Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Oct 17, 2023 11:29:17 GMT 1
Us Brits smile to much when abroad, a French man warned me many years ago when looking at houses to not smile and if anything look disinterested so to give the impression of indifference. The flip side to that is we have many French neighbours who just pop by as the know they will receive a warm welcome (and they tell us that), as it contrasts to the formality and etiquette of their normal French life. Not being British born I had been brought up in a place where friends could drop in any time for a chat or whatever without notice and it was generally considered a positive thing. When finding myself in England this was pretty much unheard of. There was always some sort of notice ahead of a visit. Now in France I find nobody (English) ever turns up unannounced. Its as if they feel they need a specific appointment. Thankfully we do have a couple who will stop in whenever they are in the area and we are delighted. It doesn't matter in the least if we are busy, tired, or just not in the mood for guests. They will be welcome. A friend is a friend.
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Post by jardiniere on Oct 17, 2023 21:41:57 GMT 1
The flip side of the coin is the French refusal to apologise even when they're blatantly in the wrong. I don't find that admirable at all. I'm so glad you said that! It drives me crazy.
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Post by houpla on Oct 18, 2023 7:24:27 GMT 1
I swear that French kids must do two special classes from an early age. 'How to talk/party non-stop for 15 hours' and 'How to resist an apology in the face of overwhelming evidence'
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Oct 18, 2023 10:05:40 GMT 1
And another one. How to follow the rules in every situation and never attempt to think of a solution that doesn't fit with those rules.
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Post by houpla on Oct 18, 2023 10:23:52 GMT 1
With an optional module for making them up as you go along? Especially for future foncs But would we live anywhere else? Nooooo
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Post by Nutty on Oct 18, 2023 10:58:39 GMT 1
Every country has its quirks - but I think that here in France they've got so much more right than wrong. I think part of this is down to the fact that many of France's politicians and civil servants are graduates of the grandes écoles and have received a rigorous training that fits them for public office.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Oct 18, 2023 11:16:12 GMT 1
Is this so far different to the education system in UK where money buys a way into the high end where the networking and route to the top are to be found? If the French civil servants are so bright why is it we plebs find them so intransigent and lost when presented with a problem that's not "in the book". Just asking. Not knocking France. If we were kicked out of France, UK is the last place we would go next.
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exile
Member
Massif Central
Posts: 2,693
Member is Online
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Post by exile on Oct 18, 2023 11:23:52 GMT 1
An interesting and thought provoking article. I had a semester of "Speech and Drama" back in school and the tutor also had a degree in German. He often gave us a few examples of the subtleties of language and pointed out the literal and very logical translations of German words. One that sticks in my mind is "car" = "vagen" "sick" = "krank" so it follows that "ambulance" = "Krankenwagen" Can anyone guess what "hospital" might be? Send your answers to Steve Barclay. I have a gut feeling I would have done better with language if I had ended up in Germany rather than France. My French teacher back then spoke slowly but then I found the French sound as if they're on speed. Unfathomable to me for the most part. When met with the (English) greeting "How do you do, I am tempted to reply with "How do I do what?". The thing about German is that it is a language poor in vocabulary. Most languages have 200,000 to 220,000 words. German scrapes in at 180,000. English in comparison has around 400,000
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Post by norfolk on Oct 18, 2023 11:36:55 GMT 1
English is such a flexible language.
When I speak with a mate of mine I always ask the same opening question….
« How’s the missus ? »
He always replies…
« Oh you know, better than nothing I suppose ! »
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Post by cernunnos on Oct 18, 2023 11:38:31 GMT 1
There are many nuances in languages , and quite a few languages that are based on others ( English being one). We are very grateful to live our last years in a quiet backwater in France, not being any given nationality ( in our heads) but having habits of four , we don't fit in anywhere , so the backwater is fine.
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dylan
Non-gamer
Posts: 45
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Post by dylan on Oct 18, 2023 11:51:10 GMT 1
Cernunnos, Are you close to us in St. Mathieu?
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Post by annabellespapa on Oct 18, 2023 12:16:11 GMT 1
According to Larousse English French dictionary there are 135,000 words in French but only 15-20,000 words in general use.
When I was trying to improve my French about 20 years ago, I did the Michel Thomas French language course, about 10 CD's that you listened to in your own time, he was Polish (I think) but taught French to Brits destined to be dropped into France during WW2 and had to teach them enough French to get passed German scrutiny. He basically said that to understand the construction of a French sentence you had to think in old English a bit like Shakespeare and Chaucer e.g 'Where for art thou Romeo'etc, it kind of works for me...
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Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,046
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Post by Nifty on Oct 18, 2023 13:14:46 GMT 1
Michel Thomas was a brilliant teacher.
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Post by houpla on Oct 18, 2023 13:21:21 GMT 1
It was a stroke of brilliant psychology having a dumbo in the virtual classroom Everybody who used his CDs must have felt just a tiny bit superior....
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suein56
Member
Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,568
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Post by suein56 on Oct 18, 2023 15:22:44 GMT 1
According to Larousse English French dictionary there are 135,000 words in French but only 15-20,000 words in general use. Trying not to be too pedantic. Can't find an exact reference but this might do .. from 'Ça m'intéresse'. Difficile de donner un chiffre précis puisque la langue est en constante évolution comme nous l'a montré la récente pandémie qui a généré de nouveaux mots de vocabulaire. On estime que la langue française compte un peu moins de 300 000 mots (noms propres et noms communs compris). Tous ne sont pas dans le dictionnaire et beaucoup ne sont presque jamais utilisés. En effet, le nombre de mots couramment utilisés en français tourne plutôt autour de 30 000 mots.
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