Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

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Peyrel
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Peyrel »

The aim of the topic is (or was, since it'es been so long) to enable people to practise their english : most posts were dedicated to "speak about your life" as you stated it, but in a more elaborated wanner than all the "my life"-topics you can find on this Forum. If you really want to work on your english, you have at least to write some sentences... Others posters would usually comment on what you were saying as well as correct your mistakes, so that you really learn something by coming here. It was a good place to ask questions when you had an important thing to do in English (CV, cover letters, etc.) for the level in English of those coming here were very different and there was allways someone ready to listen to your question and to find an answer for them.

Earendïl : yes, i pretty much love the Quebecois, which are far more friendly than French poeple : in less than two weeks I was friend with nearly all the waiters/resses working in the Starbucks I happen to buy my coffees at, and I went to the movies with some of them. I made a really good friend out of the "Snitch" of the McGill Quidditch team (yeah, in real Quidditich, the Snitch is a person ^^), and we have been spending some time taking pictures all around MTL, especially Parc Jeanne Mance on Sundays, were people gather in ordre to "chiller". if you've already been to Quebec, you will understand the joke ;).

Quebec is pretty fun, I will really miss it when I go back to Paris in July, but I miss Paris too, so i will not complain too much. And yes, I have traveled a lot around Quebec and in the general area ot North america : Tadoussac, Ottawa, Quebec City, La Tuc, Niagara Falls, NYC, Boston... God NYC is such a wonderful place, even if I wouldn't be ready to live in there even if I were paid for it : far too big a city as far as I'm concerned. If my memories are ggood (which I'm not sure of), you used to live in Canada, or was it an other English speaking country ?
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par rom1 »

Peyrel a écrit :The aim of the topic is (or was, since it'es been so long) to enable people to practise their english : most posts were dedicated to "speak about your life" as you stated it, but in a more elaborated wanner than all the "my life"-topics you can find on this Forum. If you really want to work on your english, you have at least to write some sentences... Others posters would usually comment on what you were saying as well as correct your mistakes, so that you really learn something by coming here. It was a good place to ask questions when you had an important thing to do in English (CV, cover letters, etc.) for the level in English of those coming here were very different and there was allways someone ready to listen to your question and to find an answer for them.
Thank you :zen:
Adieu le forum, on m'attend ailleurs maintenant.
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par eärendil »

Peyrel, glad to hear you're having a great time :D :D. And you are obviously more diligent than I am; it took me 2 years to actually do some travelling around the country. But then I knew I was going to stay for a while so I guess the prospects are different.
I lived in Mtl for 4 years before my now-husband and I moved to Toronto. I am actually still in Canada, living and working in Toronto although I am trying to get back to Europe...

Rom1: as Peyrel explained the purpose of this topic is/was to practice your English so one liners were never entirely welcome in these halls.
Also considering that I am an eager RPer I love to have interactions played out entirely and to do so you need complete sentences that are more than a few words. Ideally it was to be helpful for some of us learning English and trying to improve it without learning Shakespeare (which used to be the common place when I was in secondary and high school). If you want to improve you need to practice and here was a safe place to do so. Learning construction, colloquialism etc...

Gotta get back to work, I'll see y'all around :P ;)
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Peyrel
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Peyrel »

earendil : so you're still living in canada ! That's great for you, even if I can understand you want to go back to France (or at least Europe) one day... As far as I'm concerned, I find the canadian philosophy interesting (the fact that they are-for example- far more hard working than we are, as they want to get rid of their parents' support asap is really something we should try to bring to the old continent ^^) and Quebecquiens seem to be far more relaxed than parisians, but they are other areas in which we don't really agree. For example the definition of good food. And there are defentely not enough cinemas in MTL for me ! But all these comments just seem too prove the Quebecquien point that French people are "fraîchiers" (which means snob I think)...

I went to Toronto for one day (on my way back from Niagara) so I can't say I know much about the city, but it seemed nice. I hope you're enjoying yourself there !


everyone :
I remember we used to discuss books here too, as one of the best ways to learn the language of Shakespeare is often to read a lot of it (and watch movies in english, but I hope eveybody does that ^^), so, as I'm running out of good litterature in French (I just finished "Le Maître et Marguerite" de M. boulgakov, an amazing book I really advise to eveyone), I am open to any proposition... as long as the argumentation in favour of the book is rich enough !
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Angel
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Angel »

Peyrel a écrit :But all these comments just seem too prove the Quebecquien point that French people are "fraîchiers" (which means snob I think)...
:lol: Totally!
It sure you have a different definition of... hospitality I should say. I find we are so more open-minded but your lifestyle have quite is charm too! ;)
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par eärendil »

After living for 4 years in Montreal - and no offense to you angel sweetie - I can tell you a few things about Quebecois and snob or work.

They may want to be out of their parents' way sooner than we do, but I saw too many times some of them refusing a job because they'd rather be on "BS" (bien-etre social) than work. Sure the job I had to offer was not easy but it is more rewarding than getting money for doing nothing.
As far as snob, I was in university for 2 years and being told every single time that I had no say in the student association because I was French and I did not know what I was talking about became slightly annoying. I may have been French but I was first a student who was supposed to have as much of a voice as any other in the department association.
After a while I felt that Montreal and a lot of Quebec people would never accept me for who I was just because I was from Paris/France and honestly having to say every time you are being introduced to someone when they throw you a dirty look when someone mentions you're from Paris (because yes I could fake a Quebec accent well enough that they might not catch me from French right away) "yes I am French nobody's perfect" becomes tedious and it hurts.
I have found in time that some people in Quebec have taken the worst of the French and US "persona" : an overindulged sense of self-righteousness and the feeling that nothing outside of them is worth their interest or time.

There are idiots everywhere and French people are not more snob than Quebec or Americans for that matter. I don't believe that anyone has ever felt my family's sense of hospitality is anything but amazing. Heck I married a Canadian (from Quebec) and they adopted him right away. Last year when we got married, all of my husband's friends coming from Canada were invited to stay at my parents' place, or my aunt's or even a friend of my parents' place. None of them had to pay for a hotel. And 3 of them were invited at my grandparents' in the South of France. You can ask them, and they'll tell you they don't understand why people say French are snobs.

Now this has been my experience and I don't mean to say that it has been the case for everyone. I have a few friends from France who have been in Quebec/Montreal since I first arrived there and still love it, others left because they could not stand it anymore, so it's only a question of who you are.

That'll be my mammoth post for the day.
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Angel
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Angel »

Aww it's sure everyone have her own experience! ;)
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Mîrmegil »

Hi everybody,

I was wondering whether there is somebody here who has applied to the Toefl. For my forthcoming studies, I'd like to sit this exam before october and get at least 100 points iBT (it means 600 points PBT). I think I won't have any problem with the reading and listening parts of the exam since I read a lot in english and watch foremost english TV-shows. However, the speaking and writing parts frighten me. I've often been told by my english teachers that my pronunciation was rather dreadful and I'm looking for some advice to improve it. Concerning the writing part, one may say that my writing english is kinda rusty... At the opposite of Teacher Binns, who's corpse is not in class whereas his soul is, my soul is rarely in class, although my body has to be :lol:.

Hopefully this topic would help me to write a little ^^.

(And if somebody sat the GRE, it would be cool to give me some advice. Guess I'll have to take this exam also ^^).
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Pantalaemon »

I passed my IELTS, does it count?
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Mîrmegil »

I assume both tests are similar.

Toefl is rather focused on academic topics. The point is to see if you will easily attend school in an english speaking country. But I think that they're wainting the same kind of things in your speaking and writing...
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Prométhée »

Mîrmegil a écrit :Hi everybody,

I was wondering whether there is somebody here who has applied to the Toefl. For my forthcoming studies, I'd like to sit this exam before october and get at least 100 points iBT (it means 600 points PBT). I think I won't have any problem with the reading and listening parts of the exam since I read a lot in english and watch foremost english TV-shows. However, the speaking and writing parts frighten me. I've often been told by my english teachers that my pronunciation was rather dreadful and I'm looking for some advice to improve it. Concerning the writing part, one may say that my writing english is kinda rusty... At the opposite of Teacher Binns, who's corpse is not in class whereas his soul is, my soul is rarely in class, although my body has to be :lol:.

Hopefully this topic would help me to write a little ^^.

(And if somebody sat the GRE, it would be cool to give me some advice. Guess I'll have to take this exam also ^^).
Hi,

First, concerning pronunciation, you have to know it may be the hardest part when you learn English. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Second, I advise you to be au fait with phonetics and its symbols
Third, don't feel afraid of repeating the sounds as much as you can. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Fourth, you MUST buy this book, it's the best one ever on phonetic rules in English, (YES there are some RULES in English pronunciation).
And no, I'm not Michel Ginésy and he's never been my teacher. :mrgreen:

Be careful with your writing English... When I read your text I noticed you inserted some French expressions... and "whose corpse" is better than "who's corpse" :wink:
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Mîrmegil »

Thank you for the advice and reference. I'll seek the book when I get back in France ^^.
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par eärendil »

Mirm,

You would say "when I get back to France". There is movement involved with a destination I guess you could say, as opposed to "when I am back in France."

I'd gladly give you some of the docs I used for English pronunciation but all of them are in France and what with my parents being on vacation no one can actually look into my stuff to find them and send the bunch to you :roll:.
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Wendy »

It would be great to improve my english thanks to this topic. :D
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Re: Come on in... we speak ze eenglish (or try to)

Message par Pantalaemon »

We can start with the basics. Repeat after me "Where is Brian ? Brian is in the kitchen"
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