Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

[Lawyer&Mom]

Time to plug http://listen.bible.is. I know the Bible isn’t for everyone, but the New Testament is a great learning text. I’ll admit I’ve never read the whole thing, even in English, so you don’t have to be a bible expert to benefit. The language is simple and repetitive, and you are probably at least a little bit familiar with the cast of characters. The dramatic recordings are remarkably good. There are voices! And tasteful music! Everything is clearly spoken. You can listen on the app and follow along with the text, or just download the audio. Either way, it’s completely free.

I’m using the French download. I find it makes the perfect background listening at work. Soothing, not too complicated. Perfect for document review!

[Lawyer&Mom]

My kids have really gotten into Papa Moll lately. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_Moll

It’s a Swiss comic strip about family life. (Mom, dad, two kids and a dog. Light-hearted hijinks ensue.). The kids like the short, colorful stories. I like that all of the text is presented in rhyming couplets. Maintaining the rhyming structure is a real gut check on your pronunciation! It also means the word order can be a bit more convoluted. Keeps you on your toes as you translate on the fly!

Well recommended, a super successful Goodwill find.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Well for all the talk of Russian Assimil and German Tagesshau, both have fallen by the wayside. I’m still doing some Clozemaster in both languages, but my focus has redoubled on French. (If I were an Olympic athlete in French, the Russian and German Clozemaster would be the cross-training they would show in my background clip. “Look at her struggle with Cyrillic! That will build valuble mental strength she’ll need in the French compulsories!”)

I really feel like I’m approaching a breakthrough with my French. I’m really enjoying FSI French, and super glad I waited a year or so before starting this course. I can really focus on the minutia of pronunciation and grammar because I’m already comfortable with comprehension and intonation.

It’s a nice time to remember that this is a language that actually has a defined goal and deadline: I want to teach my kids French. I’d like to be at least a B2 by the time my oldest starts third grade so I have three years. This is totally doable. Maybe I should raise the bar? C1?

[Lawyer&Mom]

Just finished reading a summer camp romance written for 10 year olds. (No really, it says so on the cover. Cœur Grenadine: Passion de lire à partir de 10-11 ans.) And it was a translation too! So yes, easy reading. But it got me back on the reading bandwagon, and it fit so well into my purse. Must keep an eye out for more really young YA.

[Lawyer&Mom]

I’ve been playing with Clozemaster and Norwegian. Perhaps you all can help me solve a mystery? The App on my iPhone says Norwegian TTS is not supported on my device. But I know my phone has Norwegian TTS. I even downloaded the enhanced voice! Meanwhile I can use Norwegian TTS on my Mac computer, both Firefox and Safari.

Why not my iPhone!?!

Is it some kind of licensing thing? That would be very annoying, if app developers had to pay to use what is suppposed to be an accessibility feature. Grr.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Still flirting with Norwegian. Even without TTS, it’s been added to the daily iPhone Clozemaster rotation. I’ve also been poking around the SuperNRK website. The pickings are slimmer outside of Norway (without a VPN), but there is still plenty of kids content to choose from. If I watch with Norwegian subs, I can follow just fine.

Someone, and I wish I remembered who, recently recommended Deutsche Welle as a good source of non-German content. They were using it for Spanish. I decided to check it out for French. A lot of it was aimed at Francophone Africa, but I really liked Vue d’Allemagne. Each episode is between 12 and 20 minutes, which is kind of the sweet spot, and it’s general interest topics about Germany and Europe. (Hey, I have a general interest in these topics!) The French is definitely aimed at native speakers, but they don’t assume familiarity with the topics, so additional context and explanations are provided which helps me as a non-native listener. A nice find!

[Lawyer&Mom]

Thoughts at Goodwill: Do I already own The Little Prince in French? At $1.29 does it matter?

[Lawyer&Mom]

Yay! Can confirm the book I already owned was Der Kleine Prinz! I have not spent $1.29 in vain!

[aokoye]

Thoughts at Goodwill: Do I already own The Little Prince in French? At $1.29 does it matter?

There is a very large Goodwill near my therapist's office and I've managed not to give into the temptation and go on my way there or back. It has generally either been an issue of forgetting or of flat out not having the time. I honestly really only want to go for the books. Maybe after Spring term ends or on a day when I don't have choir right after, whichever comes first.

[Lawyer&Mom]

We Goodwill weekly. I look at foreign language books, my husband checks out the records and CDs, the kids explore the kids section. Something for everyone.

It can be frustrating to be surrounded by so many good English books. All the classics, quality popular fiction and non-fiction... Sure, there is plenty of schlock, but you could do read really well using just my Goodwill. Except I don’t do any reading in English! I fantasize about creating ESL care-packages... Someone should benefit from
all these books (and my ability to pick them!)