The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsArthur_Frain
(1,783 posts)like:
"You bunch of Camels!" - "Bande de Chameaux!"
"I don't give a shit, defiler of virgins." - Je n'en ai rein a foutre, espece de depuceleur des vierges."
"You must have been beautiful when you were young" - Vous deviez etre tres belle quand vous etiez jeune.
It's more fun learning if you cultivate the ugly american attitude early on.
Wolf Frankula
(3,595 posts)Go live in France for a few years. You will have to learn French and will use it every day.
Wolf
jmowreader
(50,452 posts)I lived in Germany for a few years...Ich bin gutes Leser und gutes Schreiber...Ich bin Nichtsprecher.
(So that this doesn't get alerted on: it means I can read and write German well but can't speak it.)
DFW
(54,055 posts)Ein guter Leser und ein guter Schreiber (comes from being married to a German for over 30 years and speaking it with her the whole time).
Demoiselle
(6,787 posts)You can start small. Two weeks in Paris, go home and practice, and return again and again
DFW
(54,055 posts)Before meeting my wife (and German took priority), I had a French girlfriend for a while, and her English sucked. My French, on the other hand, improved immensely, although that last phrase, "Take your hands off me," was one she never taught me. However, "mets ta main juste LÀ (put your hand right THERE)" was one I learned to pronounce with native fluency