#frenchlang

As I will be taking a flight tomorrow morning this post seems quite apt :)

Ideas for study:

Physical books or readers - make sure it’s not too hard a book that you’ll have to make notes for etc. that is more suited to when you have time and space at a desk

Audiobooks

Spaced repetition flashcards - can be done virtually anywhere - For Chinese I use Pleco and Anki, for French I use Anki

Load up your phone/MP3 with audio material

Pen + paper - you can write out characters, write a journal etc.

Read newspaper apps on your phone (the chairmans bao, dushu etc.)

Laptop with study material you can use offline (or with airport wifi) - 

download videos offline (IQIYI is like a netflix/youtube in China and has an offline download function on the computer and phone app)

save online grammar wiki pages offline in advance and make notes when out of wifi

in addition to studying words with flashcard software, I also have exported it to excel and am working on a list of example sentences which a) aids in remembering new vocabulary and b) helps to remember different circumstances it can be used it (I find there are some words I can tell you the English translation but have a hard time using the word myself). Once I have created example sentences I spend time writing these out so I can learn how to write the characters. This is what I shall be doing on the train and at the airport

My keyboard doesn't have accents, whoops. Anyway here’s just a few things I noticed while in France

Volia is used a lot. I thought it was a stereotype but nope you use it essentially as a filler word. Still has that sort of “here” or “look” connotation

Je ne sais pas becomes “chepas”. I know this because I said this around 50 times a day 

Je suis is chuis. idk how to spell it like how it sounds, but basically only pronounce the “suis” part

S’il te plait tends to be rushed together, sounding more like “silt plate” 

Ca va is used! so much! When you greet someone, ca va? When you come back from school, ca va? When someone comes back from work, ca va? When you’re meeting up with friends, ca va? Someone looks off, ca va bien? Finalizing plans, ca va aller? 

Qu’est ce qu’il y a is pronounced more like “qu’est qui ya”

Sometimes instead of saying oui or ouais people do this sharp inhalation of air. I don’t know how to describe it, but when I first heard it I thought they were in pain. It’s like you’re going to say the word “oui” but instead you gasp. Men and women, young and old use this and it always means yes

I had heard prior to that no one in France basically uses nous, but honestly they used nous more than on where I was (although I was surrounded by older people). My point is that you don’t have to make a big effort to use -on to sound more French

For negation, however, ne is definitely dropped. It actually makes the sentence flow much nicer/quicker, and it’s a natural thing to do. I actually got points off in French class for doing it in writing tho so don’t completely forget

T’es con = you’re crazy 

Tais toi = shut up 

Fait chier = sucks (can also mean damn)

You can merge swear words together. I heard a dude use putain de connard de merde and I was shook like you can dO THAT? 

Je m’en tape = I don’t care