Re: Great Literature = Better Listening Skills?
Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 1:51 pm
I'd agree with emk that French is a special issue when it comes to the differences between the written literary language and the spoken language. It's quite one thing to read the long and descriptive sentences of great French literature and quite another thing to listen to informal speech with its short rapid fire sentences and endless contractions [Not to mention the fact that the passe compose, which is predominantly used in spoken French, is hardly used in literal French].
Most commonly, the 'ne's are removed = 'Je ne sais pas' becomes 'J'sais pas' /shepa/ etc
're's are removed = sentences go from 'Ce n'est pas votre problème, c'est notre problème.' = 'C'est pas vot' problème, c'est not' problème.'
And let's not even get into verlan, which is popular slang that involves the reversal of syllables
'femme' becomes 'meuf'
'cher' becomes 'reuch'
'moi' becomes 'ouam'
Then some native speakers, especially the young people that I chat with, tend to mumble and don't enunciate.
There are more examples but you get the idea.
Light speed speaking + verlan/ contractions + an occasional disregard for grammar and conventional word order+ a general lack of enunciation + tenses which are not used in literary French = a spoken language that seems like a dialect of the written one.
In essence, reading great French literature will not necessarily lead to better listening skills with regards to spoken French.
Most commonly, the 'ne's are removed = 'Je ne sais pas' becomes 'J'sais pas' /shepa/ etc
're's are removed = sentences go from 'Ce n'est pas votre problème, c'est notre problème.' = 'C'est pas vot' problème, c'est not' problème.'
And let's not even get into verlan, which is popular slang that involves the reversal of syllables
'femme' becomes 'meuf'
'cher' becomes 'reuch'
'moi' becomes 'ouam'
Then some native speakers, especially the young people that I chat with, tend to mumble and don't enunciate.
There are more examples but you get the idea.
Light speed speaking + verlan/ contractions + an occasional disregard for grammar and conventional word order+ a general lack of enunciation + tenses which are not used in literary French = a spoken language that seems like a dialect of the written one.
In essence, reading great French literature will not necessarily lead to better listening skills with regards to spoken French.