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I got an A in standard grade French and I can't get by in France


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Old 10-12-2016, 20:30
WhatJoeThinks
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FFS why do various etymology places say they're linked in some way? I hate the English language at times, love it normally though!
Etymonline.com doesn't strike me as 100% accurate. You could ask Susie Dent.
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Old 10-12-2016, 20:36
skinj
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Etymonline.com doesn't strike me as 100% accurate. You could ask Susie Dent.
I did look at a few places, they probably all took info from the same place.
Work with a chap who loves his language and obscure words. Wasted hours with him discussing words that have fallen from use or seen their meaning charge over time.
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Old 10-12-2016, 20:38
Doctor_Wibble
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No, everybody is wrong. it used to have a posh name and even a certain amount of comprehensibility but unfortunately people misunderstood how to use the language and ended up sounding as coherent as if they were utterly piddled on gin.
Hence 'pid gin' because these were times of great vocabularic sensitivies.

As any fule kno.
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Old 12-12-2016, 13:20
jra
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Really is vraiment.

'N'est ce pas vrai' means 'isn't it true'. 'Ce n'est pas vrai' means 'it's not true' and is shortened to 'c'est pas vrai' said as a question means - no, really, you're kidding etc.

I can't think what 'ne vrai' could apply to. You don't mean 'n'est-ce pas?'
You should know, as your husband is French IIRC.
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Old 13-12-2016, 22:26
maidinscotland
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I got an B in French (30 odd years ago), in Scotland we didn't do number grading. I couldn't hold a fluent conversation in French nowadays. One of my colleagues is French, speaks English and also fluent Spanish. Another colleague who is Scottish also speaks Spanish and they stood next to me having a conversation in Spanish the other day! So rude! I can do sign language and felt like doing that to their faces haha.
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Old 25-12-2016, 11:14
Mia_Fine
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I love French. It's a very beautiful language. At first time when I have just moved to France on business I had difficulties with speaking and writing too. I even used https://www.translateshark.com/french.html on business of course. When you don't understand the person who stands in the front of you is speaking then just smile and nod head
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Old 25-12-2016, 11:18
Horza's Drone
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It's a really shitty, difficult language stuffed with idiomatic phrases in which most of the letters aren't even pronounced.

German and English are both far, far easier.
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