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.)

Online Vocabulary – Values & Virtues

Last week I talked about learning French online – using resources about favorite pastimes and hobbies to pick up vocabulary as well as a sense of how French is really used (both well and poorly) in day-to-day life.

The vocabulary you can pick up from these excursions into French websites is a little more broad than you might at first expect. For example, in this post about martial arts resources I refer to the Fédération Française de Judo and on their site you will find this handy-dandy list of core values:

The given definitions are not necessarily what you will find in a dictionary, but they are short, fairly straitforward, and in French!

Personally, I like "courage" and "sincerity". I like the definition of "courage" because it means that something as common (and unfortunate) as lying to make yourself look good is an act of cowardice, and I'm intrigued by the definition of "sincerity" because that is one demanding definition!

Think about it, by this definition I may be "honest" if I say I don't want to sit down and write that book I've been talking about, but I'm only "sincere" if I admit that the reason I don't want to write it is that I'm terrified it won't be well-received.

What do you think of these virtues and their definitions?

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?

Online Verb Conjugator

Looking for a quick, easy way to check the conjugation of a verb?

I love this site for it's simplicity (and for the humor of the link). You can choose the "version polie:"

Allez vous faire conjuguer

Or the "version impolie:"

Va te faire conjuguer

Both links take you to the same page, and as far as I can tell, the pages are the same – except for the title.

It's unfortunate that they don't organize their verbs in the "boot" friendly pattern (I wouldn't recommend memorizing them the way they have them written out), but it is a great resource for looking up a verb quickly.