What do we eat?

Qu’est ce qu’on mange?

What do we drink?

Que boit-on?

Are you hungry?

Avez-vous faim?

Are you thirsty?

As-tu soif?

How do we pronounce these French words?  You can enter them into Google Translate.

Try this. Translate

When you type in the French, you can click on the little bell and hear how it sounds.

Language can be like a jungle when it is one you don’t speak.  Getting through a jungle takes a guide, a person who has successfully already been safely through it.

Learning French, for English speakers, is faster and more efficient with a tutor, your jungle guide.

You can go a few days without speaking, but you can’t go many days without drinking or eating.  What do the French have for us to eat and drink? Coming right up!

Art by Chuck Stewart

Blog post by Chuck Stewart, student

Language

Language has been around for a long time. 

The word language comes from Latin.  It originates from the Latin word for tongue, lingua.

There was a time when the word tongue also meant language and you may have heard of people “speaking in tongues” or in their “mother tongue”, which is the language they speak.

The French word for tongue is langue.  It almost looks like the word, language. 

Langue is a noun in French.  French nouns have gender and the gender may make no sense whatsoever, as I have discovered.  Gender is designated by using an article.  English articles you already know are a, an, and the.  They are neither masculine or feminine.

In French, the tongue is a feminine noun, so we use the feminine article “la”.  It almost makes you want to sing if you don’t know the words to a song.  Tongue is la langue.  Langue sounds almost like the English word, long.

Articulation, Pronunciation, and Enunciation

How do we form sounds when we speak?  We use the tongue, the lips, the teeth, the jaw, and the soft palate.  Consonants and vowels have sounds in English and in French.  Some are similar and some are not.

The soft palate is used in French, more than in English, when forming some nasal-sounding vowels. 

The good news is that phonation is phonation, in French.  It’s pronounced differently, but it is a clue about words which end in -tion.  They are often spelled the same in French as they are in English.  When we have words spelled the same in two different languages, they are called cognates.

It’s time to catch up.

Let’s look at some English words translated to French words.

Tongue – la langue

Tooth – la dent

Teeth – les dents

Lip – la lèvre

Lips – les lèvres

Soft palate – le palais mous

Hard palate – le palais dur

Gum – la gencive

Gums – les gencives

Vocal folds (vocal cords) – cordes vocales

Lick – lécher

Suck – sucer

Chew – mâcher

Bite – mordre

Swallow – avaler

Eat – manger

Drink – boire

Breathe – respirer

Inhale – inhaler

Exhale – exhaler

Food – la nourriture, l’alimentation, la bouffe

Drink – la boisson

Enjoy your meals today! Bon appétit!

Seven At A Time (SAT), Learning By Sevens

Part 1 Inside-Out:

1 shirt                la chemise

2 blouse            la blouse

3 braziere         la brasero                  

4 panties           la culotte

5 pants              le pantalon

6 slacks              le pantalon

7 socks               les chaussettes

By Sheree Stewart  

The easiest way to quickly start learning the French language or learning the German language, is to begin by looking at the cognates.

So what are cognates?

Cognates are words that are related by descent from the same ancestral language. Otherwise put, a COGNATE is a word that has the same original source as a similar word in another language and is therefore related to that word. The German word Haus is a cognate related to the English word “house.”

Another Cognate Example:

English father, German Vater, both are derived from Latin pater.

The origin or derivation of the word cognate is from early 17th century: from Latin cognatus, from co- ‘together with’ + natus ‘born’.

Simply put, you recognize the French or German word because the English word is ‘born’ out of the same ancestral language or root language, which could be Latin or Greek, for example.

Cognates may not be spelled identically the same and may not be pronounced identically the same; however, you will definitely recognize and identify the meaning because it is akin to your native language, English.

So how many German or French words to you already know before you even officially start to learn the language? THOUSANDS.

Here’s a very abbreviated list of German-English cognates:

Amerika – America
Ball – ball
Bär – bear
braun – brown
Finger – finger
Gras – grass
gut – good
Hamburger – hamburger
Land – land
Maus – mouse
Mutter – mother
Ring – ring
sauer – sour

Here’s a very abbreviated list of French-English cognates:

Amérique – America
ballon – ball
blond – blond
creme – cream
difficile – difficult
employeur – employer
garage – garage
invitation – invitation
logique – logical
musique – music
positif – positive
qualité – quality
réservation – reservation
théâtre – theater

Imagine now that there are actually thousands of cognates, and then you realize how much you already know prior to starting to learn French or starting to learn German. That’s an exciting start. This fact is yet another example which helps dispel the myth that “learning a language is hard.”

I always provide my French and German students with a list of cognates from the outset.

As a footnote, please be aware that there is such a thing as a “false cognate” or “false friend.” What is that? It is a French or German word that looks very similar or even the same as an English word, but carries a completely different meaning. It’s very important to be aware of those.

For example, you would not want to say to a German that you have a “Gift” for them for their birthday. Why? Because the German word “Gift” means poison in English. That gift would not be very well received.

It’s simple to get started. We can set up a free consultation and find out which language you’re ready to improve. CONTACT

Why not?  A native speaker of German usually will have a good or great grasp of pronunciation of German.  It doesn’t mean that they know precisely how to get a speaker of English to sound German. If a German person uses his or her voice professionally, the pronunciation, enunciation and the articulation may (or may not) be the best, however.  To say that all native speakers are equal is like saying that a ten-year-old baseball player is the same as a professional major league player. 

The Sounds We Make

The sounds we make when we speak a language are basically those of consonants and vowels.  Some languages even use tongue clicks.  Speaking of the tongue, the placement of it and the resultant sound can vary quite a lot, from one language to another.  There are vowel sounds in English which are far from the same as those in German.  Some are fairly close, but how do you get from the English sound to the German sound? 

A native German speaker may not know the transformative steps, because there wasn’t ever a need for a transformation.  Your first bit of evidence of this is if your native German speaker speaks English with an “accent”.  The accent is the result of not knowing, not practicing, or not fully grasping the nuances and idiosyncrasies of linguistics as pertain to the assimilation and utilization of language.

As we look more closely, we discover that there are diphthongs (in language, as opposed to only pure vowels.  These also are typically not interchangeable from one language to another.  As if that weren’t bad enough, the tongue position, placement, and movement are also different one language to another.  For example, the th-’sound isn’t used in some languages and a foreign speaker may often replace the th- sound with a d- sound.  Sometimes a foreigner speaking English may place the tongue on the back of the upper teeth to achieve the th– sound.  It’s close, but not quite there. 

As it is impolite in most cultures to “stick out your tongue”, this may inhibit a foreigner from saying a properly articulated th– sound.  Native speakers will hear that something is wrong, but they may not know 1) precisely what is wrong and 2) how to correct it.  

Conversely, there are two German ch– sounds, which do not sound like English; one is generated in the back of the throat and sounds like you are trying to dislodge a popcorn shell stuck there. An English speaker learning German could potentially feel like it’s a little “rude” to make those German sounds, or otherwise feel self-conscious.

You Want to Be Understood

The most basic purpose of language is to convey an idea from one person to another.  We call this communication.  If you pronounce something incorrectly:

• It may not be understood at all.
• It may be misunderstood.
• It may be misinterpreted.
• It may cause an argument.
• It will waste everyone’s time, trying to figure out what was meant and intended.
• It could even be embarrassing to you.

To Get from Here to There

If you’re a speaker without a regional accent or dialect and if you speak well, you will have a grasp of what sounds are made when you talk.  If you 1) have learned a language well and have spoken for hundreds of hours with native speakers and 2) can recognize the differences, the nuances, but also the transitions from the sounds of your native language to those of the target language, then you already have the experience to quickly sound like a native speaker. You will have effectively prevented the embarrassment of being the brunt of “sounding just like a (stereotypical) American” who is “not even trying to get it right”.  Practice does not always make perfect, if the things being practiced are imperfect.  Yes, perfection is a high standard.  But what’s wrong with having high standards?

I can’t tell you the satisfaction and thrill of having a German, give me a “Wow” reaction, when I speak German. Aside from loving to surprise people in general, the look of appreciation on their faces and the quality of the cultural exchange which subsequently ensues is very rewarding.

Perfectionism versus High Standards

A competent teacher will have high standards and will help you without making you feel embarrassed or stupid.  A great teacher will take you as far as you can go, while making it enjoyable, treat you with the respect you deserve, and discover what’s holding you back so that you can advance. 

Perfectionism or being a perfectionist isn’t the same as high standards.  It is a trap that can ultimately stop progress.  You can dictate your speed, whilst a competent teacher knows how to find what you need, when you need it, and in your own learning style.

The entire time I was in school, when I told people that my major was French and German, the response was invariably, “Wow, you must be really smart. Isn’t learning a language hard?!”

Well, I’ll graciously accept the compliment that I’m really smart, but learning a language does NOT have to be hard.

The reason most people perceive it as such, is that they are misassigning the cause of the difficulty they are having.

I am here to tell you that it is not the language that is hard. That is the symptom. The cause or causes are as follows:

• An inadequate system, curriculum and/or teacher.

– By inadequate system, I mean a language program (some of which are very expensive) that does not instruct you or guide you or correct the mistakes you are making along the way.

– An inadequate curriculum or teacher is one that is not presented at the appropriate level where you are. It could be too easy or too difficult. Another issue with curriculum is one which is not balanced and does not advance in the 4 vital components of language mastery:

Speaking – Listening – Reading – Writing

• An inadequate amount of repetition of the particular speaking, reading, writing, comprehension skill being learned.

– Repetition is key in language learning. Think about how many hours a day/week/year you are exposed to your first language: 16 hours a day, 112 hours a week, 5824 hours a year! Now multiply that times your age and that’s A LOT OF REPETITION.

• An inadequate understanding, skill level and/or mastery of the basics of grammar and sentence structure in one’s native language.

– Any subject matter is going to include specific terminology or nomenclature. The subject of language is no different. Terminology consists of labels. There are grammar labels, parts of speech, pronunciation labels which come from phonetics, etc.

– Unfortunately most students never learn the meaning of the grammar terminology. Then they grow up to become teachers, and don’t teach their students what they mean either. It’s an ongoing cycle of confusion.

– My approach is explain the labels first, do not go by any word that is not fully understood prior to bridging over to the second language. For example, I want to explain that in German when there are two verbs, the second being the “infinitive” and the infinitive must always go at the end of the main clause. What’s an infinitive? What’s a main clause? My students will understand these things FIRST.

Ex. I want to eat a pizza. In German: I want a pizza to eat.

To eat is the infinitive, or unconjugated verb unlimited by time or person. We don’t know who is eating yet, and we don’t know when the eating has or will occur. Therefore, there is an unlimited or infinite amount of possibilities. Hence, infinitive.

Education in the English language learning for Americans has become progressively watered down (politically correct term for “dummied down”) to the point that basic grammar, syntax, and spelling are a thing of the past.

After 12 years of being a certified teacher of French and German at the High School level, I can say the most common articulated reactions of my students were:

1) You make learning in French / learning in German FUN! and 
2) I have learned more about English from you, than from ANY of my English teachers.

It is safe to say, that every American student has experienced having “holes” in their English education. If you fill those “holes” first, you will open the door to learn the second language much more easily.

 Willkommen,  Bienvenue, Welcome!