I have learned classroom French for years (years ago) and refreshed some for a recent trip to France. We were sitting at breakfast at a B&B in Burgundy and I understood the guest perfectly in a conversation with the host, who I could not follow a single word. I said something to the guest who said, oh I am Dutch. His classroom French was easy for me to follow. He had the same experience but said, you just have to jump in and start talking.

@luxys18

5 ай бұрын

I went to a conference in English and there were a lot of foreigners who have learned English in school or in courses outside school and it was pretty curious but we could understand each other perfectly but it was considerable more difficult to get native speakers.

@davidbaldwin7684

5 ай бұрын

@@luxys18 The same can happen with accents. I hosted an international conference of English speakers in a technical field. I have lived across the northern United States and lived at that time in the center of the country and speak a pretty generic American accent. I was a little surprised when an attendee from Yorkshire England said she had no problems with most of the people from the southern US but found my accent almost unintelligible. I am not a mumbling, fast or slang speaker, but even within a language the accent is a barrier.

@siewheilou399

4 ай бұрын

​@@davidbaldwin7684 Where are you from?

@davidbaldwin7684

4 ай бұрын

Utah/Pennsylvania/Iowa, really a middle American, nightly news accent.

A problem with subtitles is that often they do not provide a true translation of what has been said. That is common with French subtitles to English as well as vice versa. The other problem, in my opinion (and this is from learning French at school from the age of 10 to 16) is the emphasis on learning your verbs. This for me was the biggest hindrance to learning French. We moved to France in 2006 with our daughters aged 7 and 5. My wife and I had even had undertaken a one year certificated course at an adult education centre. This, to be brutally honest was a waste of time due to the education system standards in the UK being lowered to increase the pass rate. When we arrived in France, our daughters, having had limited introduction to French, except for a BBC language cartoon called 'Muzzy', were thrown in at the deep end at school. The teachers just spoke in French all day and eventually, with total immersion, the girls caught on. By the end of their first year, they were both top in their respective classes. My wife in the meantime was being taught French by our elderly neighbour. He brought out all of his old school books, we bought some and began from the basics of how the letters sound and how they sound together. Over a few years of her going to his home for three to four mornings a week for a couple of hours while his wife prepared lunch, my wife began to translate books such as 'Poil de carotte' and Anne Frank's diary and then summarise them in French. This was a big thing for my wife who really tried hard. Our neighbour was often complimented on the quality of my wife's French. I worked in a shop for two years and 50% of the customers were French, so I was forced to speak. For me, the most difficult thing was to remember the verbs. Then I decided to ignore them and speak. After all, as a French child, you were not told not to speak until you could conjugate properly. You learned by your mistakes, with parents and teachers correcting you. I found that speaking was far more important than conjugation. After all, I was conversing with someone. I let it be known that I was happy to be corrected. My French is by no means perfect, but I am regularly complimented about it. Probably due to my previous job as a Police Officer, I had got over the embarrassment of speaking to people. I also had sufficient vocabulary not to need to translate in my head (we English/French speakers are lucky that we share 6-900 words that mean the same and are just pronounced differently.) My wife struggles a little with confidence. So, the quality of her French is better than mine when she speaks, but my ability to talk and answer is faster than hers. Of course, we will never be at the level of our daughters who had total immersion at school. I know adults that have lived here for 20 to 30 years that are still having lessons and lack confidence because they are struggling with all of the verbs. My advice is, don't worry about the verbs. Just concentrate on speaking. You understand when a foreigner speaks to you in very basic English. It's the same for the French people. If you want to advance, don't struggle.

@continental_drift

6 ай бұрын

@paulbradford8240 Thanks for sharing your experience. " I also had sufficient vocabulary not to need to translate in my head (we English/French speakers are lucky that we share 6-900 words that mean the same and are just pronounced differently.) " I think I am at this stage, I only listen to French radio over the internet (RTL, RFI etc), in fact I don't listen to any English radio at all. At first it was just a stream of noise, but over time I gradually understood where the words started and ended, I didn't necessarily understand what the words meant though. Now when I listen I understand more and more, to the point where I skip the translation except for the new words that I hear. Sometimes I will turn to Google Translate and enter what I thought I heard, try to figure out the meaning and move on. This isn't easy living in Australia where very few people speak French but it is fun.

@SO-ym3zs

6 ай бұрын

"A problem with subtitles is that often they do not provide a true translation of what has been said. That is common with French subtitles to English as well as vice versa." It's a problem with the subtitles in the original languages, too. I watch lots of shows and movies in German and French on Netflix and usually leave the original-language subtitles on as an aid, and it's actually quite rare for the subtitles to exactly match the spoken dialogue. That could really confuse a beginner who doesn't know that they're going to be hearing and reading two slightly different things at the same time.

Merci Géraldine pour une leçon chouette, intéressante, et utile. Vos leçons m’aident toujours à améliorer mon français. Bon week-end. À bientôt.

Ça c'est mon problème exact-- lire et écrire, y a pas de problème mais suivre des conversations 😬😬 merci pour cette vidéo

C'est moi. J'ai 63 ans et j'apprends le français depuis six mois. Je sais bien lire, mais je ne comprends pas du tout le français parlé. Bien sûr, mes oreilles ne marche pas tres bien, donc Anglais est difficile aussi pour moi. Je dois parler "pardon" beaucoup. Et je suis desole pour les erreurs, mais merci beaucoup pour cette video !

i totally agree with you... nowdays classes just teach by the book... i improved a lot my english just by speaking and being corrected by coleagues.... i am learning french by myself from scrath and i need to talk in person with people to evolve because i just need the spoken and listen....

That’s why I watch interviews with Wenbanyama and Tony Parker. Apart from Spurs basketball, currently, my favorite tv show is Lapin.

I love your 'lessons' merci!!!!

Thank you for the video! I love the look of your hair❤

Merci beaucoup pour enseigner et pouvoir expliquer cette nouvelle thème pour pouvoir comprendre et apprendre plus la belle langue française

Merci Beaucoup

Thank you for teaching us Geraldine. Would you please create videos with artists and painting subjects (en plain air or painting studio or even historical) Thanks so much.

je vous remercier.

Thank you so very much for sharing your wonderful lessons. I struggle with learning French but i always enjoy your channel.

heyyy love your channel! I'm wondering how your keyboards are - do they have built in buttons for the letters with accents? thanks!

@Commeunefrancaise

5 ай бұрын

Bonjour @sarahclassicsewing, Our keyboards in France have an AZERTY layout, and look like this: images.app.goo.gl/xWhgasVC Fabien Comme une Française Team

@sarahclassicsewing

5 ай бұрын

@@Commeunefrancaise thank you!

Quelqu’un qui veut apprendre le français (ou une autre langue étrangère) a une bonne opportunité de progresser plus rapidement. Grâce à la technologie, une personne peut profiter de services comme KZread, Netflix, iTalki, FaceTime, etc. pour écouter le français oral et parler avec un Français tout en apprenant le français en classe. Et ils sont abordable.

I learned French from watching Hercules Poirot. ". Non non aysteengs ...Mon ami ze leetle grey sells.....". !

J'ai toujours affirmé que notre façon d'enseigner les langues est à l'envers... On s'en fout de pouvoir lire Proust si on ne peut pas commander un café ou demander des directions.. Un enfant n'apprend pas à lire avant de savoir parler... A mon idée les cours de base, même pour adultes devrait être basés plus sur le parler et la compréhension que la grammaire et les conjugaisons. Pour apprendre il faut d'abord comprendre et non pas lire... Il faut regarder, comme exemple, la façon que les légionnaires apprennent le français.

Cela ne semble pas vous déranger de répéter leçon, après leçon, après leçon. Je t'aime Géraldine et j'apprécie les efforts que tu mets dans tes vidéos mais tu ne dois pas présumer que ton public est composé d'un groupe d'idiots. Bref, on l’a compris : le français écrit ou le français académique n’est pas la même chose que le français parlé. N’est-ce pas vrai pour n’importe quelle langue ?

Le plus que j'étudie Français, le moins que je comprends. 🫤

@caffeinebuzzchick

6 ай бұрын

Moi aussi

@michaelcrummy8397

6 ай бұрын

Vous vous exprimez bien quand même dans ce commentaire!