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My Adventures in French (TAC15)

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Arnaud25
Diglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 3842 days ago
129 posts - 235 votes 
Speaks: French*, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 73 of 163
02 July 2014 at 7:50pm | IP Logged 
Mohave wrote:


Some fun Québécois idioms from one of my language exchange partners:
- tomber dans les pommes (Quebec)/cerises (France): to faint/to pass out
- Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué: equivalent to the expression don't count your chicken before they hatch
- Avoir plusieurs cordes à son arc:To have several strings to your bows; to be multi-talented
- C'est une histoire à dormir debout : non-sense/fairy tale

In fact, all these expressions are used in France. Only "tomber dans les cerises" is québécois. In France, we fall in ze pommes :)

Edited by Arnaud25 on 02 July 2014 at 7:58pm
1 person has voted this message useful



Mohave
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
Joined 4007 days ago
291 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 74 of 163
03 July 2014 at 2:13am | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
I liked La fée. :-D I saw it at the french film festival in Prague a few years ago and
warched it once more later.

Great progress, you're obviously on the right path.

Do you like Camus? The book is a classics and always in schools but you haven't said anything about your
feelings towards i. If you like it, it is a great choice. If you are not that excited about it, leave the realm of the
usual school books and dive in the paradise of BDs and light genres ;-)


Cavesa -
Perhaps I will have to give La Fée another try and I was too harsh! :) I am really liking Camus.   I'm about
half way through the book, and I find the grammaire and the vocabulary straight forward, and the lack of
displayed emotion very interesting. This is one of those cases I wish I was in a French literature class to
discuss and analyze the book with others. This ranks right after the Le Petit Nicolas series in terms of my
favorite French Books I've read, and I recommend it to others that are at a similar A2/B1 level.

Arnaud25 wrote:
Mohave wrote:


Some fun Québécois idioms from one of my language exchange partners:
- tomber dans les pommes (Quebec)/cerises (France): to faint/to pass out
- Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué: equivalent to the expression don't count your
chicken before they hatch
- Avoir plusieurs cordes à son arc:To have several strings to your bows; to be multi-talented
- C'est une histoire à dormir debout : non-sense/fairy tale

In fact, all these expressions are used in France. Only "tomber dans les cerises" is québécois. In France, we
fall in ze pommes :)


Arnaud25 -
Thanks for the clarification that these are both French and Québécois idioms! Also, thanks for the correction
about pommes being French. I will make the edits to my previous post. Thanks again! :)

Edited by Mohave on 03 July 2014 at 2:14am
1 person has voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5476 days ago
821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 75 of 163
03 July 2014 at 9:06am | IP Logged 
Mohave wrote:

Language Exchange/Meet-ups: I completed 25 sessions.


Hi Mohave,

This I think is awesome! It's totally missing from my study régime and I really need to get my act together and
get started on exchanges. Meet ups are proving a little difficult for me an hour away from where most take
place and a busy lifestyle. Since you have experience with this, i'd like to kindly ask you a few questions...
What kind of exchanges are you taking part in? Paid tutor sessions only? italki? languageexchange.com?
skype? How much do you think these sessions help?

PM
1 person has voted this message useful



Mohave
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
Joined 4007 days ago
291 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 76 of 163
03 July 2014 at 1:36pm | IP Logged 
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Mohave wrote:

Language Exchange/Meet-ups: I completed 25 sessions.


Hi Mohave,

This I think is awesome! It's totally missing from my study régime and I really need to get my act together and
get started on exchanges. Meet ups are proving a little difficult for me an hour away from where most take
place and a busy lifestyle. Since you have experience with this, i'd like to kindly ask you a few questions...
What kind of exchanges are you taking part in? Paid tutor sessions only? italki? languageexchange.com?
skype? How much do you think these sessions help? PM


Peter - I think my language exchanges are key to where my speaking ability is in French! I use
www.mylanguageexchange.com to find language exchange partners. I have found that as a native English
speaker, I have no problem finding language exchanges so I can be a little choosy (ie find some one with
similar interests and age groups).   I have never done the tutoring route - I have considered it, but I have had
such good luck with partners who are serious about their language learning, I haven't needed to. However, I
have the time to dedicate to language exchanges, ie an hour session, I speak French for 30 minutes, and
English for 30 minutes. If time is your limitation, you may want to consider a tutor. I have two primary
language partners that I routinely Skype with: one from Quebec and one from France, and have a third one
that on occasion, we meet up. With these three partners, I have been with two for nearly nine months, and
the other, six months. What I love is that through language exchanges, not only am I practicing the language,
but I am learning culture. I am fortunate with my Quebec language partner as we try to meet daily M-F when
our schedules allow. My Meet-up group is hit or miss. Sometimes it is really good, and other times, I am the
most advanced speaker! When I do not have routine interaction with my language partners, approx twice a
week for maintenance, I can really tell the difference in my speech! I still have a ways to go, but both of my
partners have told me they hear improvements!
2 persons have voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5476 days ago
821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 77 of 163
03 July 2014 at 2:32pm | IP Logged 
Mohave wrote:


Peter - I think my language exchanges are key to where my speaking ability is in French! I use
www.mylanguageexchange.com to find language exchange partners. I have found that as a native English
speaker, I have no problem finding language exchanges so I can be a little choosy (ie find some one with
similar interests and age groups).   I have never done the tutoring route - I have considered it, but I have had
such good luck with partners who are serious about their language learning, I haven't needed to. However, I
have the time to dedicate to language exchanges, ie an hour session, I speak French for 30 minutes, and
English for 30 minutes. If time is your limitation, you may want to consider a tutor. I have two primary
language partners that I routinely Skype with: one from Quebec and one from France, and have a third one
that on occasion, we meet up. With these three partners, I have been with two for nearly nine months, and
the other, six months. What I love is that through language exchanges, not only am I practicing the language,
but I am learning culture. I am fortunate with my Quebec language partner as we try to meet daily M-F when
our schedules allow. My Meet-up group is hit or miss. Sometimes it is really good, and other times, I am the
most advanced speaker! When I do not have routine interaction with my language partners, approx twice a
week for maintenance, I can really tell the difference in my speech! I still have a ways to go, but both of my
partners have told me they hear improvements!


Thanks Mohave, excellent feedback! I need to get this in motion. I am a shift worker tho so it's a tad tricky, but
I'll try to arrange sth soon on my days off. I'm going to start like you with half/half and see how it goes as I
don't want to spend the money yet for tutoring unless I have trouble with free exchanges down the track.

Thanks again!

PM
1 person has voted this message useful



Mohave
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
Joined 4007 days ago
291 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 78 of 163
15 July 2014 at 6:41pm | IP Logged 
I am in the middle of a family vacation (with extended family members) right now, so my study times/routines
are off from normal. Here's what I have done since the last update:

FWT - Completed Active Wave. This was my primary method of study, and in looking back at my
French skills, what a difference it made! I highly recommend it to others. I enjoyed the story that weaved
throughout, the songs, the intense focus on verbs, etc. I still would like to re-review the more difficult lessons
in a third wave at a later point.

Pimsleur III - Completed 5 lessons. I started with Pimsleur I a few months ago, and I found Pimsleur I
and most of Pimsleur II to be too easy and boring, but did it to work to focus on my accent and
fluidity/automaticity in response. I find myself enjoying Pimsleur III more, and while not difficult, I do need to
focus more. I like the two new speakers, and the faster speech as well. Here is a link to Pimsleur I - III
Transcripts I found: Pimsleur Transcripts

Super Challenge Highlights
Reading: I completed L'Étranger, a 1942 novel, by Albert Camus. L'Étranger topped Le
Monde's 100 Books of the Century. I greatly enjoyed reading my first book of great French literature in the
Super Challenge! I believe I am around an A2/B1 and found it fairly straight forward to read. Having said
that, with the rich usage of language and symbolism in the book, I intend to re-read this book later again in
the challenge. Here is a link to a June 2014 article in the NY Times on a recent updated English translation of
L'Étranger that discusses the subtleties of translation I found interesting
NY Times Articles on
Camus Étranger

Watching: The US Netflix Catalog started streaming Renoir! I had wanted to see this movie for
quite a while, and greatly enjoyed it! I found most of the dialogue slow and largely understandable. I still
needed subtitles in some of the areas. From Wikipedia: Renoir is a 2012 French drama film based on the
last years of Renoir at Cagnes-sur-Mer during World War I. The film was directed by Gilles Bourdos and
competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Renoir has achieved critical
and commercial success both in France and abroad, most notably in the United States where it is on the
Critic's Pick list of The New York Times. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign
Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. In January 2014, the film received
four nominations at the 39th César Awards, winning for Best Costume Design.   
Here is the Renoir trailer on Youtube

Edited by Mohave on 15 July 2014 at 7:47pm
1 person has voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5476 days ago
821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 79 of 163
16 July 2014 at 5:23am | IP Logged 
Mohave wrote:


Pimsleur III - Completed 5 lessons. I started with Pimsleur I a few months ago,
and I found Pimsleur I
and most of Pimsleur II to be too easy and boring, but did it to work to focus on my
accent and
fluidity/automaticity in response. I find myself enjoying Pimsleur III more, and while
not difficult, I do need to
focus more. I like the two new speakers, and the faster speech as well. Here is a link
to Pimsleur I - III
Transcripts I found: Pimsleur Transcripts


Thanks Mohave for the link to the transcripts, that's really cool! I went on a search
to find Pimsleur French IV transcripts but no luck so far, but I did find all the
reading books for all languages here:

Pimsleur Reading Booklets PDFs
1 person has voted this message useful



Mohave
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
Joined 4007 days ago
291 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 80 of 163
16 July 2014 at 6:16am | IP Logged 
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Mohave wrote:


Pimsleur III - Completed 5 lessons. I started with Pimsleur I a few months ago,
and I found Pimsleur I
and most of Pimsleur II to be too easy and boring, but did it to work to focus on my
accent and
fluidity/automaticity in response. I find myself enjoying Pimsleur III more, and while
not difficult, I do need to
focus more. I like the two new speakers, and the faster speech as well. Here is a link
to Pimsleur I - III
Transcripts I found: Pimsleur Transcripts


Thanks Mohave for the link to the transcripts, that's really cool! I went on a search
to find Pimsleur French IV transcripts but no luck so far, but I did find all the
reading books for all languages here:

Pimsleur Reading Booklets PDFs



Most excellent PeterMollenberg! Thank you very much! Speaking of Pimsleur French IV, have you used it?
So far, I have been able to borrow Pimsleur French I - III from the library. However, I can't find Pimsleur IV
through the library or an interlibrary loan. So, I will probably have to purchase it, and would appreciate any
thoughts and/or reviews!


1 person has voted this message useful



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