Bonjour, mes chers lecteurs. Comment ça va aujourd'hui?
Yesterday I was shocked and appalled! You'll say: Guillaume, cut the melodrama and get on with the post. Vous avez raison. Je suis désolé. Still, yesterday's experience was quite an eye-opener.
What I did was drag out some of my old beginner/intermediate French grammar books. Thinking it would be a breeze, I began to work through some of the exercises, quickly discovering that my French grammar sucks. No, I'm not saying that I don't have a reasonably good grasp of basic French grammar; I do. But I did struggle practicing the use of direct and indirect pronouns and made a lot of mistakes with irregular verbs.
My recent forays into Italian and Spanish have exacerbated this problem. Now with my hesitant attempts to speak French, I sometimes struggle to find the right word, because it's the Italian or Spanish that comes to mind, a situation made even worse by the fact that the words in all three languages are sometimes quite similar. That's one reason why I've changed the focus of this blog to French only. I may go back to the other languages after I feel more confident that I've have a workable grasp of French.
One of the best grammar texts I've found is from the Schaum's Outline series. For some reason, when you browse for French books on Amazon, these books are way, way down the list of results. Yet, the user ratings are always nearly perfect. What I like about the series is that it presents grammar in very small chunks followed by dozens and dozens of exercises. For me exercises help me solidify my learning. Schuam's also has a volume for French vocabulary. I'm not as satisfied with the vocabulary book as I am with the grammar volume, though. I've yet to find a good book for learning foreign language vocabulary. Almost all of them just provide huge lists of words on several topics that quickly become overwhelming and impossible to absorb. A better approach would be to have lists that are divided into most-used words. The first list would be, say, the top 1000 most frequently used words; the second list the next most-used 1000, etc. If anyone knows of a book that uses such an system, please comment.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Fast-Talking Guy
Where does one word end and another begin? How do you train the brain to process words, phrases, and sentences that are not only unfamiliar but seem to fly by like a flock of oiseaux? Such is one of the primary complaints of language learners. Parlez plus lentement, s'il vous plaît becomes one of the most essential sentences--right after Répétez, s'il vous plaît.
Though French learners often complain that native speakers simply speak at too fast a clip for good comprehension by students of the language, Spanish probably gets the worst rap. And indeed there is something about Spanish that makes it sound as if the speakers are hurrying through the words just to get them out as fast as possible. Experts claim that this is just an illusion and that Spanish speakers deliver their speech no faster than any other language is spoken. Still, when I listen to Spanish, it does seem to whiz by like a flock of pájaros. I'd say that it's because, though there is less grammatical elision in Spanish than in French, a colloquial speaker will invariably merge vowels on the ending of a word with vowels at the beginning of the word that follows. And because Spanish is rife with vowels, the results are sentences that contain words that are crunched together. Presumably a learner will naturally adjust to this, but it rough going at first.
With French (and this is just my experience, so you may not agree) there is a lot of elision of words, but you're also confronted with the tendency of French to leave off entire endings of words, sometimes 3 or 4 characters at a time. And (forgive me, you native speakers out there) sometimes it just seems that speakers mumble over words or slur them in a way that distorts their sounds. Believe me, I'm not criticizing, just stating what I've found to be true. Now, I'm well aware that English speakers also do this very thing, so that 'What are you doing? becomes 'Watchadoin.' My struggle with understanding the French in movies and TV shows has made me much more sympathetic to what English learners have to go through. I'm amazed that they can pick it up at all.
Also, a whole lot of the problem seems to stem from the difficulty we have hearing unfamiliar tones. Again, research has shown that after a certain age we begin to lose the ability to discern new sounds. See this article. Odd, isn't it? It's almost as if we've evolved to learn one language as children and stick to it. I wonder if that was some kind of survival technique: I know you're not my enemy because you speak my language. If I can't understand a word you are saying, then I'd better either fight or flee. Who knows?
I agree with this idea, though, because even people who have studied English for years (but did not learn it as children) speak with an 'accent.' There are certain sounds, often vowels, that are very close to correct, but not quite. I'm sure that native French persons hear the same peculiarities in novice French speakers.
I guess the moral of this story is that learning French is not just about memorizing conjugations and vocabulary words. One must listen carefully and constantly practice reproducing correct sounds. Then after much time and patience, perhaps those oiseaux and pájaros will come into focus.
Though French learners often complain that native speakers simply speak at too fast a clip for good comprehension by students of the language, Spanish probably gets the worst rap. And indeed there is something about Spanish that makes it sound as if the speakers are hurrying through the words just to get them out as fast as possible. Experts claim that this is just an illusion and that Spanish speakers deliver their speech no faster than any other language is spoken. Still, when I listen to Spanish, it does seem to whiz by like a flock of pájaros. I'd say that it's because, though there is less grammatical elision in Spanish than in French, a colloquial speaker will invariably merge vowels on the ending of a word with vowels at the beginning of the word that follows. And because Spanish is rife with vowels, the results are sentences that contain words that are crunched together. Presumably a learner will naturally adjust to this, but it rough going at first.
With French (and this is just my experience, so you may not agree) there is a lot of elision of words, but you're also confronted with the tendency of French to leave off entire endings of words, sometimes 3 or 4 characters at a time. And (forgive me, you native speakers out there) sometimes it just seems that speakers mumble over words or slur them in a way that distorts their sounds. Believe me, I'm not criticizing, just stating what I've found to be true. Now, I'm well aware that English speakers also do this very thing, so that 'What are you doing? becomes 'Watchadoin.' My struggle with understanding the French in movies and TV shows has made me much more sympathetic to what English learners have to go through. I'm amazed that they can pick it up at all.
Also, a whole lot of the problem seems to stem from the difficulty we have hearing unfamiliar tones. Again, research has shown that after a certain age we begin to lose the ability to discern new sounds. See this article. Odd, isn't it? It's almost as if we've evolved to learn one language as children and stick to it. I wonder if that was some kind of survival technique: I know you're not my enemy because you speak my language. If I can't understand a word you are saying, then I'd better either fight or flee. Who knows?
I agree with this idea, though, because even people who have studied English for years (but did not learn it as children) speak with an 'accent.' There are certain sounds, often vowels, that are very close to correct, but not quite. I'm sure that native French persons hear the same peculiarities in novice French speakers.
I guess the moral of this story is that learning French is not just about memorizing conjugations and vocabulary words. One must listen carefully and constantly practice reproducing correct sounds. Then after much time and patience, perhaps those oiseaux and pájaros will come into focus.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
If I Were a Carpenter and You Were a Picchio
As I write this post, I'm hearing the sound of a woodpecker drilling away at some wall outside. It doesn't seem to be making much progress penetrating the hard wood of the wall. Here are the words for woodpecker in French, Italian, and Spanish.
French: pic (how compact and appropriate!)
Italian: picchio (the French and Italian word clearly came from the same root)
Spanish: pájaro carpintero (Cool. a carpenter bird. Again very appropriate)
Though language instruction books make a valiant effort to provide comprehensive and practical vocabulary lists for learning, inevitably the time will come when you need a word not usually presented in beginners' textbooks (or even advanced ones for that matter). With mobile phone apps with foreign language dictionaries, you no longer have to lug around a dictionary, but still, if you're in the middle of a fascinating conversation with your new Italian friend, there's seldom time to punch in a word.
This is where useful phrases such as ¿Cómo se dice "woodpecker" en español? come in handy. How do you say 'woodpecker' in Spanish. There are similar expressions in French and Italian. You may get lucky and your partner knows the English word you are trying to define. If not, if you know the word for 'peck' and for 'bird,' you might get by with 'How do you say the word for a bird who pecks?' Feel free to use hand gestures (using your fingers to 'peck' at your hand, perhaps).
In essence, it's impossible to learn every word in another language, just as most of us don't know every English word. The key is to get creative. Hmmm, that pic has finally stopped pic'ing. What a relief!
French: pic (how compact and appropriate!)
Italian: picchio (the French and Italian word clearly came from the same root)
Spanish: pájaro carpintero (Cool. a carpenter bird. Again very appropriate)
Though language instruction books make a valiant effort to provide comprehensive and practical vocabulary lists for learning, inevitably the time will come when you need a word not usually presented in beginners' textbooks (or even advanced ones for that matter). With mobile phone apps with foreign language dictionaries, you no longer have to lug around a dictionary, but still, if you're in the middle of a fascinating conversation with your new Italian friend, there's seldom time to punch in a word.
This is where useful phrases such as ¿Cómo se dice "woodpecker" en español? come in handy. How do you say 'woodpecker' in Spanish. There are similar expressions in French and Italian. You may get lucky and your partner knows the English word you are trying to define. If not, if you know the word for 'peck' and for 'bird,' you might get by with 'How do you say the word for a bird who pecks?' Feel free to use hand gestures (using your fingers to 'peck' at your hand, perhaps).
In essence, it's impossible to learn every word in another language, just as most of us don't know every English word. The key is to get creative. Hmmm, that pic has finally stopped pic'ing. What a relief!
Friday, February 6, 2015
Accent! What Accent?
Having grown up in the U. S. Deep South, I was at first intimidated by the reaction of the Michiganders I lived among in the mid '70s to my 'Southern Accent'. Later I was more amused than anything else. It seems that every region thinks outsiders are saying it all wrong.
What is referred to as an accent, often is much more complicated than that. Different regions use different idioms, vocabulary, and sentence structure. And yes, there is often a distinct way that syllables in words are stressed. This was pointed out to me when a Northern friend commented on the difference between the way I pronounced the word 'Thanksgiving' and the way Bostonians did. We say 'ThanksGIVing,' she said. You say 'THANKSgiving.' And I had to admit that she was on to something. There really is a difference in the way southerners accent some words.
It's only natural to wonder how this came about. My guess is that during the long evolution of English, with German and French intervention, certain areas of Britain produced words slightly differently. Thus, when the language was transported to North America, certain settlers retained certain accents.
In general, I've found my Southern accent something that I can control, and also often a big asset. When I lived in New York, most New Yorkers found a slight Southern accent charming. They did not, on the other hand, like heavy accents--finding them too countrified. When they did tease me about my Southern roots, I quickly brought to attention their own peculiar New York or, especially, Brooklynese. Then they quietened down and became very self-conscious.
What is referred to as an accent, often is much more complicated than that. Different regions use different idioms, vocabulary, and sentence structure. And yes, there is often a distinct way that syllables in words are stressed. This was pointed out to me when a Northern friend commented on the difference between the way I pronounced the word 'Thanksgiving' and the way Bostonians did. We say 'ThanksGIVing,' she said. You say 'THANKSgiving.' And I had to admit that she was on to something. There really is a difference in the way southerners accent some words.
It's only natural to wonder how this came about. My guess is that during the long evolution of English, with German and French intervention, certain areas of Britain produced words slightly differently. Thus, when the language was transported to North America, certain settlers retained certain accents.
In general, I've found my Southern accent something that I can control, and also often a big asset. When I lived in New York, most New Yorkers found a slight Southern accent charming. They did not, on the other hand, like heavy accents--finding them too countrified. When they did tease me about my Southern roots, I quickly brought to attention their own peculiar New York or, especially, Brooklynese. Then they quietened down and became very self-conscious.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
The Woman Is in Paris--Or Is She on, at, or to Paris? Prepositions: Gotta Love 'em
I don't know a lot about the use of prepositions in non-Latin-based languages, except for English, of course, but I'd say learning the correct usage of those tiny, but powerful words is among the biggest challenges for learning to speak grammatically.
Are we in the restaurant or at the restaurant? In a sense, we're both, no? In English we'd be more apt to say we're at the restaurant: Where are you now? I'm at the restaurant. But if I were to say I'm in the restaurant, everyone would understand me--it would just sound a tiny bit odd. There are situations, though, in which 'in' would work better: The restaurant was crowded, but I eventually got in.
It just seems that such subtlety makes it almost impossible to be right every time. If choosing the correct preposition even in ones native language is tricky, then that's doubled or tripled when trying to use them in a language you are trying to learn.
Most language instructors say to lighten up. Don't let the prospect of misusing a preposition stop you from attempting to speak regularly for practice. Over time, they'll just come naturally. I know in English, I hear perfectly educated people using prepositions incorrectly. I'm sure I do it myself all the time. This is why it's usually advisable to simply sentence structures as much as possible when you're first learning to speak a language. If your house is on fire, you may not get the desired reaction if you say: 'My house is at fire.' Why not just point to yourself and to the house and say: Fire! if you're not sure what pronoun to use?
I've struggled with preps in French, Italian, and Spanish for years. There are a few hard and fast rules, but sometimes it's just a matter of memorizing the correct form. I live on Fifth Avenue, but I live in New York. Other languages might say 'I live at New York. Amazing how such little words can be such a big pain in the neck.
Are we in the restaurant or at the restaurant? In a sense, we're both, no? In English we'd be more apt to say we're at the restaurant: Where are you now? I'm at the restaurant. But if I were to say I'm in the restaurant, everyone would understand me--it would just sound a tiny bit odd. There are situations, though, in which 'in' would work better: The restaurant was crowded, but I eventually got in.
It just seems that such subtlety makes it almost impossible to be right every time. If choosing the correct preposition even in ones native language is tricky, then that's doubled or tripled when trying to use them in a language you are trying to learn.
Most language instructors say to lighten up. Don't let the prospect of misusing a preposition stop you from attempting to speak regularly for practice. Over time, they'll just come naturally. I know in English, I hear perfectly educated people using prepositions incorrectly. I'm sure I do it myself all the time. This is why it's usually advisable to simply sentence structures as much as possible when you're first learning to speak a language. If your house is on fire, you may not get the desired reaction if you say: 'My house is at fire.' Why not just point to yourself and to the house and say: Fire! if you're not sure what pronoun to use?
I've struggled with preps in French, Italian, and Spanish for years. There are a few hard and fast rules, but sometimes it's just a matter of memorizing the correct form. I live on Fifth Avenue, but I live in New York. Other languages might say 'I live at New York. Amazing how such little words can be such a big pain in the neck.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
You're Taking Russian at Ole Miss? What, Are You Crazy?
Why do some people love studying foreign languages, and others would rather have a root canal or clean the kitchen? I remember fellow college students who groaned in agony when they were confronted with the dreaded language requirement component of their education. Whereas, I cheerfully signed up for Russian 101--believe-you-me, not a popular class at the University of Mississippi at the time. It felt more like a graduate seminar, with around five or six intrepid students sitting around a conference table, all there for various reasons. I remember it like it was yesterday. Fun.
Having been brainwashed that college courses needed to be 'relevant,' I tried to convince myself that I'd use my Russian when I became an interpreter at the United Nations offices in New York (or in the event that I should ever marry a Bolshevik). Well, I did end up living in New York awhile, but I never set foot in the UN. Such are the dreams of a naive young undergrad. I also managed to convince myself that such obscure courses as 'Peoples of Africa' and 'Native American Studies' were also somehow 'relevant' to my career plans. Such an imagination I had back then! Fun.
Still, I never really lost my enjoyment of learning languages. There's just something thrilling about using different words to express oneself. Of being able (at least every now and then) to understand what someone from a far-away culture has to say, and sometimes knowing that they understand what you are saying in their language. There is something powerful and exhilarating about the ability to carry on a conversation with thousands of people who would have otherwise been unavailable to you. In a word, I guess it makes me feel smart. Perhaps computer programmers feel this, in a way, since coding is basically a language. Speaking, listening, reading, and writing in a different language requires you to think in a different way. That's why languages borrow phrases and concepts from one another. It's that old je ne sais quoi.
Speaking in a second or third language requires catching on to entirely different cadences, vocabularies, and sounds. When I speak in Italian, or French, or Spanish (I've long ago forgotten the piddly Russian I knew) I feel for a moment like an Italian, Frenchman or Spaniard. It transports me to a different world.
I don't know if I will ever become truly fluent in a foreign language; I'd like to think that. But if not, the process itself keeps me inspired. So, back to my Spanish audio CDs. There's trabajo to be done.
Here's a brisk Spanish song called Las Moscas (The Flies) by the great Joan Manuel Serrat:
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Grow Up! You May Be Cute, but You're Not a Bambino Anymore
Today's word is STUBBORN.
In italiano: testardo
En español: terco
En français: têtu
Once again, I think the Italian wins hands down, though têtu does have a spunky ring to it.
The trendy thing in language acquisition now is to lose the textbooks and grammar and immerse oneself in an exclusively audio program. The argument is that that is how children learn their native language, going for several years mostly just listening. I mean, why say anything when you can get what you want by crying vociferously and throwing a speechless tantrum? Now, I would not argue that part of a good language program is daily listening and speaking--that's a given. But the problem with completely eliminating reading and writing from your daily practice is that it is possible, very likely I'd say, that you simply can't believe your ears. There are certain subtle tones in the languages that I'm concentrating on that I would either not hear or would mis-hear (Alright, I know there's no such word, but hey, it's my blog). Research in language acquisition has shown that over time the portion of our brains that govern our ability to recognize new and different sounds begins to decline rapidly as we become adults. Thus, if I were to try to learn a language that has a preponderance of sounds that are never uttered in English, such as, say, Swedish, I'm almost sure that I would pick up some very bad habits if I relied solely on listening. Even with the Latin-based languages there are many sounds that take a lot of getting used to (and a lot of mimicking practice). The worst thing about this is that, at least for me, once I've started mispronouncing a word or phrase, it's hard for me to relearn the correct pronunciation. Especially if I constantly re-enforce the error by steady repetition.
Still, I think the language experts are on to something when they condemn the old-style way of learning new languages by focusing exclusively on reading, writing, and grammar. I know for certain that all those years I spent in college learning French through grammar drills left me unable to carry on even the most basic conversation or to comprehend more than a word or two when listening to a native speak the language. What works for me is to read a text first, paying special attention to how the word looks on paper as opposed to how it should be pronounced, and then to listen to the same text in an audio version. As your learning progresses and you gain confidence in recognizing and mimicking difficult sounds, you can begin to de-emphasize grammar and do some more straight listening. Now, now. Don't be têtu. That's childish.
In italiano: testardo
En español: terco
En français: têtu
Once again, I think the Italian wins hands down, though têtu does have a spunky ring to it.
The trendy thing in language acquisition now is to lose the textbooks and grammar and immerse oneself in an exclusively audio program. The argument is that that is how children learn their native language, going for several years mostly just listening. I mean, why say anything when you can get what you want by crying vociferously and throwing a speechless tantrum? Now, I would not argue that part of a good language program is daily listening and speaking--that's a given. But the problem with completely eliminating reading and writing from your daily practice is that it is possible, very likely I'd say, that you simply can't believe your ears. There are certain subtle tones in the languages that I'm concentrating on that I would either not hear or would mis-hear (Alright, I know there's no such word, but hey, it's my blog). Research in language acquisition has shown that over time the portion of our brains that govern our ability to recognize new and different sounds begins to decline rapidly as we become adults. Thus, if I were to try to learn a language that has a preponderance of sounds that are never uttered in English, such as, say, Swedish, I'm almost sure that I would pick up some very bad habits if I relied solely on listening. Even with the Latin-based languages there are many sounds that take a lot of getting used to (and a lot of mimicking practice). The worst thing about this is that, at least for me, once I've started mispronouncing a word or phrase, it's hard for me to relearn the correct pronunciation. Especially if I constantly re-enforce the error by steady repetition.
Still, I think the language experts are on to something when they condemn the old-style way of learning new languages by focusing exclusively on reading, writing, and grammar. I know for certain that all those years I spent in college learning French through grammar drills left me unable to carry on even the most basic conversation or to comprehend more than a word or two when listening to a native speak the language. What works for me is to read a text first, paying special attention to how the word looks on paper as opposed to how it should be pronounced, and then to listen to the same text in an audio version. As your learning progresses and you gain confidence in recognizing and mimicking difficult sounds, you can begin to de-emphasize grammar and do some more straight listening. Now, now. Don't be têtu. That's childish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)