cefmac

Je suis allée au apartement de ma copine, et nous avons regardé 'Sherlock' sur la télé. Puis, nous avons joué un jeu de cartes. Je n'ai couché pas jusqu'à 0230!

Quelle bonne idée! Je n'étudie plus le français mais c'est très utile pour des étudiants actuels. Salut, je m'appelle Christie et je vais d'Ecosse. J'étudie la musique à l'université. J'ai parlé le français pendant environ neuf ans et je crois que je sois assez bien. Maintenant, bien que je ne parle pas le français souvent, j'aime chanter les chansons de Fauré!

Agreed! The only Almodovar film I've seen in Volver, but it is excellent - I would highly recommend it. Pan's Labyrinth is also good, as is The Orphanage (El Orfanato)...if you can handle creepiness!

I wasn't really confused by any figures of speech as a kid, as I didn't really pay attention to them. The only one I can think of (and I know it's not quite the same) is that my mum used to call me "speedy Gonzales" if I was being particularly slow, and it wasn't until many years later that I realised she wasn't saying "speedykins Alice".

Cool quiz! It told me I should learn Spanish, but I already speak Spanish. However, I scored equally for Spanish, Latin and Chinese, so I guess any of those three could be my result. I'd quite like to learn both Latin and Chinese!

Well, I must confess: I am Scottish and I have never heard of "tartle"...perhaps it's a regional thing! I really like "wabi-sabi". There are a few more which I really like which aren't on the list, like the Greek "sophrosyne", meaning "a healthy state of mind, characterised by moderation, self-control and a deep awareness of one's true self, resulting in true happiness", and the German "vorfreude", meaning "joy experienced when imagining future pleasures".

I don't think there's such a think as speaking too many languages - for me, the importance of learning a language lies not in how often you'll use it but the processes involved in learning it. It teaches you so many important skills, and you need to be dedicated, passionate and diligent. The real debate should be whether it's better to know a few languages very well, or many languages at a more basic level - I'm still undecided. Knowing a language well takes a lot more dedication, which is admirable, but at the same time, knowing a few phrases in many languages is probably more practical.

I like Amelie and Paris, Je T'aime. I guess I just like quirky, optimistic, romantic films. On the flip side, I also really enjoyed La Pianiste (a French/Austrian film), which is very dark and intense. It was an eye-opener, but not really one that bears repeated viewing.

Sorry to be a total pedant, but being Scottish, British and, obviously, a native English speaker I have a few things to point out. "English (Welsh)" is an oxymoron - Wales isn't in England, therefore their accent isn't English. I'm assuming what you mean is "British", in which case Scottish shouldn't be separate either. Wales is no more English than Scotland is - they're all in Britain but separate countries. Sorry, as a linguist, a Scot and a proud unionist, it irks me when people confuse England and Britain, and make out that Scotland has nothing to do with either. Also, there is no such thing as "standard" British accent. What people mean when they claim to love a classic British accent is actually Queen's English, which is only spoken in a tiny, tiny area of the country by a tiny, tiny amount of people and is in no way standard. Anyway, back to the question...I guess I like Canadian accents, Ontario accents particularly. I also like the sound of Scandinavians speaking English.

For a while, I went through a phase of being obsessed with learning a Scandinavian language (I would still like to learn but it's not high on my priorities list). I started off with Swedish, learnt a few words, got bored, then moved onto Danish. I tried to learn conversational Danish using podcasts but it was still quite tricky - each phrase needed a lot of repetition before I could get my tongue (and brain) around it!

I speak four languages - my native English, then French, Spanish and Italian. I'm not particularly fluent in Spanish or Italian, but my French is pretty good. Learning one romance language definitely made the others easier. I'd say it's not that difficult to learn many languages, especially if they're from the same language family and therefore have a lot in common.

I always wanted a penpal in another country, as I loved writing and receiving letters. I signed up for numerous penpal websites but never really got anywhere. I made contact with a few people via private messages on the sites, but it never went any further than that. The next language I'd like to learn is German, so it might be pretty cool to have a penpal in Germany to help me.

I can't think of any particularly beautiful French words off the top of my head, but one of my favourite French words in general is "pamplemousse", which means grapefruit. I just think it sounds cute!

Advise vs Advice Czarownica is correct. "Advise" is the verb, whereas "advice" is a noun. For example, you could say "I'd advise you to give him some advice". A similar one which sometimes cause problems is "practise" vs. "practice". "Practise" is the verb e.g. "I'm going to practise the piano", but "practice is a noun e.g. "I'm going to choir practice". "Price" and "prize" are both nouns but mean totally different things: "price" is how much something costs, and "prize" is an award you would get for winning a competition.

I would agree with you that figurative language is fun - it adds a lot of colour to a language. I use a lot of cooking metaphors. For example, if it's a hot day (like in your example!) I'd say it was, or I was, "roasting", whereas if it were particularly cold I'd say "freezing". I can't think of any other ones I use a lot...although I do often use verbal irony.

I took up French because I had to - it was compulsory for the first few years of school. We started near the end of primary school, at age 10/11, then studied it at a more basic level for the first two years of high school, before being required to take a language for two more years at exam level for third and fourth year. At the end of first year, if we did well in French, we were offered a taster year of German during second year, in case we wanted to take that instead of French for our exams in third and fourth year. I did both French and German in second year but only continued with French. Back then, I studied it because I had to, but I grew to love it and ended up taking it for another two years, when it wasn't compulsory. So all in all, I did 8 years of French at school. (I realise this must sound quite complicated if you're not familiar with the Scottish school system - we go to primary school for seven years from age 4/5 to 11/12, then high school for six years, from age 11/12 to 17/18)

I never got around to reading any English books translated into French, although I did mean to read some - especially Harry Potter. It would've helped if I did, seeing as when I studied Advanced French I had to do a reading comprehension about boarding schools in France, which compared them to Hogwarts. I spent ages staring at the French translation of Hogwarts, getting very confused because it wasn't in the dictionary. The only French book I've read is L'étranger by Albert Camus. Maybe not the best for a beginner wanting to improve their language as it's quite complex, but it raises some thought-provoking issues and is one of those books that will stay with you long after you've read it.

Definitely not. I learnt Spanish the same year that I studied Advanced French in school and if anything, being able to speak both helped immensely as the grammar follows similar rules and a lot of the vocab is similar too. I got high As in my exams for both. The prounciation and spelling is very different though, so it's not like you can look at a Spanish word and think it's French, and vice versa. Knowing Spanish made Italian easier as well, but there was a lot more confusion between languages as they're more similar than French and Spanish!

I really want to learn German next. I studied it for a year in school when I was 12/13, but we never really learnt anything useful so all I can remember is how to say things like "In my bag, I've got a calculator and a banana". I'd liek to learn it more seriously, i.e. leanr all the grammar and more complex vocab. I love Germany as a country and I do classical singing as well, so German is a very common language to have to sing in. It would be useful to understand what I'm singing about.

Élève French - a school pupil

Yes, it was a cat! I was trying to use "feelin'" as a play on "feline" but I think maybe it was a bit obtuse...Love your word by the way! Okay, back to the game... Ariel - is it letter? Used for conducting an orchestra or majorette dance, Or you can make one from dough, if given the chance.

Good for you! French is such a rewarding language to learn, and a great starting point for other romance languages (even though I notice that you already speak Spanish). I know it seems quite intimidating at first, but I've always found that the more the teacher talks to you in the language you're learning, the sooner you become comfortable communicating in that language.

Initially I started learning languages at school because it was complusory for the first few years, but slowly but surely I learnt to appreciate how languages break down barriers between people. That's the main reason why I continued my language studies beyond the complusory stage. Languages help you broaden your horizons by allowing you to communicate with others and helping you access a culture other than your own.

I've used music a lot for learning languages. When I was in school, I always listened to French and Spanish music to help me revise for my listening exams. I would even listen to a song or two directly before the exam, so I had the sound of the language in my head already!

Great idea for a game! Lead. I've got a feelin' that I'm not a dog, For I'm a pet that finds pleasantries a slog. (I apologise...that was awful...Also, I hope somebody picks up on the more subtle clue in the first line)