Tag Archives: French

(get over the) hump-day inspiration: louis c.k.

Posted in inspiration & encouragement, learning tools by

 

Words of wisdom from Louis C.K. in the new issue of GQ:

“You’ve got to embrace discomfort,” he said. “It’s the only way you can put yourself in situations where you can learn, and the only way you can keep your senses fresh once you’re there.”

This needs to be my mantra as I psych myself up to go back to French conversation Meetups for the first time in more than a year. I find them so awkward and deflating. My everyday self-consciousness balloons seven-fold at the prospect of not understanding anyone and/or butchering such a melodic language. And it’s exhaustingly hard work to catch every word the person speaking to you is saying and to formulate a response that both makes sense and talks around the words you don’t know. Without fail, I leave feeling like Sisyphus instead of patting myself on the back for taking the baby steps that will eventually add up to progress.

But! Meetups are the best, cheapest way available to me now to get over the listening and speaking hump and the more I do, the easier it’ll be when I go abroad for full-on immersion.

One of the reasons I started this blog, actually, was to force me to go to Meetups so I’d have something to write about.

I’m giving myself the month of May to dive back in. With this blog as my witness!

P.S. This week’s inspirational quote is pretty much a reframed version of last week’s quote. I’m a one-trick quote pony I guess.

woot woot!

Posted in French, learning tools, movies & tv by

Duolingo encouragement

Estoy en el fuego! Je suis sur le feu! Anyone know what the correct idiomatic expressions for this sentiment actually are?

P.S. Leah Dieterich’s ‘Idieoms’ (“poems made of literal translations of non-English idioms”) are uniformly beautiful:

IN THE EVENINGS SHE WAS

FOR LIGHT SOUP AND

GOOD WINE / COME

MORNING SHE ATE

DANDELIONS BY THEIR

ROOTS

Above, a case in point. So lovely!

P.P.S. Prioritaire, a sweet and very easy-to-understand (both emotionally and linguistically!) movie narrated in French, by the same multi-talented Dieterich (also of thx thx thx fame). I adore everything she does.

Virunga

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Virunga movie poster

This past Thursday I went to see the Virunga premiere at the TriBeCa Film Festival with a couple of work friends. The documentary follows park rangers in the eponymous Congolese national park as they work to protect endangered mountain gorillas and other wildlife from poachers and encroachment by oil development interests. It’s a super powerful film (and super adorable thanks to the special bond between one of the rangers, Andre, and the orphaned gorillas he cares for). Continue reading →

thoughts on duolingo

Posted in French, learning tools, Spanish by

 

I downloaded the Duolingo app right after I booked my ticket to Buenos Aires. I really wanted to be able to say more than four words in Spanish when I got there, and I had heard it is a good tool to kickstart language learning. Because it works offline I could continue to use it in Argentina, though it is finicky and much better when running through an Internet connection.

It turns out that Duolingo is the best thing ever and gives me a heretofore unfelt appreciation for my smartphone.  Continue reading →