French Grammar and Absurdity

As I said in the "Read Me" page, I try to post links to native French-language sites. I think that this is one of the best ways to practice French, but occasionally there is an English site that's just too good to pass up.

Tex's French Grammar is an American site with Grammar explanations and exercises and I love this site. It's free and it's full of useful information.

Here you'll find many great grammar explanations (written in English and using proper grammar terminology). (If proper grammar terminology intimidates you, don't let it turn you away from this great resource. Read past the first paragraph or two of any grammar point and you'll see loads of useful examples and less frightening information.) You'll find exercises that you can do online (complete with answers). You'll find downloadable PDF's and you'll even find downloadable MP3's. I confess, I haven't used the MP3's much, so I can't comment on their quality, but if they're like the rest of the site, they should be pretty good.

Two caveats:
-I have found one or two mistakes on this site – there aren't many, but they're there. Think you've found one? Post it in a comment!
-This is a university site and it is aimed at university students. While it is never explicit, some of the themes are more adult than what you will find in most high school texts. High school or middle school teachers and tutors may want to review any specific grammar sheet before handing it out to students.

One of the fun things about this website? All of the grammar rules and exercises tell the complicated story of some very odd characters:

(Click on the cast of characters to visit the website.)

Listening Online – RFI

RFI – Radio France Internationale – is an excellent online resource for listening comprehension. Not does the primary page provide new stories and links to radio programs which can be accessed online, but rfi.fr also offers some excellent language-learning resources.

The RFI homepage:
www.rfi.fr

Learn French:
Accueil Langue Française

One of my favorite things about the online French listening exercises at RFI is that they include exercises from many different French-speaking countries. Interested in hearing the French accent specific to the Congo? Or maybe Senegal? RFI is a great resource for practicing and appreciating all sorts of different French accents. Check it out!

French Vocabulary Online – Martial Arts

Yesterday we looked at crochet – today we're going to balance things out a bit by looking at martial arts.

For starters:
martial arts = les arts martiaux (m)

The Wikipedia article: Art Martial

In this article we learn all sorts of vocab such as:
un sport de combat = a combat sport
un sabre = a sabre
un couteau = a knife
la compétition = competition

As well as nouns and adjectives dealing with nationality:
le Japon = Japan
asiatique = Asian
japonais(e) = Japanese
coréen(ne) = Korean
birman(e) = Burmese
chinois(e) = Chinese

This is an easy subject to find links for, so I will make no attempt to list a representative sampling, but here are a few:

French Judo Federation
Capoeira France
le Taekwondo
French Karate Federation

And of course, there are a ton of related videos on YouTube, but just one as an example:

 

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/7mFnN1qaa0o?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1

How about you? What did you find?

French Vocabulary Online – Crochet

Crochet is not, perhaps, the most popular hobby, but I have a certain fondness for crochet. My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was a child and anytime I crochet anything new (or discover some old unfinished crochet project) I think of her.

Yesterday we talked about turning our hobbies into excuses to practice French. Today I'm going to demonstrate with crochet.

From simple dictionary searches we learn that:
to crochet = faire du crochet
a crochet-hook = un crochet
to crochet (something) = faire (qqc) au crochet

Now we have our basic search terms.

The Wikipedia article is pretty basic: Crochet

Nonetheless, from it we learn the names of a few different kinds of crochet as well as:
une aiguille = a needle
le fil = thread, yarn
crocheter = to crochet
le tricot = knitting
la dentelle = lace, lacework

And here's one I didn't know, but was happy to learn:
un carré de grand-mère – a granny square

Unfortunately, the "lien externe" on this article takes us to an English-language page, so now it is time to tearn to Google and when we do we find all sorts of websites with patterns, history, and commentary:

Passion Crochet
Crochodile – Blog
Crochet Forum (Practice reading and writing! – Please note though that this is not a language forum; don't bombard the forum with a lot of language questions. If you have a lot of language questions go somewhere like: www.wordreference.com.)

Want to practice your listening comprehension? Why not try YouTube?

YouTube videos vary greatly, the quality and content can be poor, but it's worth a look. The great thing about How To videos is that there is almost always a LOT of repetition, so if you didn't catch a word or phrase the first time around, just wait. It's sure to be repeated. For example:

 

 

 

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/NlVgrv7tQk0?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1

So? What did you learn? What do you have to add?

Learning French Online – Vocabulary

The easiest, quickest, and most effective way to learn a language is to pick up and move to a country that speaks it. Once in a sink-or-swim situation you'd be surprised at how well you can swim. Unfortunately, this is not always practical. Given this reality, we look for ways to study the language in our day-to-day lives and online.

There are two essential aspects to learning a language:

1) Study it.
2) Use it.

The complication comes in deciding just how you will accomplish these simple steps. While the internet is full of online activities and lessons, some free, some costly, one of my favorite ways to study French has nothing to do with lessons, activities, or fees.

Start with what you know and love.

It's that simple. What interests you? Do you spend every free moment golfing? On the tennis courts? Creating new crafty gifts for your friends? Painting? Discovering music? With your pet? Whatever your hobby, your career, your passion – research it in French.

Assuming you have a basic grasp of the fundamentals, you'll be surprised at how much you can pick up this way. Many French words are similar to English words and you will be working with a subject that you know well. What is interesting is easy to learn and remember and what's more – it's easy to use. Start thinking about your hobby in French. Are you making a shopping list for your next trip to the craft store or REI? Write it in French. Have friends who are into the same thing and who also speak French? Practice with them!

The internet is full of excellent online resources for building your grasp of vocabulary and grammar in French.

Start at: www.fr.wikipedia.org
Read about your hobby.

(Not sure what it's called in French?
Look it up at: www.wordreference.com)

Then click on the external links on the Wikipedia article (you'll find these at the bottom of the article under "liens externes".)

Finally, enter some of the key vocabulary terms you've found in French in your favorite search engine and have fun!

Okay, seriously now – I want your comments! What are your favorite hobbies, pastimes, interests?

Free Online French-English Dictionary 1

One of my favorite FR<>ENG resources is www.wordreference.com. This is an excellent, free, online multilingual dictionary. As with any reference, you will need to make sure that the word you find is actually the word you want, but WordReference is often a great place to start.

You can enter a word or set phrase, ask for help with a word or phrase, and answer other users' questions as well. Since WordReference is part dictionary, part forum, there are a few conventions you should remember:

-Always check previous entries to see if someone else has asked your question before. Don't just post a new question without checking. Odds are, someone else has already asked.

-WordReference asks all posters to state their maternal language and country. If you are asking about an idiomatic French expression, check to see if your answerer is actually French, or just an American answering based off of his high school textbook.

-French varies from country to country. Often, a native speaker from Canada and a native speaker from France will be equally helpful. However, some words and phrases do vary – pay careful attention to where an answerer is from. Maybe you really need an answer from someone who's native language is Haitian French.

-If you ask a question and find the answer somewhere else, post the answer below your question. It will help the next lost soul!

Wordreference.com has a very straightforward layout, but some people miss the most helpful elements.

-Once you have entered your search term, you will see a straightforward list of translations:

**Don't miss the "verb conjugator" link next to the entry if your word is a verb!**

-Beneath this basic list is a list of compound forms:

-Beneath this is a list of forum entries. If you're looking for a really tricky word or phrase, this is probably where you'll find it. Click on the title of the most promising thread to see what people had to say. If you don't find the phrase you're looking for, click on "suite" to see more phrases or "Pour poser la questions dans les forums" to post your own question:

-When you're in the forums, don't forget to check where people are from! (You'll see this information at the top right of each person's post.)

As always, I want to know what you think of this link! Have you found it useful? Do you have alternatives? Do you have any questions?