Benny Lewis' new language learning book Fluent in 3 months

For those of you who have been following my blog for a long time you would know that I started this blog because I wanted to have a diary to keep track of my French learning.

I started my blog in mid 2009 (that's nearly 5 years! Yay!) and around the same time somebody else also started a language learning blog to keep track of their progress.

That person was Benny Lewis, who is now known as the "Irish Polyglot". I've been following him on/off the last few years and even left a few comments on his blog. He doesn't know me, and we've never met, but in a way I feel like I 'know' him and I'm super proud of how far he has come.

He's not only an inspiration for languages learners worldwide, but to me he is also an inspiration by proving that you really can make a living doing what you love, as long as you put all your effort, time, love and passion into it.

He has had amazing success in a short amount of time and made tons of friends worldwide. He has heaps of useful and funny videos on Youtube. (one of my favourites is "Skype me maybe" sung to the tune of "Call me maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, in 30+ languages! It is such a great, feel good happy video).




Obviously at the end of the day everybody has to make a living and Benny does so with the language learning courses and e-books he sells, but the same time he also has tons and tons of free content on his blog/site.

I was so happy and excited for him when I read the other day that he scored a book publishing deal with the huge publishing house Harper Collins.

Anyway, if you need some encouragement and advice for foreign language learning and haven't read it yet (where have you been?) go read his blog or go get his new book Fluent in 3 months. As I said earlier, he doesn't know who I am and did not tell me to write this. I just wanted to help promote his book because he seems like such an awesome guy and deserves all the success in the world. :)

 
(image from Benny's blog)

New city, new blog

Head on [link removed] to read about my new adventures. Don't forget to put it in your RSS reader or bookmarks too!

I'll still be keeping this blog, though, when I want to blog about something France/French related or my travels. I'd like to just keep one blog (it's easier) but the title and URL is kind of not relevant anymore.. d'oh!

Guess who's going to Italy?

Guess who's going to Italy? Me! AH I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. It was a last minute decision and I do regret that a little because one of my train tickets (the one coming back home) was hideously expensive (it cost more than the other 4 tickets combined!). Still, even if they take longer, I much prefer trains and they are also a lot cheaper than planes if you want last minute tickets.

I'm off on a 10 day trip to :
Genoa, Pisa, Florence and Rome
or in French: Gênes, Pise, Florence, Rome 
or in Italian: Genova, Pisa, Firenze, Roma

A bit off topic but it kind of annoys me why they bother to change the city names! I think they should just stay what they are in their native language and not be 'dumbed down' for foreigners! All of my students pronounce the city Lyon as Lie-on because they think that's how it should be pronounced in English! (instead of the French Lee-yon) Grr... I never say Lie-on. It sounds awful.

I have always had an affinity with Italy, I think. There is a really personal thing which I can't share here but there is a very specific reason why I MUST go to Rome.

Also, from a very young age I discovered that Italian was my favourite cuisine and still is. From the ages of around 8-15 I was obsessed with Garfield, that big fat lazy orange cat. I collected all the comic books and various Garfield memorabilia. I related to him because I adore Italian food and I despise Mondays. And Garfield likes to annoy Odie like I used to annoy my little sister.

When I was in high school I had many friends of Italian origins as there was a small community of Italian people in a suburb not far from our school.

Then, thinking about recent events, I discovered that it was a coincidence that my ex in Sydney, my ex in France, and my new best friend here, C, ALL have Italian or part-Italian origins too.

When I was in Nice recently, I couldn't help but notice there was such an Italian air about that place. It made me want to go to Italy more and more. In fact, I've been wanting to go there for the longest time and had planned to go there a few years back with my ex but it never eventuated.

A note about Venice. They say it's the most romantic city in the world and perhaps that is true. That's why I don't want to go there... alone. Maybe it's dumb, maybe it's corny, maybe it's superstitious, but I don't want to go there until I'm with 'the one', the one that I want to be with forever. I only want to go there with him, whoever that may be and whenever that may be that I meet him. So that's why I'm not going to Venice now.

I also ummed and erred about going to Turin/Torino and Milan/Milano and the beautiful La Spezia/Cinque Terre region too but they'll have to wait until next time (as will the south of Italy!)

Reading Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) and The Promise (Lisa Clifford) also made me want to go to Italy badly.

And the last reason I want to go to Italy is a practical one. It's the closest foreign country to me apart from Germany and Switzerland, both of which I've already been to. I cannot stand flying and try to avoid it where possible. It's not a fear, I just hate all the waiting and queuing and stupid rules about luggage. I can't travel to anywhere I want to, it has to be reasonably close to be affordable and so I can get there within the same day.

I have my accommodation (Couchsurfing, of course) lined up for Genoa and Rome. I just need to find one for Florence now!

Unfortunately, at the back of my head, I'll still be wondering about "the issue" and am still waiting and waiting for more news...

Eh ben, Voilà !


Just before I wrote up this blog post, I noticed on Skype that Luca was online. I 'met' him around 21 months ago in July 2009 (through YouTube) when I first started to learn French and haven't spoken to him for over a year. He's from Rome so I said a quick "Hello" and told him I'm coming to Rome and it would be so cool if we could meet up. He wrote back that he doesn't actually live in Rome anymore but in.... Paris! haha (because he has a French girlfriend and I guess the long distance thing was too hard).

We got talking and he tells me he teaches languages online now (quitting his job in Rome as an engineer) and makes quite a good living from it. If you haven't checked out his YouTube videos you should. In fact, I'll put a link to it in my sidebar now. The earlier ones aren't great quality but anyway, he is a very talented polyglot (someone who speaks many languages) and shares his methods for learning foreign languages. The most incredible thing to me is not that he speaks several languages (which many many people do) but the fact that he has a close to native-like accent for each language that he speaks!! Even though we won't get to meet up it was still cool to talk to him again after a long absence from both our parts.

Blogs: What I'm reading

I might do this regularly if it turns out to be interesting for my readers...

Marianne en France: On Humility
Marianne does the same job as me (I don't know her). I could definitely relate to this post a lot!

Francey Pants: Land of Funny Names
Funny city names in German.. this post had me in stitches!! Fricken!

Francey Pants: Your daily WTF (Welcome to France) moment
I can't say my adventures at the laundromat are half as interesting as hers but I related to this part: "I have a fear of making telephone calls in French because it's approximately 43 times harder to understand and be understood than when you're talking in person."

Crumple-proof and waterproof City Maps via Detours
Pretty cool, huh? Although I have to say that they seem to take up a lot of room! I thought of another use for them too... when you want to sit on something wet or dirty they might come in handy - haha.

Memorable blog posts about Life in France

When I first started to become interested in France (around the time that I started this blog) I started to read a lot of blogs about life in France because I wanted to know what it was really like! And not just in Paris!

There are some posts that I remember quite well and ever since moving here I think about these topics a lot...


1. Prêt à voyager and the water blogpost

It's true! French people don't seem to drink very much and they NEVER EVER carry water with them (unless, of course, they are hiking or on a long train journey or something). I tried to find a small 500ml (as opposed to 1 litre) thermos flask thing and it was impossible for me. I was going to buy it online but the pictures were not clear enough. In the end I bought it on eBay from the States!

I seem to be perpetually thirsty (and in Australia too, not just in France). I often notice when I am having dinner with other people I'll drink about 3-4 times as much water as they do. I'm not sure why that is. Many years ago I was even paranoid that I had diabetes or some other health problem but every blood test I've ever had has come back normal so now I don't really think about it.. that is, until I came to France!

I've often heard people say in various places and at various times, "j'ai soif" (I'm thirsty). It's as if they just don't think to ever carry water with/on them! It's as if you can only get water from a shop. I don't think people really drink tap water much either. Remember, this is the country where Evian and Perrier come from!

Also, in France and pretty much everywhere in Western Europe, interiors (houses, restaurants, schools, shopping malls, offices, etc) are heated very well so that makes your skin feel dry and your mouth feel thirsty (well it does to me anyway)... constantly! I don't know how much money I'm going to spend buying lip balm, facial moisturiser, hand moisturiser and body moisturiser. I've already had to replenish my supplies...

I don't go anywhere without carrying water with me. To me it's like carrying a purse or a phone. It's a necessity!

2. Le Franco Phoney and the roundabout blogposts

Ever since I started reading about French roundabouts (ronds-points) in this blog I noticed all the roundabouts I ever passed both in my town and others I travelled to/in. The vast majority of them are decorated with flowers, trees, plants or random statues and large outdoor ornaments. I saw one that had a large beach scene with sand, and a huge pail and shovel. I don't live in an interesting, big, or well-known town but one roundabout has a little bridge on it, another has a 3D light up model of an igloo and a penguin and another has a fountain with lots of flowers (which has now been replaced by a 3D light up model of Santa's sleigh and his reindeer).

It's so cool seeing the 'art' on these roundabouts as I would never see such a thing like that in Australia. It's just a concrete (sometimes tiled) thing, I think. Or maybe I just notice everything more here since it's all new and different (and special) to me...

One of my French friends told me that a few (?) years ago the government decided to replace large intersections (which had traffic lights) with roundabouts which means during non-peak times you can drive through without having to wait for lights to change.


There may be other blogposts too but I can't remember them off the top of my head now... Suffice to say that with all my "pre-knowledge" about life in France I can't help but compare my own findings to that of other expats and chuckle...

French, language learning, travel related BLOGS

I refrained from doing this for a long time but now I have decided to add some favourite blogs that I read to my sidebar. :) Enjoy!

Autrefois, je m'empechais de faire une liste de blogs sur mon blog propre, mais maintenant, j'ai decidé d'ajouter quelques blogs intéressants sur mon sidebar. :) Amusez-vous bien !

Kermit the Frog in Sydney

Because I'm too tired/stressed/sick/lazy/procrastinaty (is that a word?) to write posts right now I thought I'd start (erm, continue) posting links to interesting blogs I read (out of the thousands in my blog reader!)

I think I actually came across this blog through my city's newspaper some time ago. It's not updated that often but the pictures are just gold!! He (Kermit) looks so realistic. And right now, he's in 'my' city! hehe. Too cute and creative!

Trop chouette !

Kermit the Frog on Tour and in Sydney

Here's a pic of Kermit at one of my favourite places in Sydney: the Circular Quay railway station with million dollar view! (Opera House is just to the right of the shot)

And in other news, I leave for my trip in exactly 1 month! Egads! (countdown timer now added to sidebar).

Great blog with beautiful pics and videos of Paris

Thought I'd share this little find: F**k yeah Paris featuring the most amazing pics of Paris, and videos like this one:


PARIS from Michael Marygin on Vimeo.

Voilà and enjoy!

France Bienvenue YouTube channel

Link

There are some really interesting discussions on society and life, on this site! such as these ones:

Tutoyer ou vouvoyer





Interprètes pour l'Europe (being an interpreter for the EU)





Les femmes et la cigarette (Women and the cigarette)



Grandes villes et villes moyennes




They also have a blog. Check them out :)

Celebrate the every day

Two days ago I started reading my sister's old blogs which she hasn't updated for months. Over the past 9 years she has been back and forth between Europe and Australia many many times and she is a much better writer than I am, and made lots of interesting observations.

She also wrote about some every day things back in her 'normal' life in Australia but these posts are few and far between.

I have a friend who has a blog and she writes about every day things and events and thoughts but these types of blogs are generally rare. What I'm talking about is a blog that really reads like a journal, with that person's thoughts on random topics.

What I find is that most people use their blog (or Facebook) almost as a "show and tell" album and if they have nothing to show or tell, then nothing will get posted. That's why you see pictures of weddings, babies, birthdays, travel, new houses, housewarmings, nightclubbing and partying time and time again but not much of anything else.

What do I mean by this "else"? I mean anything that does not fit into the above categories. It is extremely rare to read posts or see photos about things people deem are not worthy. But why? Shouldn't life be celebrated for the good at the bad? And not just things which are deemed worthy enough to "show off"? Now I am not saying that people should be posting photos of funerals or car crashes or horrible, stupid things like that...

What I mean is... Why is it that travel brings out the kid in everyone? That innate inner curiosity about everything that makes everything seem new, and interesting, beautiful and wonderful. Now, why can't you take that side of you and transplant it into your real world? Just because you have to go to work or have to study, you still have enough spare time to "smell the roses" so to speak.

Why do people start up a blog for the soul purpose of documenting their travels so that when they are not travelling anymore there is nothing left to write about? Even that little weekend escape to the seaside town 2 hours away is not "worthy" because it's not overseas?

I found this blog 52 suburbs which is an amazing blog about 52 of the 600+ suburbs of Sydney. Despite all my years of living here I don't even know half the things this lady posts about. She really discovers the nitty gritty of this city and the people that live in it. She takes beautiful photos and writes about them in an interesting way that just makes it interesting.

Well, that's sort of what I do with my life. I document parts of it which may seem boring on the surface but I take pretty photos and I make interesting observations. Not really for anyone else, but just for me. I do often share my 'findings' too (and I don't care if others find it 'boring' as it's not for them, it's for me!)

And why do I do it?

Well, over the past 10 years of my life, some amazingly HORRIBLE things have happened to me and to people around me. I've had 4 people (3 I was very close to) I know die, aged between their 20s and 60s and all before their time, two of shocking circumstances that I can't even write about they are that shocking (put it this way, they were both stories in the city's main newspaper).

Over the last 3 years I've had more ups and downs in my life than in all the years of my life preceding that.

Also during that time I spent one year living abroad which was an amazingly wonderful experience but when I came back home, to Sydney, I became really depressed with what's known as "reverse culture shock." I was so sad all the time and hated my so-called home. When I first came back I couldn't see anything good about this place.

But over time I began to love it again and realised all the wonderful things about it that I doesn't exist in the other place. And as time goes on, in the past few months I've become more and more appreciative of my HOME. Sydney will always be my HOME so I'd better love it or else. As well as that, I've become so much more appreciative of the people around me, my family and my dear long-time friends.

When I have dinner with my family I cherish every single minute of my time with them. If it's the last time I ever see them I want to know that all I had was happy memories and none of fighting or disagreements. I take photos of every single event in my life because I want to remember and cherish all the wonderful and beautiful moments together with the people that I love and adore most in the world.

I don't see my friends as often as I'd like to given that we're all so busy (and everyone lives far from each other in this big city) but when I do I like to make the most of every minute with them too.

I think going into life with these thoughts makes me feel much more at peace, and much happier in general. I know that if some unforeseen circumstance would make myself or someone I know leave this earth, at least I will have had some happy memory of my last days, or my last days with that person.

I'm not even sure what the point of my post is, other than to get some thoughts out. My main point is that I feel that everything in life should be celebrated, not just the parties and whatnot. Take the time to appreciate the people around you but also the place around you. Also, you really can discover the beauty in your own "backyard" if you look hard enough. In fact there is probably even more beauty there than in all those other countries you want to travel to...

Image from lonelovaas via Weheartit

Changed my blog layout

A few days ago I changed my blog layout. I was getting sick of the fence one and felt it was a bit too colourful and childish.

I wanted something primarily white, 'clean' and classy and generic, not something I would get sick of too soon. I also wanted 3 columns instead 2. I found a great template and modified it slightly, added the French flag background and voilà ! Hope you like it as much as I do. :)

Strangely, I realise I'd forgotten to take a screenshot of the 'before' but I found one on Lilou's blog.

Avant

Après

Ask a Frenchman blog

I've been reading this blog for quite some time and the Q&A "session" is quite informative.

However, today's question is really really bizarre. I am pretty sure it's a joke. It has to be a joke, right? I'm pretty sure this person is a 'troll' and I wouldn't be surprised if 'she' was really a 'he'!

Even so, I haven't had such a good laugh since I finished reading A year in the merde. The answers are just as funny as the questions!

Check it out if you dare... Warning: the topic is sort of R/X rated.

Pixels - 80s computer game pop culture video by Patrick Jean

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. - Arts and animation videos.

80s video game pop culture icons
Shot and edited by Parisians Patrick Jean and co, and filmed in New York.

I can see/recognise:

• Bomb icon from Mac OS?
• Space Invaders
• Pacman
• Tetris
• Arkanoid
• Donkey Kong
• Frogger
• Bomb? not sure

This is super cool and clever. I love it!

Via Blugture

Pénélope Jolicoeur (Pénélope Bagieu)

                               


Pénélope Bagieu, who goes by the alias of Pénélope Jolicoeur, writes an illustrated blog called Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante (My life is completely fascinating). Each entry is a slice from her life and she writes and draws about situations that most women around her age can relate to.

At only 25, she's had her darling illustrations published in dozens of publications. She is really talented! Check out her stuff.

YOU + ME = OUI

I think I've admitted before that I just love reading stories of how couples got together in the first place... the more long-winded the better! I love reading relationship stories...

I came across this blog 365 days in Paris by 24 yo Leonora Epstein. She talks about trying to find love in the city of light. There are some interesting and funny bits in there although I admit, reading it, she does show her age.

I ffffound this picture above on ffffound.com and you can buy the t-shirt here on SixPack France.

you, me, oui.
you, me, we.
you, me, yes.

Lilou Macé

A few weeks ago I bought this book I LOST MY JOB AND I LIKED IT: 30-Day Law-Of-Attraction Diary of a Dream Job Seeker but only got around to reading it today.

When I first read about it (after a random browse through Amazon) I read the blurb and the favourable reviews, the fact that it mentioned the Law of Attraction, the fact that the writer is around the same age as me.. all these factors had me hooked! I had to buy this book!!

So now that I've started reading it, I discovered that the author is part French. She was born in the States to French parents, grew up in France, and then moved back to the States to work after graduating from university. After her time there she moved to London to work, and was later laid off (due to the financial crisis) which prompted her to write this book.

She has a website, a Blogspot blog and a YouTube channel. She writes about Well-being, Spirituality, Evolution, Love, Consciousness, Fitness, Health, Creativity, Relationships, Meditations, Open Heart, Universal Laws which are all topics that I'm highly interested in. She seems like a lovely person and her videos/messages are very uplifting. Unlike a lot of online or YouTube personalities ('celebs') she doesn't seem arrogant or egotistical or bimbo-ish either.

You can check out her videos (she has over 800!) and the fun thing is, a lot of them are only in French, so it's an awesome way to practise your listening!

Anyway if you're interested in any of the above topics check out her book, her website or her videos! Here's one to start you off:

Qu'est ce que la Loi de l'Attraction? Noel Wan

Cute French English girl singing in Chinese

Check out this post here on Petite Anglaise which I wrote about before, here.

I can understand about 3/4 of what 'Tadpole' is singing and I think it's amazing she effortless switches between 3 languages.

This is a subject that interest greatly, that of second language acquisition and how children learn to pick up languages.

I'm still slowly making my way through Catherine's Petite Anglaise blog and I have to admit I love listening to the sound clips of her adorable and smart daughter!

Princesse Ecossaise / La belle saison

So I found this blog some time ago and have been slowly making my way through it ever since.. I think I'm going to read the whole thing! Linsey writes really well and her blog reads like a novel, a great autobiography. Her snippets of life are amusing, suspenseful and brilliant. Take, for example, this 'chicken fillet' incident.

I got into her blog because of her amazing love story. She writes about how meeting a French 'toad' let her to meeting her 'French Prince' (FP) and how she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She's only about 23 (I think) but writes with so much maturity and wisdom (and wit!) It's a great read (although I admit I didn't really read all the news/current affairs type blog posts, just the personal life ones, especially about her relationship or her new life/home/job in Versailles).