French, 22 years later - TAC 2013 PaX (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

French, 22 years later - TAC 2013 PaX
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Quique
Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
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Joined 4681 days ago
183 posts - 313 votes

Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, German

Message 65 of 70

25 January 2013 at 3:05pm | IP Logged

fezmond wrote:

How much of that and Asterix do you understand without needing a dictionary? I'm a week behind you in Assimil but I'm assuming that my comprehension is way lower than yours.

I understand most of it. But please notice that:

I studied French for 7 years, in school and high school. Granted, last time I attended a class was in 1990, but I've been on holidays in France, Belgium, Morocco and Switzerland, so I never forgot the language completely.
I'm a native Spanish speaker; in context, I can understand many words that I don't actually know, but that are somewhat similar to my language.
If we were learning German, your comprehension would no doubt be way higher than mine.

So no reason to feel discouraged! Go on, you're doing alright.

My reading strategy is to keep reading, rather than getting distracted (and annoyed) with a dictionary:
- When I find an unknown word, I guess its meaning out of context (in comics and children tales is often easy).
- If I cannot guess it but doesn't block the story, I just go on.
- If the word is a insurmountable obstacle, or after appearing several times I'm still unable to guess what it means, then I look it up in the dictionary.

In terms of difficulty, I guess Smurfs < Asterix < Tintin. HTH.
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fezmond
Groupie
Korea, South
Joined 4925 days ago
72 posts - 78 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Korean, French

Message 66 of 70

25 January 2013 at 3:57pm | IP Logged

Thanks for the vote of confidence Quique. I shall persevere. Congrats on reaching the
official 'active' stage'
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Quique
Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
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Joined 4681 days ago
183 posts - 313 votes

Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, German

Message 67 of 70

27 January 2013 at 9:38pm | IP Logged

Assimil: I did lesson 52, took dictation from #22, and did lesson 3 from NFWE (active wave).

Some new words:
Il se lava rapidement la figure et les mains et se hâta de sortir faire un tour dans les rues.
Quand j'étais en prison, j'ai repassé des chemises.

French in Action: It's been a while since last time, but today I finally watched episode 7.

Les Schtroumpfs: I read the third album, La Schtroumpfette. It also includes La faim des schtroumpfs.

Le Petit Nicolas: I listened and read two more chapters: Le petit poucet and Le vélo. The latter is quite funny.

Some new words:
Ça va être rien moche!
Je me plaindrai à mes parents et je te ferai renvoyer de l'école!
Si ça continuait comme ça on finirait au bagne et elle plaignait les gardiens.
Et Agnan a enlevé ses lunettes pour les essuyer, alors, Alceste en a vite profité et il lui a donné une gifle.
Je te fais une course contre la montre autour du pâté de maisons.
Dégonflé? moi?
Il était radin.

Finally, I watched the cartoon version of Le vélo.

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Quique
Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
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Joined 4681 days ago
183 posts - 313 votes

Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, German

Message 68 of 70

28 January 2013 at 10:06pm | IP Logged

Assimil: I did lesson 53, took dictation from #23, and did lesson 4 from NFWE (active wave).

Some new words:
Qu'est-ce qu'il y a? Le cafard?
Ce matin, j'ai reçu ma feuille d'impôts; hier, j'ai reçu deux factures, un relevé d'électricité et mon relevé de banque: je n'ai pas le sou.
Est-ce qu'ils ont fini leur repas? Je veux débarrasser la table.
Il faut se conformer aux usages du pays.

Asterix: I read the third album, Astérix et les Goths.

Le petit Nicolas: I listened from the audiobook and read from the book one more chapter: Je suis malade.

After posting this update, I'll watch the animated episode. I believe (maybe I'm deceiving myself) I'm starting to understand it a bit better :-)

Some new words:
Il est tout chauve et je vois son crâne qui brille juste sous mon nez.
Il m'a donné une petite tape sur la joue.
Alceste m'a serré la main, il m'a dit à bientôt et il est parti.
Elle m'a frotté avec une éponge et de l'eau de Cologne et elle m'a mis un pyjama propre, le bleu à rayures.
Elle m'a frotté avec une pierre ponce.
J'étais guéri.
Le docteur a trouvé que maman avait mauvaise mine.
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Quique
Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
cronopios.net/Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4681 days ago
183 posts - 313 votes

Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, German

Message 69 of 70

29 January 2013 at 11:14pm | IP Logged

Assimil: I did lesson 54, took dictation from #24, and did lesson 5 from ENFSE (active wave). Lesson 54 from ENFSE was somewhat macabre!

Some new words:
Paul, confortablement assis dans son fauteuil d'osier, jouit du spectacle de la foule qui défile devant ses yeux.
Beaucoup ont l'air de flâner sans but, simplement pour prendre l'air.
Alors, pourquoi vous avez effrayé mon mari?

French in Action: I watched episode #8, which deals with kinship.
Makes me wonder:
- father + mother = parents
- brothers + sisters = siblings
- uncle + aunt = ???

I guess there is no word (just checked The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: `until the Wicked Witch dies you will not see your uncle and aunt again').

Le petit Nicolas: I listened from the audiobook and read from the book one more chapter: On a bien rigolé. After posting this update, I'll watch the animated episode.

Some new words:
Alceste, il s'est mis à souffler et il n'arrivait pas à me suivre.
Je lui ai dit qu'ils nous emmèneraient au cachot et on nous donnerait à manger du pain et de l'eau.
[...]la confiture de fraises qui est chouette parce qu'il n'y a pas de pépins, ce n'est pas comme les abricots.
Dans nos poches, on a trouvé de la ficelle, des billes, deux élastiques et des miettes.
Il a sorti un sandwich au fromage de son cartable.
Maman m'a dit que j'étais tout palôt et que j'avais l'air fatigué.
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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 5208 days ago
729 posts - 1056 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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Message 70 of 70

09 March 2013 at 5:15am | IP Logged

Quique wrote:

The small book you see behind is Arrugas, a very
nice graphic novel by Paco Roca. I bought it in Spanish, but it's also available in
French (Rides).
Beware that this is not a comic for children, so probably you should be at least
intermediate to read it.

Quique, - Just a short note to say that - thanks in part to your championing of BDs - I've discovered and lately
been reading quite a few in that genre. I borrowed Rides from the library, and found it poignant and
touching. The language wasn't difficult, but - given that the theme is Alzheimer's (the central character suffers
from it) - it's thematically not suitable for children. Well worth reading; thanks.

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