Alizee makes me want to learn French language [Archive]

Matrix

06-30-2006, 05:21 AM

Selphi3

06-30-2006, 06:21 AM

We'll i've had about 3 years of French in high school, and i pick up only half of all the words she is singing.
that's because french isn't easy to hanlde completely, picking out words is easy but getting the meaning of what she's singing is a totally different story, because they have different expresions, and the french grammar has loads of tiny rules and exceptions which i allways had problems with.
So if you're aiming at fully understanding her lyrics, Good luck mate ;)

nate714

06-30-2006, 06:36 AM

I'm considering taking French during my senior year of highschool. I would take it this coming year but I already chose my classes =/

brad

06-30-2006, 09:09 AM

yeah .. i love the way she says 'stubborn'. her accent in la isla bonita is pretty awesome too. lol

themannamedpatty

06-30-2006, 10:56 AM

take it form a canadian, I've been taught french for five years , unless you are really focused, and dedicated to learning the language, you'll just be wasting your time, it can be so hard with all the grammer rules and such.

RadioactiveMan

06-30-2006, 01:22 PM

I'm Canadian too so I've taken French in school for six years, but only the past few of them really count in regards to learning things (the rest are just learning numbers and having a French food day every once in a while). I'm not taking it again next year since it's not a requirement for graduation anymore. I never liked French at all before high school but then I decided that it's pretty cool. I doubt that I would become fluent in it without going to a French-speaking region (or enrolling in a French-Immersion school, but it's too late for that).

Matrix

06-30-2006, 06:16 PM

Yeah i've heard that the french language is very difficult to learn, but there is one thing going for us all... every child in France eventually learns French! :)

Right now Alizees child is learning french. I think the idea is to start out slow and work your way up. My problem is that i am diving straight in and trying to learn French from people who speak at a high level. Learning basics like courtesies, months, days of week and numbers and alphabet etc.. thats easy part. I think french childrens books would be a better place to start for an adult. Yeah i need to find some french childrens books.

You just need to be around someone all day who speaks french, thats all it would take really. That's how we all learned our language. Think about it, by the age of five or six we were all able to communicate well enough to start school. But there is an alternative I think... its the internet.

Alizee interviews are at our disposal to learn from. French Alizee web sites are another way to learn. I'm gonna keep at it and my goal is to just be able to get by in day to day life, like say if I lived in France, oh and most importantly to be able to sing in french along with Alizee and understand what I am singing at same time.

brad

06-30-2006, 06:27 PM

if you are serious about learning French, you may want to give this a try.

http://www.rosettastone.com/en/individuals/languages/french

I also tried out the demo for something i saw in a magazine about 6 months ago, and I still remember the words in the demo ... lol. I wouldnt mind giving this a shot.

http://www.unforgettablelanguages.com/frames_a4.html

Selphi3

06-30-2006, 06:37 PM

allready knew the words in the demo :) and it doesnt give me a good idea that they will teach me any grammar. . .
but i think having someone around you speaking french is the best, don't see myself learning a language from the internet

droggo

06-30-2006, 07:54 PM

Do not get discouraged with your quest to learn French. I grew up in the United States, but I have learned to speak conversational French.

As previously noted, your best bet is to speak in French as often as possible. I had an added advantage with this in that half my extended family still lives in France.

I looked at the Rosetta Stone demo after seeing it posted on this forum. It is good in that it provides reinforcement of terms in both audio and video formats. However, I encourage you to take a look at http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/

I have not personally used this service. They do claim to provide both text and voice chat rooms for speaking with someone in another language.

You'll know you have really absorbed French once you start dreaming in French =)

Good luck!

--droggo

Brianh

06-30-2006, 11:33 PM

I'm also trying to teach myself french, not an easy thing at all. I have a cd from eLanguage Learn to speak french...its still tought to master LOL

Matrix

06-30-2006, 11:55 PM

Merci! I went to that rosetta stone website and thats it.. thats for me.. im buying it. thank you

scameter

07-01-2006, 04:26 AM

Bonjour! I know I can't be the only one. Alizee has motivated me to want to learn the French language. I have listened to countless french interviews and songs of Alizee over and over and over again, in feeble attempts to learn on my own the french language. Its very difficult but I am picking up a few words here and there. I go to bonjour.com and study there also.

I've spoken English all my life living here in the USA and I must say, the French seem to be speaking so fast. Maybe Alizee thinks the same of English, we talk fast. I understand Alizee is taking English lessons. A few of her songs are in English and her french accent is so cute. For example:

I'm Fed Up- when she sings " Its not a problem, I lazy round, bubbly and stubborn, I lazy round" is just so cute it makes me laugh. :)

Anyone else mesmerized by Alizee and desperately trying to learn French like me? I wish you could learn a language overnight, but it takes time :(
Yes, I am quite transfixed by her. I discovered her only a couple weeks ago, and have undergone an extensive period of listening to as much of her music and interviews as I can, with a distinct love for her singing in French even when a couple are available in English, and have tried my best (to hardly no avail) to detach myself from her, feeling my obsession with her is unhealthy. That being beside the point, yes, she also inspired me to try and learn the French language. Although I eventually decided to simply wait and take a French language course next year, and not try to learn simply from her songs. So yes, essentially, I share your adoration. :) And, I think her French accent is very cute too. :p

mando

07-03-2006, 05:17 PM

i haven't gotten hooked to the point where i want to learn French to understand her songs. maybe its because im in year 3 japanese and its hell so i have no desire to learn a fourth language >.>

I just wish she would do a lot more songs in english(her accent is cute).:(

Kamakzie

07-04-2006, 12:57 AM

I hope once Alizee comes back from her time off she does more English songs but I enjoy listening to the French songs even though I don't understand them at all. :D

scameter

07-04-2006, 03:43 AM

I personally like her French singing better, because I think it is simply a more beautiful spoken language than the current mut language of English, but I also love her cute French accent on English songs, such as in I'm Fed Up. :)

cybersoil

07-04-2006, 04:13 PM

I wouldn't necessarily say that one language is better than another, but some are more popular for sure, like English, French, German, etc. But there is no doubt that the French language probably sounds the best, the most romantic sounding.

Unfortuantely, the French people themselves will never know how beautiful their language sounds to the rest of us. Sure, they've been told how nice it sounds but because the speak it natively and because that's the only language that many of them will ever speak (not talking about the English they learned back in school days) they'll never really experience how romantically it sounds to the rest of us. I know... I've talked to a number of Frenchies about it.

Like others, I'm sure, I've taken a basic French course at the local community college to learn some French so I could at least understand a little of what Alizee was singing about. It worked. I still don't understand everything but can now understand enough and can translate a lot (with the help of my talking French dictionary and Freetranslation.com.)

Since I've first learned of Alizee I've taken great interest in the French people. Now, I've become a good friend of a real French chef who owns a French restaurant in my area, I even put on French virtual concerts for him and his customers. I've learned some French, visited France and had my biggest fantasy come true, and made friends with some French guys visiting the US for about 3 months. I even set the young and handsome French guys up with some very beautiful young American girls that I know. Yes, they all hit it off immediately. I feel good about that. Merci à Alizée.

- Cybersoil

Ben

07-05-2006, 02:17 AM

Anyone else mesmerized by Alizee and desperately trying to learn French like me? I wish you could learn a language overnight, but it takes time :(
Well, I'm planning on moving to Paris for about half a year at the end of the summer, to enroll in some French immersion courses. While I wouldn't say this is just because Alizée, it would never have happened without her. She introduced me to contemporary French culture and music.

scameter

07-05-2006, 02:33 AM

I wouldn't necessarily say that one language is better than another, but some are more popular for sure, like English, French, German, etc. But there is no doubt that the French language probably sounds the best, the most romantic sounding.

Indeed, I guess hence that it is within the Romance language family, with Latin. I personally like English better, but I think French sounds better, mainly because of it's purity. English is no longer pure, and hasn't been since 1066.

Since I've first learned of Alizee I've taken great interest in the French people.

Me too, although I've always liked France; when I was younger, I would watch The Man in the Iron Mask movie every night. :p

I've learned some French, visited France and had my biggest fantasy come true, and made friends with some French guys visiting the US for about 3 months. I even set the young and handsome French guys up with some very beautiful young American girls that I know. Yes, they all hit it off immediately. I feel good about that. Merci à Alizée.

You're incredibly lucky then my friend. You essentially personified my dream. :)

Matrix

07-11-2006, 04:08 PM

Why do the French speak some words through their nose? Why are some words pronounced through the nose??? Any french speakers here? I'm just curious as to why they do this?

cybersoil

07-11-2006, 06:07 PM

Simple. Like my French teacher once told me.... "That's just the way God made the French language!"

See how easy that was to answer.

-Cybersoil

Matrix

07-12-2006, 05:12 PM

That is gonna be hard to learn

droggo

07-12-2006, 10:28 PM

A link to help you: http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation-nvowels.htm

dvtq

07-12-2006, 10:41 PM

French is really hard to learn , LOL , i laught when my friend said that , she is french , but i will :)) ,after finish english :D

nurvonic

07-16-2006, 05:23 AM

after watching many of her videos over and over and over again...yes it makes me want to learn french. i took french in high school but was too dumb to learn it.

Spartan500

07-16-2006, 04:32 PM

I'm switching my class from spanish to french cause even if its harder all the hot girls pick french

dvtq

07-16-2006, 04:49 PM

I'm switching my class from spanish to french cause even if its harder all the hot girls pick french
dont understand =))

cybersoil

07-16-2006, 05:23 PM

Hot means very sexy, very pretty. Alizee is hottest of the HOT!!!! There...that should explain it!

dvtq

07-16-2006, 05:46 PM

i understand what mean of HOT :D , but i want to know why all the hot girl pick French =))

Spartan500

07-16-2006, 06:55 PM

i understand what mean of HOT :D , but i want to know why all the hot girl pick French =))
I am not exactly sure why but when I had to go into that class there was no guys and all hot girls but they are definitely not as hot as Alizee.

nurvonic

07-16-2006, 07:02 PM

the girls in my french class were hot...all were about the same age as alizee but of course not as hot/beautiful/sexy/talented. if only i took the initiative to actually learn french then id be able to understand what shes singin...dammit.

cybersoil

07-16-2006, 10:23 PM

i understand what mean of HOT :D , but i want to know why all the hot girl pick French =))

Because when spoken, the French language sounds very romantic, very sexy. Girls like being romantic and sexy so when given a language choice in school, they (many times) take French.

It's just one of those perceptions that we Americans have about France; the white knight coming to whisk you away so you can live happily ever after in a castle with a handsome prince and all that girlie stuff.. you know.

-Cybersoil

Spartan500

07-16-2006, 10:40 PM

Because when spoken, the French language sounds very romantic, very sexy. Girls like being romantic and sexy so when given a language choice in school, they (many times) take French.

It's just one of those perceptions that we Americans have about France; the white knight coming to whisk you away so you can live happily ever after in a castle with a handsome prince and all that girlie stuff.. you know.

-Cybersoil
that is a good explanation for it Cybersoil

orange2289

10-20-2006, 09:09 PM

I wan to learn French to, so I bought a French on cd, it pronounces the word and you repeat and so on there are 10 discs. Anyone have any advice on how to memorize or learn quicker.
orange( I use orange for pirvacy, there are creeps out there not that any of you are)

orange2289

10-20-2006, 09:10 PM

:) I wan to learn French to, so I bought a French on cd, it pronounces the word and you repeat and so on there are 10 discs. Anyone have any advice on how to memorize or learn quicker.
orange( I use orange for pirvacy, there are creeps out there not that any of you are)

garçoncanadien

10-20-2006, 09:24 PM

First of all a warm welcome to you orange2289! We are glad to have you with us.

Unfortunately, there are no quick ways to learn French; all I can say is you just have to really put your back into it. That being said, aFrenchie, me, Twitch, and RMJ (and apologies if I have forgot others) would be more than happy to help you if you have any questions.

Norah

10-20-2006, 09:57 PM

I wanna Learn French but it seems difficult to teach myslef.....there are many words have the same translation :(
or maybe I should stop thinking about it and and try to improve my English...

Twitch

10-20-2006, 10:24 PM

Welcome to the site orange2289:)

One of the hardest things about learing a new language is not being exposed to it. When you are forced to use it you learn it a lot quicker because you have no choice. Meaning if you want to learn French, if you can, try spending time in French speaking countries. I know it's not always possible but it makes it a lot easier, once you get the basics. And in France I've heard that as long as you are making an honest effort to learn their language for the most part they'll help you out and not give you a hard time. Here are the countries that belong to la Francophonie (the ones that use at least to some level French) click :) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Map-Francophonie_organisation_2005.png)

RadioactiveMan

10-20-2006, 10:26 PM

What do the observer nations do in la Francophonie?

Twitch

10-20-2006, 10:44 PM

Well to my understanding observer nations are countries who are interested in joining la Francophonie (it is voted on by member countries like Canada or France if new countries are allowed to join). But they are invited to the summits and are allowed to observe what takes place. Like the Ontario government who wants to join and be like the Québec and New Brunswick governments who are also members. (Why that part of Canada is darker blue.) :)

Edit: Ontario is of course not an official observing nation because it isn't a country but they are interested in joining so they send representatives as part of Canadas delegation.
And la Francophonie is basically a French version of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

I <3 Zombies

10-20-2006, 11:19 PM

Considering the fact that I have already taken years of Spanish, and took private lessons for Japanese and M. Chinese I am pretty good with languages. But yea, I was inspired to leard French by Alizee, and on the start of the new semester I am going to take First French as a course. =) Much love

Azereus

10-21-2006, 04:25 PM

I feel exactly the same way. I've just heard about Alizee over the summer and now, I really regret not paying attention is french class. Many of my cousins went to french emersion and now I wish that my parents made me go as well.

Mozaik

10-21-2006, 04:45 PM

Alizée makes me want to learn french. I'm tristful, because I can't have this machine that Hermione has in the Harry Potter III. You know, this time-machine. If i could have it, I would go to english and french lessons too, because they're in the same time... So I try to find another way to learn french.
And: Alizée makes me to learn... english. Because the Alizée forums(like this) are english, and I have to communicate english... :)

NANAKI

10-23-2006, 12:55 AM

I am meeting some kids from France tommorow they are visitingour school for like two weeks

BlancZulu

10-24-2006, 01:15 PM

Why do the French speak some words through their nose? Why are some words pronounced through the nose??? Any french speakers here? I'm just curious as to why they do this?

Being the most romantic race on this beautiful planet, their mouths are usually too busy else where ... :rolleyes:

Amelie

10-24-2006, 01:17 PM

hmm...not Alizee, Mylene makes me want to learn french :D

garçoncanadien

10-24-2006, 01:38 PM

ahem cough cough Matrix, on a practical note that's just the way it is :)

Mozaik: You're tristful? Your French must be excellent, because you are already mixing French with English :D

Amelie

10-24-2006, 01:43 PM

I'm tristful, because I can't have this machine that Hermione has in the Harry Potter III. You know, this time-machine.

interesting, that you mentioned that :D about Harry Potter... :D :o

Mozaik

10-24-2006, 03:44 PM

Mozaik: You're tristful? Your French must be excellent, because you are already mixing French with English :D
Yes? Where? I didn't know about it. :) Show me, what are you thinking about!

At the moment I'm a little bit more hopeful, because my elder sister promised that she will show me her exercise book and explain me, how to pronounce the French words... because she learned english four years...

interesting, that you mentioned that :D about Harry Potter... :D :o

Why? Isn't it a good idea? And btw I love the HP books.

aFrenchie

10-24-2006, 03:55 PM

maareek

10-24-2006, 04:10 PM

Tristful is a word in English. And it means sorrowful or gloomy, so he's right.

Mozaik

10-24-2006, 04:12 PM

aFrenchie: Eh. "Sad" is a word, what I perfectly know, even so I always forget it.
And I've get the word "tristful" from a dictionary... so... :confused: But the you for the informations anyway.

Oh, I'm late, maareek was faster. Thank you too, maareek!

aFrenchie

10-24-2006, 04:15 PM

Tristful is a word in English. And it means sorrowful or gloomy, so he's right.aFrenchie: Eh. "Sad" is a word, what I perfectly know, even so I always forget it.
And I've get the word "tristful" from a dictionary... so... :confused:
Am I crazy or did they add it lately? I've just looked in three English/French dictionnaries and it's in none of them! :confused:

EDIT: And look at this:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tristful

maareek

10-24-2006, 04:18 PM

I doubt it's something that you'd find in a translation dictionary. You'd be more likely to find it in an English thesaurus I would imagine. And I'm pretty sure it's quite old. It's not used very much at all, but I remember hearing it a few times, and reading it in older books.

Mozaik

10-24-2006, 04:18 PM

I don't know... My dictionary contains it...
Here it is:
http://szotar.sztaki.hu/dict_search.php?O=HUN&flash=&E=1&sid=e8e4994b7525b7084464c02eaaac8b7c&in_form=1&L=ENG%3AHUN%3AEngHunDict&W=tristful&M=1&P=0&C=1&T=1

tristful = bánatos, búbánatos, bús, szomorú == sad.

AND: If Wiktionary doesn't contains it, it doesn't means, it's not an existing word...

By the way, it's one of my problems with english. I don't know a word... I look after in the dictionary... and it gives me 100 english words. How could I know, which one should I use?

aFrenchie

10-24-2006, 04:19 PM

I doubt it's something that you'd find in a translation dictionary. You'd be more likely to find it in an English thesaurus I would imagine.
Have you seen my EDIT in my previous post?

aFrenchie

10-24-2006, 04:23 PM

It's not in the list of synonyms for "sad" either:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sad#Synonyms

Oddly enough, it's "triste" in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spain!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sad#Translations

maareek

10-24-2006, 04:28 PM

Well I don't have time to find a real dictionary/thesaurus (I have gigtanic ones of each but have to go to work soon), but a quick search on the web gave this: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tristful

It was also "triste" in middle english, so technically using "triste" would work in any of the five languages mentioned.

Mozaik

10-24-2006, 04:29 PM

aFrenchie: That showes, that SZTAKI (my dictionary) is better then Wiktionary. Bebebeeee. :p :D

Do you know, what? I notice "sad", and it will be okay. :)

maareek

10-24-2006, 04:32 PM

aFrenchie

10-24-2006, 04:32 PM

To garçoncanadien: looks like you never heard that word in Canada? :confused:
Mozaik: You're tristful? Your French must be excellent, because you are already mixing French with English :D

Mozaik

10-24-2006, 04:35 PM

Don't let something like this deter you from using that dictionary, mozaik. Having a large vocabulary is nothing bad, and I find it hard to believe that a word you find in a dictionary is, or at least hasn't been, a word used in English. There's just so many words in English that nobody could ever hope to know all of them.

That's true. But until I know just few words, it's better when I now the general form of the words - for example, "sad" instead "trisftul": it's not a problem, when I know "tristful", but the first should be "sad".

maareek

10-24-2006, 04:36 PM

Wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't, as I said the only times I've really seen it is in old writing. And I've heard it used by some English majors, but almost all of them use archaic language when teaching English.

Twitch

10-24-2006, 06:48 PM

Well here's the info from the linked page that had tristful listed,
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved
It's an American Dictionary so it may show up in American English, why it is not familiar in Europe or Canada. Personally I've never heard it, my Oxford Concise dictionary does have tristesse, but to find tristful and triste I had to dig out my unabridged Merriam-Webster International dictionary, which is also an American based company. Curious if anybody has access to an unabridged Oxford dictionary to see what the British have to say.:)

garçoncanadien

10-24-2006, 06:53 PM

hey guys I'm always happy to get educated on this forum :D. I guess tristful is a word: I will take a key, unlock my head, and add this word in :) and try to remember to close my head afterwards :)

And Mozaik, my sole intent was to encourage you learn more French; I only wanted to speak encouraging words. If I expressed myself in another way, I am sorry. All I wanted to say is keep up the good work! :)

Mozaik

10-25-2006, 10:35 AM

And Mozaik, my sole intent was to encourage you learn more French; I only wanted to speak encouraging words. If I expressed myself in another way, I am sorry. All I wanted to say is keep up the good work! :)

No, no, no problem! You expressed yourself perfect, I just didn't know about this "trisftul" thing, that it's a rare word. I have little problems with the English language, but I hope it will be better. Thank you for the encouraging words, all the best for you!

BTW, I've just ran through an Agatha Christie book to collect the French words of Poirot :D Eh bien, Mon Ami, C'est vrai, etc... :)

Twitch

10-25-2006, 12:27 PM

You probably weren't wrong in gessing it was a combination of French and English garçoncanadien, just because it was done long enough ago to be accepted as an English word doen't mean it wasn't how the word originated. :) Triste and tristesse are both French words absorded into the English language, makes sense that tristful would have a similar origin.