weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Dec 12, 2012 20:03:32 GMT -5
Chiver, I was taught Parisian French, and that's the French I'm most comfortable with, to this day. When I hear the Quebec 'joual', I have trouble understanding it. It needs subtitles, kind of like Honey BooBoo's show needs subtitles for English speakers. It's a completely different animal.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Dec 12, 2012 20:20:16 GMT -5
welts, my dialect is Acadian/NB. besides having a "Frenglish" vocabulary, the sentence structure is somewhat fluid, too - sentences that are a mix of French and English words tend to follow English sentence structure, while purely French sentences follow traditional romance language structure. the vocabulary is totally all over the map. knowing that's MY basis, I'm very hesitant to actually speak French outside Maritime Canada when I travel.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Dec 12, 2012 20:29:08 GMT -5
knowing that's MY basis, I'm very hesitant to actually speak French outside Maritime Canada when I travel. --------------- Awww, you still should. People appreciate it.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Dec 12, 2012 20:50:58 GMT -5
oh, I do....with that caveat. lol... honestly, when I'm with my family I speak English in the group. as long as everyone in the room understands both, we will all speak our native tongues and the conversation flows seamlessly like it was all in one tongue. the only time I really actually speak French regularly anymore is with Memere when she's tired. I should probably get back to speaking it again, if for no other reason than practice. I've found my problem is that I can't find the word I'm looking for when I try to speak conversationally.
I'm told our accent is closer to Parisian than the rest of Canada, but the syntax is downright awful in comparison.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 21:32:23 GMT -5
Most important one, you ask? (pardon spelling) "Je parle Francais en peu, tu parlez Anglais?" ---------------- It's either "tu parles" or "vous parlez". If you're speaking to strangers, it's more polite to use the formal "vous". Yet more proof to them that I was trying and making a good effort of it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 23:13:06 GMT -5
Ours offers Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin. DD2 took German all through Middle, High School and college and is now living and working in Berlin. It all began because she liked the band "Ramstein". ...now she loves Germany, and a German boy.
DD3 is a senior and has been taking Chinese since 8th grade. I'm a bit worried...
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Dec 13, 2012 8:14:29 GMT -5
Most important one, you ask? (pardon spelling) "Je parle Francais en peu, tu parlez Anglais?" ---------------- It's either "tu parles" or "vous parlez". If you're speaking to strangers, it's more polite to use the formal "vous". Weltz maybe you can help me with a tu and vous question. I always address my French boss and French co-workers as "vous." However my French boss addresses me as 'tu', and the co-workers refer to each other as 'tu.' I don't want to give offense so I stick with the more formal, but what is the social rule here? If my boss refers to me as 'tu' can I call him 'tu' in return? Or have the rules gotten more lax now and the 'vous' is mostly used as a plural while 'tu' is used in singular? For instance, is a cab driver "tu" or "Vous?"
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Dec 13, 2012 12:52:20 GMT -5
Most important one, you ask? (pardon spelling) "Je parle Francais en peu, tu parlez Anglais?" ---------------- It's either "tu parles" or "vous parlez". If you're speaking to strangers, it's more polite to use the formal "vous". Weltz maybe you can help me with a tu and vous question. I always address my French boss and French co-workers as "vous." However my French boss addresses me as 'tu', and the co-workers refer to each other as 'tu.' I don't want to give offense so I stick with the more formal, but what is the social rule here? If my boss refers to me as 'tu' can I call him 'tu' in return? Or have the rules gotten more lax now and the 'vous' is mostly used as a plural while 'tu' is used in singular? For instance, is a cab driver "tu" or "Vous?" It can be tricky. I wouldn't use "tu" for a boss, although he can use it to address you. "Tu" usually reserved for children, pets, relatives, people you know really well and colleagues. "Vous" is used for authority figures, older people and strangers. When in doubt, use "vous". Better to show too much respect than not enough, and risk offending someone. I would address a cab driver with "vous".
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Dec 13, 2012 13:03:34 GMT -5
We have the same setup in Russian, with "ti" and "vi". "Ti" is very familiar, but if you use it inappropriately, it's quite a slap in the face, and extremely rude. Sometimes I tell new immigrants who are struggling with "La conjugaison" when learning French to address everyone with "vous" for now. You can't screw up that way.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Dec 13, 2012 17:36:17 GMT -5
We have the same setup in Russian, with "ti" and "vi". "Ti" is very familiar, but if you use it inappropriately, it's quite a slap in the face, and extremely rude. Sometimes I tell new immigrants who are struggling with "La conjugaison" when learning French to address everyone with "vous" for now. You can't screw up that way. The Fluenz DVD's I'm using don't even teach you the 'tu' conjugations in the first set of lessons - they teach you 'vous' = you. I guess it makes it less confusing initially, plus you don't have to learn that one extra conjugation. I'm struggling with the le and la, also. WTH does every single thing have to be a him or a her? And they don't make sense - I asked my French boss why it's la france and le canada - he couldn't tell me.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Dec 13, 2012 18:15:56 GMT -5
I'm struggling with the le and la, also. WTH does every single thing have to be a him or a her? And they don't make sense - I asked my French boss why it's la france and le canada - he couldn't tell me. -------------- Lol! Russian has THREE genders. Masculine, feminine and neutral. Things are a "he" or a "she" or an "it".
(....and I still found English harder to learn)
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