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Hi,
I waited until I was retired to learn a second language. I cannot lie, it's hard but with the help of my Italki teachers I am getting closer every day.
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- Great article, thanks for writing it. I have two iTalki teachers who are French Canadian although they both live in Europe. I've had hundreds of lessons with both and don't think I"ll ever stop regardless of my French competency. Everything you wrote is true about the similarities and differences but it's the differences that are the most fun. I think North Americans would do themselves a favor by learning to understand spoken québécois, it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to get to French Canada to enjoy the people, their language and history.March 1, 20230
- TV in our life (translated from an article)TV has become a part of our lives many years ago. Watching TV we know a lot of information. The most information coming from TV is certainly news. Thanks to the news we can be up to date of internal and external politics. However, not all programs bring benefits to us. Probably, opposide, they hinder our development, making us weak and inactive. Therefore, it is impossible to say that TV is 100% boon.So, “the idiot box” with TV shows, does it do more good or harm? Giving a clear answer is impossible. What will happen if we will not turn on the TV? We will not know what happens in-country and in the world. We could, of course, to know the news via the internet, but not all people used to do it. This is especially true for people over 50 years.Start correction:V became a part of our live many years ago. We learn a lot watching TV. We learn from TV news most of all. Thanks to the news we can be up to date on local, national and international politics. Not all programs however, are beneficial and some are actually the opposite when they give us bad information. Therefore you have to choose between good and bad news.It's hard to say if the "idiot box" does more good or harm. What would happen if we didn't turn on the TV? Would we have no idea as to what is going on? Of course we could rely on the internet but not everyone has access to it or knows how to use it. This is especially true for people over 50.End correction.Very good over all. I tried to make some expressions more normal and took out some points you tried to make twice. I have to say I"m 67 and use the internet a lot more than TV for the news. I read a variety of papers and websites in the U.S. and Europe and prefer sites who write "long form" journalism.Keep up the great work!0 votedMay 5, 20201
- Hi,"Needn't" is OK but is rather formal. You can say all of the following::You needn't do that (probably more British than American English)You don't have to do thatYou don't need to do thatThe last two are essentially the same for Americans but "have" implies must and "need" is more of a want or a choice.If someone tells me I have to do something it means it must be done, but if they tell me I need do do something there is not the same sense of urgency. A good example is "you need to get a haircut", that is something you can do right now or next week.Hope this helps..0 votedMarch 14, 20200
- Thanks for writing this article. Like all your articles it's understandable and thought provoking. As a relative beginner I worry about what accent I'll eventually have. At first I didn't give it much thought, and quite frankly didn't think it would really matter but as my journey progressed I began to realize there really are many flavors of French. In France alone there are many as my 3 French penpals can attest, so I agree there is no thing as "standard French" when it comes to speaking, besides the language is constantly changing. No one flavor is correct whether it's African, European, Caribbean, Quebecois, Chiac, Brayon, Cajun etc. They're all part of a big French salad and they're all good.
As for me, I have a bias towards North America so I'm hoping my accent turns out to be québécois, j'trippe sur cet accent. :-)0 votedSeptember 10, 20160 - I have the same problem but I find it better to just let the movie keep rolling (don't stop or back up to read something you missed). Chances are the same word or phrase will appear again and through this repetition the learning sneaks in the back door. I have no problem watching a French movie with French subtitles multiple times, after all it's all about repetition in the end.
Bonne chance!0 votedDecember 13, 20150 A magical evening at Opera !
Hi,
This evening, I'm going to Opera Garnier to see a ballet. I'm so happy and excited because I love ballet, Opera Garnier is one of my favourit monuments in Paris and I'll meet Benjamin Millepied (I'm a fan).
The Opera Garnier is a really beautiful monument opera house. I see it each time I go to the cinema because my bus stop is just in front of this building. It's particularly magical in the at night because the facade is illuminated.
I like ballet. I practiced it during for 12 years. I had started when I was 6 years old, and I stopped when I was 18 years old. I restarted on last year. It's difficult but the ambiancy ambiance is good in my class and the instructor is really cool.
(Good job! I'm American so I would say "favorite monuments". In English we tend to use the word "monument" for things like statues, but buildings can be considered monuments. I would only call a very special building with great historical importance a "monument" and then I would only use the word once. After that I would call it what it is, an opera house, a theater, a museum etc.
As a student of French I "feel your pain" with prepostions. The ones I changed were technically correct but would not be used in normal conversation.)0 votedOctober 7, 20150Nikujaga and...
October 6th and 7th
It's gotten cold recently.
Yesterday I cooked Nikujaga. It's a popular Japanese pot dish. I often cook it because it's not so difficult to cook.
My mom and I ate it with miso-soup and rice for dinner. I think I did a good job!
Today I had a mistake for made a mistake at my job. I am reflecting back on things. So I should be a professional. I fully realized that again. Well, I'll do my best from tomorrow again. I'm reflecting on what I did so I don't make the same mistake again. I want to be a professional and will do my best from now on.
(I understood everything you wrote and only made corrections to make it sound less formal. Overall you did very well. Keep up the good work. I am not a teacher so you should look for other feedback. :-)0 votedOctober 7, 20151Thanks for breaking down a very complex concept in easily understood examples. Of course there are different levels of fluency, just as there are different levels of goodness, skill, talent.
Anyone who claims there's an easy path to being "competent" in a foreign language is either a savant or opportunist looking to make an easy buck.
My experience has been there's no one right way to learn a language. Much of the battle is finding the tools and teachers that work for you. You do need to be persistent and keep it fun or you'll never succeed.
I'm still years away of my goal of being able to hold a conversation with a stranger but I started learning my language (French) at 59. After 3 years of daily study all I know is I still have a long way to go, but I'm enjoying it more the further I go. Yes, it is harder to burn those new neural pathways but it's not impossible.
Articles like this are very helpful for serious learners, thanks again!0 votedJuly 7, 20150Thanks for a great article, it cleared up several things for me. I work a lot with audio so I'm used to looking at sound files, mostly music. I tested your theory with some clips from lessons with my French teacher and you are absolutely right. My speech looks like one big blob of sound and her's is neatly divided into distinct chunks. For example my "acheter" comes out as "ash-tay" but her acheter appears as 3 blips as she . Now I have a visual of what I'm saying in French and try to make my words more distinct. It's a long way off before I'll be good at it but now I know what I'm aiming for. Merci beaucoup !
0 votedAugust 3, 20140
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