Separate forum category?

[Seapaddler]

How many have taken an interest in the French language since discovering Alizée?

People like her are powerfully influential and embassadorial for any culture or language.

Should we have a dedicated French learning forum category apart from translating vids and songs or would it be too far off topic?

I had a couple French speaking friends about 10 years ago, since then they have moved back to France and Lebanon. My pronunciation of French sounds is actually fairly good having listened to friends speak it. Aside from speaking it, which I don't have any opportunities now, I have no reading comprehension. I think that could be the focus here, so fans could eventually be able to read French sites, news and conversations in French regarding Alizée.

[Luc]

Sure I'm interested in learning French language. For that reason I also joined the French forum Alizée Alliance a few months ago. Reading about Alizée is a very nice way to learn French
But to learn the language correctly we will be strongly dependent on a small group of members who speak the language. So I think it depends on them (aFrenchie, garçoncanadien, ...... ) if they are willing to teach us.

[Seapaddler]

So true, however I'm motivated to write some basic understanding text and reference stickies to start a separate category if Brad is willing. If it doesn't become useful it can always be merged with this forum at a later date.

I take it that object and embed tags work in posts, for a tiny flash audio player?

[garçoncanadien]

hi, if you ask us about French, we will be glad to help you. I haven't seen any questions yet so that's why I haven't answered any yet other than translations

[HibyPrime]

Originally Posted by Luc

Sure I'm interested in learning French language. For that reason I also joined the French forum Alizée Alliance a few months ago. Reading about Alizée is a very nice way to learn French
But to learn the language correctly we will be strongly dependent on a small group of members who speak the language. So I think it depends on them (aFrenchie, garçoncanadien, ...... ) if they are willing to teach us.

That's not true...

If one person has a question, and nobody can answer it, then obviously someone will look for the answer elsewhere. Not to mention people will be asking questions that others may not have thought of..

Besides, you know the saying, 2 heads are always better than one...

[lobowolf14]

I'm up for it. There's a few languages I'd want to try to learn before I get too ald to do so (if not too late already). It's just hard to find somewhere to learn them without going to a major college. I was also thinking that if we could get the grammar down, maybe eventually try to interact with Skype or something.

[neoteny]

i've ALWAYS been interested learning ze french language. only problem is my lack of motivation to get started. it ended in freshman year. damn that french teacher. ooo i hated her. "bonjour class, ca va?!" eh...com si com ca.

[atra201]

well i made a learn french thread but i'm also learning so what ever i have learnt i have post and that's it french ppl were supposed to add to it but ...

[atra201]

Originally Posted by neoteny

i've ALWAYS been interested learning ze french language. only problem is my lack of motivation to get started. it ended in freshman year. damn that french teacher. ooo i hated her. "bonjour class, ca va?!" eh...com si com ca.

what's com si com ca?

it sounds funny. lol

[garçoncanadien]

Alright I volunteer to start teaching. I will use my old textbook as a framework and also try to give you as much practice as possible, verbal, written, and listening (via that engine aFrenchie told us about). Speaking - well that is hard to teach on a forum. I don't know right at this moment how to help you all with that!

And of course, I will intersperse it with vocabulary so you all can build that as well.

PART 1: VERBS

Section 1: Personal Pronouns (les pronoms personnels)

French pronouns work very much the same way as in English, except for the word you and they. In English, you (plural) and you (singular) are exactly the same word. In French, they are not and in addition there is a formal "you" when you need to be respectful. Here goes:

Je = I
Tu = You (singular, informal, friendly)
Il = He
Elle = She
Nous = We
Vous = You (plural, or singular formal)
Ils = They
Elles = They

When you need to be respectful to somebody, you would call them "vous" instead of "tu". On the contrary, if he/she is your good friend "vous" would sound stiff or even mean - you would refer to your friends by "tu".

The other distinction between "tu" and "vous" is number. "Tu" is singular, but "vous" is plural. They both translate as "you" in English.

Ils and Elles represent another distinction that is not present in English. "They" in French is distinguished by gender. If it is a group of females only, "Elles" is the correct word to use for "They". If it is all males, or the group is mostly females and contains at least one male, "Ils" is the word to use for "They".

Now for your homework :

Send me a private message with your answer to the following questions and don't look at my post while you do them :

1. Name all of the French "pronoms personnels".
2. Tell the difference between Ils and Elles.
3. If you are talking to the president, would you say "vous" or "tu".
4. If you are talking to your little brother, would you say "vous" or "tu".
5. If you are talking to your pet dog Topaze, would you say "vous" or "tu".
6. How would you say in French "you" singular, and how would you say "you" plural in French.
7. If you are talking to your friend, but she is in mourning, would you say "vous" or "tu".
8. Tell which of the following is not a correct match:
(A) Je = I
(B) Tu = She
(C) Il = He
(D) Nous = We
9. Tell which of the following is not a correct match:
(A) Ils = They
(B) Elles = They
(C) Il = She
(D) Je = I
10. Tell which of the following is not a correct match:
(A) Elles = They
(B) Il = He
(C) She = Elle
(D) Vous = you (singular)

Will check back later!

-garçoncanadien