An explanation for why I consider French to be a very difficult language

[Skybird]

Kiki la cocotte :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRzoH8C8GP4&feature=related

:huh:

:doh:

:dead:

From the movie "L'etudiante" (The student). give it 40 seconds to get to the point.

Very lovely, charming movie, btw, catches the mood of living young in the crazy, charming 80s quite well.

Et Sophie, mon belle amour... :lol: :up:

[Steel_Tomb]

"Could you run that past me one more time?" :rotfl:God. I think I'll stick with learning German thanks!

[StdDev]

Wow........

It's all Greek to me!!! :know:

[Trex]

I think what he is trying to say is that stunning women are so distracting that learning a language becomes harder.

[Skybird]

My French is weak, and if I would not know the german version of the movie with that tongue twister in it, I would have no idea what that story on Kiki is about, no matter the French subtitles they showed at that daring speed. In German it sounds charming as well, btw.

Don't stare guys - listen! :lol:

[Etienne]

It's not actually a hard tongue twister, just hard to remember entirely. Not annoying syllables in there.

Les chemises de l'archiduchesse sont elles seches ou archiseche is a much harder one. Heck, it's hard to type.

[Janus]

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:

[STEED]

On behalf of Dan........

"Cheese eating surrender Monkeys."

[Jimbuna]

On behalf of Dan........

"Cheese eating surrender Monkeys."

I think you'll find that statement was first attributed to my old GWX buddy Mr Chris. http://imgcash1.imageshack.us/img87/9238/artistsmileywp8.gif

[Skybird]

It's not actually a hard tongue twister, just hard to remember entirely. Not annoying syllables in there.


Yes, it is not really a tongue twister by defintion - but try to speak it as fast as the guy in the movie! Tried it myself for ten minutes. Score: zero. But maybe that is because French is not my native language. Je suis Allemand et je parle un petit Francais seulement - je suis trés désolé. ;)

Hmpf. Feels like school again, 8th class. :lol:

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:

I thought the same at school, and maybe that is why I did not try harder to learn it. Today, I really regret that I am not as fluent in French as I am in English. Tried again during university, but the course had far too many participants and thus was completely pointless. Getting introduced to the chansons sung by Yves Montand showed my how great French can sound when being used by a great voice like his. Im just ending my job in a warehouse, but occasionally I met French girls on school exchange there - always a chirping and twittering like a swarm of canaries. :D

[STEED]

On behalf of Dan........

"Cheese eating surrender Monkeys."

I think you'll find that statement was first attributed to my old GWX buddy Mr Chris. http://imgcash1.imageshack.us/img87/9238/artistsmileywp8.gif

OK, I only mention Dan as I have seen it on a few occasions. :up:

France is a great country but unfortunly it's full of French men & women.

Not my saying that one, heard it somewhere. ;)

[Jimbuna]

On behalf of Dan........

"Cheese eating surrender Monkeys."

I think you'll find that statement was first attributed to my old GWX buddy Mr Chris. http://imgcash1.imageshack.us/img87/9238/artistsmileywp8.gif

OK, I only mention Dan as I have seen it on a few occasions. :up:

France is a great country but unfortunly it's full of French men & women.

Not my saying that one, heard it somewhere. ;)

LOL :lol:

<runs back into his bombproof shelter>

[goldorak]

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:

At least its not as disgusting as German. :roll:

[STEED]

:D Steed !

By the way, most Frenchs also consider French as a very difficult language :lol:

I got not nothing against the French after all it's a great language to curse with.

I will say this, you guys stand up to the State if you feel what they are doing is wrong. A lessen we could do with, if you got a spare Backbone toss it across as we seem to lost ours.

[Jimbuna]

:D Steed !

By the way, most Frenchs also consider French as a very difficult language :lol:

I got not nothing against the French after all it's a great language to curse with.

I will say this, you guys stand up to the State if you feel what they are doing is wrong. A lessen we could do with, if you got a spare Backbone toss it across as we seem to lost ours.

Here will this one do :lol:

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/2209/humanspineki7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[STEED]

CREEPY. :o

[Etienne]

By the way, most Frenchs also consider French as a very difficult language :lol:

Damn right. As soon as you start writing it.

Participe passé, anyone? Seriously, I don't think I ever understood what was going on with those things. I just conjugate them by look / out of habit, don't ask me to explain...

I remember grammar class in elementary school, where we'd use four or five colors to explain the conjugation in a single sentence... I'm not sure what the POINT of that was anymore.

[Skybird]

By the way, most Frenchs also consider French as a very difficult language :lol:

Damn right. As soon as you start writing it.

Participe passé, anyone? Seriously, I don't think I ever understood what was going on with those things. I just conjugate them by look / out of habit, don't ask me to explain...

I remember grammar class in elementary school, where we'd use four or five colors to explain the conjugation in a single sentence... I'm not sure what the POINT of that was anymore.

I really wonder what language is considered to be more difficult to learn for foreigners who speak none of them: French or German. Compared to any of these, English is relatively easy, especially the grammar.

[Respenus]

I agree with SOME of you guys here. French is a hard language to master when you begin with it. Trust me, after 3 to 4 years of hard work with it (read 4 lessons per week + old school teacher=great progress) you'll be pretty high. I did by B2 exams in February, but failed the C1's (damn, that's hard). As to how the French think about their language, they had to put subtitles to some guy on a reality show I used to watch. Well, it's the same thing with Slovenian dialects.

I'd recommend to any beginner, do not try to sound like the Franch do. I tried to do more than I could handle for 2 years, guess the results. FAIL! Do what you know, you'll eventually learn from your mistakes and advance must faster. Trust me on this one. Maybe a month in a French language school in France would also do a world of good.

Now try to learn Slovene. Christ, we have our A level exams this year, the grammar is HARD. Chech it on Wiki. You'll run mad in a couple of minutes. :damn: Yet it's my mother tongue, thus I can only say good things about it. I've always considered literature to be a more important than grammar that kills the mind (although one must learn it to read in the first place).

[Jimbuna]

By the way, most Frenchs also consider French as a very difficult language :lol:

Damn right. As soon as you start writing it.

Participe passé, anyone? Seriously, I don't think I ever understood what was going on with those things. I just conjugate them by look / out of habit, don't ask me to explain...

I remember grammar class in elementary school, where we'd use four or five colors to explain the conjugation in a single sentence... I'm not sure what the POINT of that was anymore.

I really wonder what language is considered to be more difficult to learn for foreigners who speak none of them: French or German. Compared to any of these, English is relatively easy, especially the grammar.

I'm not so sure of English being 'easy' http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1817/thinkbigsw1yo4.gif

Hell....there are parts of Britain wher I don't understand the dialects http://imgcash3.imageshack.us/img240/4669/slapheadrc6.gif

[Biggles]

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:

French isn't disgusting, although this chap doesn't really help to improve it's reputation...
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/9381/kniggits5hw.jpg

Still think that's the best interpretation of the french though:rotfl: ;)

[Etienne]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1817/thinkbigsw1yo4.gif[/IMG]

Hell....there are parts of Britain wher I don't understand the dialects http://imgcash3.imageshack.us/img240/4669/slapheadrc6.gif

If we're talking stricly written language, English is way, way easy. Seriously, the one thing they kept telling us in English class, over and over is "Don't make it more complicated than it is! Stop conjugating!" You guys have what, four or five verb tense? Easy pie.

Oral English... Yeah, I guess some accents are pretty bad. But then, it's the same in every language - When I was in France, I had to talk in what I considered my parody of a parisian accent to be understood.

[Dowly]

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:
I thought the same at school, and maybe that is why I did not try harder to learn it. Today, I really regret that I am not as fluent in French as I am in English.

I had the same thing with Sweden (Yeh, we finns are forced to learn the frigging language because a) we were under Swedish rule somewhere around when baby Jesus learned to walk and b) "we are a country with 2 languages" Right, the only swede only ppl leave in the coast, big deal, learn some finnish before moving in or better yet, let's blow that part out of Finland so they can merrilly sail away with their part of Finland to.. I dont know.. Sweden??), tho I still dont feel bad about my extremely low grade on it. :smug:

[Jimbuna]

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:
I thought the same at school, and maybe that is why I did not try harder to learn it. Today, I really regret that I am not as fluent in French as I am in English.

I had the same thing with Sweden (Yeh, we finns are forced to learn the frigging language because a) we were under Swedish rule somewhere around when baby Jesus learned to walk and b) "we are a country with 2 languages" Right, the only swede only ppl leave in the coast, big deal, learn some finnish before moving in or better yet, let's blow that part out of Finland so they can merrilly sail away with their part of Finland to.. I dont know.. Sweden??), tho I still dont feel bad about my extremely low grade on it. :smug:

You never cease to amaze me how good your command of written English is :up:

Oral....now the jury is still out there ;)

[Biggles]

Swedish is amongst the most difficult languages in the world to learn.

And the most useless one.

So I'm proud of the fact that you finns have to do it. We sure as hell don't learn finnish over here!:rotfl: :rotfl:

[Gorduz]

Swedish, thats not hard :p And its not useless, I have some finnish friends here (I'm studying one year in germany) and swedish is usefull to know if you meet other scandinavians (danes, swedes and norwegian). Sure we all talk english and german together but sometimes its nice to be able to explain a word in you mothertounge(Norwegian).

As for french I not a huge fan of the way the language sounds, but I think im going to take a french course next year anyway as I finally mastered german after 6 months in Germany. But french girls speaking english, thats cute :up:

[Kapitan]

I understood all of about 3 words of that.

[Jimbuna]

Swedish is amongst the most difficult languages in the world to learn.

And the most useless one.

So I'm proud of the fact that you finns have to do it. We sure as hell don't learn finnish over here!:rotfl: :rotfl:

LOL :rotfl:

[Dowly]

Swedish is amongst the most difficult languages in the world to learn.

And the most useless one.

So I'm proud of the fact that you finns have to do it. We sure as hell don't learn finnish over here!:rotfl: :rotfl:
Aye and I'm proud of my low grade. My dad used to give me a pat in the back and some rude joke about you guys when I showed him my exams. :p


You never cease to amaze me how good your command of written English is :up:

We start to learn it early here in Finland. From 3rd grade, atleast back then, all the way to 9th and then, when I went to study to be a welder, some more. ;)

[Kapitan_Phillips]

I actually thought German was pretty easy to learn, as its pretty close to English in terms of sentence structure and words. French just annoys me. :lol:

[nikimcbee]

Well, if the Germans won out the first time, we wouldn't have this problem.:rotfl:

[Platapus]

I really wonder what language is considered to be more difficult to learn for foreigners who speak none of them: French or German. Compared to any of these, English is relatively easy, especially the grammar.


My mother is an English instructor at our local college. She teaches ESL classes. According to her students, English is the hardest language to learn. She has students who are fluent in multiple languages but struggle with English. According to her:

Our syntax is lax and not consistent
Our language is full is idioms
Because we have taken words from many different languages, our rules of grammar are often confusing.

As an American, I am lucky that I can get by with being mono-lingual. If there are any "internationality" involved I have my wife.

I find her most satisfactory in both French and Greek. :up:

[Skybird]

I really wonder what language is considered to be more difficult to learn for foreigners who speak none of them: French or German. Compared to any of these, English is relatively easy, especially the grammar.


My mother is an English instructor at our local college. She teaches ESL classes. According to her students, English is the hardest language to learn. She has students who are fluent in multiple languages but struggle with English. According to her:

Our syntax is lax and not consistent
Our language is full is idioms
Because we have taken words from many different languages, our rules of grammar are often confusing.

I admit that is hard to believe. What she considers to make English difficult, I would see as what makes it easier. French grammar and probably German grammar as well is much more difficult - especially because it is more complex, and also knows so many exception to the rules in conjugations.

Never before heared somebody mentioning English to be the most difficult language! Had English and Frecnh at school myself, and went smooth with English, almost lazy, but French made me curse from the first month on. It was far more "learning-intensive".

[Jimbuna]

Well, if the Germans won out the first time, we wouldn't have this problem.:rotfl:

Jawohl!! ;)

[Geno_Mariner]

French is a disgusting language, it sounds awful to me :nope:
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
It does sound awful. And I failed my French class in my first year of high school! (moved to another school in my second year and did Indonesian, did kinda well but dropped it)

I have a Swedish cousin. It was easy to pick out some words since he's ok with English. It's times when he said 'foto' that I realised he was saying 'photo' then he said 'fotograffick' It took me a good minute to work out he was saying 'photographic' :)

[Biggles]

Aye and I'm proud of my low grade. My dad used to give me a pat in the back and some rude joke about you guys when I showed him my exams. :p


Oh so!:stare:

You should here the jokes we tell about you lot over here! And we don't need a reason, we do it for fun!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

And english is one of the main subjects in Swedish schools, so that's why swedes are reasonably good on english...Me? well, I speak english better than I write it...

[Jimbuna]

Aye and I'm proud of my low grade. My dad used to give me a pat in the back and some rude joke about you guys when I showed him my exams. :p


Oh so!:stare:

You should here the jokes we tell about you lot over here! And we don't need a reason, we do it for fun!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

And english is one of the main subjects in Swedish schools, so that's why swedes are reasonably good on english...Me? well, I speak english better than I write it...

A Swede lost both ears in an accident whilst abroad. No plastic surgeon could offer him a solution. He heard of a very good one in his home country of Sweden, and went to him. The new surgeon examined him, thought a while,
and said: " Yes, I can put you right."

After the operation, bandages off, stitches out, he goes to his hotel.

The morning after, in a rage, he calls his surgeon, and yells:

"You bas*ard, you gave me a woman's ears."

"Well, an ear is an ear, it makes no difference whether it is a man's or a woman's."

"You're wrong, I hear everything, but I don't understand a thing!"

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"Can I have some Finnish Sausages, please?" asked the Finn, walking up to the counter.

The assistant looked at him and asked: "Are you Finnish?"

"If I had asked you for Italian sausage, would you ask me if I was Italian?" demanded the Irishman indignantly.

"Or, if I asked for German Bratwurst, would you ask me if I was German?"

Then, warming to his theme, he went on: "Or if I asked you for a Kosher hot dog, would you ask me if I was Jewish?"

"Or, if I asked you for a taco, would you ask me if I was Mexican?

The assistant said: "Well, no."

"And if I asked you for frogs legs, would you ask me if I was French?"

"What about Danish Bacon, would you ask me if I was Danish?"

"Well no, I probably wouldn't" conceded the assistant.

The Finn says: "Well, all right then, why did you ask me if I'm Finnish
just because I asked for Finnish sausages?"

The assistant replied: "Because you're in fu*king Woolworths"

A draw http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4030/winkbigid2zj6.gif

[Biggles]

Oh...well, not really jokes like that (those we use on the Norwegians).

We joke more about the finns love to their licker.

This video shows a swedish comedian who demonstrates the 5 phases of the finnish man when he's drunk (silence, extreme happiness, extreme sadness, anger, coma).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qzBcolHBjI

:)