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songlines
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 Message 121 of 243
26 October 2012 at 5:56am | IP Logged 
sctroyenne wrote:
For Les Misérables you may also be interested in the original French concept album
(Boublil originally wrote the lyrics in French).


Thanks - I hadn't thought of that!


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songlines
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Studies: French
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 Message 122 of 243
15 November 2012 at 4:34pm | IP Logged 
Have been reading Jules Verne's Le Tour du monde en 80 jours / Around the World in 80 Days, aided by the
Project Gutenberg translation in English,
and the Litteratureaudio.com free audiobook in French.

A few unexpected discoveries:

Phileas Fogg, instead of being an enthusiastic traveler as I had supposed, seemed largely indifferent to the
countries through which he was speeding. Granted, he was on deadline, but - even when there was time
to do so - didn't make any effort to explore. (Perhaps this may change later on in the book, but I somehow
suspect not.)

Quote:
Puis il se fit servir à déjeuner dans sa cabine. Quant à voir la ville, il n'y pensait même pas, étant de
cette race d'Anglais qui font visiter par leur domestique les pays qu'ils traversent.


Quote:
He sat down quietly to breakfast in his cabin, never once thinking of inspecting the town, being one of
those Englishmen who are wont to see foreign countries through the eyes of their domestics. (Project Gutenberg)


There are also some nice touches of humour, occasionally with gentle digs at les Anglais as above, or with
dry humour. In the following passage, Fogg is examining, with some consternation, his dish of "rabbit".

Quote:
...Il sonna le maître d'hotel.

"Monsieur," lui dit-il en le regardant fixement, "c'est du lapin, cela?"

"Oui, mylord," répondit effrontémont le drôle, "du lapin des jungles."

"Et ce lapin-là n'a pas miaulé quand on l'a tué?"

"Miaulé! Oh! Mylord! Un lapin! Je vous jure..."

"Monsieur le maître d'hôtel," reprit froidement Mr. Fogg, "Ne jurez pas et rappelez-vous ceci: Autrefois, dans
l'Inde, les chats étaient considérés comme des animaux sacrés. C'était le bon temps."

"Pour les chats, mylord?"

"Et peut-être aussi pour les voyageurs!"


Quote:
He rang for the landlord, and, on his appearance, said, fixing his clear eyes upon him, "Is this rabbit,
sir?"

"Yes, my lord," the rogue boldly replied, "rabbit from the jungles."

"And this rabbit did not mew when he was killed?"

"Mew, my lord! What, a rabbit mew! I swear to you—"

"Be so good, landlord, as not to swear, but remember this: cats were formerly considered, in India, as sacred
animals. That was a good time."

"For the cats, my lord?"

"Perhaps for the travellers as well!" (Project Gutenberg)


There are some unexpected Anglicisms, such as the "mylord" in the above extract. Edited to add: Also
"gentleman", as in "Le Morning Chronicle assure que c'est un gentleman".

And also a subplot I hadn't previously known of, involving the theft of fifty-thousand pounds from the Bank of
England.


Edited by songlines on 17 November 2012 at 5:01am

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songlines
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 Message 123 of 243
20 November 2012 at 2:13am | IP Logged 
Summary:

Flashcards: 86 minutes
Assimil: 56 minutes
TV: 31 minutes

News/Documentaries: 274 minutes (4 hours, 34 minutes)
Films/Dramas: 4 Films, 375 minutes (6 hours, 15 minutes)

Reading: 66 pages. Jules Verne. Le Tour du monde en 80 jours.

---------

The less said about two of the films, the better. Suffice to note that they belong to the genre a friend (rightly)
disparages as "humour of humiliation".

I did, however, enjoy a third film, Sarah Polley's Take This
Waltz
.   All three main actors were excellent, even if their characters themselves were sometimes not
particularly sympathetic. It was, for me, a beautiful "small" film - heartbreaking at times, but with a lot of
emotional truth. But it's had a mixed reception, so I'd suggest that people read the reviews first, and decide for
themselves if it's something they'd like to watch. (Though, of course, one person's heartbreak and emotional
truth may be another person's shallow hipster self-absorption.) One thing we can agree on, though: Toronto's
never looked so beautiful on film.

With my return to watching the news, I also learned how much one's audio skills can degenerate if not
maintained. I'd taped Radio-Canada's Téléjournal, and found, to my dismay, that there were some sections
which I had to rewind and play three times before I understood what they were saying. - And this was
with the closed captions, mind you.

Just to complete my suffering and masochism, I also stayed and watched sections of Tout le monde en parle, but
found - to my surprise! - that it wasn't the complete viewing disaster that it usually is for me. But that
may be because one of the guests, Justin Trudeau, as a former drama teacher and current politician (he's in the
running for the leadership of the federal Liberal Party), is probably trained to speak very clearly. Unfortunately, I
didn't manage to follow all of the flirtatious by-play between author Grégoire Delacourt and one of the female
guests. (Someone in the studio called out to them, "Get a room!" in amused response.)
Tout le monde en parle


The Wikipedia.fr entry describes Delacourt's writing style in
La liste de mes envies as having been criticized
for being "un peu trop simpliste".   - In which case, that may be at my level. I've placed a hold on the library
copy.

(As an aside, does Grégoire Delacourt remind anyone else of Daniel Auteuil? - Especially around the mouth and
lips...?)

And, to mix things up a bit, I also watched some Swiss broadcasts from Radio
Télévision Suisse
.

I've been late to start my Italian Assimil Experiment. This week...!


Edited by songlines on 20 November 2012 at 5:15am

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songlines
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 Message 124 of 243
11 December 2012 at 1:20am | IP Logged 
Another infrequent Summary of my (also infrequent) language-learning efforts:

Assimil:
254 minutes of French;
67 pitiful minutes of Italian.

Flashcards: 20 minutes (this should go up in the next few months, as I switch from commuting by bicycle to
public transit; bit hard to do flashcard work while cycling).

News: 137 minutes. A mix of RFI and Le Téléjournal on Radio-Canada.

Other TV: 142 minutes. Swiss TV online. More of which later.

Song lyrics: 95 minutes. Thanks to sctroyenne for the suggestion of the French concept album (by
Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Alain Boublil + Jean-Marc Natel (lyrics)) for Les Misérables. I was able to
find a site with the lyrics and another with the music. An enjoyable change, as I don't usually listen to much
music.

Books: 111 pages of Jules Verne.
Le Tour du monde en 80 jours, in print format. (Though I
fell back on the online version for a week when I lost my copy of the book.) Occasionally aided by the Litterature
Audio.com version for LR.

71 pages of The Book
Thief
, La voleuse de livres . I'm linking to the English version, as Google Books has a significant
portion of the first part of the book available for previewing; It's one of my personal favourites (in English), and I
strongly encourage people to read it. Beautiful writing, with some stylistically interesting elements (the book is
in part narrated by Death); and quite moving.

Some of you may remember my post several months ago about wishing to be emotionally touched by what I was
reading, even when in French? - It's finally happened with this book! As an aside, although it's set in Germany in
the 1930s and 1940s, and the events of the story are understandably a bit bleak and sad, it's not a
depressing book. - Well worth reading, in whichever language you can manage.

One aspect I particularly like is the depiction of the tender father-daughter relationship between Liesel (the
eponymous "book thief") and her foster-father.   It doesn't actually get mentioned that frequently, but -in
my reading - runs as an unbreakable thread throughout the narrative.

As an early example, Liesel regularly has nightmares, and Hans Hubermann takes to sleeping on a chair in her
room to calm her when she wakes. Eventually, he begins reading to her (and teaching her how to read), from the
only book she then owns: a Manual for Gravediggers. An unlikely choice of reading material perhaps, but love
sometimes expresses itself in unlikely ways.



Edited by songlines on 11 December 2012 at 1:25am

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songlines
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 Message 125 of 243
11 December 2012 at 2:15am | IP Logged 
In addition to some news clips, the Swiss TV programme I've been watching is
Un hôtel à la maison, from www.rts.ch.

It's a reality TV programme in which four couples from four different cantons of Switzerland (Vaud, Valais, Jura,
and Neuchâtel) create bed-and-breakfast accommodations. Unlike much North-American style reality TV, the
ambience here is supportive, rather than competitive.   Experts are brought in to critique/advise on cuisine,
decor, etc, but they're tactful and helpful, rather than doing Gordon Ramsay-style rants. Even some of the more
- umm - eccentric ideas, such that of an owner-designed toilet which used a metal pail, car tyres, and sawdust,
is presented with a minimum of actual or figurative eye-rolling.

Very interesting, getting these glimpses of the Swiss countryside and Swiss homes, and hearing the accents.
Some of the experts (such as a chef) aren't originally from Switzerland, so there are also French accents, and
possibly others (which I can't identify).

Tried listening for any mentions of "septante", "octante", etc (see other thread here on Htlal), but didn't hear any.
I couldn't - not by a long shot - understand everything that was said, but the visuals (and replaying online)
helped me to follow the "action".

Some vocabulary from "Un Hôtel à la Maison", and TSR.ch:

- l'Arc lémanique: area around Lake Geneva
Wikipedia

-la Suisse Romande: French-speaking West Switzerland.
Wikipedia
-un Valaisan: a resident of (surprise, surprise) the canton of Valais.
-le (and presumably also "la") maraîchère: market gardener
-les Templiers: Templars, the Knights Templar.
- le menuisier: carpenter, joiner

And, unusually,
- Les préservatifs: food preservatives.
I know this is usually "condoms" (!), and a French term for "food preservative" would "le conservateur alimentaire";
but I listened carefully, and on "Un hôtel..." they definitely used "préservatifs" in the context of organic food (I
think it was referring to jams and spreads). Can someone confirm whether this usage is common is Switzerland?
If memory serves, it may have been Marie-Laure, in Vaud, who was speaking.

(Whenever I hear the name "Marie-Laure", I think of Mireille's younger sister in "French in Action". )


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songlines
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Studies: French
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 Message 126 of 243
17 December 2012 at 6:15am | IP Logged 
Will do a year-end summary after Christmas; the hope being that, while I'm home for the holidays and away from
all those distracting other books on my bookshelf, I'll be able to devote myself to the the few, carefully
chosen French ones that will fit into my suitcase (and Air Canada's luggage allotment limits).

And thereby perhaps bump the tally up from "affreux" to merely "pitoyable".


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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 127 of 243
17 December 2012 at 6:51am | IP Logged 
Name change for my log reflects my TAC 2013 plans.   As mentioned in the edits on page one of this thread, I'll
be on what's now confirmed as "Team Pax" for my French and Italian, and will start my German with Team
Schnitzel when I've finished my Assimil Italian challenge.   Hence: "The Peaceful Schnitzel". Well, it's unusual,
anyway.

Team Pax logs:

Pax Team Thread:
TAC 2013 Team Pax

Adrean: Croissants and Panettone

Anya: Anya's TAC 2013

Darustet: Log to be added later.

Fezmond: Beginning French

Flarioca: TAC 13 (Ita + cat)/ Assimil

Garyb: Gary's TAC 2013

Geoffw: Geoffw's TAC 2013 log

Gragazzo: Concentrazione

Jinx: Jinx and Too Many Languages

Kanewai: Kanewai and the Romantics

Kerrie: Team Divan Nebun Pax Mir

LittleBoy: Rob's Log '13

Margh19: Margh19 TAC 2013

Quique: French 22 Years Later

Rout: Rout TAC 2013

Sillygoose1: My Language Journey

Sctroyenne: Adv Fre, Beg Spa & Irish

Songlines: The Peaceful Schnitzel

Tastyonions: 1,000 Hours of French

Associate member: Solfrid Cristin.

----

Apologies for the wonky formatting; I think it's because I'm using Chrome as my browser.


Edited by songlines on 29 January 2013 at 7:05am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 128 of 243
20 December 2012 at 10:56am | IP Logged 
The flight home was delayed for over an hour, but I was perhaps one of the few people in the departure lounge
smiling despite the delay: I had my copy of Le Petit Nicolas, and was able to spend the time re-reading
and chuckling at his antics, all recounted with René Goscinny's dry wit.

Assimil Experiment participants may particularly enjoy
the story on page 60, in which Agnan, who fancies himself to have some English skills, tries to speak to George
MacIntosh, a new (Anglophone) student. Upon hearing him, George laughs heartily at Agnan's efforts, tapping
his forehead to indicate that he thinks Agnan is crazy. It turns out that Agnan is telling him, among other things,
that his tailor is rich!

A lot of the vocabulary is repeated through the dozen-plus stories in the book, and I suspect that the repetition
also extends to the numerous other books in the series.   I enriched my Quizlet sets with many additions relating
to childhood concerns, especially - amusingly - vocab about getting into trouble. Herewith, a Petit Nicolas
glossary of sorts:

-au piquet (in school context) : in the corner (punishment at school)
-avoir mauvais mine: to look unwell
-a bêtise; les bêtises: foolishness nonsense, idiocy
-le cafard; note also idiom from Assimil, "avoir le cafard": cockroach, roach (inf); note also idiom fr Assimil, "to
be depressed"
-le chou-chou de la maîtresse: "teacher's pet", teacher's favourite
-une combine épatante: a marvelous ploy, a marvelous trick
-se dissiper: to be inattentive
-une éclaboussure: a smear, a splatter, splash.
-embêter : to annoy, to bother, to hassle
-se fâcher: to get cross, to get angry, to blow a fuse.
-fichu (slang, inf): had it; is shot, as in "the bike's had it"
-gronder: to tell off, to scold (inf, reprimand, rebuke
-la gifle: a slap, a smack in the face
-le guignol (note also character "Guignol" in puppet plays): a clown.
-lâcher: to let go, to release
-la maîtresse: school teacher (of young children); Note different meanings in other contexts, e.g.
lover/mistress; dominatrice.
-malin (adj): shrewd, cunning, clever, sly
-se méfier: to be suspicious, to be wary
-mon poussin (fam): my pet, my poppet, my honeybun
-la noise; chercher noise: a quarrel, trouble, fight; to pick a fight.
-le photographe: the photographer
-la photographie: a photograph
-la plumeau: feather duster
-racler: to scrape
-la récré, la récreation (fam): school recess
-rigoler: to laugh, to joke, to kid (fam)
-sale: dirty, scruffy. [note: salé is "salty"]
-"sale mioche" (fam): horrible brat (literally, "dirty little kid")
-le surveillant:   (school) supervisor; also in other contexts: warden, warder.
-la tache: the stain, the mark (also: freckle, blemish)
-taquiner; se taquiner: to tease, to annoy; to tease each other
-la tirelire: money box, piggy bank
-le vaurien: good-for-nothing, little rascal



Edited by songlines on 20 December 2012 at 7:04pm



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