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-   -   The Great Canadian Practice your French Thread (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=201139)

FrAnKs Aug 25, 2012 11:15 PM

The Great Canadian Practice your French Thread
 
Okay Guys,

As you know, French is the 2nd language is Canada, I don't need to remind you that.

And I would like to see how much good are canadian peoples in French by speaking about ''Whats up in you city?'' ... it's wide, it could be about many things.


By the way, it is not Forbidden to speak english here, but it's a thread where peoples should try to speak french as much as they can.

I personally enjoy to write, read and speak in english every time, and I'm far to be perfect but It's always kind of funny to open my mind to another language.

It's up to you now to share News, pictures or anything else about your city / region / province.

Don't be shy and dare :)

:cheers:

1ajs Aug 25, 2012 11:36 PM

tabernak hear that one allot... bonjour and wi about the only ones i would know how to read properly... spoken is a bit more but not much beyound my name is blah blah blah type stuff and even then its horendious. but then when having it shuved down ur through in grade school while taking bylingual schooling in a course structure set up for folks who speak it at home makes it hard speacialy when ur strugly with grammer in 3 langages at once......

jd3189 Aug 25, 2012 11:46 PM

I'm taking a class on French to talk to my family in Montreal. Comment t'appelle tu?

The Chemist Aug 26, 2012 12:02 AM

I used to be reasonably good at reading and writing French. However, since I've moved to China pretty much all of the French I still remembered from high school/university has been replaced with Chinese. I could write about my city in Chinese, but unfortunately no longer in French.

SignalHillHiker Aug 26, 2012 12:15 AM

Bonjour! J'aime beaucoup Quebec parce que c'est le chose plus important pour ma impression de Canada. Sauf Quebec, pour moi, c'est juste... Pas unique. :-)

Innsertnamehere Aug 26, 2012 1:20 AM

bonjour! Moi aussi, oublier tout de la petite quantité de français que j'ai appris à l'école secondaire! Il est sans doute très difficile de me comprendre car je suis en utilisant Google translate! Je devrais probablement essayer de parfaire mes compétences en français si ...

Razor Aug 26, 2012 1:24 AM

woa woa la!! Easy there tabernacle !!! ..

Oi oi oi oi oi

Voici mon pick-up truck.

Sorry, franglais is the best I can do.

vid Aug 26, 2012 1:25 AM

Quelques-fois je pense en français (une français très pauvre), et si quelqu'un parler a moi en anglais, pour un moment je ne comprends pas son parole. Pour mon travaille, je doit comunnique avec un compagnie au Brossard et ils sont bilinguel, mais je jamais parle en français parce-que je ne comprend pas le français orale. Je peux regarde télévision en français (especiallment RDI) et comprend. J'aime l'emission "3600 Secondes D'Extase", especiallement le segments qui moquer Dora the Explorer.

I can use a very broken French that mostly involves replacing English words with French words and leaving the grammar alone as I have very little practice at that. Our curriculum treats the French language more like a form of algebra with words than an actual language that people can use to communicate ideas and such. When reading French, I can usually just read it and understand what things mean without translating until I get to a less common word, and either have to figure it out with my mental list of French words or find an online translator.

French music helps to understand words. Learning what the words translate to in English and following along with the French is a good way to hammer in those words. I learned "doit" this way, and "piqure", "pauvre", "jamais". Karkwa is my favourite Francophone group.

Video Link


A few people mentioned high school. French was always one of my favourite subjects in school and I always did well in it; for a few years, it was actually my best subject. Unfortunately, in high school, they discouraged me from taking French because it wouldn't count for my diploma (I already had enough subjects in that particular group) and because "I wouldn't need it". Ironically, my French skills have gotten better since high school. I started learning French in grade 1, a French teacher came to the class and taught us very basic things like numbers and words for common objects and basic grammar. Took it until grade 9. I'm better at pronouncing the French R (like in rouge or coeur) than the English R (like in robot or soar), unless I really concentrate on what I am saying, but then I over-enunciate and people find that weird.

MonctonRad Aug 26, 2012 2:35 AM

Alas, although I have a reasonable ability to read written French, and I can generally understand oral French (if spoken slowly and deliberately by a fellow anglophone), I unfortunately have very little facility in speaking French or composing a French sentence.

It is mostly the verb structure which does me in. My French vocabulary is fairly broad, but without a proper understanding of the verbs, it is impossible for me to knit my thoughts together into a proper sentence.

As far as following a French conversation, native French speakers have accents that I have difficulty with and they generally speak way too fast.

Reading French text however is another thing. I can go through the text at a comfortable speed, mentally translating along the way. This is an interesting mental exercise that I enjoy. It is a challenge but I'm usually quite successful at it.

mike474 Aug 26, 2012 2:52 AM

haha belle initiative!

cormiermax Aug 26, 2012 3:10 AM

My first language was French, but after moving to an English city and living there for 15 years my French skills have dipped a bit despite attending the French Immersion program threw out school, I can still hold a conversation and iv kept a sharp accent, but I can barely read and cant write at all. Living in a French area again though as I am currently is helping.

FrAnKs Aug 26, 2012 3:11 AM

Oui oui ! j'ignore si ce thread va se rendre très loin, mais on dirais que certains se débrouillent vraiment bien, comme vid par exemple ! ... ça prouve que lorsqu'on y met de l'effort, on peux devenir bon :)

Aylmer Aug 26, 2012 3:22 AM

Ouais! J'espère que les gens vont bien participer! Pratiquer, c'est vraiment la seule façon d'apprendre. Je suis allé 3 mois en Allemagne et dans le cours de français que j'avais là bas, y'avait du monde qui l'apprenaient depuis 6 ans et qui pouvaient même pas se présenter. Moi, en arrivant là avec à peine 2 mots d'allemand mais en le pratiquant du matin au soir, j'étais rendu meilleur qu'eux en quelques semaines.

Donc à vos claviers, messieurs! C'est pas sans utilité!

FrAnKs Aug 26, 2012 3:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aylmer (Post 5810852)
Ouais! J'espère que les gens vont bien participer! Pratiquer, c'est vraiment la seule façon d'apprendre. Je suis allé 3 mois en Allemagne et dans le cours de français que j'avais là bas, y'avait du monde qui l'apprenaient depuis 6 ans et qui pouvaient même pas se présenter. Moi, en arrivant là avec à peine 2 mots d'allemand mais en le pratiquant du matin au soir, j'étais rendu meilleur qu'eux en quelques semaines.

Donc à vos claviers, messieurs! C'est pas sans utilité!

Beau témoignage! ... en effet j'ai été témoin des mêmes choses mais à l'inverse ! ... il y avait un échange étudiant dans ma classe de français en secondaire 5, c'était un allemand de Bochum, et il était meilleur en grammaire et analyse de phrase que toute la classe, lui même en était abasourdi ! ( faut dire aussi que ceux qui font des échanges sont normalement des têtes d'ampoules :D )

Stu Aug 26, 2012 4:46 AM

I am bilingual as far as speech goes, as half my family is French. Poor writing skills though. When I type on the internet, I usually just type it in English and Google translate it, then fix the errors in the translation and copy/paste.

bulliver Aug 26, 2012 2:12 PM

Desole, je ne pas parle francais tres bein...

feepa Aug 26, 2012 3:25 PM

Fermes ta gueule, ostie trou de cul. tabernak

theshark Aug 26, 2012 3:41 PM

Bonne initiative FrAnKs, je leve mon chapeau aux gens qui essaye, C'est pas une langue facile a apprendre le francais pis si sa se pratique pas , sa se perd vitte. Je sais pas si il y en a d'autre qui voit sa, mais j'ai bien des amis anglophone qui parle tres bien le francais mais qui sont gener de le parler.

rousseau Aug 26, 2012 4:28 PM

This is an excellent thread! Can it be educational, too? My wife and I will be spending a weekend in Montreal shortly, something we do at least once a year. I speak sort of half-decent French, but it's very rusty and stilted from not being in the linguistic environment enough. I don't know how to say the day-to-day things. Could anyone translate these dialogues for me?

1. Riding my bike. Come upon another "roadie" in similar gear. How would this quickie conversation go?

Me: Nice day!
Him/her: Sure is.
Me: Long ride?
Him/her: About 50 km.
Me: Nice!
Him/her: You?
Me: About the same.
Him/her: See ya (rides off into the distance at 1/3 a faster speed than me).

2. In some sort of clothing shop. It's not too busy. My wife is trying things on. I'm standing there waiting like a good husband. A shop attendant looks bored.

Me: Not very busy today.
Her: No.
Me: So are you Montreal born and raised?
Her: No, I'm from Saguenay originally.
Me: What brought you to the big city?
Her: Adventure. Excitement. An old boyfriend who is now in jail.
Me: Miss him?
Her: No, he was a jerk.
Me: He must have been if he treated you wrongly.

(This is not flirtatious. At least not in smaller city or small town Ontario when you're a guy in his forties with a wife very nearby. Also, the rather direct question in my third line is something I would tend to say when travelling, but not back at home or in nearby Toronto. You're a different person when you travel, right?)

3. In a casual restaurant. It's not too busy.

Me: So what part of Montreal do you live in?
Waiter: The Plateau.
Me: It's nice there, eh?
Waiter: I hate it. I can't wait too move back to Brossard.
Me: Really? We hear great things about the Plateau, it's so vibrant, happening...
Waiter: My neighbours are in an indie rock band. They start practicing at 3 am.
Me: Arcade Fire wannabees, are they?
Waiter: They suck. I can't sleep. I need peace and quiet. I also want to grow vegetables.
Me: Get back to the earth.
Waiter: Yeah...

NBNYer Aug 26, 2012 4:56 PM

Ok I'll give it a shot for one of them. Keep in mind, this is not intended to be "French class assignment" quality, but rather how a very informal conversation (with some slang) might go between native speakers (which is what I think you were getting at)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau (Post 5811096)

1. Riding my bike. Come upon another "roadie" in similar gear. How would this quickie conversation go?

Me: Nice day! ................... Belle journée!
Him/her: Sure is.................Met s'en
Me: Long ride? ..................Tu vas loin aujourd'hui? (or "vous allez" if the other person is much older than you)
Him/her: About 50 km........ environ 50 km
Me: Nice!.......................... Ah, c'est bien ça......or simply: Cool!
Him/her: You?...................Et toi?
Me: About the same............ À peu près la même chose
Him/her: See ya.................Salut



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