#french advice

[alexzquill]

Hello dear Hamilton & AmRev community, this is my attempt at giving you guys more ways of sweet talking in modern (and arguably 18th/19th century) French for your Lafayette dialogues because as a French speaker I'm tired of the endless Mon Cher / ma chère.

I'd like to point out that technically Mon Cher / ma chère works for the canon timeline as a sort of translation of my dear BUT in a modern context no one uses that anymore apart (from my experience at least) from when one is trying to be condescending or sarcastic. Hence the following suggestions :

[note that these are just the ones I've personally used with partners, have had partners use for me and heard from couples]

1. Mon coeur

Literally translates to "my heart". It's very common for people to call their partner that. It's sweet, it's cute. Lafayette often called Adrienne this in his letters, so you can most definitely use it for canon era too :)

2. Mon chéri/ma chérie

If you want a better translation of "my dear", I think Mon chéri/ma chérie works best in a modern context, although it's closer to my beloved I'd say (note that my translation is rather approximative based on cultural and personal experiences)

It's more common to use that as a pet name than Mon Cher, although it can be used as a way to tease or be condescending too. It's also a way to refer to your partner to someone else "c'est mon chéri" would be like "he's my partner/boyfriend" in a rather cute way.

3. Mon amour

Aka, my love. Very common, simple but efficient. It's great. Fits both a canon era context and a modern fic, gender neutral... Perfect pet name

4. Bébé

This one is really common, rarely used with "Mon" but "Mon bébé" can work too. Absolutely does NOT fit a canon era context, this one is strictly modern and is the equivalent to babe

5. Mon trésor

"my treasure", this one can also be used for familial relationships (ex; your grandma calls you Mon trésor), I suppose it could work in canon era too but I can't say I have seen that.

6. Mon ange

"my angel", a really sweet way to call one's partner, not much to say about this one. Same as trésor, it can also be used by a parent for their child.

Hope this enriches your pet names vocab for the Lafayette writers hehe

EDIT: I'll add some when they come to mind

7. Chaton / mon chat

Essentially means Kitty/Kitten but without the potential weird cringe or sexual connotations of English. Much like some of the other names, it can be used by family members as an endearing nickname. (Your mom calls you "Mon chat" for example)

8. Mon mec - ma meuf

Not a pet name BUT it's used in modern French to talk about your partner in a colloquial way : "mec" means guy, "meuf" roughly means girl. So basically you're say my guy or my girl.

[polemicandcontent]

some casual ways to interact w/ your target language

1. play a dumb phone game in the language. low stakes way to force yourself to understand a lot. that new harry potter game, if you’re intermediate/advanced ? go off ! [majority of popular games will have multiple language options, otherwise if you set your phone into your target language it’ll likely change automatically]

2. feel like wasting some time online ? look for ‘quotes in x language’, or poetry, or just use search terms in that language. (or set your pinterest/tumblr/whatever settings to your target language)

3. find your horoscope in your target language !

4. shopping lists - or a to-do list (i.e. chores, homework etc.) 

5. if you’re able, try making a simple recipe from your target language. could even be pancakes, mug cake or soup, but you can still read imperatives + find new vocab !

6. similarly, look for trashy online magazines, like seventeen or cosmopolitan in your target language. simple, attention-grabbing articles. buzzfeed, for example, has a spanish version, so try to change the language settings. 

[the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond]

In French we have a specific verb for cats.

"sortrer" is the unofficial verb for cats. It s the contraction of "entrer" and "sortir". It s when a cat get out the house and then get in 30secondes later, and then get out, and get in, and out... *facepalm *

[the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond]

Some tips to succeed raiding Hard Mode on SWTOR

Advice 1: having match outfit with your friends increase your skill. (the best part is when like me you didn’t plan to make it)

Advice 2: Doing some dark ritual in your guild, in order to bring luck in your raid. (The full protection against wipe is /nobones +karaga bell helmet+ the juvenile turtle)

A sum up, that give you full chance, is doing the thing upward together:

Advice 3: listen carefully the raidlead explaining the strat.

Me, whisper to Sashenka: My brain had crashing, so we didn’t hit the pirates that’s it?

Sashenka: I don’t know, I wasn’t listening

Bonus of the previous advice:

A guildies who afk 3 minutes during the strat rules: Re, I didn’t listenning I was ask sorry, so, what does we need to do?

Me&Sashenka: Congrats jerk! It’s really not serious!!

[fluencylevelfrench]

Salut, Je suis une anglophone et j'étudie la langue française à l'université. Je n'étudie pas/n'utilise pas français assez dans mon temps libre. Je veux améliorer mon français toutefois je ne sais pas comment. Mon niveau est b1 mais je veux être b2 à la fin de l'année. Qu'est-ce que c'est les choses que vous faites afin d'utiliser français/anglais(pour vous) tous les jours? De plus, qu'est-ce que c'est un bon moyen pour moi d'améliorer ma grammaire quand je ne sais pas comment commencer? Merci

Salut! Je suis désolée pour la réponse tarde. Mais ton francais est tellement bien! Je peux pas croire que ton niveau est b1, mais en tout cas je crois que tu peux arriver au niveau b2 bientôt et facilement!  J’ai fait un post comment introduire la langue qu’on apprend ici. J’ai aussi répondu à une question similaire ici. J’espère que ca aide!! Pour la grammaire je te recommend d’acheter un livre de grammaire et fait beaucoup d’exercices. Peut-être peux-tu aussi utiliser une appli pour apprendre et t’entraîner. J’espère que cela t’aide. Si tu as encore des questions, n’hésite pas à me demander!

[fluencylevelfrench]

Hey Sophie, how are you? I have a question if that is okay... So I‘m at a C1 level at French, and i‘ve been stuck for literally 3 years. I know it‘s very hard to go from C1 to C2, but how do you motivate yourself do study a language when you could just as well be lazy because you understand most of it anyway? Do you have and specific techniques to learn new grammar ort vocabulary? Any tips? I really want to become unstuck 😃

Hey! I’m good, how about you? You can always ask me questions of course!! 

I totally got you, it was (is??) the same with me. I think first of all, you have to ask yourself why you want to get to a C2 level. If you are comfortable and can do everything you want to with a C1 level, it’s perfectly fine and tbh when you talk to someone there’s not that much of a big difference.

 I think concerning grammar there is definitely not that much new to learn anymore! Maybe just the exceptions (e.g. subjonctif particular cases), but apart from that I don’t think you have to study it. Just study some grammar exercices from time to time maybe, so you are still used to them. 

A big part for me to becoming C2 was my pronunciation. In the last couple of months, I worked really hard to get my pronunciation to a native-like level. I might not fully be there yet, but it’s a step in the right direction. To improve my pronunciation, I used the IPA a lot and also researched all of the rules. When you understand why you have to pronounce a certain sound in that particular environement a certain way, you are more likely to reproduce it. So first you have to be able to hear and perceive the different sounds and then you have to know when to use which sound, then you can try to reproduce it. At the beginning it’s still a conscious process, but after a while and a lot of training it’s automatic. And I think pronunciation is something that you can change rather quickly, if you work hard and really get into it. 

Then vocabulary: Now it’s only about expanding your vocab and be more specific about certain topics. I’d just read and watch movies/ TV-shows a lot and write the new vocab down. Just read a book for pleasure that you wanted to read anyway and read it in French. Then you can underline the words you don’t know and later look them up. Also, decide if the words you don’t know are really words you have to learn. Is it a word you’ll probably never use again? Then I would leave it aside and just concentrate on the most important ones. I’d also suggest that you take just a few minutes everyday (maybe 15?) to study your lists, otherwise you will forget them haha. Personally, I also listen to podcasts and the French radio, in order to keep being surrounded by the French language. Just don’t consider it only as practice, but as something you want to do and enjoy, because the tv show is fun or the podcast is captivating (again I’m gonna recommend ‘Transfert’). 

I know these are a lot of basic tips, but I hope they help anyway. Also: getting to know more French people and going to France for some time (if it’s possible) might also help you to be more motivated to study French. When you see people use the language you’re learning every day, it has another effect on you :)

Si tu as encore plus de questions, n’hésite pas à me demander! 

[the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond]

Some soft and old French curse

For no other reasons that I m deeply salty but also a sweet guinea pig Lady. They sounds cute for me... When I think about it, it s used only by old People... So it s another proof That I m already a grandma I guess ! shrug

Pardis

Parbleu

Scrogneugneu

(sacrebleu)

Empafé

Gourgandine

Nodocéphale (tête-de-noeud)

Alburostre (blanc-bec)

Pignouf

Faquin (vil faquin !!)

Mufle

Fripon /fripouille

Canaille

Crétin des Alpes (cf all the language of Capitaine Haddock)

Some only used by pirates:

"cul rouge", "rat de cale", "marin d'eau douce" (new sailor without experience) , "écrevisse de rempart", bois-sans-soif (drunkard), capon (coward) , gibier de potence (Who deserved to be hang), forban (bandit), morbleu ! Parsambleu !...

Feel free to add if you knows some other, in French or another language. I m always up to learn news things !

[fluencylevelfrench]

Small ways to improve your French

Here are just a few ideas how to use French on a daily basis. You’ve probably already read these or heard about them before, so it’s a reminder for you:

1) Listen to podcasts/ French music/ French news stations while going to work/ uni/ school

I always listen to the podcast Transfert while riding my bike to uni. 20 minutes there and in the evening 20 minutes back

-->you get used to real people talking about an interesting topic

2) follow French sites/ people on facebook/ tumblr/ Instagram

3) use French news apps: Le monde etc, for a quick glance at what’s happening

4) turn all of your devices to French: phone, tumblr, facebook

5) while you wait for someone/ something: do duolingo or revise vocab with memrise/ quizlet

6) you wanna relax and watch the new season of a show? Why not in French? This way you can relax and feel good about improving your French. Use French subtitles if it helps you.

Advanced level: write down the vocab you don’t know

7) When you’re home alone: Let’s admit it, we all talk to ourselves from time to time. Why not do it in French? “Alors, maintenant je vais ranger ma chamber. Mes voisins m’énnervent beaucoup aujourd’hui. J’ai hâte de voir ce film.” ...

Also a great place to talk to yourself or to think in French: the shower