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

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

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:42 am

I’m nowhere near as comfortable reading French as I am with English. But I can’t imagine being as comfortable in a foreign language! I’m willing to believe, but wow. That will be something.
5 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
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: 3 / 5

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Brun Ugle
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Brun Ugle » Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:34 am

Lawyer&Mom wrote:I’m nowhere near as comfortable reading French as I am with English. But I can’t imagine being as comfortable in a foreign language! I’m willing to believe, but wow. That will be something.

I’m generally as comfortable reading Norwegian as I am English and have been for a long time, but I have no idea how many pages it took me to get there. I haven’t reached that level in any other languages yet, but I’m seeing continuous improvement.
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:27 pm

So I started a new book, God Save La France, by Stephen Clarke. This is a bit of an odd duck, because it’s set in Paris, but actually translated from English. And it’s all about Anglo/French cultural differences. I’m in the first chapter and we’ve already had a decent Assimil joke. It’s set in 2003, when I was actually in London hanging out with Parisians, so it’s pushing all sorts of nostalgia buttons. And the French is kicking my butt. The narrator makes lots of quips and snarky references and I can’t always make the connections. Follow the plot? Sure no problem. But I’m missing good stuff. This is the first book in awhile I could imagine reading again.
6 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
intermédiaire
: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

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

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Mon Jul 01, 2019 3:57 pm

So I’ve realized why God Save La France is so hard. Boatloads of French slang. (New words for sex, inebriation, anatomy, etc.) Which, hats off to the translator I guess, but maybe books aimed at young men (the narrator is 27, single, and on the prowl) just require a certain amount of slang to seem appropriately irreverent? I guess it’s great to have exposure, but I don’t feel like my French is anywhere near the level where I should try to retain any of this stuff.
4 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
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: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

Cavesa
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Cavesa » Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:18 pm

Lawyer&Mom wrote:So I’ve realized why God Save La France is so hard. Boatloads of French slang. (New words for sex, inebriation, anatomy, etc.) Which, hats off to the translator I guess, but maybe books aimed at young men (the narrator is 27, single, and on the prowl) just require a certain amount of slang to seem appropriately irreverent? I guess it’s great to have exposure, but I don’t feel like my French is anywhere near the level where I should try to retain any of this stuff.


Sounds like a book I should read! Thanks for adding it on my list!
(You might be laughing and finding me weird. But I've put some vocab examples from my recent medicine exam in my log. Sooo, I need such books for my education. Yeah, definitely just education. :-D )
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Wed Jul 24, 2019 4:19 pm

My hotel on my business trip last week had YouTube available on the TV. (And Netflix, Hulu etc. if you have your own account, and I don’t.) It was amazing to relax at the end of the day with French on the big screen. I started with Le dessous des cartes, and after that, all my suggested videos were French geography and culture documentaries! Yay! I found a lovely new show, Échappées belles. It’s a low key travel show with beautiful camera work. And each episode is 90 minutes, so they really have time to linger on the scenery. I never finished an episode, but tant pis! So relaxing!

(I really need to hurry up and finish ER. After that I just want to watch languid French non-fiction for the rest of my life... Or at least a long time!)
8 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
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: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

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

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:29 pm

Watched the 300th episode of ER last night. (There are 331.) I am *so* over this show. Watching an episode is still fine, but I just don’t care what happens. That patient is going to die? Whatever. Those doctors are going to break-up? Sure, fine, just please do it faster, okay?

I’m feel strongly the cast shares my opinion. We are all riding this out together. So close to the finish line!
11 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
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Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

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

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Wed Aug 07, 2019 5:18 pm

Was reading an easy French non-fiction book, an introduction to Ancient Greek history and culture aimed at middle school students. Nicely accessible reading level, cute cartoon pictures... something relaxing at the end of a long day. Their explanation of the Trojan war: Helene left Greece with her lover Paris, leaving behind her husband Agamemnon... Huh, what? C’est pas vrai!

Agamemnon was the high king who led the Greek army against Troy, but her husband was Menelaus. I feel betrayed by the French. I thought France took its connection to the Ancient World and the Academic Arts very seriously. How can I feel smug and superior about reading in French if they are just going to muck about with the basic facts like that? Who can I trust!?!

(I didn’t actually know about Menelaus until like three months ago, but we are *very* into Greek Myths at my house these days and I cannot recommend the Gareth Hinds graphic novels of the Odyssey and the Iliad highly enough. Once you’ve *seen* the characters, you will never confuse Agamemnon and Menelaus again, they have like totally different hair styles! (There are a lot of people in the Iliad. Visuals really do help you keep them all straight.))
6 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
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: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

Lawyer&Mom
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Posts: 980
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Languages: English (N), German (B2), French (B1)
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Aug 22, 2019 3:48 pm

I have finished ER. 15 seasons, 93 discs, 322 episodes, 278 hours of dubbed French. I bought the boxed set in November 2017. It took me 1.75 years. (It felt longer.)

So where am I now? My listening comprehension has definitely improved. But even so it’s still probably only 80% maybe 85% per episode? I can follow the story perfectly, but I absolutely still miss things. The real difference is when I watch something easier. A newscast or a documentary. Suddenly I seem to understand everything!

What’s next? I watched the first episode of Fait pas ci, Fait pas ça last night. Wow. It’s so wild to watch French in actual France instead of Chicago (filmed on a set in LA.) I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe, and my mind was constantly picking out the little familiar details. The plugs! The angled handle on the shopping cart! That haircut on the French teacher! The language maybe got less attention. That’s actually a perk of watching a familiar dubbed show, the only thing new and different it the language itself.
4 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
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Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

Lawyer&Mom
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Posts: 980
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 am
Languages: English (N), German (B2), French (B1)
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Re: Lawyer&Mom, Less is More (French & German)

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sun Aug 25, 2019 12:15 am

Holy heck, text entry in Clozemaster is hard! And so worthwhile. Sigh. It’s really the only way forward with my intermediate languages. Thank god it shows you letter by letter whether you are on the right path. Otherwise it would probably be impossible! I’m already 20,000+ words into the French Fluency deck, so I’m being asked some very obscure stuff. Makes occasionally knowing the right answer very satisfying. Most often I have to submit a blank answer so it reveals the correct answer, which I then have to try to remember for when the sentence comes back up... it’s exhausting but fun.

I may also be playing with the Russian and Modern Greek decks, multiple choice, but don’t tell anyone...
5 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
intermédiaire
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Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5


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