Information about Paris (in French) from an Irish perspective

franc 91

If you're looking for some cultural information en français about Irish connections in the City of Lights may I suggest you have a look at this -
http://www.irisheyes.fr/indexfrancais.html
http://www.irisheyes.fr/courantdeire-plussimple-116.html
http://www.irisheyes.fr/un-irlandais-a-paris-wilde.html and if you scroll down, on the right there's another website in French about Wilde
Salut
Franc

Skopzz

I used to be excellent at speaking french and had an ear for every word. I scored exceptionally well in my exams and prepared a lot during the oral exercises. Before sitting my Leaving Cert, I visited Paris and despite knowing the verbs excellently, they lost me because I couldn't master the accent. Every time I tried, they would reply: "comment"

I don't understand, what is it about the accent? In English, anyone can understand you with any accent but in French it's different?

franc 91

I suppose it's often the case that what you learn in school never quite seems to coincide with the everyday language used by native speakers. There's also the fact that very often people speak with a local accent or the language they use is slang or can often be incorrect French. As for you making yourself understood, I think it's a matter of careful listening and tuning in. One of the advantages of getting hold of a native speaker in what's known as a 'one to one' situation is that you can try out your speaking skills and get them to go over it again with you to find out what it is precisely that you're not pronouncing effectively. (Try using a dictaphone, for example) I always suggest listening to the radio - France Inter, France Culture where generally the spoken language is of a reasonable standard. One of the most important shops in Paris that sells language learning materials (Attica - www.attica.fr) recommends watching DVDs that are subtitled in the same language that the film is in, ie the subtitles correspond more or less to the dialogue.
When I lived in London many years ago I used to go to the Ciné Club on Wednesday nights at the Centre Charles Peguy, where not only did you watch the film but you had un animateur who presented a detailed analysis of it in French (of course) which lead on to a discussion which you could listen to and join in if you felt able to. So have you had a look at what's available in Dublin? I have already posted information about that on the forum.
Anyway, don't let it get you down - (for me it's worse I'm trying to learn Irish without a native Munster person anywhere near me)
By the way I forgot to mention that French for foreigners is known as FLE if you want to look that up.

Skopzz

Thanks. I've a gift for languages and an ear for French. During that time, I used to listen to the French Radio stations a lot. At home, I watched TV5 as well. I used to enjoy listening to French radio stations and programs because of their entertainment and humor. They are more engaging than some of the programs here in Ireland. I did this for two years but it wasn't until I actually visited France when I realized how little I had mastered the accent.

the Parisian French seemed substantially different to the French I heard on the radio stations. There were so many expressions and city words I never came across in the textbook and orals. In our orals, we were often given different French accents (one example I can remember is Afro-French). The orals we did in Leaving Cert didn't give any Parisian talk with local 'street words' so I guess we could include those in future orals. I must confess that French is a difficult language to learn because it takes even the brightest person at least seven years to master.

I browsed FLE from google.fr here:

http://www.fle.fr/index-lang-en.html?PHPSESSID=f16423daec12d51e0db88e7446afe6b2

EhBenDisDonc

franc 91 wrote: »

... recommends watching DVDs that are subtitled in the same language that the film is in

I do this a lot. Of course it's important not just to end up reading instead of listening, but it's a lot better than using English subtitles.
At least it's good that the French tend to stop you when they don't understand, or when they kindly correct you. That's if they don't just answer you in English (grrr). I really felt I'd made some progress when, having chatted with a shopkeeper for 10 mins, he finally looked me in the eye and asked "vous etes ...... Belge?"

It's true that pronunciation is vital to being understood, and it merits as much effort as improving grammar or vocabulary.

EhBenDisDonc

There should be some good multimedia tools available either online or for purchase.
This one, for example, is interesting:http://www.languageguide.org/french/grammar/pronunciation/vowels2.html
Even distinguishing the different 'u' sounds is generally tricky, never mind mimicking them.

franc 91

You might like to hear this little story (if it isn't off-topic) - sometime ago I used to work in une MJC (which is vaguely the equivalent of a Youth and Community Centre) and one of the things I did there was to teach English to groups of adults. We all enjoyed it and had a good time - so at the end of the school year, they had the choice of going into Paris for a meal at an Irish restaurant (upstairs at Kitty O'Shea's or La Ferme Irlandaise which sadly closed or chez Carr's) or going to see a film. One year they chose to see a film - it was at the Carrefour de l'Odéon, which is a nice place to go in the evenings. The film was in English but it had French subtitles. Afterwards we all went off for a drink and a chat about the film. They were so taken by the film they had seen, that there then followed one enormous argument about which language it was in - I swear it's true, which is why I much prefer using audio for language learning so that the picture doesn't get in the way of your understanding of what's going on. I have a similar problem sometimes with children who understand the picture but haven't taken in the language.