"I'm really a neat person"

As we stood in line to enter Versailles, my friends and I started talking to two British girls ahead of us. They are in the country learning French and both of them are living with host families. They talked about how excited they had been to meet each other because they both speak English, and how hard it is to get to know people when you only have a working knowledge of their language. Even though both girls had 4 years of French in college and they have been here for some time, they still feel very restricted. One of them remarked, "They must think I'm the most boring person on earth. I want to say, 'but I'm really a neat person, if I could just speak better." It's true. We can conduct business and discuss the events of the day once we know another language, but it can take years to master a language well enough to really express our personalities through foreign words.
The Bible is the same way. God expresses Himself through His Holy Word, and if people have to read it in a foreign language they will have a hard time grasping its full meaning. We need to get the Bible to people in their own language so they can know Him better.

Common English Exceptions

In my search for greater understanding of French, I stumbled upon a list of "common English irregular verbs." When the first three words were "abide, alight, and arise," I gave serious doubt to the commonness of the list. Sure enough, the list contained some other gems as well:

interlay
miswed
rive
soothsay
wend
zinc

Okay, I don't think I even knew that zinc was a verb. If you care, the gerund form is "zincking" and the past participle can be either "zinced" or zincked."

I pity the poor French kid who memorizes this list in hopes that it will help him find a bread store when he gets to America! And of course I wonder if sometimes I memorize equally inappropriate things in French.

On y va!

What a week! On Sunday I talked to the teacher of the class above mine and she gave me the go-ahead to make an attempt at jumping to her class. She also gave me all of her notes for the three units that I will have to learn through self-study in the next week. I was going to start studying Monday, but I ended up spending much of the day working on the newsletter that you haven't gotten yet because it is still not finished. Yesterday I had a really unexpected blessing. The daughter of one of my friends here is visiting this week so they have been running around Paris seeing all the sites. Yesterday as I was about to start studying, my friend walked by and I asked her what they were doing that day, and she said they were going to Versailles. Well, Versailles is one of the three places in France I have been wanting to go but I never had anybody to go with. So I quickly packed some warm clothes and a little food, and off we went!
We got to the massive estate (think in square miles, not feet) with very little problem. We were even serenaded on the train by two different people, first a guy with a guitar and later by a man with an accordion.
However, when we got to the castle we quickly learned that the only thing more abundant in Versailles than gold is queue lines. Fortunately we were only in line for about an hour for our tickets. When we got to the ticket booth there was a lot of fun confusion, conducted mostly in French, and it ended with none of us getting the tickets we wanted or needed. My friends weren't able to get the tickets they wanted, and I wasn't given a ticket at all. People under 26 pay a reduced fair, but I didn't have my driver's license or passport on me (oops), so I showed the lady my student ID and explained to her in French that I was a student in France. She asked for my residence card, to which I did my best to explain that I have submitted the application but don't have it yet. She told me to explain that to the people at the castle entrance when I got there. As I thanked her and turned to leave, the guy in line behind me whispered "good luck."
The line to get into the castle took about half an hour. At the entrance I decided to drop the student thing and just tell the woman that I was 24. That had worked for me at the Judaism museum and they hadn't even asked for an ID. Unfortunately, this time she asked for my ID. I showed her my student card. She wasn't impressed. I didn't blame her, but this was very bad. I did not want to face the 1 1/2 hour line again. But then she had mercy on me and said she would make an exception (probably because I was with 2 friends and she could tell it was going to be a mess otherwise) and let me in. What a kind lady. She let me in for free, even. We all breathed a sigh of relief, said a prayer of thanks, and in we went!
Versailles is massive and beautiful. After 2 1/2 hours of walking through gold-lined, ornately painted rooms, we finally got to the gardens. The garden, which used to be 30 square miles, is now a tenth of that. That means it is still larger than some state parks in Minnesota. By the time we got out there the sun was setting so we didn't actually get to see much. All told, it was a very good day and fulfilled my desire to see a really big castle. Of all the buildings I have seen in France, Versailles is the most beautiful so far.

Anyway, after all that fun yesterday I finally buckled down today and got started on my studies. I got through Unit 6 in the book without much difficulty. Then I started going through the teacher's notes, starting with Unit 5. I finished up her Unit 5 notes in about half an hour and now I think I am about a third to half way through her notes for Unit 6. I expect to finish off Unit 6 tomorrow and get started on Unit 7. If I can have seven done by Saturday, I should be able to do Unit 8 on Monday and Tuesday and have Wednesday for review. Things are looking good!

But, I really should go to bed. Here are some pictures from Versailles:

We're in! Back in the day, only the extremely powerful and extremely wealthy were allowed inside this gate. Yesterday, it was still only by the Grace of God we got there!
The castle chapel, taken from the second floor.
I love this staircase.
Hall of Mirrors. And lots of crystal.
Gold and crystal, gold and crystal.
Anybody look familiar? Check out the man with the red sash. Then look at the flag on the tent. You can also cheat by looking at the year on the top of the painting.
Looking out on the gardens.
Another view of the gardens. I believe this was from the King's chambers.
pillars in Marie Antoinette's palace.
Sunset chased us home!

I'm Diving In

Nothing is impossible with GOD!

...and so I am going to try to learn 3 chapters from our French book in the 10 remaining days of break. The teacher in the class above mine has agreed to let me join her class if I can catch up, so I am going to give it a shot. Please pray that I know how to study, what to study, and when to stop studying.

Learn a Language!

If you know somebody in high school, tell them to learn a language! If they ever need to learn a language later in life, even if it is a different one, that experience will be priceless. Even for learning English, learning another language is really important. We learn English orally and in context. Kids resent English class because they already "know" the language. Why apply a bunch of meaningless rules? Who cares what the different parts of a sentence are? Just say what you want to say.

However, when you need to correctly WRITE a language, be it English or something else, you need to know those rules. And it is helpful to first learn those rules for another language in which you don't have the crutch of knowing how to speak it. I learned some things about English in my high school German class that I had never understood in English class. Direct object? What direct object? It comes next. It's my dog. It's the lawnmower. I don't get it. But when I had to figure out how say stuff in German I quickly realized that "He took he to the store" doesn't quite sound right. Why? Aha! The pronoun changes when it is the direct object. And so it goes...

Other language tips... I already lectured on the value of knowing middle English. If you plan to learn French, read the original Pilgrim's Progress or Moby Dick or something like that. It will prepare you for French grammar.

For genders, I use colors; masculine is green and feminine is pink. "House" is feminine so I imagine one of those pink plastic play houses with pastel flowers painted on the side. "Week" is feminine so I imagine a pink hello kitty weekly planner. "Month" is masculine so I imagine a wall calendar with fishing reels and a painting by Terry Redlin. Fortunately, "tree" is masculine, but the French made "forest" feminine, so I have to imagine that pink moss and vines (which are feminine) grow all over the trees to make the forest pink.

Update

I think the test went well today. I almost messed myself up by thinking too hard, but fortunately I didn't.

Last Sunday I went back through some pictures and video from my last day at home. A bunch of family came over to say farewell and yet another of our interesting sporting events came into existence: Running at Rings on the Frankentandem. The video will explain the details.

Testing so far

I have taken two of the three big tests for this last week before fall break. On Monday we had the Unit 5 test. I got 19/20 on that. Yesterday was written comprehension and expression, and I think I did okay on that as well.

The cumulative test for units 1-5 is tomorrow. I am about at the end of unit 2 with my studying. I spent much of the morning going over verb conjugations again. The problem is, now that I go back to Units 1 and 2 I have a lot more insight into the things we were learning back then but it also raises a ton of questions that I didn't know enough to ask when we went through it last time. It's hard to not get distracted by the questions because on the one hand we aren't necessarily supposed to have learned these things yet, but on the other hand when we write our sentences incorrectly on tests we get often docked.
There are only two ways to avoid being wrong. One is to stick with what you know. The other is to know what you are doing. I hate sticking to what I know, especially when my memory fails me so there isn't a lot I know for sure, so I sometimes try instead to know what I am doing. As a friend pointed out, we don't get rewarded for being creative. I have played it a little safer on tests since he said that, but I still like to push the envelope. What's the point in regurgitating something verbatim? What does that prove? However, if I can manipulate phrases and ideas in a new way and still not get it wrong, I have learned something valuable that I can use again when I need it.

Bees!

I have some new little friends! Twice this week I have gone out in the back yard and taken pictures of the bees. They don't mind me being around. Once in a while they try to fly in to the camera lens, probably because they see the reflection of a flower.

Les enfants

Last night the singles got together to babysit so the married couples could have a date night. I got the 7-10 year olds, along with two other guys and two females. Praise God for females! "Probleme" is a masculine noun in French and "solution" is feminine. There is a reason for that. Within 20 minutes of arrival the kids were tearing around the room, and we had to keep them busy for 4 hours! Fortunately we had a back yard were the more energetic ones could play soccer for 20 minutes before sunset and burn off some energy and two marvelous ladies who knew how to deal with kids. All in all it was a good night. The kids had fun, the parents had fun, and we all survived to tell about it!

Pouloir

I invented a new French word today. Well, actually I invented it in class a week or two ago when I got my words confused, but I actually gave it a meaning today. Let's see if I can get the meaning correct in French:

"avoir désirer pouvoir"

In other words, "have the desire to be capable of." It's a mix of vouloir (to want) and pouvoir (to be able). Here's the conjugation for present tense:

Pouloir
je pois
tu pois
il/elle pois
nous poulons
vous poulez
ils/elles poilent

et l'impératif:

tu po
nous po
vous po

Pourquoi? parce-que je poux de crier ce mot quand quelqu'un a besoin de la motivation pour la pratique.
Why? I want to be able to yell it at people in practice. It sounds like the English word "go" and you can put a lot more force into it than "allez." How am I supposed to yell a word that has no hard consonants? "Po" also has more meaning than "go"/"allez". Those are vague words that give the person no reason to "go." "Po", on the other hand, captures the essence of why we anyone would practice in the first place- to improve his or her capacity to engage a similar situation when desired or necessary at some point in the future. I run so that when the sun is shining brightly on all the world, as it is at this moment, I can jump out the door and cruise over to the park without having to stop every half mile for a breather. I practice French so that I will one day have the capability to converse with people rather than guessing what they are talking about. "Go" is a very short-term goal. "Po" carries a long-term vision for the future, which is something that a good many people need.

Alors, je pois convaincre le gouvernement français que mon mot est bon...

Si Habla Español?

You know the guy who looks like he can give you good directions, but when you drive up he says in a heavy accent, "going half mile, turn on the right, there to left." You figure he has no clue where you want to go but is saying something to make you happy.

I am now that person.

Some guy asked me for directions to a nearby shopping center. I don't know any of the necessary street names and I couldn't remember how many blocks it was. I don't even know the word for "blocks." So I said, "straight ahead maybe half a kilometer and turn left." That isn't quite enough to get him there, but I'm praying he'll see it from there. It should put him in the neighborhood, anyway.

You know the foreign foods section of the grocery store? The people who traverse that aisle back home are generally either Hispanic or extravagant, with exotic tastes unbridled by either a blue collar budget or a normal cookbook.

Well, I am now one of those oddballs! I never knew until I got here how much mainstream American cuisine has Mexican influence. The French have almost no concept of hot. I bought some "spicy" ketchup and couldn't tell any difference whatsoever. I have searched high and low in half a dozen stores, including ones that specialize in foreign cuisine, and have yet to find chili powder. I know it exists somewhere because my classmates found some, but it has evaded me. Corn meal does not exist. Nobody has even heard of the stuff. The closest thing they have is corn harine, for which I engage the Middle East section of the hallowed foreign foods aisle. I think products from the Middle East tend to be considerably less expensive than products from North or South America. Fortunately it not only substitutes quite well for corn meal, it also works after a fashion for making corn tortillas.

This brings me to another point. Pre-packaged Tex-Mex is the same brands as the US, the packaging is in English, and it is horrendously expensive. Those little jars of salsa cost up to 3 1/2 Euros each, possibly more than the value of their weight in gold. Therefore I refuse to buy them, or taco shells, or tortillas, unless LIDL has an amazing sale. As a result, I have now figured out how to make homemade corn tortillas. Some day when I have time and patience I'll try flour tortillas also. They are a bit trickier. On monday I concocted chili. Not a bowl of chili, a giant pot of it. It was intended for a large group gathering but was never used for such. I have been eating chili for four days, and I estimate that at the current rate of consumption (including pawning off on neighbors) I will probably be eating it until Sunday at least. This was what inspired the creation of the corn tortillas. I had to add a little variety :-)

What next, you ask? I'm thinking the next step is making my own salsa. I can get a can of hot red peppers (whole) from local grocery store #4. Fortunately we have five or six grocery stores to choose from. Between them all I can generally find what I want at a price that doesn't give me a heart attack. Since it's cheap and, for unknown reasons, very abundant both within and without the foreign foods isle, I may even get used to Couscous. Compared to grits, couscous is great stuff. Oh, one last note- I had to laugh. I saw something in the foreign foods isle that looked like the equivalent of Ramen. It cost more than a euro for one packet. They kind of missed the whole point of that stuff... nobody would actually eat it if it cost more than 20¢.

French is Easy! ;-)

Below is my tutorial on how to quickly and easily translate French into English. Just watch this short tutorial and you will never have to spend months upon months at a language school!



p.s. Yes, I am aware that I consistently mispronounced "monde" throughout this video. Why? I'm not sure. Must have been a long day...

Le musée du mois

Last weekend I went to le Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme. I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Paris. It really helped me understand both the ancient Jewish culture and also the present day mindset of many diasporic Jews. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures. Fortunately, you can see many [rather small] pictures, along with descriptions of the objects, on the museum website here.

Quick update

Howdy! Tonight we had an "international dinner" which leaned heavily on the nation of the USA since more than half the school is American. We had three different types of chili and I provided the cornbread. Woohoo!!! I love cornbread. There was some FANTASTIC soup from I-don't-remember-which-country and some very good Korean chicken, as well as some fun African foods. Also outstanding was my friend's malt-loaf, a British malt shake in bread from. Very rich, very yummy, and surprisingly healthy.
After the meal tonight we played Settlers of Catan, expansion version. That was fun. I was winning for a while but I didn't get the cards I needed at the end. I did have the longest road, though. 13 pieces in a 6 player game is not half bad.
The Unit 4 test was today and I think I did okay. I feel like I actually learned quite a bit this week. I hope to learn more tomorrow and maybe even get ahead a little, but I also have a bit of bookkeeping to do, and it's about time for another official newsletter... So we'll see what gets done.
Tomorrow night I am going to be having dinner with three couples who are going to the same country as me after this. That should be a lot of fun. I don't know any of them well yet because they live on the other half of the building, which for some reason makes a difference even though we are connected by hallways. I enjoy getting to know people I may run into later.
I now have a sizable collection of French books, all being tossed out of the school library because apparently nobody ever checked them out. In addition to "Le petit maison dans la prairie," (Little House on the Prairie) I also have the next book in the series, "au bord du ruisseau." I also have a humorous book about a cowboy and giant mosquitoes (I gathered this from the picture on the front, not the description on the back), a mystery story involving a rocket, A swashbuckling tale of the Bounty and her captain Bligh, and the Grimm (and grim) version of "Cendrillon." I also have "Maigret tend un piege," which as far as I can tell involves the French equivalent of Sherlock Holmes.
As for my Carte De Long Sojour (extended residency) application, I have not yet heard back from the office. Please keep praying that the residency permit will be granted easily and inexpensively.

Videos!

I took a video in Paris this weekend that may be of some vague interest to you. It is my "inside angle" on the making of Ratatouille.

We Love the USA

Oh, and here's a thought to brighten your day:

Gas here is about 1.15 Euros.

per litre.

Which is 4.35 Euros per gallon.

One Euro is equal to app. $1.46

so that makes gas around $6.35 per gallon.

No wonder they drive tiny cars.

Some thoughts

I think the technique they are using to teach us French is similar to the technique currently being used to teach kids math in the public schools in the US. That is, they give the student just what he or she needs to know in order to achieve the current objective. When all the objectives have been achieved, even though they might not seem at all connected, they allow the learner to perform whatever task is necessary. If, down the road, they come across a task they can not achieve with their collection of lessons, it is relatively simple to memorize another equation or another conjugation.

I detested that method of learning Math.

I wanted to know WHY things worked the way they did. I wanted to understand math rather than just knowing formulas, so that if I forgot a formula I knew enough to make it myself. Fortunately, I had teachers who also believed in the importance of mastery rather than just fluency. And really, in order to do Calculus, we needed to know math. Precalculus is all about teaching a student how to move past the usage of everyday formulas and into the realm of manipulating everything you know. Why? Because the real world is complex, and if you want to use math to describe it you need to know every possible nook and cranny of math, how it relates to everything other mathematical principle, and how it does or does not relate to the situation.

So now they are making me memorize things rather than studying concepts. And I know full well that they are teaching me the basics, only to tell me in a month or two that there are a ton of complications that they skipped the first time. And I think I am okay with this. Why? A couple of reasons.

1. I have to honestly look at why I am learning French and ask, "Do I need to be a master of this language?" The answer is no; I only need to be able to talk to people. I'm not going to be a French professor and I am not going to be doing any linguistics work related to French. There is no point in me knowing more about French than the average French person does- in some ways I already do.
2. The less complex method is presumably faster. At this point, speed is the priority.
3. When I have to learn local languages in Africa, the fragmented learning style is the ONLY language learning style. No one has written books that could tell me the intricacies of the language. So learning French this way is good preparation.
4. Learning the rules of the language gives a person command of it on paper. That doesn't necessarily make them good at either speaking or hearing the spoken language. I don't plan on writing dissertations in French, but I do plan on talking to a lot of people in French, including people with wildly different accents. I have to prioritize my time accordingly.

However... I am cheating a little. I found a website by the University of Texas that tells me wonderful things about French (in English) that I probably never would have figured out otherwise. For example, this weekend I studied the passé composé form. I forgot some of what I read, and I am a long way from being able to speak it fluently, but I gained enough that when the teacher finally taught it to us today I just smiled and nodded rather than pulling my hair out like my classmates.

But I had better get back to the grind. We have a conjugation test tomorrow, so I have to go do some memorizing and review of the rules they HAVE given us. Praise God for rules, even ones that have exceptions. I LOVE RULES!