Formal Talking Practice: Understanding amazing

For my first formal session of the year, I am going to take a word from the previous post: Amazing.

Lisbeth has a French friend in the village who is a very talented person. He makes lovely things from metal. These range from large weather-vanes to pretty fondue forks; lamps and candle holders to collapsible hall stands; huge gates to intricate bolts. Many of his creations are made from recycled objects and the craftsmanship is always excellent. However, he is a private person keeping himself to himself so not everyone knows what treasures lie behind the doors of the workshop.

If Lisbeth thinks any of her visitors will appreciate his work, she arranges a visit. So, back in September, she took her son and his girlfriend to see him. They are both very creative and both have, themselves, worked with metal. She is never completely sure who these visits are for: her friend, or her guests. She just hopes everyone gets something out of it. On this particular visit, the word used most often in relation to his work was 'amazing'.

Some days later, Lisbeth's friend asked what the word 'mazing' meant. He said he had tried to look it up in his English/French dictionary but hadn't been able to find it. Lisbeth explained that it isn't two words 'a mazing' but one word 'amazing' and that he should look that word up.

Next time she saw him he beamed at her, saying "amazing, amazing".

Formal Talking Practice: English for the French

We're having a quiet day in today as Lisbeth is a little the worse for wear following a late night last night at a party. She was also out on Friday night for a meal, but said that that wasn't relevant when I mentioned it this morning! I think because I mentioned the fact that she's been out to eat three days in a row, she has reminded me about my Formal Talking Practice this week, so here goes..............

Mlle Paris is learning to sing an English carol and has been round to clarify some of the finer points of English pronunciation. Her first question was to do with the word 'the'. Why, she asked, do you say 'the cat', but pronounce the 'the' differently when used in conjunction the the word 'angel' - i.e. 'thee angel'? Lisbeth explained that we do change the pronunciation in circumstances such as these because it sounds better. (In actual fact, Mlle Paris said 'ze cat' and 'zee angel' and I thought it sounded very charming and I don't care if she says 'ze' or 'zee': they both sound really sexy!)

Anyway - the second question involved the letter 'y' called Y grec in French. She wanted to know why the letter 'y' is a consonant in English. Lisbeth hadn't really thought about this before and was interested to learn that in French, 'y' is considered to be a vowel. Ooh isn't language fascinating!

Well that's it for my formal practice. I have no more to report, because the French/English exchange didn't take all that long, moving swiftly on to aperitifs, nibbles and other topics of interest. Although Lisbeth has just said that I didn't need to tell you that, as it isn't part of this Formal Talking Practice session. Mmmm......

Formal Talking Practice: Wanadoo - Wanatalk

For me to practice talking in this blog, I am dependent on Orange, which was Wanadoo, which is France Telecom and my relationship with them hasn't been an easy one. To begin with, we were given the impression that when France Telecom brought broadband to the village, we could only have Wanadoo which, as I've said, was France Telecom. This, of course, was not true and, had I realised, I probably would have stayed with AOL, my English provider. However, Wandoo it is.

There was a strange anomaly when it first arrived in that one person in the village found that their connection was good all day until the street lights came on.............

My main problem was getting the Wifi box to work again after a trip to Britain. In fact, it was broken so I was obliged to buy a Wanadoo modem. This was all very well, but as this house doesn't have central heating, if the fire isn't lit in the room with the connection, then it is too cold to sit and talk. So the modem was replaced with a super-duper Netgear router with a booster in my computer. I need the booster, as well, because the walls are really thick and the signal can't get through. Even so, I am limited as to where it will work.

Of course, it doesn't mean that all my troubles are over. All of us in the village have periods of poor service: sudden disconnections and fluctuations and we have to watch out for storms. With emails, there are those that don't arrive that we know have been sent to us, while others can sit in our Outbox for days. I've just had some mails come back several times, while my neighbour isn't getting any at all. We've been told that our village is at the end of the line and that the cabling isn't as good as it should be. Not that this helps any. We just have to carry on and hope for the best. So far - touch wool - my talking practice isn't being too disrupted.

Formal Talking Practice: English Names - French Pronunciation

Tonight we are talking about names. How English names sound when pronounced by a French person. We have chosen the name Elizabeth (for obvious reasons.)

'Elizabeth' takes on an altogether more romantic feel when said with a french accent, especially if it is a man speaking. This comes about because all the syllables are stressed and the word appears to get longer: E-liz-a-bet. Note the 'th' disappears as the French don't have a 'th' sound in their language, so the word ends with a 'te' sound.

'Liz', on the other hand seems to lose something in transition and sounds like Lz. This isn't nice at all: a bit like a fly caught in something. Claude says it doesn't sound good because the word is trop court (too short).

Another French take on Elizabeth is to say 'Lisbeth'. This is spelt with an 's' and an 'h' but pronounced Lizbet ending with a 'te' sound, again.

I think this latter version has a particularly friendly feel to it and, as you will have noticed, I have chosen to use 'Lisbeth' (French spelling, pronounced Lizbet) when talking with, and writing about, my talking practice partner.