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My Adventures in French (TAC15) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4007 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 33 of 163 13 February 2014 at 2:26am | IP Logged |
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I've been bad about updating my log, but I have studied each and every day.
FWT. I have completed lesson 125 (passive) and lesson 67 (active). I love Assimil, and FWT specifically. I can tell a world of difference/improvement since I started using this as my primary course. Having said that, with only 15 lessons left in the passive waive, it is like pulling teeth for me to complete a lesson! It's not that it is too difficult, I am just ready to be done. However, I am committed to finishing the passive waive by the end of February. In preparing for my upcoming trip to Guadaloupe in six weeks, I started focusing more on my speaking fluidity/automaticity/pronunciation and listening comprehension. Specifically, I re-started Pimsleur I and French in Action. Pimsleur I is seriously easy after French Without Toil, but I feel it is worth going through this. Also, I have had a love/hate relationship with French In Action. Right now, I am really enjoying it, I think because I finally understand a large part of the conversation. What I don't understand, the professor explains, or I can use the transcript in the book. In the past, I have generally watched each video 4 or 5 times before moving on to the next lesson. Now I am just watching each lesson twice: once without the book, and then a second time with the book for words or grammar points I need to understand. I ordered the Part 2 book last week. I hope it is here soon. Other activities "The Well-Digger's Daughter (La Fille du puisatier)" is a delightful romantic comedy set in pre-World War France. A father is torn between his sense of honor and his deep love for his saintly daughter when she gets in trouble with the wealthy son of a shopkeeper. Netflix streaming has a wonderful selection of French language films, but sadly, no French-language subtitles are available, only English subtitles. I really feel like my French is strong enough to use French subtitles, but sadly, I have very limited (read almost non-existent) French language resources at the local library, other than dubbed American films on DVDs. I have had 4 Skype language exchanges which, while far from perfect, have been going well for me. Also, a couple of emails. Also, I have started watching Radio-canada telejournal (thanks to songlines for the link: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/telejournal/2011-2012/) . Sometimes I understand very well, and other times just the top-level topic... I also continue to listen to RFI Francais en Facile, One Thing in a French Day, daily. etc. I continue to understand more so I know I am making progress. I have decided to register for the super-challenge starting in May. I am thinking that once I complete Assimil FWT in two weeks, I am going to focus on Pimsleur and FIA until I get back from my trip to Guadaloupe in April and then maybe start Assimil Using French. I also requested Living Language's Beyond the Basics French from an inter-library loan to review to use as a possible next study method. I really want to move full- time to native materials, but my French is still a long ways away from this goal! 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 34 of 163 14 February 2014 at 2:25pm | IP Logged |
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Round 2: Tutoyer vs Vouvoyer
My adventures in French continues..... One of my first penpals, a man from Quebec, and I have been exchanging emails for 4-5 months now. We are the same age. He has used "tu" with me almost from the outset. We've always had an easy-going, friendly relationship. I have discussed politics with many of my other language exchange partners with no issues, and in fact, rather enjoy seeing and learning the different points of view. He asked me my thoughts on a political question in the US, and I responded with my thoughts, knowing that in general, the US and Canada position were someone different on this topic, but I genuinely had no idea that my response would elicit such a strong response (in French) from him. And then, interestingly throughout this email, he " vouvoyer'd" me. After months of "tutoyer", the sudden usage to "vous" coupled with his strong response, created this cold and detached, almost pejorative, tone in the email. Has anyone else had a similar experience? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4665 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 35 of 163 14 February 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged |
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Non, cela m'est jamais arrivé. Mais il faut prendre en compte aussi que, étant donné le contexte que tu mentionne (différences politiques entre les US et le Canada), il est possible que quand il se servait de "vous", il visait "les américains" (toi et tes concitoyens) et pas toi en particulier. Mais c'est difficile à dire sans avoir lu le courriel. :-) Edited by tastyonions on 14 February 2014 at 2:56pm 2 persons have 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 36 of 163 15 February 2014 at 12:09pm | IP Logged |
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Tastyonions, thanks for the response. I took your suggestion and went back to review the email to see if
perhaps I had misread the usage of "vous" for "Americans", etc. I was hopeful that it was my misinterpretation, but sadly it is not.... As examples: "J'ai lu votre texte...." "Je vis au Canada et vous vivez aux États-Unis...." The question he asked me was about gun rights/laws in the US. I am hesitant to post the email exchange because of the political nature of the topic, and the potential for responses to take a political tone vs trying to understand the nuances (if any) of being "vouvoyer'd" after months of "tutoyer". I will re-iterate that to me one of the benefits of learning a new language is learning about different cultures. My other penpals and I have had wonderful discussions on different cultural and political issues with much success, understanding and sharing, often broadening each other's views. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4665 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 37 of 163 15 February 2014 at 2:43pm | IP Logged |
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Ah oui, malheureusement il ne s'agit pas d'un malentendu.
J'ai eu des échanges avec pas mal de francophones sur le même sujet sans problème et en fait j'ai rencontré un français qui était carrément pour les armes à feu. 2 persons have 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 38 of 163 01 March 2014 at 10:07pm | IP Logged |
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So how did I do with my February goals? I achieved some of my higher priority goals, but not all of my goals, mainly because of a trip to visit family. It was just impossible to put in my normal study hours/quality of study during this time. One of the main positives is that I completed the passive wave of French Without Toil!!! However, I did fall a little behind in the active wave of FWT, but will hopefully get back on track this next week. While I did something in French every day except for one day (the first day I had missed in probably six months), I was unable to achieve my normal study routine.
February Goals 1) French Without Toil - complete the passive wave of FWT and daily active wave lessons. ACHIEVED! 2) Complete 8 Skype sessions. ACHIEVED! Completed 10 sessions. 3) Complete Pimsleur I through lesson 21. Partially achieved. Only completed thru Lesson 14. 4) Watch 8 hrs of Film or TV series in French. Partially achieved. Only completed approx. 3 hours. 5) Determine the next lesson material after FWT passive wave. I am considering Assimil Using French, Living Language Beyond the Basics, or FSI Phonetics. Currently under review. 6) Track study hours. Partially Achieved. On determining my next language course after FWT, my copy of Assimil Using French just arrived. And earlier today, I received the message from the library that my Interlibrary Loan of Living Language Beyond the Basics is in! I plan to do the first two or three lessons of each to get a feel before making a final decision. I did complete Using French Lesson 1 last night, and I quite enjoyed it. The familiar Assimil approach, but it felt like the beginning difficulty was dialed down a notch or two from where FWT ended, all while learning new idioms, etc. It doesn’t appear from my quick review that Using French has the similar two-wave approach built-in that French Without Toil did. Would appreciate any thoughts on either course. 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 39 of 163 02 March 2014 at 2:15am | IP Logged |
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Hey Mohave,
Excellent work! Good luck with the next course :) PM 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4444 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 40 of 163 02 March 2014 at 4:26am | IP Logged |
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I studied French in high school a while back and left it off the list because of time constraints. Recently got back to
studying. A few days ago I was watching the movie: "La Cage aux Folles". At this point my listening skills and vocabulary is still weak. I can barely pick up 20% of the conversation with the help of English subtitles. The subtitles does give the proper context but found a lot of mismatch with even the basic dialog. Went to a video store and got a version with captions in French which is much easier to understand. In the beginning of the movie M. Baldi went upstairs and asked Zaza to come down for the show starting in 10 minutes. Zaza threw something at the door and said "Non". The translation came out as "Go away..." Unless the original was something like "Allez-vous-en" there is no reason why the translator couldn't just put in "No". And somewhere in the middle of the movie M. Baldi and his partner was in a cafe. They ordered "thé et biscuits". The translation for biscuits came out as "toast". I was trying to figure out what was said because there was nothing in the dialog that sounded like "pain" / "pain grillé" or "toast". Reading subtitles while watching a Chinese film I can still figure out what was said but my French is not at that level yet. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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