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Robierre’s French & Italian C1/2 journal | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Robierre Tetraglot Newbie Croatia Joined 3786 days ago 16 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Croatian*, Italian, French, English Studies: German | Message 9 of 19 25 June 2015 at 10:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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@ Cavesa: Thank you for these titles! It will be a good start for me since I don't know
any French series. I will try to include them in my learning program. Polars are great source of colloquial language. I read them in Italian - can't wait to try one in French also! Fred Vargas might be first on the list. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4989 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 19 26 June 2015 at 10:20am | IP Logged | ||
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Cavesa, Robierre: Do you have any recommendations for polar/giallo novels in French and Italian? I've only read a few: Debout les morts by Vargas (decent but not amazing, although I plan to try a couple of her other books); Voci by Dacia Maraini (good, but more social commentary than "pure" detective novel); Una storia semplice by Leonardo Sciascia (quick and fairly enjoyable read but it didn't really grip me).
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| Sarnek Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 3997 days ago 308 posts - 414 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Swedish | Message 11 of 19 26 June 2015 at 10:31am | IP Logged | ||
What about "Il commissario Montalbano" by Andrea Camilleri? There's also a tv series, which I love. Be warned though: a lot of Sicilian will be spoken. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4989 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 12 of 19 26 June 2015 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've seen quite a bit of the TV series and enjoyed it, although with all the Sicilian it's pretty difficult without subtitles! I've been a bit reluctant to check out the novels for the same reason, potentially a lot of dialect, but I might try one out sometime and see how it goes. I suppose they have to be accessible to Italians from outside Sicily so it can't be too bad.
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| Robierre Tetraglot Newbie Croatia Joined 3786 days ago 16 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Croatian*, Italian, French, English Studies: German | Message 13 of 19 26 June 2015 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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@ garyb: I can recommend you Gianrico Carofiglio - he is easy to read, funny,
intelligent and I liked his books very much. Two of his gialli that I read are: Testimone inconsapevole and Le perfezioni provisorie. I also read his novel Una notte a Bari, which is not a crime-novel. Films about Montalbano, including the new series called Il giovane Montalbano, are simply beautiful: complex characters, interesting dialogues, humor, idyllic scenes of Sicily... Andrea Camilleri is not just scrittore dei gialli, he really has an impressive cultural background. Here you can find some other popular writers of crime-fiction: Polar italien Edited by Robierre on 26 June 2015 at 8:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Robierre Tetraglot Newbie Croatia Joined 3786 days ago 16 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Croatian*, Italian, French, English Studies: German | Message 14 of 19 27 June 2015 at 1:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 2
IT My end of course exam was a good excuse to review some grammar. One of my favorite grammar textbooks is L'Italien pour tous (Ed. Becherelle) - written for French speakers with B2 level in Italian. The reason I like it so much is because it is based on simple sentences written in both French and Italian. An interesting way to compare grammatical structures; for example: Via via che si invecchia, si diventa più apprensivi. A mesure qu'on vieillit, on devient plus anxieux. From this simple sentence you can learn a lot: the French expression "à mesure que" (as) has a completely different meaning from "dans la mesure où" (insofar as), the Italian expression "via via" is a synonym of man mano, the difference in the use of forma impersonale (si invecchia vs. on viellit) and some new vocabulary (apprensivo - which reminds me on its French sibling appréhensif). My grammar review was this time focused on proposizioni subordinate (avversative, causali, comparative, concessive, temporali ecc.) with a touch of concordanze dei tempi. The exam. I love the exams because they always put you under pressure to give the best of you; suddenly all your hidden knowledge gets out of your head somehow. On the test it was written the remark "C.2.1.", which is already a heavy burden; I don't consider myself to be at C2 level, but I can accept the qualification "basic fluency (work in progress)". The listening part was easy: 5 minutes recording of a minister speaking on the radio about the new ant-corruption legislation. The reading comprehension was also piece of cake - three pages from the book written by the journalist Oriana Fallaci. The essay was to write about the influence of new media and internet on reading and literature (one 300 words page; quite easy also). The grammar exercises were easy for me except the verb exercise (concordanza) which I found to be the most difficult part of the exam (sentences with missing verbs where you have to choose the correct tense and conjugate the verb: passato remoto, congiuntivo, varoius past tenses etc.). The oral presentation is scheduled for the next week. To forget the tests, I did also one you-tube listening activity this week: Alessandro Baricco talks 2 hours about Proust. Part 1. Part 2. It might sound boring, and probably it will be if you're not into literature, but for me it was pure pleasure! Che meraviglia! He analyses complex sentences word by word in a very interesting and simple way. FR Obviously it was not a French week this time. I tried to listen some of the series proposed by my followers here (thank you all!) and I must say that it is just what I needed. Kaamelott was quite demanding: the mixture of segments that I can understand perfectly and the others that are totally incomprehensible. Finally, here's my recommendation from this week's podcast: the story about the mythic library La Hune, which is closing. La Hune Edited by Robierre on 27 June 2015 at 2:26pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4791 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 15 of 19 27 June 2015 at 4:36pm | IP Logged | ||
Vargas is good but I'd say the books vary a lot. I've read a few and liked some more and some less. I tried Simenon, who is a classic of polars, but I didn't like his style and the stories (I had hard time finishing one and left another in the middle, which is something I don't usually do. I was just really bored and annoyed). But the dislike was a matter of my personal taste, not lack of quality. Grange is more of a thriller writer. However, the thrillers are well writen, include useful language, he is a good narrator and I really liked the stories. Chattam belongs in several genres. While I love the most his postapocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy series Autremonde, most of his books are polars/thrillers. I've read only one so far and I liked it. I think he is a good choice. When it comes to crime tv series, I can recommend as well Profilage. It is less "high drama" than Engrenages, there is more humour (but still huge cliffhangers and lots of character development). It is easier than Engrenage and it can be a good stepping stone towards it, but the language is the kind people use in everyday conversation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4989 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 16 of 19 29 June 2015 at 11:26am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the recommendations, Carofiglio sounds exactly what I was looking for! And it's a nice reminder to catch up on Montalbano, there are still some episodes I've not seen including the "giovane" ones.
"L'Italien pour tous" sounds really interesting too. When I started Italian I used the French edition of Assimil, and seeing the equivalent expressions and the similarities and differences between both languages was helpful and taught me a lot. Often I'm speaking one language, and the perfect expression for the situation in the other one comes to mind but I can't quite think of the equivalent. I enjoyed Profilage too, overall it's not exactly in the same league as Engrenages and it can be a bit silly at times (judging by the first series, the only one I've seen) but it's certainly easier and has more everyday language. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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