Saturday, February 12, 2011

Lingua, Cont'd

In my continued quest to speak comprehensible French, I am using multiple resources, from Rosetta Stone to a French kid's-level reader to notecards to an easy CD-based series to TV5 to online audio clips. So when I come across a site that talks about learning French, I tend to stop and read it.

Today, I came across one that is written by a professional translator, to whom the International Phonetic Alphabet is trivial. I read his examples of how to pronounce some commonly difficult words, and I can honestly say that I came away from it knowing less than when I started. Don't get me wrong, its a well-done site -- but it's aimed at professional-grade linguists, those who likely scoff at Rosetta Stone and the like. I guess there are some resources that it's better not to use. Even if I did learn what the French acronym MDR means (it's their equivilent of LOL).

Incidentally, I'm pleased with myself. A little bit, anyway. I was able to make a teasing comment to my wife, in French. Not great French, but comprehensible. Maybe there is hope.

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