La grande aventure de Thomas dans le monde des francophones.

[rdearman]

It is strange but I have met two groups of Mormon missionaries in June. In Bratislava and in Sardinia. I should have asked more about their language learning method.

[tomgosse]

They have about eight weeks to teach them enough French to function as a soldier in the French Army. The only other organizations that I can think of that need to teach French in very short while are the Foreign Service Institute, the Defense Language Institute, and the Mormon Church. The Legion is a unit of the French Army. Here is the post where I asked about language learning in the Legion.

As I understand that, the Legion don't really teach at all. They expect recruits to pick up basic commands, and let them sink or swim. Tough love!

Quite right. The recruit, or EV (engagé volontaire) is supposed to learn something like 400 words by the end of boot camp. No one seems to have a list of those words. After recruit training the legionnaire is really on his own to learn French. And from what I have read and learned from conversations with former legionnaires the quality of instruction can be all over the place. The EV is being taught by a professional soldier, not a professional teacher. Each non-French speaking EV is paired with a binôme, a French speaking recruit who is supposed to tutor him. The binôme may have two or three recruits assigned to him. His attitude towards his students may be, I must help them so I don't have to do extra pushups if they get an answer wrong in class and, if they do good it will make me look good for having leadership qualities. Other legionnaires told me that their binômes were first class jerks. They used stronger language than that but this is a family friendly forum.

The NPR piece on the Mormons sounds a bit like the FSI approach. Their missionary handbook is interesting too. They encourage the view of language learning as an ongoing process, requiring deliberate effort.

I listened to the NPR report some time ago. Thanks for the link to the manual. I'll read it tomorrow.

Bon courage mon ami,
Tom

[Carmody]

tomgosse
I find that I need to refresh beginner stuff because I keep forgetting it. My brain feels like a sieve.

Absolutely! Thanks for sharing your journey Tom!

[tomgosse]

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[tomgosse]

Bonjour mes amis,

This is not my original idea. I read it in the Duolingo French Group on Facebook. But I think I will give it a try.

"I've been trying an experiment. When I get a call from an unknown or unrecognized number, I answer in French. Usually it's a telemarketer or a political survey. I answer "Bonjour", let them say their spiel, then come back en français. They either hang up, or ask what language I speak. If I answer "Je parle français" sometimes they offer to have a French-speaking rep call back! It's been a lot of fun, and great practice to work on my accent!"

Do you have any ideas of things I might say to them?

À bientôt,
Tom

[MorkTheFiddle]

Nothing from Tom in his log for more than three months. How goes it, good friend? I hope you are well.

[Cavesa]

Bonjour mes amis,

This is not my original idea. I read it in the Duolingo French Group on Facebook. But I think I will give it a try.

"I've been trying an experiment. When I get a call from an unknown or unrecognized number, I answer in French. Usually it's a telemarketer or a political survey. I answer "Bonjour", let them say their spiel, then come back en français. They either hang up, or ask what language I speak. If I answer "Je parle français" sometimes they offer to have a French-speaking rep call back! It's been a lot of fun, and great practice to work on my accent!"

Do you have any ideas of things I might say to them?

À bientôt,
Tom

A well chosen Kaamelott quote should make them hang up forever.

This reminds me of a situation, where a person thought they got out of the conversation with their customer by not understanding the official language of the country. Nope, I switched too
(and it turned out to be a pleasant short conversation about a simple and easily fixable issue. No idea why the person had been so nervous)

I've recently seen callcenter recruitement posters, looking for employees with two foreign languages. I think we'll need to get more creative with the language excuses. I think I should start learning Finnish again. Or Euskera, to be on the safe side

[Cavesa]

Nothing from Tom in his log for more than three months. How goes it, good friend? I hope you are well.

I almost didn't notice, as I am a bit unorganised, when it comes to keeping track of time.

I hope you are ok, Thomas. I'm looking forward to reading the continuation of your log.

[Carmody]

Three cheers for Tom and best wishes on the medical front.

[neofight78]

We miss you Tom! Hope all is ok.