I have made some interesting mistakes in my time. In
Brittany once, I confidently translated a sign at farm/zoo type place as “
giraffes brush their teeth with dead dogs”, similarly, in Provence I could not
work out why the “ bull fight was going to take place in the swimming pool”….still
haven’t worked that one out.
Apart from the present tense, whichever past tense it is
when you conjugate with avoir or etre, and the basic future tense, I have
ignored things like the imperfect, the conditional, past historic and anything to
do with subjunctives. So, I have decided, it is time for some progress to be
made.
Today, I sat in the bar in the
village, drinking my morning coffee and I read a local paper.
As I sat there, I
suddenly realised I was really reading it. I almost laughed out loud when I
read the write up of the Jazz club concert I went to last week. I think the
journalist went to a different concert and got her reports mixed up. I did not
think it was “ une nuit magique” Anyway, I also found out that there is to be a
medieval festival in the next village next Sunday, that a singing group from
another nearby village is inviting people to come along and join, what Hollande
has been saying about the euro crisis and what the French hopes are for
Wimbledon and for the up and coming Tour de France.
This was a real leap forward. I
know it is easier to understand the written word than when you are hearing
someone speak very quickly….but I recognised that I was reading and
understanding whole articles, not just fragments of vocabulary that I was able
to string together to make some sense.
So….next, improve vocab……listen
to the radio, and talk to more people. I am confident within my limitations….I
have never minded if I get it wrong, and I do not spend ages searching for the
correct grammatical construction…..but I now understand that I must listen to
more people and talk to them for any real improvement to take place.
 |
| Excuse moi, je voudrais parler avec vous. |
The residents of Caunes had
better watch out. I am going to corner them in conversations whenever I get the
chance.
Dear Janice - when living in another country I think that it is really important to be able to converse with the locals. Holidays are one thing, but living there is another.
ReplyDeleteI envy my youngest granddaughter, who spent her formative years at school in Paris. Although she now lives in Norway, she still talks like a native with all of the gestures too. The whole family is fluent in French after 5 years there, but she has the je ne sais quoi regarding accent. My son works for a French company, so he has to be able to converse fluently.
You are right in that holiday French just isn't good enough for real conversations. I'm sure total immersion is the best way.The most French I ever learned was when I stayed with a French family for 2 weeks, just outside Paris, when I was 14.None of them spoke any english. I just wish I'd done that sort of thing a few more times. I will persevere. J.
DeleteIt's interesting that you find the written word easier than the spoken word - I have the opposite problem. I can understand and follow conversations rather well (it was the same in French) but find the manner in which the language is written very difficult to follow - same in both French and Spanish. Whilst you recognise that you need to talk and listen more to your neighbours, I definitely need to read more and perhaps shut up from time to time...!
ReplyDeleteAsi es la vida (life's like that)
Axxxx
Love your giraffe translation!! How on earth did you get that - and if I get the chance, can I use it!! I have a friend whose 4 year old daughter once very enigmatically said, 'Foxes don't eat lampposts' and it's become a family favourite, oft quoted. I know Mateo will love this one!!
DeleteAxxx
I wish I could remember how the giraffe one came about. It certainly involved brosse a dents, et les chiens mortes....so what else could it be ? At least it is true that foxes dont eat lampposts. I have never found any evidence for factual basis for my errors. Jxxx
DeleteAnnie... I've just remembered the bulls in the pool thing..... we were staying near Avignon, and a french bull fight was advertised as " les toros dans le( ou peutetre, au) piscine" Now you tell me what that was all about ! We did go to it....it was held, at the bull ring in the town....no lifeguards in sight.
DeleteI have a two language brain - it can't seem to cope with a third. My French seemed to be OK, then when I learnt Turkish, I lost my French. When i had to concentrate on French again - my Turkish went. I'm in awe of all my friends that seem to slip easily between English, Turkish, French and German, with Dutch, Danish or Spanish as their mother tongue.
ReplyDeleteMy mind boggles when I hear of these incredibly talented people who speak every language that might be useful and are able to slip from one to the other. I recently met a 10 year old who speaks fluent English, French, Portuguese and Occitan. Complete respect !
DeleteI had basic french when I moved to France...and a good specialised vocabulary which was no use whatsoever in daily life...and then everyone spoke patois anyway!
ReplyDeleteI found then and do now that I am getting to grips with Spanish that a newspaper is very important - not just for reading skills and knowing what's on but for having a subject about which to talk to people...
Here, you just have to mention the 'platina'( an expanding plate which doesn't) or the latest 'heuco' (whopping great hole ) on the road to the airport and everyone is off chasing the hare.
Don't worry about tenses...my great friend in France told me when I was starting out that I was a woman with no past and no future! But she helped me acquire both tenses in time and many more beside, mostly by listening to her and to others and, I suppose, picking it up by repetition.
Watch out Caunes...here you come!
This is so encouraging Fly, thankyou.I love the idea of no past and no future. As for the topics for discussion...yes, the newspaper is the answer. I do not have to discuss the contents of my pencil case with my neighbours. I will talk to them about le Tour, and the ridiculous amount of nids de poules in the road. I'll wait a bit to engage in political discussions....dont want to offend anyone straight away. J.
DeleteYes, go for it! When we first bought our house and came here for holidays, in the evenings we just used to go out into the square and sit down on the benches with all the members of the club du troisième age. To start with, we could barely understand them, and they could barely understand us, but we persevered with a lot of nodding, smiling, and sign language and gradually improved. It's the best way to learn, and you get to know your neighbours too. Plus all the village gossip :)
ReplyDeleteWe also had, and still have, a lovely next-door neighbour. Before her husband died, we spent many hours sitting around his kitchen table drinking pastis -- another good way of picking up local argot. And the more pastis you drink, the better you get!
Right then I'd better get into pastis. It is good to hear so many positive stories about improving language skills. I know I do Ok....I just want to be so much better. Our nearest neighbours are Dutch, so they probably speak dozens of languages, but our neighb ours across the divide ( sounds grand...its a bit of a ditch really) shout at each other quite a lot, so if the wind is in the right direction I'm picking up all sorts of things that might come in useful.
DeleteBravo!
ReplyDeleteWhen we had our apartment in the Haute Savoie we only had French and Swiss TV so watched/listened to quite a lot of French and got better tuned in. When we moved to the Indre et Loire satellite TV came with the house so all too often we take the easy option.
Your post has inspired me to tune in to French channels again.
I had thought that TV would be a good way to "tune in" as you say, I hoped that I would pick up a better vocabulary and perhaps more colloquial French than was taught at my north London grammar school in the 1960s.....but English satellite TV doesn't let that happen, so like you I have found that when I do watch TV, I end up watching English programmes. I think I can only get I French channel.....I'm going to make the effort to at least watch the news in French every day....it wont be soap opera French, but it will be better than watching "Look North" ...which really does seem a bit strange when you are sitting in the Languedoc.
DeleteOh Janice isn't that "Eureka" moment wonderful and you describe it so well. Celia x
ReplyDeleteThanks Celia, it is certainly a good feeling, knowing that I do not have to search out a tabac selling 2 days ago's Guardian ( difficult, as it seems most local villages sell yesterday's Mail, and of course that is completely impossible to read, no matter what language you speak)in order to find out what is going on in the world. I can follow the euro crisis, the Br banking scandals, Syria, Egypt, and the Tour de France, and of course who has reached 100 years old in all the neighbouring villages. I need no more ! Jx
DeleteI too read better Turkish then speaking it for some reason......my French is bad and I live in a country all my life that is bilingual with English and French. But in my area we never learned French, just like in Quebec they don't know how to speak English.
ReplyDeleteBut I do speak English, Ukrainian, Russian and Turkish as so does my daughter....and I switch from one to another without any problems. But I do wish I learned French.
Love those cafe's there just to sit people watch with a cup of coffee.
....have a great day!
I admire and envy your language skills....being able to switch from one to another must be wonderful.I'm afraid the English education system has never put enough value on teaching languages....stemming from old colonial days....when Brits just expected everyone else to learn English.
DeleteI truly admire your determination - and you sense of humor, Janice. It is funny how, to some, it is easier to read in another language, to others, to speak or listen. I know that the older we get, the harder it is to learn and that children soak up languages like a sponge. We never quite "get it" here in the States that we should start foreign languages in preschool, certainly well before 4th or 5th grade. I grew up in a bilingual home and spent 5 years going to Greek school after regular school and on Saturdays. Both my sister and I were fluent readers and could carry on basic conversations. Now????
ReplyDeleteWasn't that an amazing "aha" moment when you suddenly realized how much of what you were reading you understood?
Oh to be a young sponge ! How lucky you were to have been brought up in a bilingual home. I bet it is all still there, lurking at the back of your brain. It never dawned on me that some people find listening and speaking easier than reading for understanding, until Annie ( Moving On) said so in her response to this post. I guess reading , seeing the wrtten word, is just the way I learn stuff best. I still wish I just soaked it up though, without noticing. J
DeleteIsn't it wonderful when the penny drops like that, Janice and you realise you're really reading something and not just picking at it? Bravo!! I buy our local Sud-Manche paper every week and read it religiously - reports of local clubs, politics, social events and even adverts and it really does help such a lot. Like you, I learn best by reading, but still make a point of listening to French radio and can now understand most of what I hear, especially on the talk radio I prefer. It helps too that we don't have TV here, so I'm not tempted to watch English language programmes.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly I find that improving my French has also made it easier to recall much more of the German I know, as though the language-learning bit of my brain is really getting some decent exercise. :-)
I do feel a little as if I've sold out, having English TV here. We made the decision that as we intend to spend half the year here, and we do enjoy some TV, it would be easier for it to feel like home, if we could watch some of the same TV that we watch in England. However.... I am certainly listening to the radio in French, and really enjoy reading the local daily paper. It is interesting that your German is being remembered too. I do envy people who speak so many languages. J.
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