Frenchy Stuff, W/Catey

Salut, mes framboises.

If you haven’t already figured it out, that’s french. : )

For those who don’t know, this is probably my third (fourth??) time attempting to learn and practice french. The first couple of attempts were mostly unsuccessful, my second to last try was pretty okay, but it hasn’t been until now that I’ve done a good job of practicing everyday, for just over a month now. 

Now, I’m not saying I’m fluent, since I probably have the same grasp on french as a four year old, but I am saying that I’ve been doing pretty well, compared to former attempts, when all I knew were foods and basic greetings. 

So, what have I been doing, this month, to motivate myself? A lot, I must say. 

This post will contain some easy phases, my language learning tools, and some funny stories I have about the language, since it wouldn’t be Catey if I didn’t do something weird. 

Allons-y! [Doctor Who, anyone?] 

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Easy words/phrases (For greetings and conversation):

Bonjour~ This is probably the first thing you learn, when you start french. It means Hello, or Good Morning.

Salut~ This is what I used, at the beginning of the post. It means Hi, a much less formal greeting.

Je m’appelle ____~ My Name Is, blank. “Comment tu t’appelle?” Is “What is your name?”

Comment ça va~ How are you. 

ça va~ Also can be used to answer the question of “How are you?” Means it’s okay. Or, ça va bien is “things are going well.”

Enchanté~ Nice to meet you

Au revoir~ Goodbye

S’il vous plaît~ Please

Merci~ Thank you

Oui~ Yes

Non~ No

Je suis désolé~ I’m sorry

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Those are all things you’d say, introducing yourself. For instance, Bonjour, Je M’appelle Catey. Comment tu t’appelle? Comment ça va?” Would be “My name is Catey. What is your name? How are you?” 

I could try explaining verbs, but I’m still confused about those, or I could explain tenses and genders, but that also gives me a bit of a headache, so let’s just go with my list of favorite words and stuff.

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Catey’s favorite french words:

Aime~ Aime is the basic verb for love, or like.

À bientôt~ See you soon

Beaucoup~ a lot.

Parfaite~ Perfect

Framboises~ Raspberries

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Some very random words, I know.

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My tools:

Basically, just the techniques and other things I do to practice.

Duolingo~ I use this, almost as much as I play animal crossing, which is a lot. 

Writing~ Sometimes, when I’m bored, I write myself little messages in french. It’s kinda fun

Reminders~ I’ve also been writing things down in my planner, in french. : )

Notes~ THE SHEER AMOUNT OF NOTES I HAVE TAKEN FOR FRENCH IS PROBABLY MORE THAN THE AMOUNT OF NOTES TAKEN FOR SCHOOL and I’m not complaining.

Music~ French pop isn’t too bad. : )

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French Stories:

Some fun stories, not actually in french.

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Jumping out of a window at school

I have mentioned this before, but I don’t think I ever explained what happened. Welp, here’s the explanation. 

I was in french club last year. It was warm outside, but to get outside, we would have to get the keys from the janitor, walk down the hallway, unlock the door- and that’s a lot of stuff to do. So, what did we do? WE jumped out the window. It was wonderful.

Flirting in French

[This one still makes me laugh] so, Duolingo gave me the option between learning french Idioms and Proverbs, or learning how to flirt in french. Of course, being the idiot I was, I SPENT 1000 DIAMONDS ON FLIRTING WHICH REALLY DIDN’T TEACH ME ANYTHING I’m still quite salty about it, but it’s a funny story.

Macarons, That Could Quite Possibly Kill You

I made macarons. I took a recipe, specifically labeled “Impossible to Mess Up Macarons”. I made sure my ingredients were right, and made multiple trips to the store to get supplies. In the end, I had to go do something in the middle of them resting, so the eggs were raw, for hours. Then, I did cook them, did not get Salmonella, but the meringue recipe called for  a ton of lemon extract (which is almost entirely alcohol), so that was sucky, and to top it off, I forgot to flip the baking paper, after drewe circles on it (to measure out the sizes of the macarons) so they had pencil circles on them. A fail.

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And, that’s it! What did you think? Are these tips helpful? Were the stories funny? Are you learning french, or any other languages? Please talk to me, I am lonely.

As always, but in french, reste cool et reste en sécurité.

Fun fact! La Croix (the name, not the actual business) is french, for “The Cross”.