Le groupe français 2016 - 2023 Les Voyageurs

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby Speakeasy » Sat May 05, 2018 5:03 pm

I received the following text from a dear friend of mine. The level of French would be about A1, the level of humour being somewhere around A0 minus.

Commander une Pizza en 2018
- Hello! Gordon's Pizza?
- Non monsieur, c’est Google Pizza.

- Alors, j’ai le mauvais numéro?
- Non monsieur, Google a acheté Gordon's Pizza.

- OK. Prenez ma commande ...
- Bien, vous voulez comme d’habitude?

- Comme d’habitude? Vous ne me connaissez pas?
- Selon votre ID d’appel, les 12 dernières fois, vous avez commandé une pizza avec fromage, saucisse, croûte épaisse ...

- OK! OK! C’est ça.
- Monsieur, puis-je vous suggérer cette fois-ci du fromage ricotta, de la roquette et des tomates séchées au soleil?

- Non, Je déteste les légumes!
- Mais votre cholestérol est élevé!

- Comment le savez-vous?
- Par le guide de souscription au laboratoire. Nous avons les résultats de vos analyses sanguines depuis les 7 dernières années.

- Ok, mais je veux ma pizza régulière, je prends déjà des médicaments pour ça.
- Mais monsieur, vous n’avez pas pris votre médication de façon régulière. Il y a 4 mois, vous n’avez acheté qu’une boîte de 30 comprimés chez Drugsale Network.

- J’en ai acheté dans une autre pharmacie.
- Votre carte de crédit ne montre pas cet achat.

- J’ai payé comptant.
- Mais vous n’avez pas retiré assez d’argent selon votre relevé bancaire.

- J’ai d’autres sources d’argent comptant.
- Ceci n’apparaît pas sur votre dernier rapport d’impôt, à moins que vous ayez obtenu cet argent d’une source non déclarée.

- Que le diable vous emporte! J’en ai assez de Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp. Je déménage sur une île sans Wi-Fi ou internet. Là où il n’y a pas de téléphone cellulaire ou satellite pour m’épier.
- Je comprends monsieur, mais vous devez renouveler votre passeport, car il n’est plus valide depuis 5 semaines!
4 x

User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby Carmody » Tue May 08, 2018 1:13 pm

My Skype/pen pal /French teacher in Strasbourg, France has suggested studying poetry to help improve my pronunciation. Along those lines, you might find this video of use:

4 x

User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby Carmody » Tue May 22, 2018 11:36 pm

A little something for everyone, possibly…

My wife received in the mail last week, notice from The Great Courses

1-use priority code 160323
2-between now and June 1st for 80% off the full retail price of courses and free shipping.
3-shop on line at http://www.The%20Great%20Courses.com/GJZ

Hope it works.
1 x

User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby Carmody » Thu May 24, 2018 3:07 pm

My Skype friend in Strasbourg sent me some ideas for French movies that you folks might find useful:

Here are links for French movies :

En cas de malheur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI_R1Z0iGug

A TV movie Landru (this man killed women during the first World War ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eu__N7C2Q0


L’Adversaire (very bad quality of the image) ; this movie is based on a true story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFkPkFryBnc

Also based on an true story : Diabolique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZOA83fFYB4
0 x

User avatar
zjones
Green Belt
Posts: 483
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:22 pm
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), French (B1-certified), Spanish and Greek (abandoned)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9860
x 1404

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby zjones » Thu May 24, 2018 4:26 pm

I'm looking for an intermediate grammar book as I'm coming to the end of my Easy French Step-by-Step. I'm hoping I can get something that will be a reference for years to come. Does anyone have recommendations? I've been looking at Routledge's French Grammar and Usage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1138851108/?c ... _lig_dp_it) and Grammaire Progressif du Francais Intermediaire (https://www.amazon.com/Grammaire-Progre ... ermédiaire) but I worry that the latter won't be as useful over time.

I already searched the threads on the forum but wasn't able to find anything on Routledge's grammar. Apparently Routledge grammar has side by side formal and colloquial grammar, and that makes it very attractive to me, but lack of information about it is making me nervous. (And it's over $50.) Any help or suggestions are appreciated!
2 x

User avatar
tomgosse
Brown Belt
Posts: 1143
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:29 am
Location: Les Etats Unis
Languages: Anglais (langue maternelle)
Français (A1)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1185
x 2378
Contact:

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby tomgosse » Thu May 24, 2018 6:14 pm

zjones wrote:I'm looking for an intermediate grammar book as I'm coming to the end of my Easy French Step-by-Step. I'm hoping I can get something that will be a reference for years to come. Does anyone have recommendations? I've been looking at Routledge's French Grammar and Usage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1138851108/?c ... _lig_dp_it) and Grammaire Progressif du Francais Intermediaire (https://www.amazon.com/Grammaire-Progre ... ermédiaire) but I worry that the latter won't be as useful over time.

I already searched the threads on the forum but wasn't able to find anything on Routledge's grammar. Apparently Routledge grammar has side by side formal and colloquial grammar, and that makes it very attractive to me, but lack of information about it is making me nervous. (And it's over $50.) Any help or suggestions are appreciated!


I like this book. The Ultimate French Review and Practice.
1 x
Rejoignez notre groupe français ! Les Voyageurs

rlnv
Orange Belt
Posts: 228
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:07 pm
Languages: English
x 454

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby rlnv » Thu May 24, 2018 7:33 pm

zjones wrote:I'm looking for an intermediate grammar book as I'm coming to the end of my Easy French Step-by-Step. I'm hoping I can get something that will be a reference for years to come. Does anyone have recommendations? I've been looking at Routledge's French Grammar and Usage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1138851108/?c ... _lig_dp_it) and Grammaire Progressif du Francais Intermediaire (https://www.amazon.com/Grammaire-Progre ... ermédiaire) but I worry that the latter won't be as useful over time.

I already searched the threads on the forum but wasn't able to find anything on Routledge's grammar. Apparently Routledge grammar has side by side formal and colloquial grammar, and that makes it very attractive to me, but lack of information about it is making me nervous. (And it's over $50.) Any help or suggestions are appreciated!


I have the second edition of French Grammar and Usage, a couple of revisions earlier than the one you linked. It's not a cheap grammar, but in my opinion worth every penny. The book is excellent. It's well organized, comprehensive and concise without getting too granular if that makes sense. One of my better purchases for French learning.
2 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby Cavesa » Thu May 24, 2018 7:51 pm

zjones wrote:I'm looking for an intermediate grammar book as I'm coming to the end of my Easy French Step-by-Step. I'm hoping I can get something that will be a reference for years to come. Does anyone have recommendations? I've been looking at Routledge's French Grammar and Usage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1138851108/?c ... _lig_dp_it) and Grammaire Progressif du Francais Intermediaire (https://www.amazon.com/Grammaire-Progre ... ermédiaire) but I worry that the latter won't be as useful over time.

I already searched the threads on the forum but wasn't able to find anything on Routledge's grammar. Apparently Routledge grammar has side by side formal and colloquial grammar, and that makes it very attractive to me, but lack of information about it is making me nervous. (And it's over $50.) Any help or suggestions are appreciated!


I'm afraid everyone has already read my praise for the Progressive series too many times :-D, but I'll write it again. I think it is one of the best resources of this kind on the planet, I wish every language had such a series. Sure, there are other good choices too. But one of the advantages of this one is the continuity. Have a look at Intermediaire, Avancé, and Perfectionnement books. They make one great bundle, tackling details and levels the other series don't even try to touch. As you are thinking about the grammar books' usefulness over time, I think you should judge these three levels of the series together, not separately.

However, there is one complaint I have about the series. The exercises are awesome for start, but without more difficult and creative follow up (the exception is the Perfectionnement book, I found those exercises sometimes very challenging). Another great choice with significantly worse grammar overviews but lots and lots of more challenging and creative exercises is l'Exercisier by Pug, which is for levels B1-B2. Some of those exercises even made me smile.

Another nice tool is Kwiziq, which several forum members have been content with. I was describing my experience with it rather lenghtily here https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... q&start=70 As far as the digital tools go, this one is the best and it is the only website that can rival the paper based grammar exercise books.
3 x

User avatar
zjones
Green Belt
Posts: 483
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:22 pm
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), French (B1-certified), Spanish and Greek (abandoned)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9860
x 1404

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby zjones » Fri May 25, 2018 5:15 pm

Cavesa wrote:I'm afraid everyone has already read my praise for the Progressive series too many times :-D, but I'll write it again. I think it is one of the best resources of this kind on the planet, I wish every language had such a series. Sure, there are other good choices too. But one of the advantages of this one is the continuity. Have a look at Intermediaire, Avancé, and Perfectionnement books. They make one great bundle, tackling details and levels the other series don't even try to touch. As you are thinking about the grammar books' usefulness over time, I think you should judge these three levels of the series together, not separately.


Thanks for the recommendation! Is it true that there are separate answer books? Would I then need to purchase each book and its answer key?

Cavesa wrote:Another nice tool is Kwiziq, which several forum members have been content with. I was describing my experience with it rather lenghtily here https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... q&start=70 As far as the digital tools go, this one is the best and it is the only website that can rival the paper based grammar exercise books.


I signed up for Kwiziq and I'm having a fun time exploring the website. My Easy French Step-by-Step grammar book has apparently done me well, since I scored well into the A2 level, hooray!

rlnv wrote:I have the second edition of French Grammar and Usage, a couple of revisions earlier than the one you linked. It's not a cheap grammar, but in my opinion worth every penny. The book is excellent. It's well organized, comprehensive and concise without getting too granular if that makes sense. One of my better purchases for French learning.


Thanks, this is helpful, from viewing a few pages on Amazon, it looks like it would be an excellent reference book.

tomgosse wrote:I like this book. The Ultimate French Review and Practice.


Thank you, I will take a closer look at this on Amazon today.
2 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: Le groupe français 2016 - 2018 Les Voyageurs

Postby Cavesa » Sat May 26, 2018 1:56 pm

zjones wrote:
Cavesa wrote:I'm afraid everyone has already read my praise for the Progressive series too many times :-D, but I'll write it again. I think it is one of the best resources of this kind on the planet, I wish every language had such a series. Sure, there are other good choices too. But one of the advantages of this one is the continuity. Have a look at Intermediaire, Avancé, and Perfectionnement books. They make one great bundle, tackling details and levels the other series don't even try to touch. As you are thinking about the grammar books' usefulness over time, I think you should judge these three levels of the series together, not separately.


Thanks for the recommendation! Is it true that there are separate answer books? Would I then need to purchase each book and its answer key?


Yes, I recommend buying it. It is annoying it is being sold separately, and not just because of the price (I somehow just like when things are being presented straightforwardly, without the "but you need to buy this and that now that you've paid for our product"). But I think it is very helpful, especially when learning French at the level, not reviewing. You could google sentences (not google translate) to check your intermediate level book answers, but it is annoying. But the books+answer keys together are still worth the price, in my opinion. The new editions even include CDs, which I don't have a personal experience with, but which could be definitely helpful to many learners.
2 x


Return to “Study Groups”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests