Xmmm wrote:
Seneca
Seneca would love this place.
Veni
Vidi
Fugi
Xmmm wrote:
Seneca
Ogrim wrote:Expugnator, I hope you did not think I was part of the "multiple-languages-learners'" bashing - my little rabbit story was on the contrary a (failed?) humorous attempt at showing that learning multiple languages is possible, as long as you focus on one at a time. In any case, I normally don't try to convince others to do this or that - I admire your ability to study so many languages in parallel, it is absolutely amazing, but I also admired PM's persistency and focus on French for so long, resisting any wanderlust. We are all different, and need to find out what works for us as individuals.
iguanamon wrote:In regards to the forum specifically, yes, self-censorship is the price we pay for having a nice place to visit without having to deal with the crap on the rest of the internet. Here, the forum is all about languages and language-learning. We grow into a community with this one aspect in common. Outside of the forum we are quite diverse. We are so diverse that if we open that pandora's box of "come on, we're all adults here we can talk about politics and such without any worries" it almost always ends up badly. We make friends here and as a result we often feel like we are probably like minded because of our interaction around and about language-learning... so, it follows that our other interactions outside of language-learning will be fine too? That's not necessarily so in such a diverse, international forum.
PeterMollenburg wrote:Speaking to a real life living actual French person the other day, I specifically asked for some pronunciation feed-back. She was the second French person in the last couple of weeks who stated that I sounded Belgian. This French woman clarified further and stated "but not necessarily Walloon, but in fact Flemish, as your French 'r' is too strong". She went on to provide examples ("don't say it so strong, just lightly touch the 'r'). Thus I've been actively working to soften it.
Skynet wrote:PeterMollenburg wrote:Speaking to a real life living actual French person the other day, I specifically asked for some pronunciation feed-back. She was the second French person in the last couple of weeks who stated that I sounded Belgian. This French woman clarified further and stated "but not necessarily Walloon, but in fact Flemish, as your French 'r' is too strong". She went on to provide examples ("don't say it so strong, just lightly touch the 'r'). Thus I've been actively working to soften it.
Mmmmm, I had been told (on my first thread) that Belgian and Parisian accents were indistinguishable from each other. Perhaps your Dutch is flavouring your Flemish French? I recently gave up the pyrrhic war that I had waged against having a non-native French accent - it's not worth my effort. Congrats on bringing the entire family on the Pimsleur bandwagon!
Exasperated wrote:Hi Peter,
After a mammoth trawl from page 105 to here over the last couple of days, it felt almost rude not to pop by and say hi!
Funnily I distinctly remember reading your log back on the old site in my heavy lurking days mid 2014 - as a fellow Australian who also harboured ambitions of professional competency and European visa challenges it definitely stood out.
I've not got any particular insight, but I wanted to say that I wish you all the best. Your dedication and hard-work over such a period is extremely admirable; and the consistency you showed trekking towards your goal (however much you personally felt it wavered) I found very inspiring.
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Thank you Exasperated. I truly appreciate the positive feedback.
How is your language journey/learning going if you are on one? (if you want to comment, if not, no probs).
I'm surprised sometimes when I read that people are actually interested in reading even some parts of my log. It makes me think, okay, maybe I have something useful to say after all from time to time (other times, perhaps not), and maybe it's worth sticking around. I say that in part because I often harbour feelings of just pissing off into oblivion and some of those reasons are probably attention seeking while others are more attention avoidance. Anyway, inspiration is certainly a positive thing, I feel.
I'm currently attempting to get back into a little bit more of a serious routine again. As I type this I was contemplating doing some more Fluenz French 5, and I think I've just decided to go to sleep early and perhaps read a few pages of a French book as I wind down instead since I'm somewhat exhausted.
You know in some ways I do feel I missed my mark, as I didn't obtain the C-level certificate(s) I was chasing (yet?), but in other ways I'm so impressed with where I am at, particularly in relation to my children who speak only French with me. No, I'm not perfect, but it's certainly not an easy feat to take yourself up to a high enough level with extremely little native speaker interaction and then have your children speak to you in this language all day every day (okay when I am around). I'm not boasting, honestly, just stating it how it is, and that is pretty content, but oddly still not quite satisfied.
Anyway thanks again Exasperated, I hope your language learning is indeed going well. As iguanamon often points out being consistent is one of the most important ingredients in language learning. So 10 seconds a day, and you'll be right Hmmm, maybe 11.
Throw a chook over your middle shoulder.
PeterMollenburg wrote:Throw a chook over your middle shoulder.
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