Question about listening to French ...

[Flaxbee]

I'd like to improve my French by listening to it while I'm doing things around the office, house, etc. Background chatter.

I studied it for 3.5 years (and then Spanish for a semester and Italian for 1.5 years), and while it was ages ago, I still seem to have a better ear for French, and remember more of it than I do Spanish or Italian.

I don't really want to listen to French music, because I can barely even understand what English speakers are saying in a lot of music and I'd like to hear the language itself...not background instruments.

I don't want to listen to instructional CDs at this point because I don't want to have to focus on replying or memorizing; I just want to hear it regularly to get a feel for the rhythm, sound of the language again.

Are there any decent Internet radio stations with spoken French - like a French NPR? I realize it might be spoken quite fast -- but I'll deal with that. Obviously, the slower the better for me, though.

Basically, just looking for suggestions on listening to everyday conversational French.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[onehandle]

1. Go to tunein.com

Create an account so that you can save stations. (Free)

Search for 'French' and/or 'French Talk'

You'll never run out of stations and shows.

[Flaxbee]

2. thank you! I'll check that out asap

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. I would suggest you get together with a native speaker and record a few dozen phrases

and practice saying them over and over while you do those things around the house or office, if proper pronunciation is your immediate goal. Sometimes when you're learning a language you might think that by listening to a radio station you are hearing it correctly. You don't always have the developed ear and a native speaker can make you realize this. Also, there's the question about which regional accent you want to acquire. Some Parisians can have a very strong accent (French people from other parts of France mock them saying <<ils parlent pointu>>, meaning they speak sharp or pointy. <<Les pointus> or the pointy ones, particularly for the people in the south of France are the stuck up, uncool, full of themselves people of the north around Paris. The Corsicans call them <<pinzutu>> which also means "a pointy one" in the Corsican language, except that the Corsicans seem to apply that term to all outsiders who come to Corsica. I would say the best French accent is from central France like Lyon (equivalent to a California accent or sort of neutral accent in the U.S. as heard on the TV news. In north eastern France and places like Mulhouse in Alsace you've got a heaviness, especially in the guttural "r" which is a German influence on their accent. In the very latin region of the south like Marseille, you've got a real sing-song lilt and words ending in the letter "n" are given an extra "g" at the end like the word for "sailor", <<marin>> which takes on the sound of "maring". When I went to see the film Jean de Florette which takes place in the south of France there were people sitting next to me in the theater who asked me if they were speaking in Italian because of the strong sing-song inflections of the southern accent. In the south west and the areas near Spain like Toulouse, they roll their "r's". It might have to do with the Spanish influence. The Corsicans (more Corsicans live in the south of the mainland than do on the island) they also roll their "r's" and while Corsican is quite a bit different from Italian, they sound a bit like Italians speaking French. Again, it's probably important to get a native speaker to guide you for awhile, even if it's just for a few recorded lessons that you can practice over and over again.

[Flaxbee]

7. I'll look into that, too...

A good friend is fluent in German, and I know many Spanish speakers in my area who'd be happy to help, but I don't know a native French speaker locally.

Which is why it has been so hard for me to decide what to focus on; Spanish would be easier here, and I could use it daily...

[mockmonkey]

4. There is this...

http://frenchculture.org/film-tv-and-new-media/french-tv/86

French Public Television and on the left side are links for French Radio and Podcasts.

[Flaxbee]

8. alright! Thanks, mockmonkey

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. There are literally hundreds of French movies out on DVD

In the past twenty years, I have especially liked "With a Friend Like Harry," "Roman de Gare," "Tell No One," and "I've Loved You So Long."

Watch them first with the subtitles, and then turn the subtitles off.

[Chan790]

6. When I was in college I worked in the Modern Languages Lab...

a study center for students to come and put in additional work to help them with their language classes, that was one of the things we offered was a lending library of foreign films for students to do exactly that...watch them with the subtitles to get comfortable with the cadence of dialogue and then when they got comfortable following the conversations we'd have them turn off the subtitles. I spent so much time proctoring film-showings that I rarely notice that films are subtitled or that I don't understand the dialogue anymore.

It was the second most-effective exercise we had after immersion and dialogue with native speakers...not every language we offered provided that as an option, it's nearly impossible to find native speakers of Catalan or Basque for immersion exercises. (In part because we don't pay volunteers and none of the professors were themselves native speakers.)

[Flaxbee]

10. When I was studying Italian in college, we had a similar workshop / listening center

and I loved it...

[Flaxbee]

9. I am just going to start a French series on Netflix ...

I'll look for the movies you've mentioned.

Thanks, LL!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. If it's Braquo or Spiral, they are both extremely slangy and hard to understand

If you can understand them, you may consider yourself extremely proficient in French!

The Maigret series, made ca. 2000 but taking place in the 1950s, is much easier to understand, since it uses a more classic French.

[Flaxbee]

21. It is Spiral -- haven't started it.

Will see about Maigret (I liked the books). Thanks for the head's up ...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. And there's Youtube

Anyone who is a fan of French films must see the work of playwright/novelist/director Marcel Pagnol (three time winner of the New York Critics Circle Award for best foreign film). His films and stories all take place in the south, usually around Marseille. The trilogy of Marius, Fanny, and Cesar is very famous and full of local color. In this clip from Marius, you have the very latin southern accent and gestures as spoken in Marseille contrasted with the more neutral accent of Monsieur Brun who is from Lyon and who wears the white hat in the bar and is seated. Someone studying French should learn to be able to distinguish between the two accents. At the 5:00 mark we see the arrival down the stairs of Raimu, often called the greatest actor in the history of French film. Orson Welles called him the world's greatest actor and was on his way to visit him in France when he learned of his death. Any fans of French films should know the name of Raimu; movie theaters in France bear his name in his honor.

[Flaxbee]

22. Thanks; will bookmark this to watch later this week.

Appreciate it!

[trof]

11. Possibly French Canadian radio stations?

[DFW]

14. Be careful with that

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2014, 02:41 PM - Edit history (1)

There was an entry from Quebec once in the Cannes Film Festival, and the French had such a hard time understanding it, they put French subtitles on it. The Canadians were furious, saying their film was in French and therefore needed no subtitles in French. The French festival people said they didn't care WHAT the Canadians called the language spoken in the film, but since they (the French) couldn't understand it, they needed subtitles.

Indeed, many years ago, I was on a plane from Havana to Montréal, seated in a row with only Quebecois around me. I spoke to them in French. They immediately recognize my French as European, and warned me that while they would understand everything I said, I would only understand very little of what they said (they were right).

If the only French you know is Canadian French, it's like learning BIWI and thinking you can use it anywhere English is spoken.

[laundry_queen]

15. Ok.

I have to ask. What is BIWI? lol.

I'm a Canadian who speaks French. I remember the kerfuffle about the French subtitles for a French movie. I had a good laugh over that. I have watched some videos on you tube about the differences between France French and Quebec French. It's quite different - especially the slang.

I learned to speak with a French Canadian accent - but my schooling was in French Immersion which was based on Parisian French. I think most French schooling here in Canada is based on Parisian French, which is why it's so easy for us to understand European French and not the other way around. My extended family, however, spoke a slangy type of rural Quebec French. To this day, I find it really hard to understand.

I had a large amount of kids in my class whose first language was French - but the rural slangy type as I mentioned. Our teachers had a heck of a time trying to correct them with proper words used in Parisian French.

The differences are very interesting. But I will say this: French Canadian humor is the best. The videos on youtube are something my kids and I watch when we want a good laugh.

[DFW]

16. You wan fu larn om?

That's BIWI (British West Indies) for "Do you want to learn it?" There are many versions, as it varies from island to island.

I remember the "Just for laughs" series of Quebec humor they used to show as a short on airplane screens. They were great.

My best friend from the region could speak excellent Parisian French when he had to (and since his last government posting was Canada's ambassador to France while his uncle was PM, he often had to!). But when he was alone with other Quebecois, I was lost. I was honored to be the only Anglo at one of his two farewell parties in Paris. He had two, one for francophones and one for anglophones, and I was invited to the francophone one (mon français était suffisant, pareil-t-il). I was VERY appreciative that the Quebecois were willing to speak Parisian French to me, as I would have been lost if they had stuck to their home version.

By the way, your embassy residence on the Faubourg St. Honoré? WOW!!! If Louis XIV had popped out to offer us canapés, I wouldn't have been surprised. Raymond explained that Canada acquired the property for a song right after World War II. Otherwise, he said the Canadian government would never have approved the expense.

[laundry_queen]

17. Clearly I need to travel more

I had no idea about BIWI. SO interesting.

Wow, you friend was the Canadian ambassador to France - friends in high places lol. I also had no idea about the embassy. Someday, I will have to go see it.

I love Just for Laughs. My kids are partial to Têtes-à-Claques. All I have to do around here to get a laugh is blurt out, "C'est bon les pop-tarts."

[DFW]

18. When I met him, he was Ambassador to the USA

He used to invite my family to July 4th parties on the roof of the Canadian embassy in Washington--GREAT food and the second best view of the fireworks in Washington (best was from the White House balcony). I never met his uncle, but Raymond Chrétien was THE finest foreign service officer I ever met from ANY country, including, I'm sad to say, my own.

[laundry_queen]

19. Oh, hey, I know who he is. I've heard nothing but good things.

And also I'm clearly aware of his uncle.

[OriginalGeek]

20. Every time I listen to French

I get slobber in my ear.













I'm not complaining, mind you.