View Full Version : Practicing French
Every now and then I get the French bug, so I went back on Duolingo and started practicing again. It is fun. I am going through the lessons really fast (it is basically to translate each sentence either from French or English, but not really instruction), I mostly make minor mistakes by not being careful. But with 4 years of college French I still know a lot of my stuff! I am looking at a meetup that I went to once for conversation. I realized I am nervous enough talking to people in English that I probably need to practice this a lot.
I feel my brain working in different ways too, I don't have a specific plan for what to do with French but I have an easier schedule over the summer and wanted to stretch my brain a little. There is lots of good research on learning another language and how that benefits you. Now I really should be working on Spanish,
Where do you find the time?
I was spending my 'recovery from work' time playing some simple video games or watching TV, and I just switched that over. I do 30 - 60 minutes a day really, I can do much shorter times and still make some progress. Of course I am just reminding myself more than studying, I am at 47% fluent and still not running into things I don't know.
That might be a good use of your downtime ya know
I'm doing Rosetta Stone Spanish about 30 minutes a day. I think it is fun.
Gardenarian
7-8-16, 11:43pm
Bonjour Zoe Fille!
I am also taking French on Duolingo. C'est genial!
We went to Paris last year and I got by on my few words and present tense, but I want to go back and really speak French.
I didn't like France much when I was younger - too stuffy - but I guess I grew into it. Dd is taking French in high school and it's fun parler-ing with her. I speak French to my dog, too. Weird, I know.
I was so so lucky in elementary/middle school - my public school in Ohio had an experimental French immersion program, and half my classes each day were in French. It really helped my ability to pick up lots of other languages later in life. I get mocked by actual French people though, because apparently my instruction was in Québécois, which I suppose will be handy if I ever flee permanently to Canada :-)
One of my 50 career aspirations in my youth was to be an interpreter of French at the UN. I took it all through high school, and then I took lit classes in French in college. But of course, never having had set foot on French-speaking soil, I could never speak it, nor understand it. (I still for fun pick up L'Etranger and see if I can get anything out of it--I've given up on the original version of Les Miserables, though).
However, I have gone to Paris on business on a few occasions and I make it a goal to complete at least one transaction entirely in French. On the first trip, I ordered my husband flowers for Valentine's Day--all in French--and he actually got them--as ordered! On the next trip, however, I tried to check in the hotel in French, and when the front desk clerk saw me doing intense lip-reading she asked me if I'd prefer she speak in English. My last trip was by far the most successful. I got in the cab, and started speaking French, and we spoke the whole way to my hotel!!! I was so proud of myself--but I really think part of my success was due to the fact that it turned out he was American-born (I believe, as he said he had brothers in San Francisco). As a result, he had a bit of an American accent in his French, which made him easier for me to understand, and he was MUCH much more patient with me than a Frenchman or woman would have been. But it was the highlight of my trip!
Good luck with that, Zoe! I've been thinking of doing Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur to learn Portuguese because my in-laws are all Brazilian, and my DIL's mother speaks NO English, even though she's lived here for 23 years. I'd love to be able to get past "tudo bem" in conversation with her.
I think our library has Rosetta Stone on line for free. I'm impressed with the diligence needed to learn a new language.
Bounjour mes amis!
Yeah Catherine, it is very hard to listen and have a conversation. One reason we should all be impressed with people with a different first language. I am trying to go to a meetup for french conversation but for someone without really a social life I still have a hard time getting to events, huh.
I watched a great French movie on Netflix last night, Populaire. I really recommend it. I needed the subtitles in it, they spoke kinda fast, but easier than listening to the news.
Bae I decided to learn French because I grew up in Michigan and we went to Canada on a trip, ended up in a small town, and the hotel owner was very grumpy about speaking to us in English as obvious Americans. I think I have learned the France style not the Quebecois. I have a better chance of getting to Canada as compared to France though.
I have so many other things to say, The first books I would go to to read in French are Le Petit Prince and Candide. I love them both. I am working on Candide and Voltaire writes in such long sentences that it gets confusing. Le Petit Prince is wonderful and easy to read, you can get some dual language books that are facing pages of the 2 languages. As I am doing more Duolingo I am getting better at making the english translations more natural, less awkward. Especially when you get the adjective and adverb placements down. At about 50% I am getting challenged more and slowing down, still know a lot of vocabulary. Also have other people found that learning another language really helps in knowing English grammar better? I pay a lot more attention to how I am saying things in English now.
Studying languages helped me with English vocabulary, but diagramming sentences helped me most with grammar and syntax.
When I want to humble myself, I watch Spanish language television. I'm always a little behind, so it makes my head hurt.
diagramming sentences helped me most with grammar and syntax.
I'm with you! And I'm sure that tool has gone to make room for more "state-of-the-art" teaching methods. But I'm sorry, phonics and diagramming sentences were painful at the time, but definitely effective.
ApatheticNoMore
7-10-16, 10:25am
Where do you find the time?
and unless you already know it backward and forward isn't something like spanish more useful. As a minor job plus (though usually not all that useful but that depends on the job), as countries to retire in (no canada or france are not practical for most people but latin america could be) etc..
I'm with you! And I'm sure that tool has gone to make room for more "state-of-the-art" teaching methods. But I'm sorry, phonics and diagramming sentences were painful at the time, but definitely effective.
I don't remember phonics being a chore (my mother taught me when I was three-ish or younger)--I imagine it was like finding the secret to the code. And I really wanted to get in there and read! I enjoyed diagramming sentences, too. And dodgeball. :D
French will help some with Spanish vocabulary, but Spanish is far more useful in this country. My French is pretty slim--one reason I didn't quite make the cut for Canadian citizenship. Being younger and slimmer would have helped, too. :~)
catherine
7-10-16, 11:38am
I don't remember phonics being a chore (my mother taught me when I was three-ish or younger)--
Your mother taught you; the nuns taught me and therein lies the difference! I like the analogy of unlocking a code, though.
I'd love to hear more about how your mother taught you, though, since my GS is now 2 1/2 and I'd love to work that into some of his reading sessions with me. Not sure if he get phonics at the Goddard Daycare (ahem--"school"--they don't like being called a daycare--the pretension drives my son nuts but they do provide good care, even if the "day" part of it is a dirty word.)
and unless you already know it backward and forward isn't something like spanish more useful. As a minor job plus (though usually not all that useful but that depends on the job), as countries to retire in (no canada or france are not practical for most people but latin america could be) etc..
I am up to about 50% fluent without study other than some reminders, I know I can't watch a movie without subtitles yet and only catch a few words on radio.
I am planning on using this to learn Spanish actually. I could hold parent-teacher conferences with a translator and was doing most of the awkward talking and listening myself by the end. I also have a few friends who will speak to me in Spanish. I simply don't like the way the language sounds or the culture as much as French. I had an easier time learning with people from Peru because they speak slower than people from Mexico. However I love the movie Pan't Labrynth and catch enough to turn off the subtitles since it is a movie and lot of it is visual.
Your mother taught you; the nuns taught me and therein lies the difference! I like the analogy of unlocking a code, though.
I'd love to hear more about how your mother taught you, though, since my GS is now 2 1/2 and I'd love to work that into some of his reading sessions with me. Not sure if he get phonics at the Goddard Daycare (ahem--"school"--they don't like being called a daycare--the pretension drives my son nuts but they do provide good care, even if the "day" part of it is a dirty word.)
My mother probably learned it from nuns, too, but at least she didn't whack me across the hands with a ruler if I got it wrong. I have a feeling i just kept asking
"What does that say?" Until she started sounding each word out, and I got the drift. I don't know how or when some misguided educators decided that phonic study was passe' but Very Bad Ideas seem to come and go, and that one was probably a money maker for someone. A pity.
French--a language where all the words sound like "oh." :D
My French pronunciation is probably better than my Spanish, though. Maybe I should revisit it.
Part of this rekindled my interest in some writing I used to do. I dropped my novel writing 12 years ago when I started divorce proceedings. I was part of a critique group and serious about what I was doing. Part of the novel idea uses French if that is the one I want to focus on.
So I know we have heard here my million ideas of everything, sorry guys can't help that. I would like to think that it makes my interesting that I actually DO some of the things I talk about. The retreat committee for my nun won't have anything to do for a year, and the critique group is still active and accepting members. Seriously thinking about it.
My French pronunciation is probably better than my Spanish, though. Maybe I should revisit it.
I've always thought Spanish was sooo much easier to pronounce. Everything is pronounced just like it is spelled. But French... oye!
Just wanted to give a shout out to one of my favorite subscriptions
https://www.newsinslowfrench.com/
I have both French and Spanish but value the French one for pronunciation practice.
I was so so lucky in elementary/middle school - my public school in Ohio had an experimental French immersion program, and half my classes each day were in French. It really helped my ability to pick up lots of other languages later in life. I get mocked by actual French people though, because apparently my instruction was in Québécois, which I suppose will be handy if I ever flee permanently to Canada :-)
Well, you know the "real" French think the Quebecois are barbarians. I have a very large dash of French-Canadian in me, and apparently look enough like one that I've been addressed in French multiple times. Can't speak a lick. Zoe, very impressed. I'm awful at foreign languages.
I've always thought Spanish was sooo much easier to pronounce. Everything is pronounced just like it is spelled. But French... oye!
Just wanted to give a shout out to one of my favorite subscriptions
https://www.newsinslowfrench.com/
I have both French and Spanish but value the French one for pronunciation practice.
That is such an awesome site! I am listening right now, it sounds a little odd slow but I am challenged enough by it and not reading the text.
That is such an awesome site! I am listening right now, it sounds a little odd slow but I am challenged enough by it and not reading the text.
When you go to the news stories look at the control bar. There is a turtle and a rabbit. If you click on the rabbit you get something closer to native speed.
Oh, that is a helpful site. That's about the speed at which I speak it, too. :D
(I'm pretty much limited to Bon jour, by now...)
ZG, thanks for this thread! I didn't know anything about Duolingo and I especially didn't know it was free! I signed up for BOTH French AND Portuguese, 10 minutes a day. It's a great program--it's really helping with pronunciation, which is the huge stumbling block in being able to actually converse.
I adore Portuguese. I can read and understand a little because it's similar to Spanish and Italian, both of which I once spoke serviceably. I wish I had picked that up too, and German as well.
For more practice, you can set the PC and smartphone to be in French language. I do this to keep up my Italian studies. Sometimes I make mistakes but it's fun.
I use Duolingo a lot and wonder what a beginner student would say about the program. It's good for practice and learning, but a brand new language learner might stumble and dislike the programming. I have good skills already, but otherwise wonder at newbies reaction to it.
Ma, lo mi piace per la practica. Ciao
I have been watching some movies too, I can't follow much but with subtitles it is fine and I get a feel for listening to the language. Here are French ones (I think they are all on Netflix)
Amelie - such a lovely movie for anyone
Populaire - from 2012, I have watched it twice now
Heartbreaker - I want to watch this today, I will let you know
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