TurquoiseB wrote: >--- In [email protected], Don <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >>Unc.... Sounds like a great gig, being there and enjoying >>happenings like the one you describe. Do you speak French? If >>not, how is it living there w/o it? In the last several years I >>have found myself attracted to France but have never been, and >>don't speak the language. >> >> > >Well, I have to admit to having been somewhat lazy with >the development of my French. I work for a French company, >but one in the computer industry (which runs on English) >and in which everyone speaks English, and in which all of >the documentation and training materials and programs I >write are done in English. So there has been (fortunately >for me in terms of finding work, unfortunately for me in >terms of learning French) not the "immersion factor" at >work that would have improved my French drastically. > >I can read most things in French, and understand most of >what is said. My weakness is in speaking French well. I >can get by, but French grammar is very precise, and my >French is, as yet, far from precise. I have the same >problems everyone has -- with the gender of nouns, the >exact verb form to use, etc. But I'm working on it. This >summer I get to live in a small town in the south, where >almost no one speaks English, so I will finally be forced >into the "immersion" scenario I need to progress. > >The more general answer to your question is that you can >get by adequately in Paris knowing very little French, >because English has emerged as the international language >of tourism, just as it is the international language of >business and computing. But in the smaller towns and >provinces, you'd be much happier knowing more French. > >IMO, the best way to learn whether one really has a feel >for France or not is to visit, and travel around. There >is an old saying here that is completely accurate -- >"There is Paris, and then there is France." The two are >not synonymous. Paris, although arguably one of the world's >most beautiful and livable cities, is not France. It's >Paris, its own universe. The outlying areas of France >are very, very, very different. Most different, for a >meditator, in terms of the level of silence. When you >get into the outlying areas, especially down south, in >some of the less populous areas, meditation becomes >just something you surrender to, not something you do. >The level of silence is that profound. In Paris, there >is an astounding level of silence for a city this large >and dynamic, but it's not the same. > >Hope this helps, > >Unc > > > I stumbled through almost 4 years of French: two years high school and two years college. French teachers back then didn't make it very easy to learn as they were mainly France afficianados. Frenchaphiles? These days there are many good courses either on the Internet or some of the books. I have several Hindi book and tape courses but I found the easiest to get into was the BK book. So also wanting learn Spanish (which is something I can practice a lot more here in the US) I also ordered the BK course on that which I found disappointing and found a government web site that looked more promising.
Also the French I learned was Parisian French and it was difficult to understand the Vittel villagers and if I tried to speak French in Bairritz they would just tell you to "speak English" because they had many tourists from England and so many people their knew English. Au revoir, Bhairitu To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
