Linguistics

One of the things that simultaneously fascinates and irritates me is that you really can't say certain things in French as you would in English. I suppose that if you're willing to butcher the language a bit, you can, but it really isn't built to allow the casual linkages that we do in English all the time. I asked my French instructor, after struggling with it on my own, how I would say "I try not to do that too much". She replied with a couple of possibilities - J'essaie de le faire moins (I try to do it less) or J'essaie de ne pas trop faire ça (I try to do it not too much). That second one is pretty close, but not exactly. Similarly, I was thinking this morning of "I didn't mean that"; Google Translate gives "je ne voulais pas dire ça" (I didn't want to say that).

Not to say it's impossible. (Pas dire c'est impossible? ) The other day, while I was talking with her, I wanted to say "not really", and what occured to me was "pas vraiment" (not truthfully). She said that was pretty good, and that I could also simply have said Jamais - never. Though apparantly Jamais can also mean sometimes, sometimes..... Sigh. I will get this, one of these....years. I did have a minor victory, the other day. I was talking via Skype to a guy in Lyon, and his wife came on. I told her (in English), that I'd been studying for 18 months, and was visibly startled. I choose to believe that that meant 'impressed' and not ' dismayed' !