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Post by cybee on Sept 18, 2007 22:21:07 GMT -5
Hmm...now I am not at the office and am at my laptop at home which I just noticed does not have those little number keys to the right! (just has the numbers on the top!). Zut alors! Can't do the accents on this laptop! I always wondered what those numbers to the right were...just mystery items, I figured...no real use..now I know their use! ha!
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Post by Darcy on Sept 18, 2007 22:41:21 GMT -5
Thanks for mentioning that! It might be the determining factor in whether or not I get a laptop.
Edit: Cybee, I found this when I googled ALT+3 digit codes. Don't know if it will help you or not.
"On laptops, there's a pseudo number pad that shares keys with the right hand side letters. They can be accessed by pressing the fn key. The numbers are commonly colored blue.
Try alt+fn+nnn, and see if you get results."
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Post by Darcy on Sept 19, 2007 10:21:10 GMT -5
Not so clever, Gitte (speaking for myself here), just trying to keep up with you!!
I am always saying to myself, How does she know so much about Paris?!
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Post by Becky (Berkeleytravelers) on Sept 19, 2007 10:46:48 GMT -5
Darcy, that's easy - she's there all the time!
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Post by sistereurope on Sept 20, 2007 6:50:12 GMT -5
I started my French class last night - it was GREAT! The teacher is an elderly gentleman who apparently has been teaching French forever. He's American but his accent is really good - he said that "French is the most beautiful language on Earth - not because of the structure, but because of the pronunciation. I will do everything in my power to see that you don't butcher it". ;D He was kidding (in a way!) - he seems to be that perfect combination of tough and firm AND supportive and encouraging. He has an outstanding knowledge of French grammar and gave us all kinds of little helpful hints - I learned SO much last night - and the class was not boring at all. YEA!!!! I am so excited!!! After my last attempt at another local community college I did not have high expectations. Oooh, maybe this most beautiful language will someday be rolling off my tongue!!!
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Post by andi on Sept 20, 2007 9:34:48 GMT -5
Congratulations SisterE, I am so glad you enjoyed it, if like us you are having fun it should be a very enjoyable learning curve. Our homework this week is to add numbers together in french ie: 1 + 2 = 3........un + deux = trois, all the way up to 40. Ok this is quite simple but some members of the class simply do not know their numbers. Last night we covered numbers, days of the week and asking of a persons wellbeing. Our tutor happily informed us that we can now speak by-lingual (ok a little) which made me smile. Good luck to all beginners starting their course....well worth it!
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Post by sistereurope on Sept 20, 2007 11:33:35 GMT -5
Last night was a review as mine is an "Intermediate" class. I was relieved to discover that I wasn't the worst person in the class!!! I've been studying on my own and I had brushed up on all the basics before starting class, otherwise I think I would have been struggling a bit. We'll see as things progress! We don't have "homework", per se...although we are expected to review what we learned the previous class. I've been practicing saying the "u" sound, or as our instructor refered to it, the French sound that gives us Americans the most grief! So all the way to work I had my lips pursed...he said to bunch up our lips like we're we're going to say "U", and at the last minute say "E". Oh, and another really simple pronunciation trick-I always had trouble remembering how to pronounce the number 1 in French correctly. He simply said to think under, then drop the nder, and you're left with the correct way to say un!! Voilà!! ;D
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Post by Anne on Sept 21, 2007 1:33:18 GMT -5
I would have thought that it was the "R" which was the most difficult to pronounce ... Like in "regarde"
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Post by Happygoin on Sept 21, 2007 7:17:59 GMT -5
For me, it is, Anne. I simply cannot roll those R's. I've never been able to. It always sounds like I have something caught in my throat.
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Post by sistereurope on Sept 21, 2007 7:38:20 GMT -5
Oh yes Anne, my teacher said that the R's are almost as difficult! And I agree - I raised my hand and said that they are particularly troublesome for me, as I have a "Baltimorean" accent. We overemphasize the R and everything is in the front of the tongue, and it's a lazy tongue at that! He said to try to push the R to the back of the throat...it's still very hard for me. I used to joke about my disability with my French friend - he made me practice saying "Tres Bonne Crepe a Reims" over and over...whew!!!! (sorry no accents - I'm on my laptop and Darcey's tip about accents and the alt/fn key didn't work) Anyway, my friend had the most trouble saying the english word "drawer", so I made him say that over and over as revenge
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Post by Shoesy on Sept 21, 2007 7:46:00 GMT -5
I bet could win a prize for having the worst sounding "r" in other languages. I've completely given up trying to improve it when I speak Hebrew, and even though my accent is horrible, my grammar is correct so at least I don't sound like a complete moron. ;D
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Post by Happygoin on Sept 21, 2007 8:41:38 GMT -5
That's how I feel about my French, Shoesy. If I get the words correct, I hope I'm forgiven for my horrid accent.
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Post by andi on Sept 21, 2007 9:06:10 GMT -5
The trouble I am having is to make my French sound melodic, although I don't have a deep voice, my accent is very thick.......maybe i should try to sing what i say instead OOoh I don't know which is worse
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Post by annettecinca on Sept 21, 2007 9:29:57 GMT -5
Oooh yes, it's the r's for me, too! After our class on Monday, I could really feel the strain in my throat from all that back-of-the-tongue stuff!
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Post by Darcy on Sept 22, 2007 8:49:03 GMT -5
My French teacher keeps telling me that I can roll my r's if I practice, but I just can't!
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Post by andi on Sept 24, 2007 3:58:40 GMT -5
Here is a link to beginner and intermediate french, it accompanies the book we are using in our lessons but has many different tasks for you to try out. The book is called Access French by Bernard Grosz, published by Hodder Arnold. We got ours new for a really low price on Amazon. www.accesslanguages.com/accessfrench/student/activities/unit1_ex2.htm
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Post by andi on Sept 27, 2007 7:51:52 GMT -5
Our lesson was a little more difficult last night. We covered l'alphabet, les date - mois, jours. How to put these words into practice, asking Quell est la date au jourd'hui sil vous plait? and Quelle est la date de votre anniversaire? vous arrivez quand? and vous partez quand? If the answer to these dates was more than a month we were told to say "Oh la la" We were also told about the liason sound of the "z" Also we covered "les quatre saisons" Lastly we covered premier, deuxieme etc. Lots to remember now ;D On departure from the class room we were kindly informed that our teacher was considering a visit to Paris during half term !!!!!
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Post by Anne on Sept 27, 2007 8:13:35 GMT -5
Andi you deserve an exalt for all your efforts and your enthusiasm in learning
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Post by sistereurope on Sept 27, 2007 8:59:32 GMT -5
andi - I wish that my teacher would take us on a Field Trip to Paris!! We learned the passé composé last night, and we did LOTS of translating from Engish to French and vice versa. Whew!! I really like my teacher though, so that helps a lot (of course I'd like him even MORE if he took us all to Paris )
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Post by annettecinca on Sept 27, 2007 10:20:44 GMT -5
Sounds like you guys are all learning lots in your classes! Ours is moving very slowly. The first week we covered the alphabet, with some emphasis on the vowel sounds, and this week we learned Où, Que, Qui, Pourquoi, Quand, Comment et Combien, with a few phrases on how to use them. Our class is only an hour, and the teacher and a couple of the other students spend a lot of time discussing the similarities and differences of other languages I want to cram, but they've been going at this pace for years and aren't in any hurry to get anywhere!
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