Pads Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 After losing my last computer thanks to the electric board blowing my house up ....long stoy for another day Im now restarting from the beginning the whole coarse again. I was on level 4 do you know how many hours of my time it took to get there sob sob Any how fellow users when your doing the speaking exercises do you find that you practically have to minmick the talker ( in a way I would find a little rude if I was talking to a real person.) so if its a man you put on a gruffer voice and different women to have to take on the pitch as well ...or is it just me ? when in france I can say bonjour in my normal voice everyone understands me , on here it wont except it unless I copy the tone as well . After saying bonjour 6 times I also find my self getting louder ( oh lord please dont let me do that in real life I hate it when I hear others doing it ) I find it quiet disheartning when it rejects things I think I say really well , then after getting some I hear as wrong it will except it ...Although I have to say its a great coarse and can keep me entertained for hours ....Anyone any thoughts on it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 [quote user="Pads"]when in france I can say bonjour in my normal voice everyone understands me , on here it wont except it unless I copy the tone as well .[/quote]A really interesting observation. I use RS to try and improve my french and I generally don't have any major issues with it recognising what I say (the only misses I attribute to my irish accent). Many moons ago when back in high school my French teacher was a native from Dijon and like your experiences with RS she would accept nothing less than the exact pronuciation and intonation. Maybe my experiences at school make me naturally try to copy tone when speaking but another interesting thing is that my friend who had an native Irish, French teacher turns to me to communicate when he fails... funny thing is that I can understand what my friend is trying to say in French and even though I say the same thing the french understand me better than him.Maybe its because in English you mock someone by copying the exact way they say things, doesn't really happen the same way in French because although you think you are copying exactly, to a native French speaker they will obviously identify you as a foreigner but not trying to mock them.Anyone support my hypothethis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 When speaking to a native, I often find I use the "Inspector Clouseau" when they don't understand me and of course I am moking [6] but to my ear I am saying exactly what they are listening for yet don't get. I used to mimick that short sharp intake of breath used by our French estate agent and that seemed to get me understood more easily [:)] You should try Micheal Thomas and then you can speak French like a German Jewish American Man [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Yes Robbo you may be right ........Theire I have thats probally the problem... Since startng to learn I have had a Cornish french speaker teacher, a SW france teacher and a Paris teacher. Plus on the CD'S Micheal Thomas and Elizabeth Smith (have you heard her!!) Then I go deep south of France were Pain sounds like Penge. I have no chance really do I ?? Still my neighbours and builder are really beginning to understand me now . So I must be doing some thing right .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Maybe the difference between what you are saying and what RS is listening for is more to do with the stress, Pads?Not the stress on YOU ;-) but the way the French put equal stress on each syllable of the word, rather than the English-speaker's way of stressing (usually) the first syllable more than the rest?And also in French the vowel sounds tend to be shorter than in English. I remember being castigated by French friends for my pronunciation of "de l'eau" as "de looowww", whereas they said it as "de l'o" (if you see what I mean.)Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Look at the failure as a blessing in disguise, Pads. Nothing wrong with starting again at the beginning - you really get to know the bits you absorbed and the bits which somehow passed you by. There are always more of the latter than one expects.[:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have found by going back and starting again on a number of the cd sets and books I have tried works well because you start to soak in the words that passed you by the first time , as by now all the easy words are second nature so its not so stressful. I have learnt so much by restarting something. My french french teacher is coming to the house for a coffee on Sunday so Im going to get her to pronounce some of the words in to my rosetta and see if its just me ..... Should be interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 "Into the face of the young man ... there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French". P. G. Wodehouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 I think any English man who bothers to learn..... should hold his head high .. ;)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I have used Rosetta Stone and found that there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on 'TU'-now given that if you are learning French-the likelyhood of using TU is remote. I would prefer it to teach only VOUS as once you have a grasp of French then learning TU is easier. My husband doesn't speak French at all and I thought RS would help but as we don't address our neighbours with TU- having only been here a year-and knowing no young people he has never used the TU form of any verb. Surely it's better to be over-polite in the first instance? What do others think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Yes It does start with tu at the beginning but by level 4 its more vous as you stat to learn more busniess type vocab.Do you not tu your husband ? HOW TO TEACH A HUSBAND FRENCH STEP ONE......... ;))I speak only french to my husband for 4 hours each morning .....So if he wants any thing he has to understand and reply, or he wont get breakfast , coffee, tea , his mail or any thing else !! I do it one sentance at a go so not to over burden him.... but he is getting there . Most morning's he takes it with humour other mornings he can be a bit grumpy about it .... but thats just men ...I even leave him little romantic notes stuck to his computer in the mornings ...he like them ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 What a great idea -I may have to try that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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