Madame Z. cuisine pour les jeune fils.
It was early morning yesterday; I was up before the dawn… okay, so I stole that from a popular song from childhood but I really was up early yesterday to go help Mrs. Z. serve crepes to middle schoolers at The Regis School. She made them the night before and they were fantastique, manifique and bon goute!
My hard work paid off because she let me take the rest of the crepes home! I served them for dinner – I checked out a new recipe for chicken and asparagus crepes and they were delicious. Thanks Mrs. Z for helping me with dinner tonight!
While tweeting yesterday I discovered another application to learn French that intrigued me so I went to their website and decided to download a free version of their software. It’s called Byki 4 by Transparent Language. It’s a flash card system with different scenarios for one to choose from to learn phrases naturally. You can choose topics that are very practical like how to greet people and how to take various forms of transportation. You will learn not only how to take a taxi, but how to ask for them to take a short cut or the fastest route. You will also learn how to question them so you don’t get taken advantage of while in the taxi.
How does this Byki compare to The Rosetta? Well, both have their merits. The Rosetta keeps one moving forward and on a logical path to sentence structure and pronunciation. Byki allows you to skip over lessons and navigate easily to practical lessons that will help you on your first trip to France. From what I have seen so far, it is focused on getting you communicating quickly rather than becoming fluent in all areas of the language. The jury is still out and I need more time with both.
Time is running out and I still have many things to do before I leave. I have not been focused as our neighbor passed away last night. It reminds me how precious time is with one’s family and friends and that one needs to not put things off for another day. So, after his service I will persevere and continue with my trip and my passion to learn French in his memory. I will also light candles in the churches I visit while in Paris next week for his family. Repose en paix Robert. Tu vas me manquer!
2 comments
Great suggestions – think I will pick up some French books while there in the children’s section. I have to go there anyway to check out their version of The Rosetta to see how they present English to the French speakers. Maybe the best way to learn French is to use the native French speakers version. Wouldn’t that be ironic!
I am sorry about the loss of your neighbor and friend. A stark reminder to us all how fleeting this life is and how important it is to live each day to the fullest. It sounds trite sometimes, but it is true.
On Twitter you asked me about a book to read in French. I’m not sure if you got my response — it sounds as if you have been pretty busy. I recommend Easy French Reader. It has a story about two college students in the first half with lots of vocab to help you. In the second half, it has short stories of French history. I thought it was a good book to learn from, and the history part was pretty interesting.
Here is the Amazon link to it
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=easy+french+reader&sprefix=easy+french+
Also, when you get to Paris, you might consider going to some book stores and going to the children’s section for some books. I always try to buy just a bit harder level seems easy to me so I can push myself.
Also, the museum book shops have children’s books that are good, too.
Thanks for the review if Byki. I am going to try it.
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