Comments | iamlying: Normandy

iamlying

Normandy

Jan 26, 2010 12:19

What do you do when your philosophy chum invites you to his place in the countryside? Well me, I jumped at the chance, not knowing what to expect. A few other classmates came along, as did Laura. It turns out his mom is a bit of a hippy. This meant that everyone touched the wet dog and then ate dinner without washing their hands. Even if we wanted ( Read more... )

Comments 7

hajenso January 26 2010, 14:46:35 UTC

You say "right?" kind of a lot in English too. Is there a more normal way to say it in French?

iamlying January 26 2010, 15:49:42 UTC

There aren't as many tag questions in French. They're seen as insistent, which is why they seem professorial. Other little pointless flourishes aren't often used either, phrases like "ya know" (even at the beginning of sentences like "Ya know how it's hard to find a taxi in this part of town, so I walked". Rather, you'd say "It's true that..." or "I get the impression that..." which isn't the same thing). On the other hand, in French they say "écoutez" a lot, which means "Listen". This, on the other hand, sounds a little insistent in English: "Listen, I'm going to the store in half and hour, ya wanna come with?"

I just have to think differently in French. But at that point, the question is whether speaking good French means pretending to be someone else.

hajenso January 27 2010, 03:30:13 UTC

I should also say, I enjoyed this post. It made me a little jealous, but in a good way.

yurifish January 26 2010, 19:36:20 UTC

saying non? instead of n'est-ce pas? works pretty well.

also your dirty hippie weekend makes me giggle and cringe by turns. and it's made me determined to be A REALLY CLEAN HIPPIE when i get my homestead. also stealing? not so much. how about bartering? or gleaning from dumpsters?

saskalaura January 28 2010, 12:59:12 UTC

i'm tots with you on the stealing bit but there was lots of talk of gleaning from dumpsters. apparently there's a very fruitful bin near our place at the marché+. !!

we came to the conclusion that ending all tag question-like sentences with a firm "oui or non?!" works sufficiently well.

"le spectacle est ce samedi, oui ou non?!"

yuri...why are you so far away? when will you be close again? my heart hurts.

noddles15 January 26 2010, 22:46:12 UTC

i love these stories!

(The comment has been removed)

iamlying February 8 2010, 08:34:59 UTC

Firstly, I'm glad you enjoy my little stories.

Secondly, you never did send me the Laura song! my email is enjoysharing at gmail.

Thirdly, learning French is seriously one of the best decisions I've ever made. Good luck with it yo. If I can offer one piece of advice: learn French IPA. It'll help you learn the language a million times faster and easier, even though it might seem like a pain in the ass at first. If you just learn even two or three IPA symbols, you'll be way ahead of the curve, and it wouldn't take more than a weekend.