MadmoiZelle speaks English

[Napoléon.]

It's the first time I come here and I'm so happy because I understand almost all that you say.

 

[Callyo]

Hello everyone
So glad to see there's actually this kind of topic
Since i started viewing english tv shows I felt like I had a bit of a problem with slang because -let's face it- english classes doesn't include that kind of vocabulary/grammar.
Sooo I was wondering what you'd advise me to do with the vo between adding english subbtiles
or trying to get past all these expressions I never heard of, simply with the record.


[Anyone who spot something wrong with what I write would be really sweet to tell me ]

 

[Waukesha.]

I think it would be great to alternate serious subjects with movie commentary, this way everyone can be satisfied !

That's a great idea! And do you have any idea of what movie you would like to watch?

I need you girls!

 

[cissy]

But actually, I'm in that strange situation where I can't help but speaking half french-half english. A thing I find extremely stupid. For instance, I was looking for a cutter yesterday. So I asked my collegues if they saw one, and I pronounced it with an english accent. Stupid.
And 5 minutes ago, on facebook, I wanted to write something about a photo and I couldn't find the proper word for "disturbing", for 2 minutes I was saying "disturbant", a mix between "disturbing" and "perturbant".
Uuuuh, I hate it!

Same here, after 10 months in the UK i would get totally mixed-up, like "et quand j'ai ouvert la door, ... euh, la, euh... d... non, porte ! ouf, calvaire !"
It's gone, though, since my trip took place 6 years ago. I'm still practising my listening skills by watching series (thx the Internet), i even talk to myself in English, aloud yeah, no i'm not crazy... or am i?
But i noticed my accent has shifted from British to American these last couple years, and i'm not too happy with that. I used to love my snobbish British accent !
Cyanea : Were you a French teaching assistant there ?

Hello everyone
So glad to see there's actually this kind of topic
Since i started viewing english tv shows I felt like I had a bit of a problem with slang because -let's face it- english classes doesn't include that kind of vocabulary/grammar.
Sooo I was wondering what you'd advise me to do with the vo between adding english subbtiles
or trying to get past all these expressions I never heard of, simply with the record.
[Anyone who spot something wrong with what I write would be really sweet to tell me ]

You should definitely watch those tv shows with the English subtitles on, it will help you spot the words you don't understand yet and figure out what they mean.

 

[Shatzy Shell]

I just discovered (should I use a present perfect instead of a preterit ? I'm never sure ) this Youtube account on which there are many audiobooks with synchronized text, which makes the comprehension much easier :

CC Prose Audiobooks - YouTube

(if you see any mistake in my sentence please correct it ! )

 

[cissy]

@Shatzy Shell : Preterit, i just discovered is fine, or i just found (more idiomatic)

@Cyanea : With a 5 year-old girl? Aww sweet! I love how British children speak with such emphasis on every word.
This gap year situation must be so frustrating for you. France is the land of academics, where graduation prevails over experience. You will be hired based on your credits, not on what you can actually do. It's a shame, i know, i wonder how long it will take for the system to change. Most European countries are so ahead on this matter. When i was in the UK, most of my A-levels students were planning to go on a gap year after school to relax, travel, broaden their minds, improve thier language skills (though they don't need that as much as we do). Here, you have to fit in right away, a gap year is considered a total waste of time, worse, a lack of maturity. One more year to play around...
Anyway, i'm sure you'll prove your teachers wrong and they'll realize how much of an asset that gap year was for you.
The educational system isn't enough to turn us into fluent speakers, when i have children i'll make sure they learn English as early as possible.

 

[Tardis]

Hey girls !

There is something really depressing about the french educational system. When you decide to have a gap year, if you come back, you're immediately looked as a strange beast, "it's just so weird to have a gap year, why don't you carry on studying like everyone else?". Because I'm still young, and I couldn't bear it anymore, I've been studying 5 years non-stop, I have 2 more left. So I guess it's not that weird to have the will to see something else. But no. Here, you HAVE TO get your Baccalauréat, then you HAVE TO go straight to the University, then find a job and well, that's it.
This is exactly how my school is thinking. As I'm gone one year, they decided to put me through 2 interviews instead of one. It's done on purpose (and I f-ing stress the word "purpose"), if you didn't follow the classical path, there you go, double price for you.
I don't understand why you get a "punishment" when you decide to broaden your mind and to learn another language. I don't want to talk about my fellows with contempt, don't get me wrong. But here is the main fact: they would claim they speak english fluently and they don't.
In other countries it's common to leave when you get your A level. This thing is typically french, no wonder why french people are so bad at languages!

Oh my god YES. This is it. Exactly. I was talking about this with my parents the other day : what should I do after the Baccalauréat if I don't get the school I want ? And my mother wanted me to go to another school, no matter how different and useless the classes would be. Why couldn't I just take a year off, and travel a little ? I'm pretty sure you learn as much on a trip than in school, you just do it on your own. English classes never really thaught me much, while simply watch tv shows in english helped me improve so much ; I can't even imagine how fast you must improve if you live for a while in an English country. And if I had the chance, if the chance was given to us, I would have moved to study in England for a year without a doubt. But I guess the french system doesn't really want to help us discover what's abroad, right ?

I just discovered (should I use a present perfect instead of a preterit ? I'm never sure ) this Youtube account on which there are many audiobooks with synchronized text, which makes the comprehension much easier :

CC Prose Audiobooks - YouTube

Oh thank you so much ! I think this can be really useful. I just finished reading The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald (I bought it a couple of weeks ago when I finally found it in original version), and sometimes when you're reading you can misunderstand a sentence if you don't get the right tone, so to have audiobooks with text should help ! AND they have Pride and Prejudice, and the Sherlock Holmes series, that I wanted to read for so long .
By the way, I've been looking for Farenheit 451, American Gods, The Fault In Our Stars and The Book Thief in english for aaaages. I don't really want to buy them on the Internet because I like to stay in the library for hours looking for a specific book and everything, but I can't find them anywhere, so

(eeh I definitely write too much, sorry )

 

[Rocky ducky]

Hi guys, I'm finally joining you after a couple of months reading you from time to time. In Glasgow right now and for a couple of years, so don't be surprised if I use weird words (Glaswegian can be really weird sometimes) and feel free to ask anything you might not know!

See ya

 

[Caradoc]

Hi there!
I've subscribed to an association in my uni to guide people who are there as Erasmus students, and today they sent me the mail of the girl I have under my protection
The thing is: they told us to try to speak to them only in french, because they're here to learn our language, not to teach us how to speak better in their. But I have to send her an e-mail before I met her, and I don't know how to start it, neither if I have to write to her in english or in french...
Help meeeee please

 

[Caradoc]

@Catimini-mini Boop
Thanks
I wrote that, I don't know if it's right or not...

Spoiler

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With a first version in french, to follow your advice ...

 

[Ithurielle]

@Catimini-mini Boop
Thanks
I wrote that, I don't know if it's right or not...

Spoiler

Ce contenu est réservé aux membres inscrit.es. Inscris-toi par ici.

With a first version in french, to follow your advice ...

I picked on every tiny mistake you made that could potentially alter the meaning of your message, and all the typos I could see Some of your sentences are a bit convoluted, but because they make sense and are gramatically correct, I left them.

@Lord Tubbington: it looks good (but I'm not the kind of person able to correct your mail, I stopped learning English too much years ago ).


I just have a question. In the sentence



I would have written "but if you don't", because "if not" looks too frenchy, no? (this is a real question ).

Come back to give us news about her (this sounds like an obligation but it doesn't ).

Mmh, it's actually used quite a lot by anglophones, no risk of sounding too French here!

 

[Caradoc]

@Catimini-mini Boop Erh... too late But you're right, it's too frenchy to say it that way.
And I, for sure, will come back to tell you EVERYTHING about her (... well, maybe not everything...)

Ithurielle Damn! I wish I had seen your message earlier...