The Great Canadian Practice your French Thread

[rousseau]

Me: Excusez-moi, monsieur. Est-ce qu'il y a un magasin de velo pres d'ici? (A half decent and understandable sentence, isn't it? Please tell me if I'm wrong!)

Him: <Something> <something> monsieur, est-ce que vous pouvez parler le francais? Je ne peux pas parler l'anglais.

Me, more slowly: Est-ce qu'il y a un magasin de velo pres d'ici?

Him: <Something> <something> <shrug> <looks into the air> <something> <shrug> <something> <pause> ... Non.

I know I need to work on my listening, but clearly I need to work on my accent!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Me: Excusez-moi, monsieur. Est-ce qu'il y a un magasin de velo pres d'ici? (A half decent and understandable sentence, isn't it? Please tell me if I'm wrong!)

Him: <Something> <something> monsieur, est-ce que vous pouvez parler le francais? Je ne peux pas parler l'anglais.

Me, more slowly: Est-ce qu'il y a un magasin de velo pres d'ici?

Him: <Something> <something> <shrug> <looks into the air> <something> <shrug> <something> <pause> ... Non.

I know I need to work on my listening, but clearly I need to work on my accent!

Sounds fine to me. Sometimes you just get these weird encounters. It's happened to me before in Spanish...

[Acajack]

Reminds me of Dave Ash (a pun - in French it sounds like ''of the cows''):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My7zNUHZSRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2PTlNZpf4

[vid]

I love that, "of the cows".

"I knew this girl in school once, she was really weird... I think she was of the cows".

Je ne sais pas si je besoin un plus ou un moins de dormir...

[kwoldtimer]

[QUOTE=Acajack;5818100]Reminds me of Dave Ash (a pun - in French it sounds like ''of the cows''):
....

That reminds me of the story of Diefenbaker endearing himself to Quebeckers by ending his speeches with "Vos veaux sont après chier" instead of "Vos voeux sont appréciés"!

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

That reminds me of the story of Diefenbaker endearing himself to Quebeckers by ending his speeches with "Vos veaux sont après chier" instead of "Vos voeux sont appréciés"!

Translation:

Your cows are currently shitting.

instead of

Your wishes are appreciated.

[vid]

Yes, one of the better examples of how making a slight pronunciation mistake in French can turn an otherwise innocent sentence into something absurd and offensive.

Funnier than the more recent typo in a government press release referring to Iqaluit as Iqualuit, the latter meaning "many people with unwiped bums".

[Aylmer]

I've always found homonyms funny: there's a Simon&Garfunkel song where they say either:

an ever-changing point of view

or

a never-changing point of view

But if you say it, it sounds exactly the same, despite meaning the opposite!

Or the fact that, written, 'more' and 'none' is the same word in French, especially since people don't generally use 'ne' in spoken Québécois :

Y'en a plus (pronounced 'plu'): There isn't any.

Y'en a plus (pronounced 'pluss'): There's more.

[wacko]

Est-ce que les enseignants en Québec suivent les récommandations de l'Académie française? Par exemple, l'accent circonflexe n'est plus obligatoire pour certains mots: on peut écrire 'gout' en place de 'goût' et ça serait aussi correct.

Une autre chose que je me demande: pourquoi les francophones ajoutent-ils une espace avant un point d'interrogation ou d'exclamation? On ne fait pas la même chose pour un point ou une virgule...

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by wacko

Est-ce que les enseignants en Québec suivent les récommandations de l'Académie française? Par exemple, l'accent circonflexe n'est plus obligatoire pour certains mots: on peut écrire 'gout' en place de 'goût' et ça serait aussi correct.

.

Je ne connais personne qui emploie la nouvelle orthographe simplifiée comme p. ex. le mot goût sans accent circonflexe. Mes enfants sont à l'école et s'ils écrivaient goût sans accent ça serait sans doute une erreur.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

I've always found homonyms funny: there's a Simon&Garfunkel song where they say either:

or

But if you say it, it sounds exactly the same, despite meaning the opposite!

Or the fact that, written, 'more' and 'none' is the same word in French, especially since people don't generally use 'ne' in spoken Québécois :

The latter is a homonym, correct - they look alike. The former is a homophone - they sound alike.

But beyond that, I can make out what is said on the French side of a cereal box. So. . . /skidaddles

[Aylmer]

Ce dernier est une relique des machines à écrire puis est pas vraiment utilisé par les personnes d'en bas de 40, mais personnellement, j'utilise toujours les accents circonflexes et 'chevaux' et la vieille grammaire en générale.

Xelebes: thanks for the correction, I missed it

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by wacko

Une autre chose que je me demande: pourquoi les francophones ajoutent-ils une espace avant un point d'interrogation ou d'exclamation? On ne fait pas la même chose pour un point ou une virgule...

Je ne sais vraiment pas pourquoi, et ce n'est pas tout le monde qui le fait.

Par contre devant un deux points (colon en anglais), presque tout le monde ajoute un espace.

La langue est ainsi faite, c'est tout.

C'est comme le symbole $.

En français : 100 $

En anglais: $100

[1ajs]

elle mange pritty sure theres a difference in the spelling of mange in male vs feminan but then i am going based on memory from last night playing with rosetta stone

Il mange

she eats
he eats?

garcane boy
no accent keys..........

honme man spelling


un cuisine one man

une cuisine one woman

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

Ce dernier est une relique des machines à écrire puis est pas vraiment utilisé par les personnes d'en bas de 40, mais personnellement, j'utilise toujours les accents circonflexes et 'chevaux' et la vieille grammaire en générale.

Je sais que "chevals" est accepté, mais d'après moi quelqu'un qui dirait ça serait vite jugé comme étant une personne qui parle mal français et peu instruite.

Like saying "I done it" in English...

[Nantais]

Originally Posted by rousseau

My wife and I are enjoying a leisurely weekend in Montreal. And once again, I'm gratified that my very rudimentary French is still fairly functional. Thing is, I'm reminded as always about the funny thing about my listening ability, and I wonder if any other non-native speakers find this: I can understand the foreign accents, like the Lebanese taxi driver last night, but I can barely understand a word of what the born and raised Quebeckers are saying!

Same thing when listening to English : the English spoken by a Nigerian or an Indian is often more understandable to my ears than the English spoken by British or American people.

[Nantais]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Je sais que "chevals" est accepté

Ouille, ça fait mal aux yeux quand même.

[Robertpuant]

Originally Posted by Nantais

Ouille, ça fait mal aux yeux quand même.

Y jousent ak nous. Faut pâs prendre çâ trop s'sérieux.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

elle mange pritty sure theres a difference in the spelling of mange in male vs feminan but then i am going based on memory from last night playing with rosetta stone

Il mange

she eats
he eats?

garcane boy
no accent keys..........

honme man spelling


un cuisine one man

une cuisine one woman

Verbs are almost never influenced by gender UNLESS (watch out, this is not for the faint of grammar. You've been warned)...

... It's a verb tense that contains the Participe Passé AND ONLY THEN if:
1. The verb is conjugated by 'avoir' but the object is placed the verb in which case the verb will be affected by the gender and the number of the OBJECT.
2. The verb is conjugated by 'être' in which case it's always affected by the gender and number of the SUBJECT.

That's about as complicated as French grammar gets, so don't worry.


The other words:

A Boy - Un Garçon [Gahrr-ssõ]
A Man - Un Homme [Euhm]
A Woman - Une Femme [Fahm]
A Kitchen - Une cuisine [Küii-zihnn]

Rosetta Stone helped me learn German a lot - it builds a good base and the ability to deduce more and more progressively, but it's only the foundation: there's no replacement for learning the language by speaking, but you'll see that Rosetta Stone's foundation will be much easier to build on. Best of luck!

[Vaillant]

Bonsoir mes amis, comment allez vous?