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Speaking Like the French
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26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>

whipback
Groupie
United States
Joined 5585 days ago
91 posts - 118 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French

Message 9 of 26

17 June 2011 at 6:32am | IP Logged

Ahahaha.... thank you I would enjoy that recording of Le Petit Prince. Oh and I feel the same way about German. German and I were never friends.... French and I seem to be working out much better.

Here are some sentences that have given me problems while reading Le Petit Prince:

I will need to learn more about the word 'tout' because in this sentence from Le Petit Prince, "On disait dans le livre: 'Les serpents boas avalent leur proie tout entière, sans la mâcher," "tout entière" seems redundant to me.

I don't fully understand the sentence, "Les grandes personnes m'ont conseillé de laisser de côté les dessins de serpents boas ouverts ou fermés, et de m'intéresser plutôt à la géographie, à l'histoire, au calcul et à la grammaire." I know it is something along the lines of 'Adults advised me to stop drawing opened or closed boa constrictors and to become interested in geography, history, calculus, and grammar' but what does "de laisser de côté" and "plutôt" mean? Does someone have a better translation of this sentence for me?

Do you guys think I should stop worrying about proper translations and just get the general idea of the sentence?
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kraemder
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5175 days ago
1497 posts - 1648 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese

Message 10 of 26

17 June 2011 at 7:06am | IP Logged

my french was never good and it's rusty but I think plutôt means rather. So that's actually an easy translation in your example sentence. Now laisser de côte is a little more of an idiom. I think you'll actually find this as an expression properly defined in a good dictionary... I would translate it as "laisser de côte" = put aside.

Just responding to your post because I'm interested, not because I am good at French unfortunately =/. Personally I think it's good that you take an interest in the idioms and dig in and really try to get a good understanding of the language. A lot of French words can be translated into English word for word but some have to be translated as phrases instead. Still translatable just a pain in the butt to find in the dictionary.

Edited by kraemder on 17 June 2011 at 7:07am
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kraemder
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5175 days ago
1497 posts - 1648 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese

Message 11 of 26

17 June 2011 at 7:15am | IP Logged

whipback wrote:

Oh and I feel the same way about German. German and I were never friends.... French and I seem to be working out much better.

I love German =p. I think it's all in how much time you've spent studying a language. I studied German for several years and it's like a close friend now. Although I'll be the first to say that in terms of what language seems closest to English, I think it's French. So much French influence on English I don't know why linguists call English Germanic. I think it's more francophonic. If that's a word heh.
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Spanky
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5947 days ago
1021 posts - 1714 votes

Studies: French

Message 12 of 26

17 June 2011 at 7:20am | IP Logged

whipback wrote:

I would enjoy that recording of Le Petit Prince.

Here ya go.

HTLAL
thread with links to LPP audio
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whipback
Groupie
United States
Joined 5585 days ago
91 posts - 118 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French

Message 13 of 26

18 June 2011 at 1:06am | IP Logged

Here is a little trick I have been trying. A few weeks ago I read The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World by Chris Guillebeau. I don't want to get into details, but Guillebeau offered the idea to set http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random as your homepage and then read something new every day. At first I was going to do this, but then I thought, "Why not do this with French?" So now I have http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sp%C3%A9cial:Page_au_hasard as my homepage, and although I do not read a page every day, I read as much as I can even if I do not understand most of it. I will probably start adding the new words I come across to Anki soon. You guys should try it out and tell me what you think!
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whipback
Groupie
United States
Joined 5585 days ago
91 posts - 118 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French

Message 14 of 26

18 June 2011 at 1:06am | IP Logged

Spanky wrote:

whipback wrote:

I would enjoy that recording of Le Petit Prince.

Here ya go.

HTLAL
thread with links to LPP audio

Merci beaucoup!
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whipback
Groupie
United States
Joined 5585 days ago
91 posts - 118 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French

Message 15 of 26

19 June 2011 at 5:57am | IP Logged

J'ai fait 1.1 et 2.1 dans le FSI French phonology, étudié 50 mots dans Anki, et commencé un film français dans Netflix aujourd'hui. Aujourd'hui n'étais pas mon le plus jour productif, mais alors encore j'étais allé pendant environ trois heures hanging out (en français ?) avec mon ami français qui sera partir tristement de France en mardi =[.

Edited by whipback on 19 June 2011 at 5:58am
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whipback
Groupie
United States
Joined 5585 days ago
91 posts - 118 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French

Message 16 of 26

23 June 2011 at 5:42pm | IP Logged

I realized I haven't clearly defined my goals. I guess I'll do that now. These goals start with my ultimate goal and then go down to the goal nearest in time.

Ultimate Goal - Native Level

I want to speak with a perfect Parisian accent.
I want to be able to speak, write, etc. French just as well as I can English.
I hope I can do this within the four year I am planning on living in Paris.

Goal

Be able to read any book I would in English without the use of a dictionary but not necessarily be able to read at my English level.
Be able to speak about any topic I would in English, but not necessarily at my English level.
Be able to recognize French slang but not necessarily be able to use it.
Be able to wriet E-mails, letters, etc. on any topic I would in English but not necessarily at my English level.
Be able to understand television, radio, conversations, etc. in French.
Have a reduced accent that does not hinder natives understanding me.
Do this all by early July 2012.

Mini-Goal

Be able to read French blogs, forums, etc. without the use of a dictionary.
Be able to listen to and understand French music
Do this by the end of May 2012.

Mini-Goal

Be able to understand French movies.
Do this by the end of February 2012.

Mini-Goal

Be able to read any French book that I would in English without the use of a dictionary.
Begin talking to natives on a regular basis.
Be able to write E-mails, letters, etc. on any topic I would be able to in English
Do this by the end of January 2012.

Mini-Goal

Be able to read any random page that come up on Frech wikipedia without the use of a dictionary.
Be able to write at the level of anything I can read.
Do this by the end of October 2011.

Mini-Goal

Be able to read any children's book without a dictionary or lack of understanding.
Be able to understand any French short story without a dictionary or lack of understaning.
Do this by the end of August 2011.

The goal that I really really really want to complete is be able to speak French with a native Parisian accent. I know it is extremely difficult, but I don't think I will be satisfied with my French until I complete that. Here are all of the methods I have been introduced to in order to gain a native accent:

Listen, watch, and copy how natives of so and so language speak English.
Listen to the same content thousands and thousands of times.
Use a tape recorder to hear how you speak.
Work with a native.
Mimic native speach.

Some questions I have are:

Is it completely necessary to work with a native in order to gain a native accent?
Say you do X mispronunciation for years without realizing it or without correcting it. Will that mispronunciation be ingrained in you and be impossible to correct?
How necessary is it to get a tape recorder to hear yourself if you want a native accent?

Could someone also point me to other discussions, books, internet resources, etc. which explain how to get a native accent or talk about people who have learned a second language with a perfect?

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