Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

[rdearman]

We tend to give a lot of discretion in logs, but if you want to continue this conversation I would prefer you did it on other forums.

[Jar-Ptitsa]

The Netherlands and France won't leave the EU. Referenda in those countries had a result which the govenerments ignored. In addition, they won't vote to leave anyway.

I won't say more becuase of the political nature of the discussion and for example I didn't giev my opinion about remain or leave.

_____________

PM, you're a nurse and all the countries want more nurses. You chose a great profession for emigration!! Then money, because money is power and choice, so the rich people can live where they choose. I don't mean that you (PM) are so wealthy (I don't know), but I mean the 2 categories make emigration easy: useful profession which the countries need, and lots of money.

In the historical times, The Netherlands and Belgium were one country, for example ruled by Spain. They shared a lot of centuries together, as well as the Flemish share a langauge with the Netherlands.

Benelux is quite important, although not as important as it seems for the foreigners I think. for example, the qualifications don't transfer from Holland to Belgium immediately, even with the Bologna Protocol. I think the langauge connection in Flanders is probably an important influence though, and the transfer I know about was Netherlands - Wallonia. I know as well, that even in the EU, the lawyers are very busy with arguments and disputes about where a person is resident / working / taxes etc. Then you said that France wants the nurses after they have worked one year or more in another EU country, when other EU countries haven't got this rule.

so I mean, if the EU exist or not, many of the countries need more nurses

I have found a chart, but it's very old from 2008, it has got the list of professions which the regions need. It's totally stupid that in Dutch they call a nurse "verpleegster" which is the feminine form!!! They should say "verpleegkundige" They are about 6 centuries behind!!!!! I've met lots of nurses who are men and I'm sure they don't mean on the list that they need only female nurses!!! anyway, the list is interesting I think. If i can find a more recent list I will tell you

You can see that nurse is in the top 5 for Wallonia

[PeterMollenburg]

Thanks people for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate your opinions

Vogeltje, I have come across 'verpleger' as the masculine form of the feminine 'verpleegster'.

The French seem to be particularly strict on their rules with regards to recognition of qualifications from those who have trained outside the EU. In some ways I respect this, as they protect their own way of doing things, in others I see it as possibly unnecessarily over-complicated. Even still if I work outside of France in another EU country, I won't automatically get recognition in France, I could still have to undergo further training between 1 and 2 years possibly.

As for money, if you mean nurses earn good money. I disagree. I do believe they earn a good wage, or can earn a very good wage in numerous countries around the world, but not all. Ironically, I've read many forums in which French nurses seem to want to leave the country in droves for a number of reasons including poor income. Still, that's very biased- to read forums coming from the perspective of disgruntled French nurses, is going to very much swing in favour of one side of the argument. Having said that, their wages are considerably lower than many other Western European countries. Further still, I recently read an article in which comparisons were made between nurses salaries in comparison with the average income of those countries (across various EU countries) and some countries that seemed to be very well paid for nurses, didn't appear so great when compared to the average income in those countries. And some poorly paid nurses actually did quite well in relation to their country's average income (Portugal in particular, and Greece as well). France did not look so bad after all when compared to their average wage. Still, anecdotally, what I've read, (good) conditions, like I have here in Australia are very hard to find elsewhere. Which is why essentially, I'll probably continue to work in this country more than elsewhere once/if I have a foot in the door overseas. Luxembourg continues to remain a very favourable country to nurse in. Of course, it's very difficult to find work there, my qualifications may not be recognised, or to the local standard, and it would be very likely I'll need to speak German very well and have some knowledge of Luxembourgish. Switzerland is a good option, but not if you live there (best to cross the border each day- too expensive otherwise).

[Jar-Ptitsa]

Thanks people for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate your opinions

Vogeltje, I have come across 'verpleger' as the masculine form of the feminine 'verpleegster'.



As for money, if you mean nurses earn good money. I disagree.

No, I didn't mean that nurses earn good money. I mean that 2 things make possible to emigrate easily:

1) you have a profession that the countries need, for example a nurse

2) you are rich and have got lots of money

I meant that you have got the first, becuase you are a nurse.

Then I can't judge if you are rich or not. I know that nurses don't earn so much money, but I mean maybe you've got money. I can't know and don't ask such things. for example, I've got a zero hours contract in a café, and I earned less than £8,000 last year, but ym parents are rich, so I'm not poor like I would be with my own income. Of course a nurse earns much more than me, but I mean i couldn't say that you havne't got lots of money only becuase of your profession. also, there are different types of nurse as well.

[PeterMollenburg]

Thanks people for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate your opinions

Vogeltje, I have come across 'verpleger' as the masculine form of the feminine 'verpleegster'.



As for money, if you mean nurses earn good money. I disagree.

No, I didn't mean that nurses earn good money. I mean that 2 things make possible to emigrate easily:

1) you have a profession that the countries need, for example a nurse

2) you are rich and have got lots of money

I meant that you have got the first, becuase you are a nurse.

Then I can't judge if you are rich or not. I know that nurses don't earn so much money, but I mean maybe you've got money. I can't know and don't ask such things. for example, I've got a zero hours contract in a café, and I earned less than £8,000 last year, but ym parents are rich, so I'm not poor like I would be with my own income. Of course a nurse earns much more than me, but I mean i couldn't say that you havne't got lots of money only becuase of your profession. also, there are different types of nurse as well.

Ah, right, sorry I misunderstood Nu begrip ik het ! Tu as raison, il y beaucoup de raisons qui contribuent à notre mode de vie en ce qui concerne l'argent

[PeterMollenburg]

course number 27 completed:

Grammaire Progressive du Français - niveau débutant

Despite the title it was more worthwhile that it would seem to work through this. Not my favourite course thus far, but not bad in any way. This series is good I believe as an adjuvant to one wanting grammar study alongside using predominantly native materials, since the way it is set out is rather pragramatic. You turn to a page, you read the page on the left-hand-side containing simple to read grammar rules and then you do the exercises on the right-hand page. For those using native content, one could be happily reading/listening and doing whatever and gradually discover you have a weakness- you refer to your above mentioned grammar book (depending on your level), read the brief grammatical overview and then do the activities, then get back to your native content.

[PeterMollenburg]

I'm going to start trimming my long-time saved course list. Tonight I've cut these from the list because they're all too easy and I have little attachment to them:

FSI Introduction to French Phonology
Living Language 3
TY Complete French
FSI Metropolitan French Fast
Linguaphone French 1
Bien-dire: Guide de prononciation
FSI Le monde francophone
Bien-dire: Bon appétit (A2-B1)
D'accord - La prononciation du Français international
FSI Sub-Saharan French

Edit:
These are off my list now too because they either annoy me (don't like the French digital TY courses much) or are are unworthy given my level (Vis-à-vis is a little too 'high-schooly' or at least early uni for me):

TY Perfect Your French
Vis-à-vis
TY French Grammar

[Jar-Ptitsa]

Ah, right, sorry I misunderstood Nu begrip ik het ! Tu as raison, il y beaucoup de raisons qui contribuent à notre mode de vie en ce qui concerne l'argent

No problem

[PeterMollenburg]

More French courses removed from my list of courses to do list:

These are actually all vocabularly style 'books':

*French vocabulary lists
*French for En speakers (3000 words)
*French Frequency Dic. (5000 words)
*Bilingual French Visual Dictionary (6000 words)
*French for English speakers (9000 words)
*M Durands Words, Phrases & Sen's
*Barron's Mastering French Vocab.
*Dirty French
*Mot à Mot New Advanced French Vocabulary

The fact is, I don't want to learn words in isolation. Going through just one of these books and entering unknown words into Anki, or writing them down, or learning them as I go would be such an incredibly inefficient use of time. I have taken them off my 'to do list' but reserve the right to pick one or two up in future if it's called for or I feel that way inclined (highly unlikely), otherwise, what's the point? I'd be so much better off reading a book and learning the words from context.

I've also removed these two courses:

*Cortina Method: Conversational French in 20 Lessons
*The Berlitz Self Teacher French

I had read that they were quite good these courses. Good or not, I just flicked through the Cortina Book, and there's very little in there that's suitable for my level if anything. It might be good, but not appropriate. The Berlitz Self Teacher French might have received great reviews like the Cortina course, but again it's not geared towards intermediate or even advanced learners, it's really a beginner's course.

I must admit I've still got a few beginner's courses that I do want to do, as I think they will be fun and interesting to be quite honest, and provide some new material. Still I've at least now cut 24 courses of my list (even if some of them aren't courses per sé, they were on my course list).

Here's another to make it a good number (25):

French in Action (3rd ed.). I own some of the books (part 1), I may flick through it one day, but it's not essential, as I own the 2nd ed, and very much intend on making my way through that- it's one I truly don't want to miss for a number of reasons.

[Xenops]

I did not know that many French courses exist.