in the last couple of months. :) My impression of Les Hommes de L'Hombre is that the language difficulty is near that of Engrenages - maybe one step down, but I am also still watching most shows with subtitles. I really enjoyed the first season, and am looking forward to Season 2. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5199 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 32 of 187 19 January 2015 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks! Shows how out of touch I am with French culture if I didn't know the top-selling author. I had a quick look and he sounds almost like a French equivalent of Italy's Fabio Volo: light drama/romance/comedy novels with a lot of dialogue, which is great stuff for language learners and would be a good introduction to adult books. I'll check out some of his stuff sometime soon, I could always do with more modern/idiomatic French in my life and as I say I was looking for something with more dialogue than Modiano and Houellebecq.
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