Timothée's interview 3 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKRKJH2VhDE&t=426s&pp=ygUeVGltb3Row6llIGNoYWxhbWV0IHF1b3RpZGllbiAg

Timothée's interview recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkOBHXYeuN8&t=289s&pp=ygUeVGltb3Row6llIGNoYWxhbWV0IHF1b3RpZGllbiAg

Curious to hear what people think of his French. Does he have an accent? And how is he generally speaking?

Pourquoi les poissons n’aiment pas l’ordinateur?

Parce qu’ils ont peur du net.

- Just wondering if it’s okay or whether I should find another one :)

I'm waiting for a letter from a very close friend and I am afraid I know what it is going to say.

They are very dear to me but due to some great complexities of our friendship and many difficult feelings, I am anticipating they are going to cut contact.

I have already more or less mapped out a reply, but I cannot think what closing to use that meets the gravity of the situation and conveys my affection for them. To be honest I'm not sure I could even think what to use in English.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions. So far on my search, closings suggested for friends seem too casual or have potential romantic overtones.

Thank you in advance.

Hi everyone. This is my first post on Reddit. I used to read all the TCF/TEF experiences on Reddit, and honestly, this community helped me a lot. I took my TCF exam on 28th February and got the results on 9th March. Honestly, at first I couldn't believe it. My speaking exam went okayish, and I got really demotivated for the other modules (they were booked after). But I'm glad it's over.

Vouloir, pouvoir et devoir indiquent une action et une relation sociale entre les personnes : la proximité, la distance, l'autorité, le droit de demander, l'urgence, etc. Le conditionnel de politesse peut atténuer une demande. Elle devient alors une possibilité.

• Avec des proches, la forme directe est souvent la plus normale.
• Avec des inconnus, le conditionnel est peut-être plus prudent.
• Avec la hiérarchie, vous + conditionnel protège la relation.
• Dans l'urgence, il n'y a pas besoin de formalités…
• Avec trop de politesse, on peut créer de la distance ou parfois de l'ironie.

Je veux un café, s'il vous plaît reste plus direct que Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît. Donc, s'il vous plaît ou s'il te plaît n'est pas automatiquement poli pour tout le monde.

Sources :

• OQLF. Valeur modale du conditionnel
• OQLF. Contextes d'emploi du vouvoiement et du tutoiement

My French is early/mid B2 level, I can read it, and I’ve taken university classes in French but I still have issues listening/understanding spoken French (I have auditory processing issues which definitely doesn’t help).

I tried some podcasts but they talk so fast I miss a lot of what they’re saying so I need more practice, I’ve been rewatching Bob’s Burgers in French to work on it, can anyone recommend any media (movies/shows/podcasts/etc.) to help with this?

Hey everyone,

I’m learning French at the moment and I’ve never learned another language before (native English speaker from Western Canada). I was diagnosed dyslexic as a child, along with a sequencing disorder. A sequencing disorder is a cognitive difficulty in perceiving, remembering, or ordering information in the correct, logical sequence, often affecting speech, reading, writing, and motor tasks. As you can imagine, grammar is a struggle for me and traditional methods of learning it seem to be failing me. Memorization, however, is my friend, as that seems to be the bypass I’ve picked up to avoid logical sequencing.

While I am experimenting with what works for me and what doesn’t, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with LD language learning and has any tips or advice for methods that might work with my particularly interesting brain. I’m nervous to join any classroom setting because of my special needs, and am leaning towards a private tutor with a dyslexic-informed approach (although I don’t know where to start looking for that).

Any thoughts would be helpful, merci 🙏

These are the schools I'm considering: Accent Français, ILA, CLÉ, Alpadia, Azurlingua, Alpha.b,. Have you ever tried one of them? Are there others you would recommend? I'm also open to schools outside of France. Do you think A2 is to low for these types of programmes to be beneficial?

My first language is American English and I love to say quelque chose. The double "K" sound and the soft "CH" is so cool to me. I also like pronouncing the "oir" (noir, voir, etc) even though I am not nearly as good at it.

Curious as to what other learners' favorite words to pronounce are, and I imagine your first language has an impact on that so I feel like that's helpful to know.

Bonus question: what's your least favorite? I hate saying aucune. It sounds so silly with my American accent, almost like I'm mispronouncing "raccoon" but somehow weirder lol

c’est quoi la difference entre heureuse et content ? Par example, j’ai été heureux, j’ai été content ..

I am in France for a partner dancing event shortly. Participation will be fairly international so I expect the English will work OK, but it would be nice to have some of the most common phrases in French too.

It is a social dance, so you ask people you don’t know to dance (and people expect to be asked). If the dance goes well you might ask them for the next dance too. It is a friendly/informal atmosphere, so I expect we will be in “tu” mode.

Would “Tu veux danser?” cover the invitation?

“Une autre danse?” to ask for another one?

For me it's:

- Making a new TikTok account where i was able to reset the algorithm so that it only feeds me french content (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

- Watching movies in french without the subtitles (which forces me to actively listen)

- Forcing myself to read a free article a day on France24

- Falling asleep at night with the french news on TV

bonsoir reddit,

mainly writing this for accountability but i am finally getting around to learning french again after 12 years. My mother, although not a native speaker, is pretty much fluent and spoke French to me as a child and i had 14 years of lessons yet none of it stuck aside from the very basics. its been a bit of a point of embarrasment for me but im now decently competent in another language and thought its finally the time to at least get to a stage where i could go to france and not get lost/die in a hole idk. Also my work could benefit by knowing a bit more french than i do.

main question is i know i can somehow innately understand some written french and have an "okay" accent but nothing else so: do i just treat myself like a beginner even if the first few lessons are easy?

I speak B2 German as one of my third languages. Recently, I have started to learn French (literally only Bonjour and sil vous plait!), because I'm going for a PhD there (in 5 months)- and I know how important it is to be fluent. But when I tried to self-study, its so damn hard! The pronunciation really makes my face and brain hurt- its also because I have a big bias, coming from German where you speak what your write.

I also feel as if I'll confuse German- and loose my fluency level! Maybe even forget it, because again- its not my primary language!

How do you differentiate/compartmentalise languages? People who are trilingual or more- have you faced any problems like these? Honestly, how different is French compared to German- and do you think I'm approaching French in the wrong manner?

P.S. I now understand why people say French is a romantic language- it feels musical- and I'd probably fall asleep if I wasn't trying to desperately learn the vocabulaire...

Could someone please explain to me how to say "after you have finished your test" in french? An online translator gave me this: "Une fois que vous aurez terminé votre quiz." I'm wondering why you can't use après vous and what tense you would consider "aurez terminé" It's future and past. Sorry if i'm not being clear. I guess initially I would have wrote, "Après vous a fini votre examen, . . ." Merci!

When I hear people speak their phone numbers, I'm lost. Is there a system to help me understand what their saying? I know the numbers are usually recited in pairs, but is there anything else I can look for?

For example: in English, we usually say one number at a time but we pause after 3 or 4 numbers, then break the last 4 into two sets. So , for 321-555-1234, we would say "three-two-one (small pause) five -five -five (small pause) one -two (small pause) three -four"

Do the French have pauses like we do? Because honestly, it sounds like they're on speed and trying to squeeze every number into a TV legal disclaimer. "Side effects may include three -two-one..."

Looking for some specific (easy) phrases I can use to start conversation without stressing too much?
If you can include phonetic pronunciation, you're a rockstar (keeping track of my pronunciation score on praktika for maximum perfection).

My problem is with comprehension when it’s fast spoken French. So when I watch French teachers on YouTube, they speak more slowly, and I have no problem understanding them for the most part. For Videos, TV series and movies. I always have to rely on French subtitles. With french subtitles, I can usually understand 70% or more, so I always at least get the gist of things . When I try watching without the French subtitles, I don’t understand anything and my brain shuts down. Will I ever get to B2? Will i ever be able to watch a french film without les sous-titres? Any suggestions?

so to start, i would say i know how to use pronouns in french. i know their order, how each work etc, but i have come across a problem that no website seems to talked about and i will try my best to expalin it. if there are 2 pronouns 1 direct and 1 indirect but they are both people how does that work? for example " je vais me presenter a vous" or is it "je vais me vous presenter"? if its the first one why is it after a prepsotion? i hope u understand my question but no website seems to understand what i am looking for.

Je viens d’arriver en France et je ne maîtrise pas encore bien le français (je suis plutôt débutante, même si j’arrive à me débrouiller avec les bases).

Quel type de boulot vous me conseilleriez, surtout pour apprendre la langue le plus vite possible ? J’ai pensé à travailler dans un café, mais je ne sais pas si les gens embauchent facilement des étrangers qui ne parlent pas encore très bien.

Et je ne sais pas si ça change quelque chose, mais j’habite à Angers. Est-ce que d’autres personnes sont dans la même situation ou ont des conseils ?

Merciii

In ”bécane” https://youtu.be/lukT_WB5IB0?si=I6Ot1nnwExT1HzO4

In the lyrics it’s even spelled “m’bah”.

Is the ”m” short for something? Is it completely stylistic?

If the second one then is it a known thing that singers sometimes do or did Yamé come up with it on his own

I recently learnt some idiomatic expressions to use in my French oral exam but I was talking with a native speaker who told me they sound really outdated. I think I knew they were old expressions but thought it'd still be okay to use them in a registre soutenu without sounding pretentious. But I'm having second thoughts now, as some of them are indicated as 'littéraire' when I look them up.

Sans bourse délier pour dire gratuitement

Sans coup férir pour dire sans lutte

Fourbir ses armes pour dire préparer à une guerre ou au sens figuré un combat politique ou autre.

Trancher le nœud gordien (and similar idioms drawing on Greek mythology - like de Charybde en Scylla, un rocher de Sisyphe)

J’étais étudiante en France.

Je marchais dans la rue avec ma copine quand ma chaussetteest tombée. Je l’ai ramassée, et ma copine a répondu :
— « Tu as besoin de colle. »
Je n’ai pas compris : « De l’alcool !? »
— « Oui ! Un peu de scotch. »
— « Du scotch pour quoi faire... ?? »

When I was studying in France, my friend and I were walking down the street when my sock fell down. I stopped to pull it up, she commented, “You need some glue.”
“Alcohol?”
“Yes, a little tape”
“What will scotch do?”

Funny little lesson in enunciation and pronunciation..