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#1
06-29-2011, 01:28 PM
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Rosetta Stone to help learn Alizee's music?
I'm seriously considering it. I took French in high school, passed it, but ironically enough, didn't learn anything. Haha. Louisiana's educational system right there. I know Scruffy understands a few of her lyrics. My thing is, learning a language, and understanding lyrics could be where the line becomes vague. I know in some English sung lyrics, I even have a hard time making it out. Even when having the list of lyrics in my hands. But nevertheless, I still enjoy the music. Just like Alizee, I enjoy the music without knowing a lick of French.
Has anyone here gone that extra mile in actually trying to learn French? I'm worried I might fail miserably. Because when I was younger, I had a terrible time pronouncing certain words, especially with an "s" sound. I'm worried that, even if I understand it, I won't be able to speak it correctly. Which isn't too bad. I'll be able to understand what she says, which would be AWESOME! Even today I have a hard time pronouncing certain English words. Haha, I can speak fine and clearly, despite a slight cajun accent. It's just a handful of words that are difficult for me pronounce. Knowing the French language's emphasis on pronounciation, it could be impossible for me to do it. How difficult is it to learn French, for anyone who has done it? Anyway, thanks for reading.
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Last edited by SaintĀlizee; 06-29-2011 at 02:42 PM.. 
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#2
06-29-2011, 02:39 PM
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Not easy. And I know what I'm talking about.... 
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-------------------------------------------------------  ------------------MISS ALIZEE -----------------
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#3
06-29-2011, 02:41 PM
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#4
06-29-2011, 02:58 PM
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People worry too much about speaking a foreign language correctly. I have corresponded with at least one French person learning English who worried about that a lot, about having an accent and sounding like a foreigner. I told him not to worry about it. It's inevitable, of course, and it's not anything to worry about as long as you can make yourself understood.
Think about how differently English is pronounced in various parts of the world. Think of the pronunciation of someone from lower-class London compared to someone from Alabama compared to an Aussie compared to a New Yorker. Isn't that just as much a variation as someone with a French or Mexican or German accent? (Dan: think of the pronunciation of someone from Marseille compared to someone from Paris compared to someone from Montreal compared to someone from Haiti.) You'll pronounce your French with a foreign accent. So what? You're a foreigner. Big deal. If they can't understand what you're saying, then you need to work on it. Otherwise, it's 
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 Męme si tu es au loin, mon coeur sait que tu es avec moi The Stairway To Nowhere (FREE): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8357 The Child of Paradox: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27019 The Golden Game: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/56716
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#5
06-29-2011, 03:58 PM
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#6
06-29-2011, 04:13 PM
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(I'm really freaking tired so I'm just gonna spew out whatever comes to mind in order I thunk' it up so I apologize if it isn't super eloquent and composed)
Here's what I tell anybody who wants to learn another language. It's not just Rosetta Stone. If you download it and only use that (or a different program), you're not going to truly learn the language. Learning a language is Rosetta Stone (or formal lessons, etc) - it's listening to TONS of movies spoken in the language of your choice, - it's listening to as much spoken word of the language as you can (hell, you already have one outlet for that), - it's speaking it with other speakers as much as you can, - it's reading as much as you can in the language of your choice (start off with easy stuff, fairy tales and the like. One great book to read is Suivez La Piste. It uses simple French and plenty of cognates, and an audiobook version of it is available for free online). Learning a language is doing everything you possibly can to immerse yourself. ----------------- Don't worry about having an accent. It's better to know the language and have a terrible accent than the other way around. Being older puts you at a disadvantage in that your brain and mouth-stuff has had more time to permanently form to speaking English. You're going to have trouble pronouncing certain things, I had trouble pronouncing things, French children have trouble pronouncing things. You just have to practice. Not for half an hour a week sitting at your computer, all the fucking time. It took me like four months to be able to say "parapluie" in a proper accent. ------------- Not to sound too much like a $15 motivational poster, but the only way you can fail learning the French language is to stop trying. ---------------------- For extra help, I'd be willing to record myself saying/pronouncing something that you're having trouble with and explain what to do to achieve the sound. For practice reading and writing, try chatting with Fernando Bautista (a.k.a. FerAunger) on Facebook. He's always more than happy to help me when I'm having trouble with the language (especially with expressions and figures of speech I don't recognize) and I'm sure he'd help you out with your French if you'd help him out with his English -------------------------- For understanding Alizée's songs, I would say this: - Learn a bit of the language - Print out the French lyrics of three or four songs - Listen to the songs several hundred times while reading along, listen for how words are begun and ended, how they flow together, what letters are pronounced and not, etc - Then, pick a few more songs and just listen through them a couple hundred times and see how many words you recognize. I'd say if you can identify even a few words (sldkfjlskdjlkjlskdjflaskjflaskdfjslkfsoisdfkjlkjs sd POISSON asdkfjl;kjsdf) you're successful. - Then, after spending a lot more time learning the language, you should be able to understand a few more words than before. ------------------- Don't worry about completely understanding her songs. Not even French people can. I've even listened for specific words before (of which escape me right now) and have heard them so slightly... I can't even understand most English songs
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Be the leaf.
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#7
06-29-2011, 04:22 PM
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 It'll be a double dose, I suppose. I'll buy some French movies with subtitles... and maybe have Roestta Stone to help. Would that negate it and confuse me? I'm probably making too much out of it. I learned an entire language from birth. How tough can it be as a grown adult? Haha... <---- I keep that mindset.
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#8
06-29-2011, 05:04 PM
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I have tried using Rosetta Stone with the same intentions, but I was too unambitious and couldn't keep track of what I learned in class/had as homework and what I had learned from Rosetta Stone, so I decided to shove it under the rug for the time being. From the time I spent using it I noticed one thing using volume one, it seems as if you want some foundation to have been built, unless I am mistaken one of the first exercise is 4 pictures, under the plane, in the plane, next to the plane, and on top of the plane. Unless you knew that "avion" was airplane you would find out eventually, but I am sure a small vocabulary would help in the beginning. It varies between pictures where you have to associate text with a picture, a voice saying something and you clicking on the picture representing what she is saying "La femme boite" (spelling and grammar might be incorrect, was a while ago) and pronouncing exercises (of course requiring a microphone). All of this will teach you a language and certain parts, but not to its fullest, as Jalen recommended, get some part of the French culture and involve yourself with it if you really want to learn the language, "your ambition sets the goals".
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#9
06-29-2011, 05:33 PM
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Being 19, you probably don't have a big budget to work with. I would suggest taking lessons at the French cultural society in New Orleans. I believe it costs around $235 for 7 weeks if I'm not mistaken, plus you have to buy some books.
But if your budget is limited, it's probably more of a pipe dream. But being with others who know it or are trying to learn it is the best way to learn conversational French. If you're going to buy any movies, I'd suggest starting with Amelie. It won several awards and of course it's about a waitress living in Paris who had something happen to her that made her want to devote her life to helping others in little ways and of course the best part it's the character that Alizee's song Amelie m'a dit was written about.
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#10
06-29-2011, 06:31 PM
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And assuming you have access to youtube, look up interviews of people besides Alizée. It's important to hear the language spoken in a wide variety of voices. I knew a guy who thought he was cool because his chola-ass girlfriend taught him how to speak Spanish very well, but if you close your eyes he sounds like a chola-ass girl speaking Spanish. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to sound like Alizée when I speak. -------------------- And as for Rosetta Stone, it works... and it doesn't. It works well for visual concepts, for example it'll show say four pictures of a dog; one clean, one dirty, one running, and one sitting. Then, depending on the activity, you'll be given a caption "Le chien court" followed by the rest of the captions, where the idea of the activity is to allow you to associate the two common factors together: the image of a dog, and the word "chien" I find there are some concepts that are just too difficult for Rosetta Stone's system to teach. They can only do it through images, and just imagine trying to make someone fluent in English by doing nothing but charades and narrating what you're doing. Rosetta Stone is a supplementary tool that I believe should be used in conjunction with everything else I mentioned. ------------- Before I forget, here's one astronomically helpful hint that will set you one step higher than the French 3 students at my school. Having a hard time pronouncing the French "u"? Purse your lips, and say "E", like "cheese" I don't remember where I heard it but my lordy that's exactly how the French U is supposed to sound. So when you try to say the letter "Q" in French, don't say "kyoo", say "key" with pursed lips.
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Be the leaf.
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