It has been a while since I last posted a review of a
language-related book, which made me want to read a book for pleasure even more. The novel “Flirting with French: How a Language
Charmed Me, Seduced Me & Nearly Broke My Heart”, written by William
Alexander, had been sitting on my shelf at home for quite some time, because I
had never gotten a chance to read it in college. Despite being a slow reader, I
read a lot of it in just a few days, as I was instantly hooked.
If you are looking for a good read that makes you laugh,
smile, and even ponder about your own life, this is just the book for you. The
entire book is about William’s experiences wanting to become more than just a
Francophile. His biggest change is having to learn the French language in
order to truly become French.As the
inside flap of the novel says “Alexander eats, breathes, and sleeps French
(even conjugating in his dreams). He travels to France, where mistranslations
send him bicycling off in all sorts of wrong directions, and he nearly drowns
in an immersion class in Provence… While playing hooky from grammar lessons and
memory techniques, Alexander reports on the riotous workings of the Académie
française, the four-hundred-year-old institution charged with keeping the
language pure; explores the science of human communication, learning why it’s
harder for fifty-year-olds to learn a second language that it is for five-year-olds;
and, frustrated with his progress, explores an IBM research lab, where he
trades barbs with a futuristic hand-held translator.”
If that description still has not gotten you excited about
this novel, I do not know what else will. Before delving deep into the
storyline, I did not have many expectations of what this book could offer,
because I had wrongly assumed that I was very knowledgeable about the subject,
but even I was wrong. This novel combines scientific evidence and facts, real
life experiences, history, culture, linguistics, and modern language into a
mere 260 pages. You not only learn about the history of the French language and
how it has evolved over time, but also about the culture that is associated with
it, which ultimately determines how language is used. He also did a significant
amount of research about how he would go about self-teaching French at “such an
old age” by consulting with many polyglots and language experts. You even learn
a thing or two about how linguistics, therefore getting a small taste of what
that field entails.
No matter how old you are, what prior knowledge of French or
other languages you have, or lack thereof, I recommend this book to any reader,
especially one who is interested in languages as much as I am. I will warn you
that it may be hard to understand some of the nuances, words, phrases, or jokes
that Alexander mentions throughout the book, as they are written in French, but
do not fear if you have never had contact with the French language. He italicizes
everything that is written in French, making it easy for you to look up what he
is saying if you so desire. If you have studied French before, or, better yet,
speak it well, you will find this book to be very enjoyable and entertaining. It
may even help you brush up on your French.
I hope that you enjoyed reading this post and that you give
this book a try. I promise that if you have accidentally or purposely come
across this post, or even this blog, you will not be disappointed. Happy language-learning!
I have been meaning to write about listening to songs in
foreign languages for months now, but wanted to wait until I found enough
international singers and songs that I liked that I could share with you. As
Olly mentions in the video below, songs are one of the best ways to increase your
vocabulary in another language, but aside from that, you can also learn what some
typical contractions of words are, and can even use them to practice your
pronunciation.
I am a big proponent of songs, because as Olly says, “the
kind of vocabulary you get in songs is not the same, often, as the kind of
things that you will say when you are speaking the language.” You may be asking
yourself why that would be positive, but do not worry, I will get to that in a
little bit. When you first learn song lyrics, you have to be aware of the fact
that people do not typically talk like that. In words or phrases that are found
in songs, you should notice that it can be difficult to easily drop them in conversation.
“It is important to ask yourself questions such as: "Is this normal
language? Do people actually speak like that’”? More oftentimes than not, the answer
will be no.
I agree with Olly, in that most
songs that are in English are not like the way that we speak on an everyday
basis. For example, in the song “Echo” by Jason Walker, he says:
“Cause my echo,
echo
Is the only
voice coming back
Shadow, shadow
Is the only
friend that I have"
I am sure that you could notice
that most people do not usually burst out those words.
Since the words that are found in songs
are not generally the most common words that are used in everyday speech, you get to
learn complex ways of expressing yourself and describing the world around you in
a more meaningful, and, oftentimes, more poetic, or romantic way. If you want to increase your
vocabulary, when you are learning a song and you see a lot of words that you
want to use in conversation, you have to write them down. Whether you use
flashcards, read a lot and give yourself as much as exposure as you can with
new words, or write them down in a notebook, the most important part of the
process is to be consistent. I cannot stress enough how much the application
Anki has personally helped me in my language-learning journey. I will continue
to refer to my post "Foreign Language Vocabulary Builder Using Anki (Application)" from 6/25/16, because I strongly encourage you to download the
application and to make it a habit to regularly use it. I have yet to find a method that is as fun
and immersive as Anki.
I find that studying words separately
by putting them onto Anki is the most efficient way to retain difficult
vocabulary that I come across in songs, while still remembering those words in
the context of the song (ex: the phrase in which it is used and the syntax
associated with it). You can oftentimes also indirectly learn, or review
grammar by looking at the ways in which words are put together. If you are learning
a language that has a case system, songs tend to be a less overwhelming way of
reviewing the endings of words. I have already taught myself several
songs in German and Russian and have found many grammatical patterns in them
without having to tediously review case charts. You can even find websites and YouTube channels that have
songs in other languages that are already translated for you in your native language,
which is very convenient! I also highly recommend printing out the lyrics of a song that you enjoy, looking up any unknown words by translating them from your target language into your native language if you cannot infer the meanings of certain words, and, finally, putting them onto Anki. Make sure to have the lyrics in front of you every time that you listen to a song for the first couple of times in which you try to memorize it. As you start to become more comfortable with what you are saying and can sing the song without looking down every couple of words, try to challenge yourself by singing it without the lyrics in front of you. Eventually, you will be able to understand every word. It may take you a day, or two weeks before that happens depending on your level in the language and on how difficult the lyrics are, but I promise that the process is worth it in the end.
As a bonus, I will add the names of
some of my favorite artists in 6 languages. Some of my
favorite genres of music are R&B, soul, hip-hop and alternative, and I also like songs
that are soft, soothing, or that talk about experiences and feelings that you
have other than love. Here is some of my favorite foreign music (Feel free to click on
some of these artists of languages that interest you, so that you can check out
their YouTube channels and songs):
French-Amir-Amir: "J'ai cherché", "On dirait" Coeur de pirate- CoeurDePirateVEVO: "Crier tout bas", "Tu oublieras mon nom"
Corneille- "Parce qu'on vient de loin" Grégory Lemarchal- "Je rêve" Hazerka- "En silence ft. Ornella Tempesta" Jonah-Jonah Music : "Pas Le Droit à L'Erreur" MAGIC SYSTEM- Magic System Official: "Magic In The Air Feat. Chawki" Moker- "J'trace ma route" M. Pokora - M. Pokora Officiel: "Le monde"
Zaho- Zaho Officiel : ": "Je Te Promets", "Tant de choses"
Zazie-Zazie - Topic: "Je ne sais pas", "Les contraires""J'ai cherché"
German-Andreas Bourani- AndreasBouraniVEVO: "Auf uns", "Eisberg" Die Toten Hosen- "Tage wie diese" Joel Brandenstein- Joel Bandenstein: "Diese Liebe", "Lebenskraft", "Polaroid" Lina Maly- Warner Music Germany: "Schön genug"
Mark Forster- markforsterVEVO : "Anna","Wir sing groß", "Zu dir (Weit weg)" Unheilig- "Geboren um zu leben" Wincent Weiss-Digster Pop: "Feuerwerk"
Xavier Naidoo-Xavier Naidoo - Topic : "Alles Kann Besser Werden", "Führ mich ans Licht", "Und Wenn Ein Lied", "War Wir Alleine Nicht Schaffen", "Wo Willst Du Hin"
This is just a small taste of some
of my favorite artists, bands, and foreign songs, but I hope that you enjoy
some of them and start listening to them. I am personally very picky with my
music, because I like purchasing and listening to songs that have meaningful,
poetic lyrics, so now you get a small taste of to what I usually listen. I will
be updating this post in the upcoming months to add more music that I enjoy, so
be sure to watch out for an update sometime soon.
What makes songs so amazing is that
when you learn them, they “exist in [their] own bubble inside [of] your head.” The
more times that you listen to a song, the more likely it is that you will not
forget it. After you have memorized the lyrics of a song and have truly
understood what it is that you are saying and the deeper meaning of it, it is
very likely that it will forever be ingrained in your memory. When you least
expect it, you will hear lyrics of songs that you know pop up into your head. That
is the power songs- they are like memories that never fade away, making them a
powerful language-learning tool. Good luck finding music that you like and do
not forget to have fun while doing so!
