Robierre’s French C2 log

[Marais]

Hi Robierre - cool thread. Good to read what you've been up to with French.

You mentioned forums - can you recommend any that you frequent as i can only find a couple of decent ones.

Thanks

[Robierre]

Hi Robierre - cool thread. Good to read what you've been up to with French.

You mentioned forums - can you recommend any that you frequent as i can only find a couple of decent ones.

Thanks

Hi Marais,
I read occasionally just two French forums; one of them is very bookish, so I'll skip it. The other one is very colloquial - it was a suggestion I found on this forum, I remember it was Arnaud's suggestion: Hardware.fr. Arnaud wrote the whole list of French forums in a post somewhere on this forum, but I can't find it anymore because it wasn't on his log. And I forgot to save the other links - it always happens when I read this forum on my smartphone.

[Marais]

Hi Robierre - cool thread. Good to read what you've been up to with French.

You mentioned forums - can you recommend any that you frequent as i can only find a couple of decent ones.

Thanks

Hi Marais,
I read occasionally just two French forums; one of them is very bookish, so I'll skip it. The other one is very colloquial - it was a suggestion I found on this forum, I remember it was Arnaud's suggestion: Hardware.fr. Arnaud wrote the whole list of French forums in a post somewhere on this forum, but I can't find it anymore because it wasn't on his log. And I forgot to save the other links - it always happens when I read this forum on my smartphone.

Awesome thanks very much!

[Robierre]

2nd year
Week 12

French

Reading:
Fred Vargas - Temps glaciaires (2015) (p. 1-118/476)
Benjamin Constant - Adolphe (1816) (p. 1-23/282)


Italian

Audio-book:
Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (episodes 9-10/20)

[Robierre]

2nd year
Week 13

French

Still reading the same two books. Fred Vargas (Temps glaciaires, p. 118-145/475) is an easy polar; one of those novels you just keep reading without using your brain too much. The only problem: I didn't have enough time for reading last week. The good thing with this kind of books is that they consist mostly of dialogues; and dialogues means - useful everyday language. Benjamin Constant (Adolphe, p. 23-81/282), my second novel, has no dialogues and it's not "useful"; it's a beautiful early XIX century French, with stylish love letters, deep emotions, old fashioned expressions; pure merveille, but it's a very slow reading.

Also, I'm watching these documentaries about Greek mythology on Arte: Les grands mythes. Very nice and interesting.


Italian

The same Italian audio book, nothing new. Tom Sawyer (episodes 10-13/20) is very cool; as I already mentioned, the first episodes were difficult, now it's much better. I would like to finish it this week.

If you're looking for an audio-book in Italian, Ad alta voce has a new web-site with all 200 novels; Can't wait to choose the next one.

[Robierre]

2nd year
Week 14

Vacations, busy schedule...but here I am again.

Français


En train de terminer (ce soir ou demain) ce polar de Fred Vargas (Temps glaciaires, 476 pages). Il n'était pas particulièrement intéressant, mais c'était, tout de même, une lecture légère. Le roman combine une enquête policière avec des éléments historiques (de l'époque da la révolution française). Presque 500 pages de dialogues, un peu comme la transcription d'un film policier ou d'une série télé. Je ne regrette pas de l'avoir lu; en fait, ce genre de livres pourrait être assez utile pour l'apprentissage du français, surtout pour la conversation et les expressions récurrentes.

Italien

Toujours le même audio livre.

[Robierre]

2nd year
Week 15

Italiano

Mark Twain - Le avventure di Tom Sawyer. Mi ha preso un po' di tempo, però valeva la pena. L'inizio era abbastanza complicato poiché l'audio libro non era letto lentamente come un racconto, ma piuttosto come una radio dramma, interpretata da un solo contatore con varie "voci", intonazioni, spesso velocemente. Ciononostante, presto mi sono abituato a questa interpretazione e, per lo più, mi e piaciuta moltissimo, anche se dovevo riascoltare la stessa puntata due o tre volte. Le ultime 50 pagine ho letto direttamente dal libro, cercando di concentrarmi anche un po' al lessico, a volte utilizzando il dizionario. Dopo aver letto l'ultima parte, ho meglio capito l'inizio di Le avventure di Huckleberry Finn che e il suo seguito, e che io invece ho letto prima.


Francese

Lettura:
André Malraux - La condition humaine (p. 1-44/337)

[Robierre]

2nd year
Week 16

Italiano

Audio libro: Elio Vittorini - Conversazione in Sicilia (puntate 1-3/15)
TV: (Rai3) Ulisse, Il piacere della scoperta: I mille segreti di Napoli


Francese

Lettura: André Malraux - La condition humaine (p. 44-58/337; per ora, abbastanza lento e difficile) e Benjamin Costant - Adolphe (p. 81-91/282; linguaggio molto letterario anche se non difficilissimo)
Grammatica: Becherelle - L'essentiel, Pour mieux s'exprimer à l'écrit et à l'oral (alcuni capitoli)

[DaveBee]

Also, I'm watching these documentaries about Greek mythology on Arte: Les grands mythes. Very nice and interesting.

Mary Renault wrote some novels based on greek myths. If you've not read them, you might enjoy those.

[Robierre]

Also, I'm watching these documentaries about Greek mythology on Arte: Les grands mythes. Very nice and interesting.

Mary Renault wrote some novels based on greek myths. If you've not read them, you might enjoy those.

Thanx DaveBee, I was thinking about reading something like this, so it's a great hint.