[maple_leaf1]

Who here would be interessted in learning some french from french-speaking CKA members?

What I'm suggesting is some daily lessons; simple words, short phrases, basic vocabulary....Here is an example:

English word or phrase -> French definition -> an idea of what it sounds like/pronounced

Sun -> Soleil -> Sole hey

Computer -> Ordinateur -> Or dee nah tur

Welcome -> Bienvenue -> Bee ey vah new

I hope -> J'espère - > Jess pair

So? What do you guys think?

[MustangJay]

How about posting lessons for actual international languages that will be still functional in the future such as Spanish or Chinese? All signs indicate that those, along with English, will be what people really need to know in the new global economy.

[carls_dst]

hey mr mustangjay dont' be so hard with this guy,

first of all if i were canadians i would take advantage the opportunity of learning the both language in a natural way without paying nothing to learn it.

let me give you a piece of the advice,whatever guy who dominate both language French and english can learn the spanish easier than you can imagine.

for example, my mother tounge is spanish,i learnt a little bit of french at the high school wich i combined it with the english that i know and later i took six intensive month studing french;as a result i could say that know one more language.I don't dominate it but understand it. just like my english i just need to be in a french speaking environment to improve it and master it in a natural way.

what i means is that the same apply for you.if know english and your evironment make you the work easier to learn french go for it,
because the day when you decide to learn spanish you will learn this language as soon as you can't imagine,

let me tell that the french,spanish,italian,portugese etc,etc, just are different form of speak an ancient language called latin, is just like the english that have german roots wich have many,many german voices;but in the latin roots language are even closer,up to the point;just i alredy said, that they just are different forms of speak just one language(El Latin)

so,don't refuse to learn any thing,no even the chines if you can.

[maple_leaf1]

Thanks carls_dst....as a matter of fact, I'm planning on learning Spanish and German very soon. The courses are just very expensive so, I have to save a little first.

carls_dst carls_dst:

hey mr mustangjay dont' be so hard with this guy,

first of all if i were canadians i would take advantage the opportunity of learning the both language in a natural way without paying nothing to learn it.

let me give you a piece of the advice,whatever guy who dominate both language French and english can learn the spanish easier than you can imagine.

for example, my mother tounge is spanish,i learnt a little bit of french at the high school wich i combined it with the english that i know and later i took six intensive month studing french;as a result i could say that know one more language.I don't dominate it but understand it. just like my english i just need to be in a french speaking environment to improve it and master it in a natural way.

what i means is that the same apply for you.if know english and your evironment make you the work easier to learn french go for it,
because the day when you decide to learn spanish you will learn this language as soon as you can't imagine,

let me tell that the french,spanish,italian,portugese etc,etc, just are different form of speak an ancient language called latin, is just like the english that have german roots wich have many,many german voices;but in the latin roots language are even closer,up to the point;just i alredy said, that they just are different forms of speak just one language(El Latin)

so,don't refuse to learn any thing,no even the chines if you can.

[snookums]

maple_leaf1 maple_leaf1:

Thanks carls_dst....as a matter of fact, I'm planning on learning Spanish and German very soon. The courses are just very expensive so, I have to save a little first.

Hey maple_leaf1 - I see you live in Ottawa... I would highly suggest to look into the German and Spanish courses offered at the University of Ottawa.. I think if you're part time, it's around 350$ for 4 months AND it's somewhat tax deductible (not much, but every bit helps )

I took Spanish a while back - don't remember much tho (it's almost been 15 years).. but I remember:

Mi casa es tu casa
Yo te quiero mucho (which I was told, by my Spanish teacher (a Catholic priest of all people) never to say to a young 'gringo' )
Una cervaza por favor
Buenos dias
Buenas noches

and a few more

BTW, have you ever wonder how on earth the hockey commentators come up with Martin Brodoor? Is it SO hard to say BRODEUR? Geez

[VitaminC]

snookums snookums:

BTW, have you ever wonder how on earth the hockey commentators come up with Martin Brodoor? Is it SO hard to say BRODEUR? Geez

Yes, it is......

words ending in eur are hard to pronounce. Cette sound n'existe pas en anglais!

C'est comme "th" pour les francophones, il n'existe pas en francais.

[snookums]

Yeah I'm aware that the EUR sound doesn't exist in English, but it's still sound like HER (well a little bit - for the untrained ear anyway So they could very easily said BROD - HER...

I just cringe every single time I hear his name... Call me ridiculous, but I hate having my name massacred all the time (only by English Canadians or Americans.. For a reason someone has to explain to me, the Brits seem to be able to say my name with no problems - I thought it was interesting )

I guess my problem with massacring names comes from hearing Don Cherry and because some very insensitive bitch took me aside once where I used to work 7 years ago (I was still learning English at that time - and still learning, trust me ) She gave me a lecture on how disrespectful it was of me for not pronouncing the last name Montgomery the right way (I was putting emphasis on the MON, not the GO).. Anyway, her bitching lasted about 10 miuntes - but interestingly enough, she kept mispronouncing my name so bad that sometimes, I had NO idea that she was talking to me... Talk about a bitch

A pet peeve of mine I guess... I don't get in people's face most of the time, just the ones that I REALLY want to annoy

[carls_dst]

you're welcome boy.

by the way, I'm willing to help to anyone in this forums who wanted to improve his spanish or need to do a translation.

[kaetz]

maple_leaf1 maple_leaf1:

Who here would be interessted in learning some french from french-speaking CKA members?

What I'm suggesting is some daily lessons; simple words, short phrases, basic vocabulary....Here is an example:

English word or phrase -> French definition -> an idea of what it sounds like/pronounced

Sun -> Soleil -> Sole hey

Computer -> Ordinateur -> Or dee nah tur

Welcome -> Bienvenue -> Bee ey vah new

I hope -> J'espère - > Jess pair

So? What do you guys think?

yeah! that a gret idea!
i used to study French but that was way too long time ago. I can't speak it now but i can understand pretty much until one starts speakin very fast or using slang. I think i have a good background and the language can be renewed. the point is that it takes time...
and btw i could help you with Chinese, people

[maple_leaf1]

Lesson of the day:

printer-> imprimante -> eh pree mah th (a little complicated when it comes to "in" sounds....)

speaker -> haut-parleur -> oh par ler

arm -> bras -> bra

foot -> pied -> pee ay

Tune in tomorrow for more lessons...same Canadian channel, same Canadian time...ha ha ha ...just kidding.

Hey kaetz, how do you say " no access" or "access restricted" in Chinese???

[kaetz]

sometimes depends on where you use it
禁止接近 jin zhi jie jin
禁止进入 jin zhi jin ru
禁止进内 jin zhi jin nei
禁区 jin qu

but now i realize you hardly can figure it out how to pronounce it. There are many sounds in chinese that do not exist in english. most of us are familiar with french sounds, but not with the chinese. What i wrote above in latin letters is the official pinyin (transcription) of mandarin. Please give me some time to work out something. or advise your ideas

[maple_leaf1]

kaetz kaetz:

sometimes depends on where you use it
禁止接近 jin zhi jie jin
禁止进入 jin zhi jin ru
禁止进内 jin zhi jin nei
禁区 jin qu

but now i realize you hardly can figure it out how to pronounce it. There are many sounds in chinese that do not exist in english. most of us are familiar with french sounds, but not with the chinese. What i wrote above in latin letters is the official pinyin (transcription) of mandarin. Please give me some time to work out something. or advise your ideas

Just do your best to write what it sounds like using english words/letters/terms...the same way I do with the french ones.

[gstang23]

Absolutly!

Would love to learn French for a couple reasons.

[kaetz]

maple_leaf1 maple_leaf1:

kaetz kaetz:

sometimes depends on where you use it
禁止接近 jin zhi jie jin
禁止进入 jin zhi jin ru
禁止进内 jin zhi jin nei
禁区 jin qu

but now i realize you hardly can figure it out how to pronounce it. There are many sounds in chinese that do not exist in english. most of us are familiar with french sounds, but not with the chinese. What i wrote above in latin letters is the official pinyin (transcription) of mandarin. Please give me some time to work out something. or advise your ideas

Just do your best to write what it sounds like using english words/letters/terms...the same way I do with the french ones.

jin zhi jie jin= dzin gee dzye dzin
jin qu=dzin tsyuj
ru=ru (maybe more like franch "J" -> ru=joue, something in the middle between english "r" and franch "j");
nei=nei N'ayez (the first syllable only)

Oh, man! that's pretty extream!
but i'll keep on trying and maybe work out some kind of system... based on two languages

[kitty]

i love languages

i have learned to say chicken in many languages because i figured if i was ever in a country where i could not speak the language i would not starve. silly as it sounds, it made sense to me when i first started to ask people.

i also speak fluent italian