Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

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CaroleR
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby CaroleR » Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:14 pm

My sister sent me this card for Christmas.
Clarence Gagnon 1920.jpg

The painting is by Clarence Alphonse Gagnon, a well-known Quebec artist. To be honest, I hadn't heard of him, despite having studied art for 3 years in high school. In any case, I had come across mention of him in Un long retour (if I remember correctly) by, who else but Louise Penny. She describes Québécois as being very emotional when looking at his paintings, while Anglos think they're nice but feel no emotional connection. After I read the book, I looked him up and even though I'm not pure laine, I too feel that connection. My sister said that maybe it's the "longing for the comfort of home." Again, the Welsh word hiraeth comes to mind. For most of my life I felt that I didn't really belong in Quebec, but now I'm starting to think that maybe I did. First Nation artist, Christi Belcourt, once said that where you're born isn't necessarily where you're from. But in this case, it is. Et, je me souviens aussi.
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Dec 30, 2022 10:02 am

CaroleR wrote:My sister sent me this card for Christmas.
Clarence Gagnon 1920.jpg

The painting is by Clarence Alphonse Gagnon, a well-known Quebec artist. To be honest, I hadn't heard of him, despite having studied art for 3 years in high school. In any case, I had come across mention of him in Un long retour (if I remember correctly) by, who else but Louise Penny.
Are the children in that picture using some kind of hand held snow plough to clear the path?
She describes Québécois as being very emotional when looking at his paintings, while Anglos think they're nice but feel no emotional connection. After I read the book, I looked him up and even though I'm not pure laine, I too feel that connection. My sister said that maybe it's the "longing for the comfort of home." Again, the Welsh word hiraeth comes to mind.
I have a classical guitar CD with that title! :-)
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CaroleR
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby CaroleR » Fri Dec 30, 2022 9:55 pm

Now that you mention it, I don't really know what the kids are doing. I'd have thought they were playing with a sled or a toboggan. Kind of doubt they were trying to clear the path, but maybe.

DaveAgain wrote:I have a classical guitar CD with that title! :-)
Celtic guitar music from Wales! Of course! Cousins would know that word very well. That piece is lovely. It sounds kind of mournful, which well illustrates hiraeth, I think.

I should get a tattoo of that word.
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby CaroleR » Fri Dec 30, 2022 11:04 pm

My week of French ... or lack thereof.

23-29 Dec, 22
Kind of a lackluster week for language learning, but I'm in the process of changing my system again, for the nth time. And, I needed a tv break, although I did watch some.

For a long time I had been adding words/phrases to a text file on my computer and then copying them to Anki. Then I stopped using Anki for a while but continued to add to the text file. 100+ days and 1000+ words later, I've gone back to a deck I started way back when. So, right now I'm spending 15 minutes adding from my list and 30 minutes reviewing. I've changed the system a bit to one similar to emk's and I'll see how that works. I may reduce the reviews if I find it too time consuming. I'm not even sure the system works for me. I haven't remembered most of the old words so far. :(

I may also do some grammar using a book I got a while back: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One. It's supposed to be one of the best but I hated it when I first got it. I may give it another shot and use it in conjunction with my textbook. But, I have my eye on The Complete French Grammar Course by Dylane Moreau and I may buy that. She has YouTube videos to accompany the book. I don't learn very well just by reading something so doing exercises and watching the videos may help it stick. She also has a book on word families that I may get to use with Iversen's word list method.

Feeling kind of wishy-washy lately.

Aside from Anki, here's what I actually did:

News feeds

Textbook + workbook
Par ici: méthode de français – Échelle québécoise 5-6 (B1)
**Printemps**
• Épisode 14: Tu me manque :-( cont'd
• Épisode 15: Bilan: On célèbre!

TV
STAT – 22 min
– s1ep53-56
La vie secrète des animaux – 23 mins
– s2ep2 À table! – les animaux, quand ils mangent, il y a de l'action! They fed the bats amazing fruit salads. I was kind of jealous. :lol:

Current book
Still verrrry slowly reading La Grande Aventure. Think I'll buy a copy and return this one to the library. I don't enjoy reading books that have stains on them. Looks like coffee, but who knows! Also, I have to figure out how to fit reading into my daytime routine because reading in bed at night isn't working for this particular book.

Québécismes
• Varloper = criticise vehemently Ex. il varlope sévèrement les bourgeois
• Mets-en (admettons que), assurément, certainement, en effet, bien súr = certainly, of course Ex. Êtes-vous satisfaits? – Mets-en!

Bon, c'est touski pour l'instant. À bientôt.
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Le Baron
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby Le Baron » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:39 am

CaroleR wrote:I'm not even sure the system works for me. I haven't remembered most of the old words so far.

I used to think this about Anki, but after I'd stopped using it I noticed that words I'd been reviewing many months before were still in my long-term memory and I recognised them. Or even came up with them without prompting. Anki's effects seems to be a something which can't be measured short-term.
Last edited by Le Baron on Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby CaroleR » Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:23 am

Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't heard anyone say that before. Thanks! You've inspired me to keep plugging away.
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby Le Baron » Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:58 pm

CaroleR wrote:Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't heard anyone say that before. Thanks! You've inspired me to keep plugging away.

I wouldn't want to force my methodology upon you, but I started getting more returns from Anki, when I stopped adding large decks. Instead there are now numbered iterations of 'palabras comunes' with only small numbers of cards. Then other numbered ones with 'phrases' and collocations/linking phrases.

I can go through a few of these without having to sit going through hundreds of words at a sitting. Often I learn them fast enough that they can be retired and new words taking their place. Which is what is supposed to happen!
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby CaroleR » Sat Dec 31, 2022 9:55 pm

Le Baron wrote:I wouldn't want to force my methodology upon you, but I started getting more returns from Anki, when I stopped adding large decks. Instead there are now numbered iterations of 'palabras comunes' with only small numbers of cards. Then other numbered ones with 'phrases' and collocations/linking phrases.

I can go through a few of these without having to sit going through hundreds of words at a sitting. Often I learn them fast enough that they can be retired and new words taking their place. Which is what is supposed to happen!

No forcing necessary! I'd LOVE to hear more about your methodology. How many is a small number of cards? I was following the Refold guide of having only one deck, but the idea of multiple smaller decks sounds more appealing. I do have my options set at 5 new cards and 50 reviews so there is a lot of repetition and it's not overwhelming, but I'm definitely open to other systems. I like the sound of yours. Have you written down your process somewhere so I don't have to pester you with my questions?
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby Le Baron » Sat Dec 31, 2022 10:13 pm

CaroleR wrote:No forcing necessary! I'd LOVE to hear more about your methodology. How many is a small number of cards? I was following the Refold guide of having only one deck, but the idea of multiple smaller decks sounds more appealing. I do have my options set at 5 new cards and 50 reviews so there is a lot of repetition and it's not overwhelming, but I'm definitely open to other systems. I like the sound of yours. Have you written down your process somewhere so I don't have to pester you with my questions?

'Methodology' might be an exaggeration! I am also not very concerned with plotting or recording things. However each deck has between 20-30 cards, though they have been as low as 15. I had (actually still have) a Spanish vocab learning book and as I made my way through it I was making decks for all the words I wasn't quickly retaining. So maybe half of every numbered group, and there 100 groups. Sticking also to the Paul Nation principle, discussed in a recent post on the general board, about not having related groups items and synonyms etc.

Most of all though I stopped looking for short-term quick results. Sometimes I've reloaded old decks which I'd exported back out because they seemed impossible at the time, and found I could now recall up to 90%. These were the sort of '5000 most common words' types of deck. Of course, some of this will also be because of increasingly better reading in the interim. Though I'm sure these work together, you push in some words via Anki and then you encounter them in books/listening.
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CaroleR
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Re: Le français québécois: Lâche pas la patate!

Postby CaroleR » Sat Dec 31, 2022 10:58 pm

Le Baron wrote:'Methodology' might be an exaggeration! I am also not very concerned with plotting or recording things. However each deck has between 20-30 cards, though they have been as low as 15. I had (actually still have) a Spanish vocab learning book and as I made my way through it I was making decks for all the words I wasn't quickly retaining. So maybe half of every numbered group, and there 100 groups. Sticking also to the Paul Nation principle, discussed in a recent post on the general board, about not having related groups items and synonyms etc.

Most of all though I stopped looking for short-term quick results. Sometimes I've reloaded old decks which I'd exported back out because they seemed impossible at the time, and found I could now recall up to 90%. These were the sort of '5000 most common words' types of deck. Of course, some of this will also be because of increasingly better reading in the interim. Though I'm sure these work together, you push in some words via Anki and then you encounter them in books/listening.

This is very helpful. I think I'm going to follow your system. It seems less onerous than the way I've been doing it. I did see the discussion re: the Paul Nation principle. That's good advice as well. Thanks. It's much appreciated.
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