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Written vs. spoken language/French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| FrenchLanguage Senior Member Germany Joined 5735 days ago 122 posts - 135 votes  | Message 1 of 4 22 June 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged |
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Ive mentioned this before, but I ccant help but ask it again:
Personally, I think I'm perfectly fluent at English (including listening and actually "speaking"). However with French, I'm fluent in written language (writing and reading) - I've been mistaken for a native speaker more than once "online". However, when it comes to the spoken language, that's a totally different story... I dont have much trouble saying what I want to say (and judging by the fact that Ive never had anyone hesitate even briefly before replying, I would say Im understood without a problem, too), but....my listening comprehension lags behind extremely, though Ive been focussing on it in the recent past. Ive made some progress, but itll probably still take some time... Do you people know this problem? That youre basically fluent in all areas of the language except for listening comprehension - and thus are not fluent, at all (when it comes to a real conversation)? I must say if I ever learn a new language Ill totally obsess over listening comprehension from day one, because I think..you can lag behind in all other parts of the language (reading comprehension, typing slowly, speaking slowly), but if youre listening comprehension isnt good enough you just cant have an actual conversation (unless you ask people to speak slowly and clearly, which I feel is more of a problem than only being able to reply slowly yourself). Anyone know the feeling??? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Le dacquois Diglot Groupie France Joined 5646 days ago 54 posts - 69 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, German | Message 2 of 4 23 June 2009 at 5:41pm | IP Logged |
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I totally understand. For a long time I was able to say what I wanted in French but not understand what was being said to me. Six months of hearing French day in day out cured me of that. It really is that simple. Endless listening will help you, no end.
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| Sprachgenie Decaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5708 days ago 128 posts - 165 votes Speaks: German*, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic, Flemish, Persian, Swiss-German Studies: English, Belarusian | Message 3 of 4 24 June 2009 at 1:14am | IP Logged |
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That's an often overlooked aspect of fluent speakers is that they may not understand a native speaker. I agree that lots of listening will help but your problem may be that you just haven't learned or been exposed to the massive amounts of words, their multiple usages, and figures of speech that French has to offer. Although you may be able to express yourself well, there may be 5 or 6 ways of expressing that same thing, when used by a native speaker you wouldn't understand.
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| RBenham Triglot Groupie IndonesiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5642 days ago 60 posts - 62 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Indonesian | Message 4 of 4 24 June 2009 at 2:25am | IP Logged |
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One thing that is specific to French is the high degree of homophony. If you read well-written texts, it probably doesn't occur to you that something you read, if read aloud, could sound exactly like something completely different. And you may pronounce it quite correctly and still not notice the problem, because you know what you are trying to say.
What really made me think about this was communicating with French speakers online, some of whom couldn't spell to save their lives. Sometimes they just writ things phonetically; sometimes they actually try to write according to French orthography, but based only on the sound. If you find this concept confusing, consider Mon frère ne s'est pas chanté. This is a perfectly grammatical sentence, but what it says is probably not what the author meant (most likely "My brother can't sing"!). Somehow I have not really had that problem. From the first time I spent any time in a French-speaking country (Switzerland), I had little or no trouble understanding what was said to, except by non-natives. However, I did occasionally have to replay things in my head trying out different possibilities for the word boundaries.... Before this, I was actually amazed that French speakers were able to communicate orally at all, given the degree of homophony in the language (and not just at the word level). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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