ESL languages French proficiency test II

I did the same test that I did on 11 Sep 2009 and this time scored 39/40.

Résultats et Réponses du test
39 de 40 questions répondues correctement !
Votre niveau est approximativement avancé

Except I did the test from here but it's identical to the other one.

Last time (10 months ago) I scored 28/40.

Rest assured...

I was thinking to myself in my head, OKOK I was talking to myself in my head.. and thinking of that phrase "rest assured". If you think about it logically it doesn't really make much sense! When you think of the word 'rest' you think of resting, relaxing, not moving... sure it can also mean to 'stay' so wouldn't it be better to say "stay assured" or "keep yourself assured" or "I assure you that..." or something like that?

It's funny, that everyone (both French and non-French) keeps telling me how 'hard' French is and in some ways it is, but the vocab is pretty simple, mainly because there are sooooo many similar words with English (around 40% I hear).

So then I think to myself, "rester" in French means "to stay". "Stay assured" - there you go! I need French to explain an English phrase ;)

While looking for an image for this post, I found this logo from a bedding company which made me think the phrase has another meaning! "Rest assured" could mean that they assure you will get some rest. Totally different meaning! Ha. Don't you love language?

Rest assured I will have some posts for your soon. Before, I was about 5 posts behind and now I am probably 10 posts behind but you won't get 10 posts soon. If you are lucky you may get 1 or 2 but they will be good ones, I promise. Rest assured. :P

Toy Story 3

I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D over the weekend and it was awesome! I loved the first two films, especially the second one. Despite it being years since I saw it, I still remember it well.

I am quite a sentimental person and I admit I have almost all my toys (and books and other random things) from my childhood so it's definitely a movie I can relate to!

But really, it's a movie that anyone can relate to since the main theme is about the passing of time and everyone getting older. A fact of life, unfortunately.

I hate spoilers so I avoided watching trailers or reading reviews prior to seeing it but I did hear from everywhere that was rated highly. Here is a nice review I found.

I just realised it hasn't even been released in most parts of Europe. Here are the release dates from imdb:

UK June 2010 (Edinburgh Film Festival)
USA June 2010 (Nantucket Film Festival)
Italy 12 June 2010 (Taormina Film Festival)
Argentina 15 June 2010 (Buenos Aires) (premiere)
China 16 June 2010
Egypt 16 June 2010
Iceland 16 June 2010
Argentina 17 June 2010
Hungary 17 June 2010
Israel 17 June 2010
Malaysia 17 June 2010
Peru 17 June 2010
Philippines 17 June 2010
Russia 17 June 2010
Singapore 17 June 2010
Brazil 18 June 2010
Bulgaria 18 June 2010
Canada 18 June 2010
Colombia 18 June 2010
Indonesia 18 June 2010
Kazakhstan 18 June 2010
Mexico 18 June 2010
Panama 18 June 2010
Poland 18 June 2010
Romania 18 June 2010
Taiwan 18 June 2010
USA 18 June 2010
Netherlands 23 June 2010
Australia 24 June 2010
Greece 24 June 2010
Kuwait 24 June 2010
New Zealand 1 July 2010
Turkey 2 July 2010
Italy 7 July 2010
Japan 10 July 2010
France 14 July 2010
Switzerland 14 July 2010 (French speaking region)
Hong Kong 15 July 2010
Estonia 16 July 2010
Spain 23 July 2010
UK 23 July 2010
Belgium 28 July 2010
Austria 29 July 2010
Germany 29 July 2010
Portugal 29 July 2010
Switzerland 29 July 2010 (German speaking region)
South Korea 5 August 2010
Denmark 26 August 2010
Finland 27 August 2010
Norway 27 August 2010
Sweden 27 August 2010

Here are 3 different and awesome trailers (bandes annonces) for the French population:







I'm so happy I can understand the movie in French! I still don't like the concept of dubbing though :(

Spoiler alert (highlight with your mouse to read)

There's a hugely funny part in the movie where Buzz Lightyear speaks Spanish and someone on imdb asked the question of which language he speaks in the Spanish version of the film which brings up an interesting topic! (it seems he still speaks Spanish according to this trailer)



This is where language plays a big part in the storytelling and enjoyment of a film. Something to ponder...

Parts of the film reminded me a lot of Monsters Inc (another one of my favourites) and various other Disney/Pixar films. There are also send-ups of and references to various other films. I'm sure I did not catch them all but I managed to pick up one from Mission Impossible. This film is just so sweet and lovable and funny, and one that anyone can relate to and enjoy. No wonder it's currently rated #6 on imdb's list of the best movies ever.

Go see it!

9/10 for me.

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Article in lemonde.fr 14 July