Musings
Louisiana will “import” French-speaking teachers this year to grow the roster of dual-language French immersion schools. (Article by Richard Fausset, Aug. 23, 2019)
65 have been recruited this year… not that many, though, for a State the size of Louisiana… and the size of the USA !!!
That’s great news for the French… and as I posted here earlier, there is no good age to start learning a foreign language, as early as possible being the “best one” 🤗
Musings
To learn, you need to understand – at a minimum !
And to remember as well !
At least it’s my way of learning/remembering.
If you don’t have a clue of the why/when/where/how… it’s difficult to fix it in your memory centers because you can’t make links.
Imagine you tie a boat with just one rope, it’s going to wander around… but if you tie it with a few ropes – like smart sailors do – it won’t budge.
Same with what me learn… with a few good ties, it will stay and you will be better able to retrieve it.
That is why the Dare Speak French program will not leave you with just “words” or “parts of speech” to hang on to… but will explain – very simply and matter-of-factly – the logic behind the words, therefore increasing your retention.
With many tips and shortcuts… because the idea is not to become grammar scholars 
Musings
I’ve visited a number of Facebook pages, more or less titled “Learn French,” and… OMG !
It’s a shame that they even exist… but everything and anything proliferates here on Facebook…
Beware, it’s full of mistakes, misspellings, mistranslations,… you name it, it’s there ????
Not that Learning French is a bad idea… but when you can hardly speak French yourself and you pretend teaching it… we are just reaching the ridiculously unthinkable !
Then the next question – mine at least – is : what am I doing here ? Is it the right place for what I’m proposing ?
I’ll have to reconsider…
In the meanwhile, I keep promoting good French, while sticking to my French K.I.S.S. Method, where KISS stands for Keep It Super Simple !
Musings
They say the week starts on Sunday, right ?
I personally have a hard time with that… and the guys who invented the word “week-end” as well. Because Saturday and Sunday are the two endS of… two different weeks, no ?
So we should call it “the week-endS”, right ?
In French, you would use “week-end” too (sometimes playfully spelled “ouiquende”)…
most French don’t go for the very official “fin de semaine” !
Musings
There are two things you can’t do without if you want to express yourself in a foreign language :
– Vocabulary. Seems obvious when you think about it. If you don’t have the words… it’s gonna be difficult to get any conversation ! But who actually works on their vocabulary, fattening it, little by little ? It is crucial…
– Pronunciation. If you know what you have to say… but the person you’re speaking to doesn’t get it… you’re not going to go very far. A good amount of accent is not really a problem… if there is enough resemblance with the language and therefore makes you understandable.
My experience is that the French are better at understanding English speakers than the English are at understanding their French interlocutors… sooooo, that puts you on the good side of the fence, right ?
And what about grammar and all the rest ? Well, if you KISS… Keep It Super Simple… it’s not that important, after all… and it will come with hearing French natives talk to you… hence my Dare Speak French propositions
Musings
The language was created in 1887. It is not a “foreign language” it’s a language created for all citizens of the world… that is the credo of Esperanto.
How many people speak Esperanto ? About 2 millions in 150 countries. If you hope to meet one of them by chance… good luck !
I don’t know how many rules there are in French (I doubt anyone could answer that question, actually)… and that is not counting the exceptions… delightful – and countless – exceptions ????
We cannot compete with Esperanto…
But in the French K.I.S.S. Method of Dare Speak French, I have pruned all what is unnecessary to learn or remember… and reconsidered all the mistakes or approximations you will get away with 😉
