Objectif : Écrire dans une langue étrangère un peu chaque jour !

 

  • Elizewyn

    Restaurateur de livres

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    #31 01 Janvier 2017 05:07:10

    vp-5871 a écrit

    Children's books are not a bad idea but I would suggest choosing books that are a bit more complex. Such as those by Dr. Seuss, a bestseller for many many years. His better known books are How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Green Eggs and Ham and, The Cat in the Hat. And if you want both VO and VF versions, they are available.

    As for meetings to practice your english (or other languages) there are often a few in my area on OnVaSortir. I attended a couple of them thinking I could help since I speak fluently but everyone would tell their little story or stories with barely any interest in being corrected... I just didn't see how that could help.

    Your best bet, if you have brits (there are quite a few of them in France) in your area is to find a couple to babysit for. Children are amazingly tolerant of bad accents and bad english and they are the best way to learn because most of them will make no bones about correcting you. And, you can always choose how often you do it.

    Watching movies is good for comprehension but don't watch with french subtitles. You'll end up reading the subtitles and not paying much attention to the english. Better is to have english subtitles on. Best is to choose a movie you already know so that you have a basic idea of the story and, then, watch it with no subtitles at all. And, watch it again and again.

    Also, someone mentioned not worrying about your accent. I totally agree especially if speaking to americans. From what I've been told brits are a bit snob about their language. Americans are very tolerant. Unless you speak, you will not learn to speak.


    I agree with everything ;)
    Except maybe the part about brits :lol:
    All the english speakers i've encountered were pretty tolerant regarding my shitty french accent =D As long as i made the effort of speaking their language, which i was more than happy to do since i love this language, they didn't care at all what my accent sounded like. But some of them made fun of me when i tried to translate idioms literally, especially my bf, who actually was american :lol:
    That being said, Australians and kiwis were the best :heart:

  • vp-5871

    Livraddictien débutant

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    #32 03 Janvier 2017 10:56:37

    Idioms don't translate well.  :D

    Just like humor. Both are closely tied to the culture and literal translations rarely make any sense.

    As far as humor is concerned, I was told several times that it is a good way to know your level in a foreign language. Your language skills must be good to understand the local humor. I don't quite agree with that. I believe it tells more about your knowledge of the culture than that of the language.

  • Elizewyn

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    #33 03 Janvier 2017 22:58:26

    vp-5871 a écrit

    Idioms don't translate well.  :D

    Just like humor. Both are closely tied to the culture and literal translations rarely make any sense.

    As far as humor is concerned, I was told several times that it is a good way to know your level in a foreign language. Your language skills must be good to understand the local humor. I don't quite agree with that. I believe it tells more about your knowledge of the culture than that of the language.


    Yes i agree with you as well, it takes some language skills but it's very much related to the culture, and some humor isn't even funny anyway, even in France :lol:

  • Readdikulus

    Apprenti Lecteur

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    #34 11 Janvier 2017 18:49:54

    Hello !
    First thing first, let me introduce myself : I'm Readdikulus, my real name is Ines, I'm 18yo and I'm in... terminale L (haha). I like a lot of things, as reading, watching series, movies, hanging with friends, animals, tea, etc, etc. A lot of things ! Now I think it is enough for my little introduction.

    I think this topic is very interesting ! I would like to talk in english more often but as a lot of you, I don't have anybody to speak with and I'm too shy to go to a café, and i don't know anyone so I can't go. ^^ Also, even if it was created to speak in any languages, I think it didn't work very well because there are already differents topics to talk in those specific languages (but I didn't find any to just talk in english, just differents english topics about a specific discussion), and at the end it seems that people coming here only talk in english.

    To continue the last conversation about humor, I agree with you two, vp-5871 and elizewyn, and in the meantime I don't. I mean, humor is tied to culture, as you said, but if you don't understand a joke, it might be because your skills in this language is not good enough. But if you just don't laugh at a joke because you don't have the same sense of humor, but you get it, you understand it, then it could mean that you are pretty good in this language.


    This is it for my first post here. You can tell me if I did a big mistake, that's why we're here ! I hope somebody will answer.
    Have a nice day !

  • beckygirly

    Collectionneur de pages

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    #35 13 Janvier 2017 10:18:14

    Hello!

    You write very well in English!

    Well, I love speaking English, but I'm like you, shy and so I avoid going to cafés to meet some foreign people. I'm disappointed with myself, but I'm planning on travelling this summer (fingers crossed) so I could speak in English.

    Hope you'll be able to meet someone to speak with them!
    Have a nice day/weekend!

  • Elizewyn

    Restaurateur de livres

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    #36 17 Janvier 2017 11:24:38

    I also try to meet with some people in bars in order to speak english (by using the website "onvasortir" but we were all french and we had very different levels, so it was kind of hard to have good and interesting conversations, because some people were lacking in vocabulary, which doesn't help at all when you're trying to have a conversation ^^

    But it's nice to at least practice here :)

    The only time i get to speak english is for 1h30 per week with my english teacher, who doesn't speak french very well, so we are always speaking in english. She's from Singapour :)

    Have a great week :)

  • Readdikulus

    Apprenti Lecteur

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    #37 23 Janvier 2017 21:10:52

    Hello there !

    I haven't very much to say, so I just come here to say hello and write a little. If anyone wants to talk about anything, I'm in ! I don't know what to talk about...

    I finally finished Les faux-monnayeurs by André Gide (it was... kind of boring) and I'm currently reading Ruby Red (Rouge Rubis) by Kerstin Gier. I already read it once, actually I read the trilogy, and I enjoyed it a lot !

    See you soon :)

  • missmolko1

    VIP des bibliothèques

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    #38 29 Janvier 2017 09:16:16

    Good morning :)
    I just saw this topic, I'm missmolko1 or Anne-Sophie and I'm living in Cork, in Ireland for 5 years. I'm married to an Irish man (who is fluent in French) but at work I speak english.
    I'm still making a lots of mistakes when I speak or write, but at least my level of english is much better than 5 year ago and most important, irish people can understand me :D .
    I love learning languages and I am really impressed by people who are able to speak 4 or 5 languages ( I have a colleague like this !). I also like travelling, cooking, watching movies and of course reading !!
    See you soon

  • Elizewyn

    Restaurateur de livres

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    #39 29 Janvier 2017 10:35:32

    Hello Readdikulus, and hello missmolko1 :)

    I'd love to travel and work in Ireland, you're so lucky :)
    I might be able to do an internship in Northern Ireland (Belfast) next year, fingers crossed ! :)

    Have a great sunday ! :)

  • Readdikulus

    Apprenti Lecteur

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    #40 02 Février 2017 17:44:48

    Hello ! How are you ?

    I also would love to travel to Ireland ! (In fact, I love to travel, and I'd like to go everywhere) It must be such a beautiful place, right ? ... Yes, I just saw pictures of Ireland and it MUST be wonderful ! I hope you enjoy it, missmolko
    Elizewyn, I hope you'll have the opportunity to do your internship. :)

    For my part, this summer I'm going to do a roadtrip with my boyfriend and 2 other friends ! It's going to be awesome ! We'll travel to Italia (maybe Turin, Venise for sure and we will probably stop in the national park), then we should pass through Slovenia to join Hongria (Ozora festival, here I come !). Finally, we will go south to Croatia, stay a few days and then come back in France. We are planning to do this on an entire month, I'm so excited !

    See you soon !