Bonjour!
Why not keep the streak of Romance languages going with some French? Tonight's lesson was the complete opposite of last night. I totally haven't forgotten any of my French. And I'm saying that while patting myself on the back!
I do enjoy the French language, and if you follow me on Twitter, you can see that I've tweeted in the language quite often! It's fun, and some people call it the language of love, even though I'd say that would have to be Portuguese for me ;).
My lesson covered handling monetary situations, similar to last night with Italian. The speaking was not bad at ALL. Asking my to do simple math problems, and learning how to say 14-16 was very simple (quatorze, quinze, and seize). I also learned one of the more important phrases, and that is "I have" (J'ai). In ANY langauge, you need to know that, especially if you need to tell someone you don't have any money.
The speaking has never been tough, until I try to say "tres" or "quatre". I know that'll come with practice, but if I went to France right now and said, "J'ai quatre de dollars" everything would sound like a native except for "quatre". I canNOT pull off that or "tres" to save the life of me. It's something with the tongue, or the French are just superhuman. That accent for those words is just really hard for me.
Another problem I have is when it comes to negatives. Most times you'll make a ne/pas sandwich to make a statement negative, such as:
Je ne comprends pas.
That seems easy, but it's not always consistent. Like, saying "not here" is "pas ici", not "ne ici pas", if that makes any sense. And "I don't have" is "Je n'ai pas", not "Ne j'ai pas". It's definitely tricky.
I guess I had more trouble than I initially thought, lol..But for real. I do really appreciate this language. I can't wait to get better!
As always, if anyone has comments, questions, tips, or just wants to show support, please drop me a line! And follow me on Twitter for constant updates!
Merci et au revoir,
Your Favorite Polyglot
Twitter: @mistercapoeira
Fascinating post as always Ron- The 'r' is kind of made in the same place as the 'ch' in German, (I think!) It is tough though.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, don't sweat the small stuff. Can't wait for your next post!