Monday, October 31, 2011

Common Sense vs Grammar

Following rules blindly could make you look silly.

A couple of posts ago , I concluded that il y a followed by time would mean 'ago' instead of 'there is' or 'there are' (See Ago = There is Time for more details).

Well, I felt very stupid when I translated Il y a sept jours dans une semaine as ‘7 Days ago in one week” when it clearly means ‘There are seven days in a week.”

Common sense triumphs grammar every time.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Chris Evert and the French Past Participle

Even at her peak when Martina Navratilova consistently defeated Chris Evert in Wimbledon giving you a sense of Déjà vu, I still like Chris more. Her tennis was more subtle and her pin-point passing shots were a joy to watch. Her marriage, she changed her name to Chris Evert-Lloyd (I think I also saw her name mentioned in papers as Chris Lloyd née Evert), seemed to make no difference to her tennis, and she went on to win 7 grand slam titles post marriage.

There! I used two past participle vu (from voir, to see) and née (from naître, to be born), and you didn’t even notice.

It helps that such irregular French past-participles find its place in English unchanged.

By the way, I am sure you know Déjà means ‘already’ and thus, Déjà vu would mean ‘already seen’.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Ago = There is time

Just when I thought that il y a was totally under control, came a twist.

Il y a un petit magasin en face de la gare. -- There is a small shop in front of the station.
Il y a beaucoup de magasins en face de la gare. -- There are many shops in front of the station.

So far so good; « il y a » could mean ‘there is’ or ‘there are’.
But …

Je suis venu ici il y a deux ans means, ‘I came here two years ago’.

Thus, « il y a » followed by time transforms the usage to ‘ago’.

This brings « il y a » into conflict with « depuis ».
« depuis » means ‘since’.

The following sentence is helpful ...

Je suis très occupé depuis je suis venu ici il y a deux ans. -- I am very busy since I came here two years ago.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Writing French Once a Week

Bonjour tout le monde. Je m’appelle Amitabh. J’ai quarante-six ans. Je suis marié. Ma femme s’appell Pushpita. Nous avons deux fils. Ils s'appellent Arunabh et Abhinav. Arunabh a quatorze ans et Abhinav a dix ans.

Je suis né à Shillong. Shillong est une très belle ville à l'Est de l'Inde. Ma femme viens de Chandigarh. Chandigarh est situé dans le nord de l'Inde. Maintenant nous habitons à Bangalore. Nous sommes les Indiens.


Phew!

Just writing the above without any help from Google Translate made me realize how much I need to work on my French. I get the structure of the sentences alright. It is the spellings that is killing me.

The final version that I put up for publishing has the spellings corrected, of course. Those who are learning French may want to give their translation skills a shot.

Friday, October 21, 2011

"aussi bien ... que" and "ainsi que"

While going through the second lesson of the Coffee Break French Season 3 I encountered a strange phrase: aussi bien … que.
Strange because I have my English thinking cap on – no disrespect to the French language, because the French would find the English equivalent “as well as” or “both … and” equally strange.

The sentence I take from CBF is: … je vais repartir de Nice avec de très bons souvenirs, aussi bien culturels que linguistiques. (I will leave Nice with very good memories, cultural as well as linguistic.)

I think I need some practice:
1) Some things can be both good and bad. It depends. Quelques choses peuvent être aussi bien bon que mauvais. Ça dépend.
2) This chemical is used as medicine as well as poison. Ce chimique est utilisé aussi bien médicament que du poison.

However, I could easily translate the above sentences into French as …

1a) Quelques choses peuvent être bon ainsi que mauvais. Ça dépend.
2a) Ce chimique est utilisé comme médicament ainsi que du poison.

I am clearly out of my depth here. Someone better in French than I needs to tell me what the difference is between the two usages?

Thursday, October 20, 2011

French Movies with French Subtitles.

I am told watching movies in French language helps build your language skills.
That is not entirely true though.
At least not for the beginners.
If you already have some language skills then it might help, otherwise not really.

However, if French movies had French subtitles, then it would help.
Really help!
I am not sure if French movies come with French subtitles or not.
But if they do, then this is what I would suggest …

a) See the French movie first with English subtitles (or the language you are familiar with). Basically, just enjoy the movie.
b) Assuming the movie is worth watch more than one time, watch it once more but this time without any subtitles. Try and catch as many words and phrases you can.
c) Watch it the third time; but this time, keep the French subtitles on. Pause as and when required to absorb more.
d) And finally, repeat b).

I need to check out if French movies on DVD have French subtitles. I would start my search with Le dîner de cons

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

French is Grammatically Closer to Hindi and Bengali

I have been a fool!
Consider this sentence: Je vais vous montrer où est la nourriture.
Word to word translation in English will come out as: "I will (or going to) you show where is the food."
This sounds weird because you are apt to say: “I will show you where the food is.
The indirect object pronoun in French (in this case, vous) is moved and that causes problem.

Having trained myself all these years to think in English, I was – till a few hours ago – blind to the fact that my mother tongue, Bengali, and the other language I know so well, Hindi, has identical grammatical construction. In Bengali and Hindi – and I suspect, most of the other Indian languages – the indirect object pronoun comes not after the verb but before the verb, just like in French.

So the above sentence in Bengali would go: আমি আপনাকে দেখাবো যেখানে খাদ্য/খাবার আছে/পাবেন. (the indirect object pronoun ‘you’ underlined).

In Hindi, it goes: मैं आपको दिखाता हूँ जहाँ खाना है/मिलेगा. (the indirect object pronoun ‘you’ underlined).

What's more, the 'you' used in Hindi and Bengali is the formal you. (I was aware of this, of course)

Hmmm… Need to explore more.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The most invaluable Language Learning Tool

Many would dispute its efficacy, but in mind, the existence of Google Translate is a boon to language learners.

And not just because of its more or less accurate translation from and to 63 languages, but also because it allows phonetic typing (that small, toggling keyboard icon to the bottom left) but also lets you hear the pronunciation.

Here’s how I work with it. Let’s say I am reading Asterix, in French. And I come across Il doit etre dans le feuillage en train de cueillir le gui avec sa serpe d'or. I type in this sentence in Google Translate and get “It should be in the foliage picking mistletoe with its golden sickle”, which is not the exact translation … “il” should have been “he”. I also don’t like “foliage” for “feuillage”. I prefer ‘woods’ or ‘trees’, instead. Especially, since I know that we are talking of Getafix (Panoramix, in French), the druid, who is cutting mistletoe from a tree. But that’s ok. Perhaps this is the state of the art translation. But what is of more interest to me is the pronunciation. I would like to hear the sentence pronounced, and this is something Google Translate does brilliantly. The pronunciation is fairly rapid to give you enough listening practice, and believe me, you will need to listen to the sentence again and again till you get a hang of it.

This then is the first step before you move on to seeing French movies as your next aid to French learning.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Occasional Headaches

I subscribe to Bitesized French which delivers a daily dose of a French word with its meaning and a sentence to fix it in mind with a context. Unlike a few other similar services, the sentences are short and simple.

I am thrilled since today’s sentence describes me perfectly:
A part des maux de tête je suis en bonne santé. (Apart from headaches I am in good health).

Actually I should modify it as follows:
A part des maux de tête occasionnels je suis en bonne santé. (Apart from occasional headaches I am in good health).

Pace yourself

There is this great urge to complete the entire course in one big burst of effort. And then there is a cooling off period. The urge returns again. And so on. Over a period of time the rest period is prolonged and the intense burst shrinks. This alternation between intense study and periods of rest is the greatest barrier to achieving your goals through self study.

Instead, it is better to pace yourself. Fix a time and duration for the self study. Say, at 6 p.m., five days a week, for 45 focused minutes. Works for me!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Tintin and Asterix in French Language

Even since I have taken to learning French seriously, I have this intense desire to possess Tintin and Asterix comics in French. Being an Indian and, therefore, multilingual (English, Hindi, Bangla, and a smattering of Urdu), I am aware that translations kill flavour. And since, Tintin and Asterix in English are mindblowing, I can only imagine how good they will read in French. But until I acquire these I will have to do with Tintin's official website, in French and Asterix's official website, in French

About ne que

Here’s a question for you …
what comes to your mind as the repository of knowledge on the Internet?
9/10 will respond: Wikipedia.
And yet the information available in ABOUT.COM is far superior to any I have seen on one site. The information on ‘About.com’ is very detailed and the chances that you will come away having absorbed the knowledge are substantially high.

Needless to say, ‘About.com’ is an extremely valuable resource for those who attempt to learn French (or for that matter any) language on their own. When I wanted to understand a bit more about ne … que a visit to the relevant page is all I needed.

The problem I had with ne … que is that it works exactly opposite to ne … pas, ne … plus, ne … jamais. While the other negations prevent you from doing something, ne … que allows you that one single thing follows it.
Thus, for example,
Je parle français = I speak French
Je ne parle pas français = I don’t speak French
Je ne parle plus français = I don’t speak French anymore
Je ne parle jamais français = I never speak French
but
Je ne parle que français = I speak only French

“So, what is so problematic with this,” I hear you say. The problem is not when you see it written. The problem is when you hear someone speak – as in a recorded speech. The “ne” conditions you to a negative, and people generally speak very quickly. By the time, you figure out if it is a ‘no’ or ‘only’ the next sentence has started. The second complication arises due to the spelling of ‘que’. Since it ends with an ‘e’, it takes on an apostrophe in front of vowel and therefore gets merged with the following word to form one word, and is therefore more difficult to pick in spoken French.

about.com - French explains a bit more about the use of ne … que. It is a bit more complicated than I thought. It turns out that the placement of ‘que’ changes the meaning of the sentence.
Je ne parle que français = I speak only French
Je ne parle français qu’en France = I speak French only in France.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Pneu

The French language has this reputation for silent letters. Not just letter, letters. Even simple word like vous is pronounced ‘voo’.

I am not complaining. Far from it! Now that I have overcome my initial fears, I am enjoying speaking French.

And that’s why I wonder how did the French manage to miss out on pneu (tyre). It is pronounced ‘puh-nuu’. Undoubtedly, the root for ‘pneu’ is the same as that for ‘pneumatic’, but ‘puh-nuu’??? It sounds like someone with a blocked nose trying desperately to clear the passageway. A language that has words with, at times, more than 3 silent letters forgot to make ‘p’ in ‘pneu’ silent.

Mélange

I have my own version of Walk, Talk and Learn French . I call it drive, see the hoardings and learn French. Of course, I get to learn only words, not sentences. But then what do you expect? I live in Bangalore, not Paris!

“Have breakfast at Mélange”. I see this huge hoarding every morning, displayed right at the traffic lights near my home. And with e-acute and all, except that the diacritic mark is modified into three petals.

Nice name, Mélange. Or so it seemed till I checked out what it means.
Mélange = Mixture.
Hmmm… not so nice.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Being Bilingual is an Essential Attribute

Here’s a wonderful article by someone who has a fantastic command over English and is now learning French. This article by Will Self that appeared in Guardian is definitely worth a read.

I like the way he sums it up: “being bilingual ourselves is an essential attribute for being at home in the wider world.”

An Empirical Guide to French Pronunciation

The French ‘e’ (usually pronounced as the ‘u’ in ‘duh’ and is identical to अ of the Devanagari script) also helps me pronounce French words with much effort. In my mind ‘e’ serves as a delimiter when it appears towards the end of French words.

Consider the conjugation of finir (To finish) for third person plural (they) …
In the present tense, it is finissent. Locate where the ‘e’ comes in the last few letters of the word. Stop your pronunciation just before that. Going by this rule, ‘finissent’ should be pronounced ‘feeneess’.

Let’s try another one ... for the imperfect past finir conjugates to finissaient. Where do you think you need to stop? Just before ‘e’. Right. So this will be pronounced ‘feenee-say’. Same goes with student for French: étudiant (pronounced ay-too-dee-yaN – since there is no ‘e’ towards the end just drop the last letter and try) and étudiante (pronounced ay-too-dee-yaNt).

Ok, what about this? Italien and italienne (male and female Italian, respectively). Since italienne has a ‘e’ right at the end, all the letters need to be considered. So, this will be pronounced ‘eetalee-en’ (soft ‘t’ and ‘l’, please), while italien is pronounced ‘eetalee-aN’ (the ‘n’ modifies the pronunciation and makes it nasal).

So how exactly does this empirical rule go:
a) Check for ‘e’ in the last few letters of the word.
b) The moment you encounter your first ‘e’, try using only those words for pronouncing that appear on the left of the ‘e’.
c) Take into account the ‘z’, ‘n’, and ‘r’ especially if they appear at the end of the word. The delimiter in those cases would be ‘ez’ (pronounced ‘ay’), ‘en’ (brings out the nasal part of you) and ‘er’ (generally with the infinitive and is pronounced ‘ay’).
d) If you do not encounter any ‘e’ towards the end, just drop the last letter and give it a go.

Simple rule, isn’t it? Strictly speaking it is not a rule. It just helps me to read the French words correctly. Remember nothing can replace hearing the actual word in French.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

French is easier to speak than to write

It is relatively easier to speak French than write.

Why do I say that?

'This’ in French can be ce, cette, or cet depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine or masculine starting with a vowel. But since ‘cette’ and ‘cet’ are pronounced identically and assuming 50% of all nouns are feminine, more than half nouns will take similar demonstrative pronouns. So, if in doubt say ‘sette’ (soft ‘t’ please).

Let’s consider ‘my’. It is mon for masculine, ma for feminine and mon for anything you own that starts with a vowel. Following similar logic, ‘moN’ (nasal N) is the default usage.

Of course, the best bet is to learn the gender of the noun as you learn it, but initially this helps build confidence. As long as it doesn’t become a habit.

Let’s now think of the verbs. Verbs take different endings depending on who is the noun/pronoun.
For example,
Je suis allé (If I am male)
Je suis allée (If I am female)

For vous it could be more complicated.

Vous êtes arrivé (You, formal, singular, male)
Vous êtes arrivés (You – group of males, group of males and females)
Vous êtes arrivée (You, formal, singular, female)
Vous êtes arrivées (You – group of females only)

Now before you give up, consider this: in all cases, irrespective of gender or number, the verb is pronounced identically – ‘arrivay’.

Alors, c’est facile. N'est pas?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Les Portes Tordues

I finally have Les Portes Tordues (The Twisted Doors) in my hands. Thanks to Flipkart

I will be writing a review on this book once I complete it. All I can say is that I am already enjoying the style. The first few lessons that I read and heard are very simple, though. Most of these lessons are from 4-8 lines long and deal only with the present tense. I flipped through the book and I can see that the later chapters are longer and have more complex constructions.
The book is bilingual and chapters are arranged such that a line of French corresponds to a line of English. The translation, so far, is top notch. The story telling is also excellent. But we’ll see.

The preface of the book recommends listening and reading. But I will write down the chapters too. I prefer it that way.

And now if you excuse me, I need to dive right into the book.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Literature. Littérature.

A singularly remarkable feature of all online ‘for-profit’ courses is the absence of literature. It is as if the purpose of learning a language is to somehow manage to converse in that language when you visit the country for a fortnight, if that. C’est dommage! That’s a pity!

Perhaps I am being too harsh. After all, most of the courses are aimed at beginners. Introducing literature at a very early stage may actually turn away potential learners. But on the other hand, what prevents these courses from introducing small, simple stories at an early stage? These stories can support the language elements taught in the courses. The stories need not start from chapter one. They can start from the 10th chapter if that makes sense. What is needed is imagination.

Just to clarify, I am not talking of courses that are woven around situations. Almost all courses do that in one way or another. If I were to design a French course it would teach language elements and finish it off with a easy-read story. Perhaps, some day I will.

And small, simple stories need not always be children’s stories! With a little imagination good short, simple stories can be written for adult learners too, don’t you think? Ne pensez-vous? If the French course designers do not wish to exert too much, all they need to do is take appropriate extracts from numerous short stories written by Balzac or Maupassant.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Home. Chez Nous.

The builders in Bangalore have been bitten by the French bug. Or else they think having a French name as an address makes their buildings more saleable. French name in India? Saleable? Whatever!

Chez Nous is the name of a building apartment in Bangalore. I wonder how the residents of the building dictate their address to the local public. Do they actually pronounce it correctly and then tell the spelling and then explain that this is a French word?

The conversation between a resident and a plumber would go something like this:

“Hello, this is P the Plumber.”
“Hello, P. The pipe has burst open and I want you to come as soon as possible.”
“Ok! What is the address.”
“Shay Noo. Richmond Road.”
“Where???”
“Shayz noos. On Richmond Road.”
“Why didn’t you say so in the first place. Ok. Will be there in one hour – traffic permitting.”

Ain't I being snooty today.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Anchovy. Anchois.

3 Americans and one India eating Italian in a French restaurant. Weird! But wait it gets weirder.
We chose to go à la carte. I wanted to eat Pizza. The first was a Margarita. Hmm… I would prefer something better; not some plain Pizza Margarita. They were paying anyways. But what was Pizza aux anchois?
“Anchovies”.
I had no idea what anchovy was. But I could not appear dumb before my American hosts! So I ordered Pizza aux Anchois. I don’t remember what my hosts ordered.
“Great choice!”
The pizza arrived. On it were 6 fishes arranged. I didn’t realize that anchovies are fishes and I don’t even eat fish!
I must have stared at the dish for a long time since one of my hosts asked me what the matter was. I told him that I do not eat fish.
“Then why did you order anchovies?”
No answer.
Another recommended that I scrape the fishes off and dig into the pizza. And I did. I almost puked. The taste of the fishes had permeated straight into the bread! My hosts almost fell off the chair laughing. The maître d'hôtel came anxiously to ask what the matter was.
I finally got a Margarita to eat.
Of all fishes, I am told, anchovies are the smelliest; even among fish eaters it is an acquired taste.
Guess which is the first word I learnt in French when I started learning the language?
Yeah! You got that right: Anchovy = Anchois.