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Where does the modern French start? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| rekenavri Pentaglot Newbie Belarus Joined 5913 days ago 14 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English, Belarusian, Russian*, Polish, Spanish Studies: French, German | Message 1 of 22 22 August 2011 at 11:54pm | IP Logged |
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I understand the most of French grammar and now want to read in this language. Now I have some books by Simenon and Jules Verne. I can be sure about Simenon, but is the language of Jules Verne enough "modern" to study with it today French?
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| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5228 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 2 of 22 23 August 2011 at 3:18pm | IP Logged |
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Modern French is considered to begin ca. 1611. Verne was writing about the mid 19th century.
Now I don't speak French, I speak English. So take an author writing in English about the same time Verne was writing--Herman Melville published "Moby Dick" in the 1850s. I read that in my teens, without any trouble. So I'd guess Verne is about as accessible to the modern French speaker. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 3 of 22 23 August 2011 at 4:00pm | IP Logged |
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Jules Verne is an easy author, and a very enjoyable one :-). He wrote in modern French, in what is now a rather old-fashioned style. See for yourself:
"L'année 1866 fut marquée par un événement bizarre, un phénomène inexpliqué et inexplicable que personne n'a sans doute oublié. Sans parler des rumeurs qui agitaient les populations des ports et surexcitaient l'esprit public à l'intérieur des continents les gens de mer furent particulièrement émus. Les négociants, armateurs, capitaines de navires, skippers et masters de l'Europe et de l'Amérique, officiers des marines militaires de tous pays, et, après eux, les gouvernements des divers États des deux continents, se préoccupèrent de ce fait au plus haut point." http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?n um=5095 Victor Hugo is a bit more challenging but he also writes in modern French. [edit] Removed my statement about Montesquieu being too hard, it was exaggerated :). Other moderately hard writers on my hit list: Alexandre Dumas, Albert Camus, Jules Supervielle. Edited by Sennin on 23 August 2011 at 4:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5228 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 4 of 22 23 August 2011 at 4:02pm | IP Logged |
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Hell, I don't even speak the language and I can read that.
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| misslanguages Diglot Senior Member France fluent-language.blog Joined 4846 days ago 190 posts - 217 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 5 of 22 23 August 2011 at 4:58pm | IP Logged |
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Jules Verne is pretty hard to understand, and I'm French.
I suggest reading book for tweens or teens, such as Twilight or The Baby Sitter Club if you're still a beginner. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5228 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 6 of 22 23 August 2011 at 5:08pm | IP Logged |
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Is it really that hard? Look, I'm going to take a shot, with nothing but study of Spanish.
""L'année 1866 fut marquée par un événement bizarre, un phénomène inexpliqué et inexplicable que personne n'a sans doute oublié. Sans parler des rumeurs qui agitaient les populations des ports et surexcitaient l'esprit public à l'intérieur des continents les gens de mer furent particulièrement émus. Les négociants, armateurs, capitaines de navires, skippers et masters de l'Europe et de l'Amérique, officiers des marines militaires de tous pays, et, après eux, les gouvernements des divers États des deux continents, se préoccupèrent de ce fait au plus haut point." 1866 was marked by a bizarre event, an unexplained and unexplainable phenomenon that a person would not forget. Without speaking of the rumors that agitated the populations of the port cities and overexcited the public spirit of the interior of the continent, the people of the sea were particularly moved. The businessmen, soldiers, ship captains, skippers and masters of Europe and America, navy officers of all countries, and after that, the governments of the diverse states of both continents were worried about what more would happen. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 7 of 22 23 August 2011 at 5:15pm | IP Logged |
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ScottScheule, on the whole it's not so trivial. Jule Vernes can be very descriptive at times. In Vingt Mille Lieues Sous les Mers he gives very extensive descriptions of all the species of fish, molluscs, "zoophites" etc, for every ocean that the Nautilus visits ( as an "educational" commentary to the main storyline; And also because 3 out of the 4 main characters on board Nautilus are scientists ). But then again, Les Miserables has whole chapters that contain nothing but historical descriptions... So out of the "classical authors" I would say Jules Verne is the most accessible.
misslanguages, as far as I know Les Voyages Extraordinaires was targeting adolescents ( I could be wrong there... ). Also, the novels are gorgeously illustrated. Because of this it's worth buying a physical copy, instead of a kindle version, or just downloading the Project Gutemberg version. Edited by Sennin on 23 August 2011 at 5:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| misslanguages Diglot Senior Member France fluent-language.blog Joined 4846 days ago 190 posts - 217 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 8 of 22 23 August 2011 at 5:25pm | IP Logged |
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I personally wouldn't read that kind of book in English, or in French for that matter.
I did read Jules Verne in French at some point, but I stopped because I found more interesting novels that I could read faster. Long descriptive passages put me to sleep. The fact that you can translate a passage of Jules Verne doesn't prove anything, except that Spanish is similar to French, and that you may have learned Latin at some point. I understand both Italian and Spanish pretty well, even if my knowledge of Spanish is very limited. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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