Parlez-Vous Français ? [The French Club]

Yusshin · Apr 19, 2013

THE FRENCH CLUB

Club Goals / Description

Hello! Welcome to the French Club, where PC users can come and collaborate on anything regarding the francophone language, culture, etc. ~~although I believe having a discussion in French is against PC's rules~~. This could also be considered a type of open tutoring session: for those having trouble at school or at their work with French grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, etc. you may freely post here and ask questions, contribute to others' questions and even post excerpts from your homework for peer editing and revision. Do not expect other users to completely edit your work, however. Expect that they will point out weaknesses and strengths and guide you as to where you could improve on various attributes of your paper / work. You may also expect in-depth explanations as to why things just are as they are, especially in regards to verb tenses and spelling.

You can talk about anything here, from French states such as Louisiana, to Quebec's new language laws, to zee Eiffaul Towah, to Belgium, Switzerland, to Morocco, to Vietnam, or even just how some people in England do not know (regardless it being completely relevant to their history) that Canada has a decent-sized French population.

Bien le bonjour à vous tous !

Rules

- As usual, all PC-related rules apply to this Fan Club
- Do not disrespect other members or non-members. We are all here to help each other
- Remember: if necessary, post evidence of any claims made within the thread
- It is not recommended to fully edit someone's work and submit it; this does not help the person in question improve

Member List

- Yusshin [Leader] [Tutor]
- LilJz1234 [Tutor]
- JNathan [Tutor & Discussion]
- rpryor03 [Tutor & Discussion]
- EGKangaroo [Tutee]
- Chatot Lover [Tutee & Discussion]
- AzaleaLightning [Tutee & Discussion]
- Droomph [Tutee & Discussion]
- BlahlSuck [Discussion]
- KriegStein [Discussion]
- Team Fail [Discussion]
- Sydian [Discussion]
- Gonz0 [Discussion]

How To Become a Member?

Fill out the following form:

Name:
Country:
Interest: (i.e. tutoring, becoming a tutor, discussion, collaboration)
If "Tutoring" is an interest, what grade are you in?:
If "Becoming a Tutor" is an interest, what background / skills / experience do you have that would validate this request?:
Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N:

★ What is the difference between "Tutoring" (Member Suffix: [Tutee]) and "Becoming a Tutor" (Member Suffix: [Tutor])? ★

- "Tutoring" or [Tutee] means that that user has requested or stated that they need assistance from a tutor with the French language. They would like to improve and have no shame saying so!
- "Becoming a Tutor" or [Tutor] means that that person has a fluent grasp on the language, its grammar, etc. and is able to offer assistance in a variety of ways: peer editing, other homework, language inquiries, clarifications, etc.

♡ Assurez-vous que vous comprenez la différence lorsque vous faites vos applications ! ♡
♡ Make sure you know the difference when completing the application form! ♡

★ Verb of the Week History ★

Spoiler:

★ Word of the Day History ★

Spoiler:

Opening Topic

Did you learn French in school?

If yes, until what grade? Was the curriculum helpful? How much information did you retain? Do you wish that the curriculum was more in-depth or easier? With what you have learned, do you think you could function in a francophone society, with or without a dictionary on-hand?

If no, would you want to have learned French in school? Did you learn a different language instead? What about French has perked your interest into joining this Club? Do you regret that your school did not have French in its curriculum / did not offer French / your time-table could not accommodate this study?

Kanzler · Apr 20, 2013

Country: Canada!

Interest: Discussion, maybe French History and Culture. Also to learn a bit of vernacular/conversation :P

Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N: Non, je n'ai pas du grey poupon <-- de or du? I can never tell D:

I lived in Montreal for a year as a kid, so my accent should be better than worse. Other than that, got myself into French extended, but stopped as soon as I could (Grade 9) - in order to have a class together with my eventually-to-be-girlfriend (YEAH.)! So that's a good excuse. I wish I learned more how to converse in French, because we learned a lot of grammar but I could never place it into context. Also because my girlfriend found out that Francophones will understand you if you speak everything in present tense - and that your 7 years' worth of training doesn't kick in because there isn't enough speaking. I also didn't like having to do skits - because you memorized specific in French when you could've spent that time improving your ability to speak it dynamically.

I don't think I'll be able to function, but I would like to. Languages are pretty sexy to know, and I want charisma +1. Also knowledge +1 too. My girlfriend's studying French decently seriously, so I don't want to be left behind :P

KriegStein · Apr 20, 2013

Country: Finland
Interest: Trying to remember the basics of the language. Also discussion of French culture, history etc.
Grey coupon: The what? No..
I studied French in junior high for 2 years. And...well I didnt realy study as hard as I sshould have. I have forgotten mostof the grammar and even basic sentences. What I do remember are some small sentences like: Un baquet jambon buerre sil vous ple. I think I may have buthered the grammar there. :D
So yeah I wouldnt survive in a french speaking country/town.

EGKangaroo · Apr 20, 2013

Name: Du kangourou géant (EGKangaroo)
Country: The Netherlands
Interest: tutoring and discussion
If "Tutoring" is an interest, what grade are you in?: 5th year of VWO
Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N: Non.

As for the topic. Yes, I do have French in school. It's part of the standard VWO curriculum that you have to take at least 2 foreign languages into your finals, and 1 must be English. The other was a choice between either German and French. Now, since I thought that learning 3 West Germanic languages would be incredibly pointless, I went with French instead (And the German article declension may have had something to do with my choice for French too).

It's an okay language to learn, I guess. it's very rigorous though. We have to learn so many verb conjugation tables by heart. Not only for regular verbs, but also the irregular verbs, you have to learn the system for all of them and which verbs happen to have similar conjugation. And all of the pronouns (not personal ones, those are easy) are so difficult to stamp into my head as well. There's a bazillion rules you need to keep in mind and a dozen different inflection tables you need to remember by heart. It's very rigorous. Everything is lined out, and there is no room for error, so my impression of the language has always been that it's very inorganic. Everything is perfectly laid out in a grid pattern and you must memorise, memorise, memorise.

A lot of our French classes are reading assignments though, and a lot of them are writing, and speaking. It's immensely difficult to keep my composure with my current teacher though. He uses large portions of the periods to talk about his personal grudge with everything that I happen to value. He enjoys to bantering about shooting animals, wanting to burn disney to the ground, because it's all dumb entertainment anyway, actively debasing everyone in the classroom because we're a problematic generation and we're all shallow anyway without any real personal issues and that all of our entertainment is cheap, trashy, whatever you want to call it, without any meaning, value, or whatever that other word is, and we are never being, never being anything but drones sitting in front of the telly watching our ADHD unintelligent flashy hollywood disney entertainment.

I could not possibly feel secure with him as a teacher. In fact, I've only had a single year where I've had a sort of considerate teacher with French, and everybody else seemed to loathe him because he, and I quoth: "Just has to be gay to wear a scarf inside."

So, yeah. My experiences with French classes have been less than great. And I kinda am starting to regret not choosing German instead. Maybe that can change here.

Yusshin · Apr 20, 2013

Hey, this is a great turn-out so far lol

To answer your question, BlahlSuck, because your sentence is negative, you would use "de" instead of "du."

Code:

Non, je n'ai pas de grey poupon

Or you could simplify it further and simply say:

Code:

Non, j'en ai pas

Because the question already implies that the "en" in this case would mean "grey poupon."

★

Wow, that French teacher sounds messed up lol I don't know what it is, but even when I was in school there were a lot of suspicious French teachers. I had one who kept calling me pretty, complimenting me, gave me candy and asked me what I was doing on the weekend (only to tell me that he's spending it in bed with his wife...)

Which is creepy imo lol Plus, the French teachers before that would sneak into the little computer room between student change rooms, carefully remove the screws sealing a piece of wood into an old window there (why there used to be windows looking into the change rooms, I don't even...) and watch the female students change. /Shudder

★

I personally studied French up until Grade 11 [Extended]. I would have taken it straight into Grade 12, but my level had surpassed that anyway and universities will take an aptitude test for out-of-province applications to French programs anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. I wasn't going to go back for a whole six months just to get that credit either, esp. because I skipped out on Outdoor Ed. (in French) because I kept having panic attacks.

I was in a non-Extended class for about a week in '10. I had a German lady for a French teacher. It was awful. The students were awful. The teacher herself was awful. When I corrected her and left the school, she kept harassing my younger sister about me. Ah, maturity, where hath thou gone, ye.

Kotowari · Apr 20, 2013

Name: Kotowari
Country: La partie flamande de la Belgique.
Interest: I'd like to somehow use my French more actively, besides reading manga. So, discussion.

I had French for 8 years: the final 2 years of pimary school and then throughout middle school. French was a compulsary course as it is one of the main languages of my country (besides Dutch and German). I daresay that my French is decent enough to hold a conversation French speaking people, although I tend to forget some words here and there. During the past week, I was in Liège (city in Wallonia, the french speaking part of Belgium) and tried to explain to a guy the concept of plate subduction.

What I wanted to say: "Une plaque descend sous l'autre. Dans la zone de subduction, à la surfaçe, il y a des montagnes et des volcans, formées sous la pression et la fonte de la plaque descendue."

What I said: "Ca fait comme ça." *tries to immitate movements with hands* Guess it makes me nervous to have to speak a language I'm not comfortable with, in public.

Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N: Non?

Captain Gizmo · Apr 20, 2013

Name: LilJz1234 (Petit Jz un, deux, trois, quatre)
Country: Canada
Interest: tutoring
If "Tutoring" is an interest, what grade are you in?: Uhh.. I'm in Car Mechanic *_*. But I did my whole education in french, from kindergarten to my last year of high school. French, first language.
Do you have any grey poupon? Non, does it taste good?

Sydian · Apr 20, 2013

Name: Sydian
Country: Etats-Unis
Interest: Discussion
Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N: Je n'ai pas de poupon...lmao.

Anyway, my high school offered French I and II, though it wasn't the popular choice when I was there. Since I've left, French III has been added. I've taken French I and II in high school, and French I I've taken twice in college, and I'll be taking French II in the fall semester. :) Looking forward to it!

Also, I read French much better than speaking/typing it. XD Just for future reference...~ OH and I can't type accents btw. ;(

Sydian · Apr 20, 2013

But yeah. I'm the same way. I can read it a lot better than write or speak it.

Grand, I'm not alone! I just had my French final the other day actually. Very easy and it was my favorite class this semester. :) My teacher was fantastic and helpful and let us watch French movies as well. Very fun. :D

Kotowari · Apr 20, 2013

We had a few classes in which we analysed songs of Jacques Brel. He was, in fact, a Belgian singer. "Le plat pays qui est le mien", in which he sings about Belgium('s northern part) also exists in dutch (as "Mijn vlakke land").
Even if you don't understand his lyrics, you can tell they're very emotion-heavy.

This is by far my favourite of those we listened to.

@Sydian: I think that's quite common for any language which isn't your native one. I read French and German much better than actively speaking or writing it. Reading allows you to do it at your own pace without having to think about the correct spelling or grammar, and therefore your only focus is the meaning. And even if you don't understand all words, you'll understand most of it and give you an idea of the context behind the sentence. Speaking or writing forces you to think about all words, making it more complicated.

Sydian · Apr 20, 2013

Since I was just in French I, we didn't analyze lyrics, but we talked about words we noticed that we've gone over or might have known from high school French. Still lots of fun! She gave us sheets with the lyrics and omg there was one that was stuck in my head. I'll have to find the sheet and post it in here some time. It was really good!

We listened to some music in high school as well, which must have resonated well with me since I went on to listen to more from Fabrice Mauss haha. Also, there was a song that was like...French and Arabic, I believe. I'll have to post that one. It's amazing! :)

Yusshin · Apr 20, 2013

What I wanted to say: "Une plaque descend sous l'autre. Dans la zone de subduction, à la surfaçe, il y a des montagnes et des volcans, formées sous la pression et la fonte de la plaque descendue."

What I said: "Ca fait comme ça." *tries to immitate movements with hands* Guess it makes me nervous to have to speak a language I'm not comfortable with, in public.

That's a funny story. Everyone is like that at first, learning new languages. Our system really emphasizes written work but does not incorporate enough first-hand verbal experiences. There are scripts and audio work, but it's really not intense enough to be worth much in a real-life experience.

On another note, Oceanic Plates are denser than Continental Plates due to Mafic rock content. Those plates converge and subduct under Continental Plates to create volcanoes, while Continental to Continental converging plates form mountains. When plates diverge, they leave behind ridges, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (which is famous for its sea floor spreading, allowing us to understand the historical polarity of the Earth). Meanwhile, when plates glide past each other at transforming boundaries, faults / fissures occur i.e. dipslips, strike slips. At all of these boundaries - Divergent, Convergent (Subduction) and Transform - you get earthquakes - yay!

★

because saying "poupon" twice just sounds silly (I know this because I did it that way a lot before learning about the y/en pronouns).

Indeed it does, due to redundancy. Have you learnt about phrases such as: "Veux-tu du chocolat ?" "Oui, donne-m'en !"?

Though "Donne-m'en" is grammatically correct, most people use Donne-moi-en (with a "z" liaison between "moi" and "en") because it sounds better.

★

Do you have any grey poupon? Non, does it taste good?

I don't know lol It's just an old joke about a French commercial for it. Apparently it's a popular mustard in the States, but its popularity died in France.

It was also a good excuse to put up a Wayne's World video.

★

Anyway, my high school offered French I and II, though it wasn't the popular choice when I was there. Since I've left, French III has been added. I've taken French I and II in high school, and French I I've taken twice in college, and I'll be taking French II in the fall semester. :) Looking forward to it!

Grand, I'm not alone! I just had my French final the other day actually. Very easy and it was my favorite class this semester. :) My teacher was fantastic and helpful and let us watch French movies as well. Very fun. :D

That's great, Syd! Being enthusiastic is always helpful in your studies. I can definitely help you if you get stuck somewhere.

★

We sometimes get assignments in which we listen to songs and analyze the lyrics.

I had an assignment like that. It's popular for the Grade 11 curriculum in Ontario.

Here's the song I chose:

It was hard because I was doing a presentation on a country - Morocco, I think - and had to have a musician from there. It was hard to find a song, so I went with someone with Moroccan roots lol Luckily the teacher passed it as being the same idea, at least.

I do think his long goat beard is funny.

EGKangaroo · Apr 20, 2013

I remember we actually got to analyse song lyrics last year. That was when we had an alright teacher, and I actually started taking enjoyment out of French classes.

Though on the other hand...he did do it with songs like this:

Yusshin · Apr 20, 2013

My face was stuck in a distorted "wtf" watching that LOL but it was funny. The boy thought it was funny, too. That was so random XD

I'd have liked to have seen those in class, instead of watching The Grinch every year at Christmas in French. It gets tiresome after the first, y'know, five times.

Nathan · Apr 20, 2013

Might as well join this one.
Name: JNathan
Country: Antillas
Interest: Tutoring, Discussion
If "Tutoring" is an interest, what grade are you in?: 10th grade
~~If "Becoming a Tutor" is an interest, what background / skills / experience do you have that would validate this request?:~~
Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N: Pas du tout.

droomph · Apr 20, 2013

je ne parle français, mai je suis inté-

okay idk

Name: droomph
Country: united states…yeah
Interest: (i.e. tutoring, becoming a tutor, discussion, collaboration) I'm pretty much…ich spreche kein Französisch, wenn das dir eine Ahnung gibt. Aber ich interessiere mich für Französisch lernen, weil die Schweiz.

…idk
Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N:noooooo i don't think? poupon is doll if google translate can be trusted.

Yusshin · Apr 20, 2013

I'm pretty much…ich spreche kein Französisch, wenn das dir eine Ahnung gibt. Aber ich interessiere mich für Französisch lernen, weil die Schweiz.

I don't understand German, but I'm guessing that means something along the lines of, "I speak little French, when there is a need for it. French would be interesting to learn, it is pretty?"

>_> I spent like, two days in German class (same awful French teacher I had lol!) so I don't really know.

I placed you in Tutee & Discussion, though, since I think that's appropriate...

On that note, I made out some guidelines about differences between "Tutor" and "Tutee" so if I have you [] in the wrong one, just mention it and I'll fix that. Mostly pointed at LilJz1234.

Do you have any grey poupon? Y/N:noooooo i don't think? poupon is doll if google translate can be trusted.

Grey Poupon is a mustard brand. A "poupée" is a doll.

Oh, Google translate, you.

Nathan · Apr 20, 2013

You misunderstood me Yusshin. I'm not a tutee but a tutor. French is my 2nd language so I'm good at it :)

Captain Gizmo · Apr 20, 2013

I'll be in the tutor section, I think I'll be my help would be most appreciated there instead xD

Yusshin · Apr 20, 2013

Yeah, that's what I figured. You both had "tutoring" as an interest but then the rest of the post hinted more at "tutor." Knew something was off. I changed it, though. Yay~

On another note, a very popular video that many may already know:

In the second video, you can clearly hear doughnut man screaming "ARRÊTTEE!!! ARRÊTEEE!! ARRÊTEE-TOIIII"

lolol bawlsy.

Fun.

Parlez-Vous Français ? [The French Club]

♪ Yggdrasil ♪

Nuclear Reactor

Tail-bumps for all 'roolovers!

♪ Yggdrasil ♪

Will be back eventually

Monkey King

fake your death.

fake your death.

Will be back eventually

fake your death.

♪ Yggdrasil ♪

Tail-bumps for all 'roolovers!

♪ Yggdrasil ♪

Blade of Justice

weeb

♪ Yggdrasil ♪

Blade of Justice

Monkey King

♪ Yggdrasil ♪