Easy peasy French proficiency test

The easiest one I've ever done! I scored 26/27 on it. It's flash based. You can find it here on france-pub.com.

C'est trop facile!

19 weeks of learning French

19 weeks. Done 3 weeks/lessons at my French evening classes. I think I'm improving (albeit slowly, I think I've sort of plateaued). I think my reading and writing and listening are all getting better but I definitely need to practise speaking more because although I can say what I want to say, I can't do it without pausing between every word or every 2-3 words! So the sentences become very disjointed.

I've booked myself in for a placement test at the Alliance Française for next week. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The building is really gorgeous. It was only completed in October and the grand opening was in November so it is quite literally brand new. It is all modern, white, glass, marble, with a curved staircase. It looks much smaller in real life (compared to the pictures on the website) but it's a great place to study. I didn't hear a single person speaking English (apart from myself - haha!) The library has lots of cool books and DVDs which you can borrow... if all goes according to plan, I'm hoping to study there at the beginning of next year.

So far I have:

• Done up to the end of Coffee Break French - Lesson 51 (of 69 lessons)
• Done up to the end of Assimil - Lesson 88 (of 113 lessons)
• Done up to the end of Live Mocha - Lesson 26 (of 50 lessons) (none this week)
• Done up to the end of French in Action - Lesson 18 (of 52 lessons) (none this week)
• Done up to the end of FSI - Lesson 56 (tape 8.5) (of 189 lessons)
• Done up to the end of FSI French Phonology - Lesson 3 (tape 2.1) (of 20 lessons) (none this week)

Marion Cotillard for Lady Dior

Marion Cotillard for Lady Dior handbags

The concept: Lady Dior travels to New York for "an encounter between two women in the world's most theatrical city." Colors are dramatic, contrasting the brand's shade of red against a dark backdrop.

Shot by Annie Leibovitz.

Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard has been selected to front the Spring/Summer 2009 print promotional campaign in support of Christian Dior’s Lady Dior handbag collection.

Marion’s Lady Dior ad campaign will debut on the pages of fashion mags in January 2010.

Sexy romantic Paris tourism video

Kisses from Paris, a short promotional film, directed by Yvan Attal


Interesting video! (not sure about the translations though?) I'm not sure if you'd classify it more romantic or more sexy... jugez de vous-même...


Kisses From Paris from Designcollector on Vimeo.

Permettez-moi de me présenter...

I was just reading here on Chez Marseille where the author pointed to this link - Le Défilé de Marques which has a whole series of short interviews with various people. Well, it's more of a monologue than an dialogue but it makes for great listening practice because there are both sexes, a few different ages, and lots of different accents (and speaking speeds!).

Here's Kate's:



Casting Citoyen « Le Défilé de Marques »

and some others:


Casting Citoyen « Le Défilé de Marques »


Casting Citoyen « Le Défilé de Marques »


Casting Citoyen « Le Défilé de Marques »

Les bébés crient dans leur langue maternelle

Found this interesting article on le monde.

It's a pretty short but interesting article which claims that babies cry in 'languages'.

French children's stories

Des histoires pour enfants raconter par Aldor.

I found this great blog Aldor (le blog) which features children's stories read out. Unfortunately a transcript isn't included but it's still an awesome resource!

Adorable fille française qui parle le chinois

This girl is gorgeous! And I can tell you that she has perfect Chinese pronunciation with a Beijing accent!

Ambi Pur eau de toilette

Just came across these funny print advertisements created recently by Sydney Advertising agency, JayGrey. I love them! and how hot is that guy?!

Here's the TVC also, if you are interested.



More info

Grégoire - Ta Main

This song is beautiful!!

Cette chanson est belle!!!



Grégoire - Ta Main (Your Hand)

Tu sais que j’ai du mal,
Encore à parler de toi,
Il parait que c’est normal,
Y a pas de règles dans ces jeux-là.

You know that I have trouble,
Still with speaking to you,
It appears that it's normal,
There aren't rules in these games.

Tu sais j’ai la voix qui se serre,
Quand je te croise dans les photos,
Tu sais j’ai le cœur qui se perd,
Je crois qu'il te pense un peu trop.

C’est comme ça...(x2)

You know I have a voice which tightens,
When I come across you in the photos,
You know I have a heart which loses itself,
I believe that it thinks of you a little too much.

It's like that… (x2)

J'aurais aimé tenir Ta Main,
Un peu plus longtemps… (x2)
J'aurais aimé que mon chagrin,
Ne dure qu’un instant.
Et tu sais j’espère au moins,
Que tu m’entends.

I would have liked to hold Your Hand,
A little longer… (x2)
I would have liked that my sorrow
To last only one moment.
And you know I hope at least,
That you hear me.

C’est dur de briser le silence,
Même dans les cris, même dans la fête,
C’est dur de combattre l’absence,
Car cette conne n’en fait qu’à sa tête.

It's hard to break the silence,
Even in the cries, even in the celebrations,
It's hard to fight the absence,
Because this bitch only acts impulsively.

Et personne ne peut comprendre,
On a chacun sa propre histoire.
On m'a dit qu’il fallait attendre,
Que la peine devienne dérisoire.

C’est comme ça... (x2)

And nobody can understand,
Everyone has his/her own history.
Everyone said that it was necessary to wait,
That the sorrow becomes ridiculous.

It's like that… (x2)

J'aurais aimé tenir Ta Main,
Un peu plus longtemps… (x2)
J'aurais aimé que mon chagrin,
Ne dure qu’un instant.
Et tu sais j’espère au moins,
Que tu m’entends.

I would have liked to hold Your Hand,
A little longer… (x2)
I would have liked that my sorrow
To last only one moment.
And you know I hope at least,
That you hear me.

Je voulais te dire que j’étais fier,
D’avoir été au moins un jour,
Un peu ton ami et ton frère,
Même si la vie a ses détours.

C'est comme ça... (x2)

I wanted to tell you that I was proud,
To have been at least a day,
A little bit your friend and your brother,
Even if life has its detours.

It's like that… (x2)

J'aurais aimé tenir Ta Main,
Un peu plus longtemps… (x2)
J'aurais aimé que mon chagrin,
Ne dure qu’un instant.
Et tu sais j’espère au moins
Que tu m'attends.

I would have liked to hold Your Hand,
A little longer… (x2)
I would have liked that my sorrow
To last only one moment.
And you know I hope at least,
That you wait for me.

Long-term stay in France on a student visa

Isn't it funny how you find things when you're not looking for them? I always seem to find interesting or useful information on the internet when I'm not actually looking for it! After tearing my hair out trying to find how the student visa procedure worked, I've just found a page on the Alliance Française Lyon website.

It's all explained in plain English. The only thing it doesn't say (and I wished it did!) is how many hours per week you are studying and how many weeks in total the course takes.

First, you must pay 770 € to pre-register. That will get you your registration certificate document which you bring to the French embassy/consulate.

Once approved, you'll get a long stay visa (the site doesn't mention how long though, I'm guessing 6 months or 12 months. The course I imagine goes for at least 6 months)

Then you show the AF your passport (with visa stamp in it) and other documents, pay the balance of your school fees and away you go!

If you are at mid A2 level when you get there, you take the French Language and Culture Programme which takes 597 hours to complete and costs 3,582 € (woah!). It should take you up to C1 level (which sounds rather ambitious to me but I guess it's pretty heavy).

If you are at B2 level already, you can take the Upper French Studies Programme which is 453 hours and costs 2718 €. This course takes you right up to C2 level which means you are pretty much fluent!

De-facto relationships in France - PACs

Last week, in my French class, we were given a newspaper article about the lives of women in France since the 40s, particularly after the 70s.
It mentioned the work, baby, marriage thing (which of course is a hotly debated topic in any country!)...

So anyway, I found out that a de-facto relationship in French is called a concubinage, a union libre or a PACs (which stands for "pacte civil de solidarité", meaning a civil union between 2 people, including homosexuals). PACs has been around for 10 years.

I found two recent articles about the rising popularity of being PACsed in France here and here.

In the second site (France info) there is an interesting graph with statistics at the slightly decreasing rate of marriage and rapidly rising rate of PACsing. It's in Flash so I have uploaded it as a jpg here (click on it to see it larger).

I think the topic is quite fascinating as everyone knows that in most Western countries the age of first marriage and first baby is increasing, and birth rates are generally declining. Also, in France, there isn't as much of a religious impact on people's daily lives so having a de-facto relationship without marriage, or having a child without marriage seems totally OK there because they are so free and liberal...

Both websites are in French so if you can't read it you'll have to use Babelfish or another translator. There are quite a few audio files on the second site too which are good for listening comprehension practice. :)

The age at first marriage seems to the oldest in certain European countries including France. It's also quite old in Australia (stats from nationmaster).

Women

# 1 Sweden: 30.4 years
# 2 Denmark: 30.1 years
= 3 France: 29.1 years
= 3 Spain: 29.1 years
= 5 Norway: 28.6 years
= 5 Australia: 28.6 years
= 7 Finland: 28.3 years
= 7 Netherlands: 28.3 years
= 9 Ireland: 28.2 years
= 9 Switzerland: 28.2 years
= 9 Germany: 28.2 years
# 12 Austria: 27.9 years
# 13 United Kingdom: 27.7 years
# 14 Canada: 27.4 years
# 15 Japan: 27.3 years
= 16 Italy: 27.1 years
= 16 New Zealand: 27.1 years
# 18 Belgium: 26.6 years
# 19 United States: 25 years

Men

# 1 Sweden: 32.9 years
# 2 Denmark: 32.5 years
= 3 France: 31.2 years
= 3 Spain: 31.2 years
# 5 Norway: 31.1 years
# 6 Germany: 30.9 years
# 7 Switzerland: 30.8 years
# 8 Netherlands: 30.7 years
# 9 Australia: 30.6 years
# 10 Finland: 30.5 years
# 11 Austria: 30.3 years
= 12 Italy: 30 years
= 12 Ireland: 30 years
= 12 Japan: 30 years
# 15 United Kingdom: 29.8 years
# 16 New Zealand: 29.2 years
# 17 Canada: 29 years
# 18 Belgium: 28.9 years
# 19 United States: 26 years

According to the chart

Average age of (first I assume) marriage (2006)
Men 37.6, Women 35.6

Average age of (first I assume) being PACsé (2006)
Men 31.5, Women 32.9

Alliance Francaise Sydney micro trottoir vox pop

I saw this video on the AF Sydney website... it's pretty funny! and I think I recognise all the places they filmed this in.

J'ai vue cette vidéo sur le site web d'Alliance Française de Sydney... c'est assez drôle et je pense que je reconnais tous les endroits qu'ils ont filmé cette vidéo.

Night owl and early bird

Couche-tard et lève-tôt

par Bénabar

Quand il rentre le soir tard toujours en retard
Le couche-tard fait des cauchemars les fantômes dans le placard
Il promet de ne plus jamais boire
Entre cafard et café noir
Le couche-tard

Quand il rentre plus tôt du boulot le lève tôt
Il tire les rideaux et s'installe au chaud le dîner en plateau
Il se préoccupe de la météo
Est-ce que demain il fera beau?
Le lève-tôt

Couche-tard et lève-tôt se retrouvent dans le premier métro
Le métro a ceci de joli qu'on y voit le jour comme en pleine nuit

Accroché au comptoir le couche-tard toujours sur le départ
Cherche un auditoire qu'il accapare et invente des histoires
Parfois une petite bagarre
Parfois au désespoir

Au galop le lève-tôt fonce au bureau l'oeil sur le chrono
A l'assaut de la semaine et des matins jumeaux rien rien de nouveau
Et pour mettre du vin dans son eau il attend ses jours de repos
Le moral à zéro

Couche-tard et lève-tôt se retrouvent dans le premier métro

"Le lève-tôt est un tocard" prétend le couche-tard
"Le couche-tard un blaireau" assure le lève-tôt

Le métro a ceci de joli qu'on y voit le jour comme en pleine nuit.


When he returns late in the evening, always late
The night owl has nightmares of ghosts in the cupboard
He promises never to drink again
Between cockroach* and black coffee
The night owl

When he returns earlier from work, the early bird
He draws the curtains and sits with a hot heat dinner on a tray
He is concerned with weather
Will the weather tomorrow be nice?
The early bird

The night owl and early bird find themselves on the first subway
The subway has the same niceness whether it'd be the day or the middle of the night

Hung with the counter the night owl is always on the go
Seeking an audience that he monopolizes and tells stories to sometimes
Sometimes a small brawl
Sometimes with despair

With a gallop the early bird runs to the office with an eye on the stopwatch
At the beginning of the week and every morning (it's always the same), nothing nothing new
And to put wine in water he waits for his days off
With zero morale

The night owl and early bird find themselves on the first subway
"The early bird is a tocard" (stupid. lit. ugly/tacky/trashy) the night owl claims
"The night owl a blaireau" (loser/moron. lit. badger or shaving brush) ensures the early bird

The subway has the same niceness whether it'd be the day or the middle of the night



* not sure if this means actually a cockroach here, or if the cafard has the other meaning to be down in the dumps

AF Brisbane placement test

Intermediate/Advanced

I scored 10/14.

TCF proficiency tests samples

I seem to recall doing this test a fair while ago..

Here are my scores for today:

A1
Compréhension orale - 4/4
Structures de la langue - 4/4
Compréhension écrite - 4/4

A2
Compréhension orale - 4/4
Structures de la langue - 3/4
Compréhension écrite - 3/4


B1
Compréhension orale - 5/7
Structures de la langue - 5/6
Compréhension écrite - 4/7


B2
Compréhension orale - 6/7
Structures de la langue - 3/6
Compréhension écrite - 3/6

TCF sample tests

Eddie Izzard speaking French

I just found this hilarious video of an English (transvestite) stand-up comedian speaking French. I pretty much understood everything he said and I even picked up a few small errors such as not using il s'arrête instead of il arrête.



If you can't understand it you can watch the exact same thing with subtitles/annotations.



It's really quite funny!