My week of French ... new year, same old me! (Stole that from my sister
) Belated Happy New Year everyone!
30 Dec, 22 – 5 Jan, 23
News feeds Texts•
Par ici: méthode de français – Échelle québécoise 5-6 (B1)
**Printemps**
– Épisode 15:
Bilan: On célèbre! cont'd. The lessons are getting harder and it's taking longer to do them. Not that I'm resisting doing them or anything.
**Été** Enfin!
– Épisode 16:
Bonne vacances! – In this lesson there is a "Faits d'ici" side note about "le chiac," a mélange of French and English spoken in New Brunswick. "Les Hay Babies," a New Brunswick band that sings in chiac, is mentioned. I have a few of their songs on my favourites playlist. Here's a lyric from
Me reconnais-tu? « C'est okay, j'me reconnais pu moi-même. Pis I guess qu'on est better off de même. » – from the album,
Mon Homesick Heart. Note: I hear "qu'on est better off now," but my anglo ears deceive me, I guess.
+ l'infinitif passé
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PMP Complete French – le passé composé – when you think you already know something ...
TV •
La table de Kim – 46 min
– s2ep3
L'essentiel: À part manger, dormir à l'abri, qu'est-ce qui est essentiel? Invités: acteur, cinéaste Robert Lepage; comédienne/autrice Sophie Faucher (who played Frida Kahlo in a theatre "spectacle," staged by Robert Lepage); Sophie's amoureux Michel Labrecque, chef de la recherche scientifique du Jardin botanique de Montréal; et Tire le Coyote (Benoit Pinette), l'auteur-compositeur, etc. His speaking voice is quite deep so his high-singing voice is a surprise. It's almost ethereal. He played
Le ciel est backorder which made Sophie cry. The song is about a friend who had cancer. His friend recovered, thankfully. Not sure what he means by "backorder," again illustrating my inability to understand poetry.
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La vie secrète des animaux – 23 mins
– s2ep3
À la douche! Rhinos, parrots, chinchillas and sloths. I can relate to the sloths.
Youtube videos•
Ma prof de français – 11:12 min
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Expressions québécoise: bouffe et Fêtes; aside from when Geneviève was speaking, I barely understood what anyone said. And this was a TV ad for a grocery store. I need a whole lot more listening practice, obviously.
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Wandering French – 2:01 Min
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Les prononciations Québécoises – older people tend to roll their "Rs," younger people, not so much.
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Maud Sullivan – 9:28 min
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Quand utiliser avoir ou être au passé composé?Books– I was happy to hear that the most borrowed book from the Vancouver Public Library last year was:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Kimmerer. It seems as though indigenous "ways" are finally starting to be valued. One of those ways was to base their history and genealogy on the land before written language. Imagine how much they lost when their land was taken away.
– My current book is, of course,
La Grande Aventure, which I will be reading until the end of time – three more weeks and I have to return it. Another book that
PeterMollenburg recommended,
Les Français aussi ont un accent, is out of print, but I found it on the Internet Archive! I will try to read these books during the day instead of at night when I'm tired. I have a Louise Penny book waiting for me at the library for bedtime reading.
Apart from all that, I'm back to using Anki, although I'm still trying to figure out the best system. So far I'm making small decks and being much more selective in the words I'm adding. Maybe I don't need to study all the words ...