Back to the original post. Deborah: I'd suggest doing fifteen minutes of French a day, rather than several intensive sessions a week. The drip-drip-drip effect is FAR more effective at our age. Also, tune in your radio to a French talk programme and have it on all day. Listen particularly to the news on the hour, every hour. It rarely changes and the headlines are generally the same. The first time you listen, it's all a slurry of foreign words, then the next time you can pick out one or two, and later on you can start to divide the words and attune your ear. You may not understand all but you're listening and finding speech patterns. Also, don't worry too much about the fine tuning of grammar ... make yourself understood generally with the big words (nouns, some verbs) and feel confident about talking. The little filler words will slowly come. Above all, take a deep breath and relax ... we're not as young as we were and our brains are not like sponges. A year isn't a long time in language learning (well for a kid it is, they'd be rattling away). Just remember the drip-drip-drip system to absorb the language. Good luck.
French is like Algebra. In one sentence you can have a word that sounds like two or three other words, a word that has two or more meanings, and a local colloquial word that you do not know. Throw in a faux ami or two and you have a mind boggling equation with several unknowns to solve.
It's bonjour followed by bonne journee here in the hills of Finistere. The difficulty is when bonjour and bonsoir change. After bonsoir it's bonne soiree and bonne nuit. Along with the first encounter of each person a day requirng and handshake and the second time a ritual checking that you haven't already said bonjour! Not to mention a gentle brush alongside as a precursor to bonjour. All that and the difficult business of the number of kisses between one and four and of course the transition from vous to tu. Personally I rather enjoy the Monsieur, so much nice than hey dude, yo, hi. I watched Denholm Elloiott last night saying how d'ye do which seems to be a thing of the past, but very stylish and requires no pre assessment of how well you know the person etc..
Bon courage, from what I gather from my french neighbours, means "have a good day" but with particular reference to your ongoing activities, ie.....normally work. Apparently you need courage to do your work over here which I am beginning to have some empathy with. ;o)
Plenty of locals round here say "Bon courage", but never seem to say "Bonne chance" (it's Brits who do that). Never heard the use of "merde" as an encouragement, but possibly Brittany is different (yes I know it has certain very real differences!)
Whatever.
"n'importe quoi" means literally 'any old thing' in the sense that what you're saying or doing has no sense or is dumb, stupid etc'
definitely more "a load of crap" but the context dictates the meaning, Rachael ;-)
Ian, and the italians say in the wolf's mouth "in bocca al lupo" ;-)
I always thought "n'importe quoi" meant ridiculous, but not sure if there is a difference between ridiculous and bullsh*t...probably not...getting into too fine details here ;-)
If you want to say bullsh*t politely try "c'est (du) n'importe quoi" or just "n'importe quoi". Depending on how you say it, it can be rude or, in the middle of a light-hearted conversation, just a quip. Grandson uses it all the time when he thinks I'm talking bulls*it. An alternative to foutaises and much, much politer, is "fadaises".
Down here it's not just merde it's merde puissance 13 which is what we said to our grandson before he took the bac this year. Seems to have worked cos he passed "avec mention très bien" -- an average mark of over 85%!
Talking about acting superstitions, it's bad luck to wear green on the stage in France. Apparently this dates back to when the dye used to colour the cloth contained arsenic which caused health problems.
'most languages have something similar. The Germans it's 'hals und beinbruck' (throat and legbreak) the Acting scene in English is 'break a leg'....the French just have 'merde', sometimes put as 'mercredi'
@Doreen, this was very interesting I found - it seems due to many superstitions in the 19C esp in the arts -saying "Good luck!" was seen to be bad luck so, they looked for another word and lo and behold, i'm sure it was the smell that gave it away when they turned to the horses... the form of transport at the time was horse and cart and clearly the more people that came the more horses poop u had and so the term 'merde' came about...tx for that question!
I think its because the French are far more superstitious than us Doreen. For example it is extremely bad luck if you wish someone a happy birthday before the actual day..and we are not allowed to say happy new year until the 1st of January. I have been told off many a time.
@Doreen, I didn't know that. Perhaps it's the same as telling an actor to "break a leg" ?
Yes, I see what you mean "merde" is a good substitute Vic. Just looked it up. For bullsh*t the dictionary says "foutaise" (vulg) or "dire les conneries"
Why "Merde" Vic? Bullsh*t is not the same as sh*t anyway is it - I am always telling the French OH that. He uses the term "bullsh*t" when he should be saying "sh*t". He won't listen though. I do not know the term Turlututu.
I literally laughed out loud when Véronique said that she tells her students to imagine their upper lips to be paralyzed. Hahahahaha so true! :D
The 'e' is easy in French, without an accent o'er the top I just imagine it to be like that upside down and backwards 'e' in English pronunciation guides. BTW, I also explain to others that the French 'u' is pronounced as if saying eeeeeee with round lips, O, as Véronique said. Works every time.
Véronique, I've been looking for a semi-polite way to say bull sh*t in French, would Turlututu be that? And where is the accent/emphasis please?
Leroy: "And to make it worse, several different words are pronounced the same."
Unlike in English where dozens of words spelled the same are pronounced differently. Though that's only a rough estimate. :-)
Hee hee, had to have a chuckle there Vic and Véronique :)