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kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4886 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish
| Message 377 of 656 19 June 2012 at 9:40pm | IP Logged |
After a string of movies that I didn't like and didn't finish, I finally hit a winning
streak:
7. French Cancan (Jean Renoir, 1954)
8. Coco avant Chanel (Anne Fontaine, 2009)
9. Le hérisson (Mona Achache, 2009)
French Cancan is a musical comedy about the founding of the Moulin Rouge. It's
fantastic. I enjoyed watching it, and wish that I hadn't returned it because I
wouldn't mind watching it again. I can't remember how the French was (easy? hard?
slang?) as I forgot that I was reading subtitles. Absolutely recommended!
Coco avant Chanel - Audrey Tatou plays Coco Chanel before she became famous (or
interesting, as a lot of critics have written). It's more about her life as mistress
to a French duke (or something) than anything to do with fashion. Like so many French
movies I've seen recently, it has a great actress and a mediocre director. But: the
French was crisp and clear, there was no argot, and so from a language-study viewpoint
this was a good choice.
Le hérisson is based on the book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I have
friends who loved the book in translation, and it's on my to-read list for when my
French is better. I saw it at the local art house; it's doing the film festival circuit
and I don't think it's on video yet. From IMDB: Paloma is a serious and highly
articulate but deeply bored 11-year-old who has decided to kill herself on her 12th
birthday. Fascinated by art and philosophy, she questions and documents her life and
immediate circle, drawing trenchant and often hilarious observations on the world
around her. But as her appointment with death approaches, Paloma finally meets some
kindred spirits in her building's grumpy janitor and an enigmatic, elegant neighbor,
both of whom inspire Paloma to question her rather pessimistic outlook on life.
It's a lovely movie, with a few small missteps. The French is clear and crisp. I'd also
recommend it.
This is interesting: one of the leads, Togo Igawa, doesn't speak French and so
learned his lines phonetically. It's an impressive feat.
On deck:
10. La tête en friche (Jean Becker, 2010) (at the theater)
11. Le carrosse d'or (Jean Renoir, 1954)
12. Le dîner de cons (Francis Veber, 1998)
13. La fille du RER (André Téchiné, 2009)
and a warning
Prometheus made absolutely no sense whatsoever, including this one that should
make HTLAL regulars and xeno-linguists cry: the android spends two years studying every
ancient earth language, and at the end uses some kind of regression-analysis to learn
how to speak and read the alien's language from 20,000 years ago. (and this is
all in the first ten minutes, so I'm not spoiling the plot!).
Edited by kanewai on 19 June 2012 at 9:46pm
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| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5216 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu
| Message 378 of 656 19 June 2012 at 9:51pm | IP Logged |
Thanks!
Coco avant Chanel is on my list.
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| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5468 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 379 of 656 19 June 2012 at 10:57pm | IP Logged |
Update #13
66/100 Films
"Apparences" (10 episodes of 45 min)
"Le dîner de cons" (Movie)
"19-2", Season 1 (10 Episodes of 45 min each)
"30 Vies", Season 2 (60 episodes of 22 min each)
"30 Vies", Season 1 (60 episodes of 22 min each)
"Toute la vérité", Season 3 (10 episodes of 45 min each)
"Toute la vérité", Season 2 (20 episodes of 45 min each)
"Toute la vérité", Season 1 (20 episodes of 45 min each)
****
This series "Apparences" from Radio-Canada is just one story of 10
episodes, not a continuing series. I watched this program back in the winter in Montreal but there are still a lot of nuances that I am missing
so I expect to watch it yet again in the future some time. It is the type of drama that even in English I need to see several times to catch all the
details so it was even more challenging in French. It is a mystery about a missing person who in the very first episode fails to turn up at her
birthday party with her twin sister but it is a story based on dialog not action in any form so you need to listen attentively or you will be soon
lost. In this regard it was very different than the police based series "19-2" that I watched which was as expected much more action based.
Interestingly, the web site for the series contains a writing competition (concours) and the winning entry (Arabesques et Puma Roses) was
written by the French tutor I hired last winter in Montréal, a teacher of French literature seeking extra work because of the ongoing student
strike in Québec. This was the last of the TV content I will watch for a while and I will now turn to a collection of 34 movies to complete the
100.
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| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6594 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 380 of 656 21 June 2012 at 12:38am | IP Logged |
Lol I've just used #changechallenge twice, switching Portuguese to 50/50 and then to 100/100, with only Brazilian Portuguese counting for the audio as I need more exposure to it.
Now I want another books only challenge though... It really makes me feel guilty that other people are doing the challenge in Belarusian and Croatian (and to a lesser extent Ukrainian) but I'm not. OK now I am. Signed up with Croatian "books" lalala.
I'm also very near what's for me a major milestone, almost 40% done in Polish.
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| enrdbrow Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4569 days ago 19 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 381 of 656 21 June 2012 at 9:08am | IP Logged |
REGISTRATION
LANGUAGE: French
CHALLENGE: Super Challenge (100 books and 100 films)
CURRENT LEVEL: French A2
COMMENTS:
I’ve dipped in and out of the French language for a few years now, but I’ve never been able to push it past A2. Hopefully, after this challenge, I’ll finally make it to B1!
1 person has voted this message useful
| LangWanderer Diglot Pro Member Australia digintoenglish.com Joined 4535 days ago 74 posts - 97 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, French, Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 382 of 656 22 June 2012 at 3:04am | IP Logged |
REGISTRATION
LANGUAGE: Korean
CHALLENGE: Super Duper (100 books, 100 films, 100 30 minute blocks of conversation)
CURRENT LEVEL: A2
COMMENTS: Of all the challenges I'm entering, this is the one in which I have the most chance of succeeding. My motivation is very high - I'll be applying for some jobs in Korea at the end of the year and possibly for a Korean Government scholarship next year.
-----
LANGUAGE: French
CHALLENGE: Half (50 books, 50 films)
CURRENT LEVEL: At a guess probably B1, though I've been higher in the past.
COMMENTS: I'm aiming to bring my reading level back to where it was after three years of university study and to improve my listening skills (from a low base!).
1 person has voted this message useful
| Tamise Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom jllrr.wordpress.com/ Joined 5240 days ago 115 posts - 161 votes Speaks: English*, German, Dutch Studies: French, Japanese, Spanish
| Message 383 of 656 23 June 2012 at 9:59am | IP Logged |
23/6/12 Update (stuff read/watched previously in italics)
JAPANESE FILMS:
1. Ozamu Tezuka's Metropolis
2. Babylon 5 Season 1 Episodes 1-2
3. Babylon 3 Season 1 Episodes 3-4
4. Gremlins
5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
6. Love My Life
7. Babylon 5 Season 1 Episodes 5-6
8. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
More B5, one complete film, and about half of HP2 (will watch the rest today, but got bored with it earlier). I'm coming to the conclusion I need to get more films as none of the ones I have really grab me right now. One of the ones I wanted to watch has hard-coded English subs (as did Love My Life) - I find this really annoying as it means I'm forced to have the English subs even if I don't want them. I may try to get some Japanese films when I'm in Amsterdam and Brussels next month, so that if they have hard-coded subs they're at least not in English and will probably be much easier to ignore.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was really good, and I'll definitely watch it later to catch the bits I missed this time around. Thanks to those who recommended it here.
JAPANESE BOOKS:
1. 齋藤孝のイッキによめる!名作選 小学1年生
2. Grader Readers Level 1 vols 2 and 3
3. まんが日本昔ばなし 16-20
4. 図書館ねこヂューイ (Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story)
5. four volumes of One Piece manga + 1 Young Kindaichi Case Files
6. 10分で読めるお話一年生
For any one with an interest in mysteries and comics, I would really recommend the Young Kindaichi Case Files series (金田一少年の事件簿) - they're really fun and normally good mysteries. TokyoPop issued translations of about half the series a while back and the fact that there were more untranslated ones out there was one of the reasons I really wanted to be able to read Japanese.
The other book this time is short stories, and I really didn't get much, which is bad as it's a book for 1st graders. In part the problem was that I was reading on a really noisy train, but I think longer stories help in picking up context.
FRENCH FILMS:
1. NYPD Blue Season 1 Episodes 1-2
+ 1 more episode
Maybe not the most authentic way to start on French, but I had the DVDs handy and they have a French dub. I've not seen the series before, and watching it in French means I don't have to listen to David Caruso which is a win. I'd forgotten how fast spoken French is, and there's a fair bit slang in here, so not getting as much as I'd like, but I'm sure that'll improve.
FRENCH BOOKS:
1. Chez les Flammands
My first Maigret and a very enjoyable read. I was surprised at how easy this was (in relative terms, I didn't get everything). Like a couple of others, Agatha Christie would normally be my go to for straightforward reads, but I think Georges Simenon could also fit in that category. Certainly going to read more of him for the challenge.
GENERAL
I'm glad I decided to pick up French. Now trying not to get too much French stuff though... After the speed I went through the Maigret novel, I've started to wonder if a full challenge might be possible, but I'll not decide yet. My reading speed in French is way higher than it is in Japanese, and I don't want to be tempted to do more French than Japanese.
Like several others, I'd love to make the book totals by the old rules, so will keep the count here and at my blog by those rules. I'll put page numbers to the bot for things that are over 100ish and keep that count there. If I make it by the new rules, I'll still be very pleased.
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| Vārds Bilingual Diglot Newbie Latvia Joined 4907 days ago 24 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Russian*, Latvian* Studies: German
| Message 384 of 656 23 June 2012 at 2:20pm | IP Logged |
Just watched episode of Tatort (episode 806). Action is taking place in Lucern, Switzerland and characters are speaking Hochdeutsch with hard Swiss accent.
It was fun :) First couple of minutes I was pressing "Pause" like after every sentence, but then it just clicked and I found that "Swiss Hochdeutsch" is easier to understand because of very clear pronunciation, like "zwischen achtzehn Uuurrrr nullll nullll unD achtzehn Uuurrr drrrreisssiG" (with rolling "R"s and very clear and stressed "D"s and "G"s at the end of the words).
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