Just Katie Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thank you Mr Smith. Would you like a gros bisou from me or are you happy to just cluster for the moment. Anyway, what is John doing can somebody tell me please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Katie, hes doing A level French; I think the posts were all crossing at once. I also explained my smartassness about the visigoths here.Anyway, all this French lark. Does anyone here like 'conversational' French classes? I simply cannot stand them, and I've tried two different ones. I just hate the wishiwashiness. Everyone else loved them.I'm not trying to feed anyone a line, but I need discipline and structure.What am I going to do now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 A cup of tea would be nice, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Sorry Dick, you would have to go elsewhere for that service, but if I'm not mistaken you would have to leave the kitten behind?So, here's another thing about learning French. I am just at the age where they still taught you what nouns and adjectives were, but they had just about given up on all the other things (pluperfect past participles and the like). So, it seems to me that I have to re- learn 'English', before I can learn French. This has been descibed as a 'pencil sharpening' excercise by my dear OH, who goes Poooof! with the best of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hastobe Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote user="Tresco"]Anyway, all this French lark. Does anyone here like 'conversational'French classes? I simply cannot stand them, and I've tried twodifferent ones. I just hate the wishiwashiness. Everyone elseloved them.[/quote]We tried them and it was an unmitigated disaster - the mixture ofabilities was far too wide and there were too many in the class to haveany realistic chance of progressing - after all 15 students hadrepeated 'comment ça va?', student number one -(and most of the rest ofus) had fallen asleep. Then there was the student whowalked out (apparently for the second year running) because he neededto learn words and couldn't 'do' sentences. Then we had theyoung 'bimbo' wife of an aging executive - who had to be told how topronounce 'bonjour' at least sixteen times. Afterthe teacher had rounded on MOH and I for the third time asking us torepeatwhat we had just said for the benefit of the class we decided enoughwas enough (our french is/was only basic - O level plusholidays - so our responses were hardly dynamic!) All veryentertaining but wasn't improving our French much.We now have private lessons once a week and these have been reallygood. As far as coping, I can read (and write) French reasonablywell but conversation escapes me. They just speak too darned fast- and throw the local accent in and I'm stuffed. I start off withall good intentions but then miss a word and my brain has to have a'thinking break' by which point I've lost the next threesentences. I find it hard work and mentally draining - but keephoping the penny will drop and it will all start to make sense. Iuse 'context' an awful lot to follow what is being said - filling inthe blanks so to speak. Our French teacher keeps assuring us thatit will click and we will start to think in French instead of having togo through the laborious process of thinking in English andtranslating...but hasn't happened yet. We are trying to lightenthings up by learning a few colloquialisms and swear words - one of the advantages of not doing O'level ;)Hastobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks HastobeI know many people do enjoy them, and that they get a lot out of them, but I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who doesn't/hasn't. I'll leave the negatives out as you have done a good job there, (it's so familiar) but one of the funniest things I heard was a woman who strung a very long sentence together without a single conjugated verb. My most recent pencil sharpening exercise has been trying to work out how to do the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 "Anyway, the hubby is away on business tonight" Vous etes trés naive Mme KKK[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Never did a conversational 'class', just did conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Never did a conversational 'class', just did conversationI try, I try....I'm getting better, unless all French people are liars. The other problem is, all the people I was really matey with seem to be popping off (and I don't mean to the shops). It's hard in the sticks, as there just aren't easy chances for conversation. I speak very good 'sheep' and goose' though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I speak very good 'sheep' and goose' though.Just guessing here but does that have anything at all to do with the sellotape stuff ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Oh crikey, I forgot to answer your questions about the sellotape. What is sellotape in French? I need to buy some soon. Very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote user="Tresco"]Oh crikey, I forgot to answer your questions about the sellotape. What is sellotape in French? I need to buy some soon. Very soon.[/quote]Ler steeky bak plasteek..... [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote user="Miki"][quote user="Tresco"] Oh crikey, I forgot to answer your questions about the sellotape. What is sellotape in French? I need to buy some soon. Very soon.[/quote]Ler steeky bak plasteek..... [:D][/quote] Things could be worse, chaps. You could be in Australia [:$].... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote user="Tresco"]Oh crikey, I forgot to answer your questions about the sellotape. What is sellotape in French? I need to buy some soon. Very soon.[/quote]Just ask for "un rouleau du Scotch", I know i'm being silly to-nigt but that really is the word for it. Would I lie to you my dear Tresco?[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 No, I really don't think you would Twinkle. Thanks, and you're a hoot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Anytime sweetie, I don't know much but I can speak the lingo[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I thought so, but how long did it take to 'click?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Honestly, I was quite young when I came here to live (23) so I was socialising a lot, the more you speak the language the more you learn and very quickly. After 6 months I could follow all conversations and make myself understood. They say that you've really mastered a foreign language once you start dreaming in that language, this happened to me after 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 That's reassuring. I was nearly 42 when I came, and age does make a difference. I can follow most things, even films without subtitles now, but it is really hard, and sometimes I clam up completely when trying to speak with people. It's so frustrating. Someone posted recently a link to an article about the effects on teenagers, when their parents bring them here. There was a part of it that likened the experience to asphasia (what stroke victims go through) and I could really understand that. All the words are there (in a way), but you just can't get them out.I do have the odd dream in French. When I can understand them I'll feel a bit happier![:)] Some of them are very intriguing. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Would you like to share them with us Tresc. Come on I'm being signed back in for rehab tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 As I can't even share them with myself yet I have to say no. It's not that I don't want to be 'giving'.Are you going off again K Kat? It ony takes a few second to put the children in front of a video with a plate of chips[:)]Only joking, that's no way to 'live'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote user="Tresco"]That's reassuring. I was nearly 42 when I came, and age does make a difference. I can follow most things, even films without subtitles now, but it is really hard, and sometimes I clam up completely when trying to speak with people. It's so frustrating. Someone posted recently a link to an article about the effects on teenagers, when their parents bring them here. There was a part of it that likened the experience to asphasia (what stroke victims go through) and I could really understand that. All the words are there (in a way), but you just can't get them out.I do have the odd dream in French. When I can understand them I'll feel a bit happier![:)] Some of them are very intriguing. LOL[/quote]I know how frustrating it must be, but you'll get there just a bit slower!KKK will sympathise with you, she has all the words too, it's like she's swallowed a french dictionary when she comes over here and she just spurts them all out over the poor bewildered locals! She's brilliant, they love her[:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 I'm reminded of a quote from the late Eric Morecombe," I'm playing the right notes,but not necessarily in the right order!"Somehow seems to describe my French! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 [quote user="Tresco"] I really wish I had had a chance to do what JohnM is doing. [/quote]I will confess that, even though the qualification is of very little interest (not that I don't want to do well in the exam, in my book there is a differenece) going to a structured lesson has been good for me. (And the Wednesday lunch time's "Conversation" class with the young (pretty) conversation assistant is a joy! I now know the french for "please stop staring at me with that inane grin on your face", I expect it will be very useful) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]Visigoths spoke Gothic, I believe, a Germanic language of the Indo-European family of languages. There is a Wikipedia entry, but the character set isn't showing up on my computer.I think it might cause John to explode...[/quote]That's going to Room 101 as well then.While I'm at it, Subjunctives are going in as well, I really don't understand why we need / want / use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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