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Post by Jody on Jul 28, 2008 6:59:53 GMT -5
Wll Happy , come Christmas we will have a singalong!
I took French grades 7-12 and my spoken French is terrible. I'm always going to sign up at Alliance Francais but their classes are always when we are in France!
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Post by Happygoin on Jul 28, 2008 7:44:37 GMT -5
Shoesy, I don't know how it is now, but when I was in elementary school, they had reading levels. As I've been a lifelong reader, I was in the first level, which started French lessons in the 4th grade. I've always thought it was a great idea, because children pick up new languages so much faster than adults. So, Gitte, I think it's great they start so early in the DK. Demarais, I think that Luc was going to invite me to his annual holiday singalong last year and teach me the correct words. Somehow it didn't happen. Could be because I live in Massachusetts and he lives in Canada...I don't know . At any rate, I think this year should be the year I learn to sing it correctly and I welcome all tutors.
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Post by sunshine817 on Jul 28, 2008 8:11:15 GMT -5
Our friends in Paris have an absolutely gorgeous little girl. A couple of years ago, we drove up to Caen on a sweltering weekend. While we were sitting in traffic, we were trying to come up with ways to keep her from having a meltdown.
The look on her face when the americaine sang Frere Jacques was priceless-- you could see the wheels in that 3-year-old head spinning, trying to digest how I could SING in French, when I learn words in French from her!
I've learned most of my French by osmosis -- I took one course at AF, and sadly had been placed in the beginner class because I had had no prior formal instruction, so I ended up helping the instructor most nights.
I'm lucky -- I can pick up new words and accents easily -- to the point that our friends have told me that because of the time we have spent in the Dordogne, I have a rather pronounced sudouest accent.
It works that way in Germany, too -- I've been told that my accent is solidly Nordrhein (I traveled regularly to Bonn and Cologne, and my German tutor was from Trier).
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Post by mossie on Jul 28, 2008 8:18:47 GMT -5
Interesting question. I would have been about 9 and it was 1941, we lived in deepest East Kent about 30 miles from the Germans camped out around Calais. We picked up some leaflets which our planes had dropped, thinking they were over France. These were propaganda leaflets designed to maintain the morale of the French, but interestingly the French writing was translated into English in the adjoining column, as were the photo captions. Then I went to secondary school in 1943 and we had a French teacher who wore the thin ribbon of Legion d'Honeur in his lapel. We had to learn strictly grammar, j'est, tu est, il est, nous sommes, vous etes, ils sont. I was bored to tears, as you see the basics have deserted me. We were also learning Latin, which is the root of many languages, and so got horribly confused. So, when I took an interest in Paris some 50 odd years later I took a term or two at night school conversational French and bought a secondhand dictionary. I still have little idea and can read French better I can than speak it. Somehow I make myself understood but it takes considerable application by both parties.
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Post by sunshine817 on Jul 28, 2008 8:20:36 GMT -5
Mossie, that's interesting that Latin confused you. I had an English teacher in high school who drilled Greek and Latin origins into us -- and it's served me well, as anywhere in Europe I can generally suss out the gist of what I'm reading or hearing. (I lose the details, but I grasp the concept)
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Post by mossie on Jul 28, 2008 13:16:01 GMT -5
It was the similarity in the words that confused me, I had not grasped that Latin was the root of French. We did not touch Greek at school but I had a brief attempt at learning Russian soon after, the Cyrillic alphabet is similar to the Greek and I was surprised to learn that the grammar was also similar to Latin. A few years later I had a Pole attempt to teach me Polish. This is a modified form of Russian, but they had set up a college of professors when Poland was reborn after WWI, much on the lines of the French Academy, to modernise and police the language. The grammar was based on Latin and absolutely regular, and spellings were standardised. However the Russian alphabet did not stand the transition to our standard script, so you get the cz and dz construtions which make it look so odd. I served once with a Pole whose name was Abczynski and no-one could pronounce his name. He was known throughout the RAF as ABC.
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laurel
Junior Member
Posts: 83
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Post by laurel on Jul 28, 2008 19:20:13 GMT -5
I was 11 - in the 7th grade, a long time ago! Still remember more French than Spanish, which I took all through high school and a couple of brush-up courses a few years ago. (Since I live in southern California it's a must.) My accent is pretty good, but vocab is dismal. And idioms, forget it. I'm like David Sedaris...
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Post by denise on Jul 29, 2008 5:28:34 GMT -5
Ok so I have just come out as not being able to speak French on the other thread. I studied French and Latin all through secondary (high) school. From eleven to sixteen. Got O level French and Latin, went to France and got by OK. 34 years later at the age of 50 I went back, confident in my language skills and looking forward to polishing up my accent and vocabulary. What did I find... I couldn't understand a word, they couldn't understand me and I couldn't remember any of it! Since then I've tried tapes, classes, internet courses and NOTHING will go in. I can understand more than I speak but somehow or other no vocabulary will stay in my brain, and pronunciation is terrible. It's as if you learn your language skill when you are young and then when you are older you loose the ability. I used to get so annoyed with the older immigrant ladies who had been here years and couldn't speak English but now I have some sympathy with them, maybe they are just not capable of learning. I would love to find a method for teaching older people. Denise love from England
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Post by Happygoin on Jul 29, 2008 6:46:44 GMT -5
Denise, don't be so hard on yourself! Some people pick up languages easier than others is all. I do think that all of us French-flunkies on this thread make the point about starting children on foreign languages early. When we get to adulthood, it seems like our heads get soundproof
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aude
Full Member
Posts: 114
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Post by aude on Jul 29, 2008 9:24:09 GMT -5
Sarastro -- The same song ("Or-lay-awn, beau -jaw-see ...") has been rattling around in my head since my 7th grade French class long long ago. Like you, I have sung it to several native speakers and have only gotten quizzical looks in return. I realized that the first word was "Orleans" and recognized "Notre Dame" but beyond that I was clueless at deciphering the remaining syllables. Thank you!
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