<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Champs-Elysées Forum's</title>
    <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/index.php</link>
    <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
    <language>EN</language>
    <pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 04:48:34 -0400</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 04:48:34 -0400</lastBuildDate>
    <category>Champs-Elysées Forum's</category>
    <generator>Phorum 5.1.20</generator>
    <ttl>600</ttl>
    <item>
      <title>[General Talk] Free language courses as used by US Foreign Service Institute.</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?1,140536,140536#msg-140536</link>
      <author>HarryR</author>
      <description><![CDATA[some guy has a useful list of sites from which to learn languages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYO5aw4wPHE

here's one of them:
&quot;Welcome to fsi-language-courses.com, the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.&quot;
http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/

There are many, many languages to choose from. All free.

I've found an online translator better than google or bablefish.
http://imtranslator.com/default.asp#

It translates to the target language, then back again to the source language. This allows you to confirm that your intended meaning is conveyed and tweak ( or rewrite!) your text. 

Peace.

Harry]]></description>
      <category>General Talk</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?1,140536,140536#msg-140536</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 04:48:34 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: recommendations for German self-study courses?</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,84,140535#msg-140535</link>
      <author>HarryR</author>
      <description><![CDATA[some guy has a list of sites to learn languages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYO5aw4wPHE

here's one of them:
http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/

There are many, many languages to choose from. As used by the US Foreign Services Institute. All free.

Spaß!

Harry]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,84,140535#msg-140535</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 04:35:53 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: Online translation</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140530,140530#msg-140530</link>
      <author>awestruck</author>
      <description><![CDATA[There is a free translation service that has other languages as well. It is found at:
www.freetranslations.com
I usually use it to try to translate German words, but yesterday I wanted to find out how to say Hello in Italian.
But note, it might not be a perfect translation.]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140530,140530#msg-140530</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 12:01:23 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: recommendations for German self-study courses?</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,84,140529#msg-140529</link>
      <author>awestruck</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I really like Rosetta Stone. Its a computer software program, and there are two levels of it. I am at the begining of the German 1, and have to say that it is very good. I've studied lots of teach yourself courses on German, and there are others I like too. I think there is one called &quot; Think German&quot; put out by a company called &quot;Vis-Ed&quot;. It has lots of small cards with sentences on them. There is a little booklet like a dictionary. The cards only have German on them, and a little picture to go with it. You can figure out what the sentence is by looking at the picture, and there is a cassette that goes with it. On the cassette, it goes through each picture, so you can hear the sentence. I would like to go to the web site again and see if this item is still available, or if it has been updated. Also, as someone else recommended, the Hugo book &quot;German in Three Months&quot; is good also. 
  Here is something cool I learned tonight. I went to this web site, and there are videos that you can watch in German: http://www.learner.org/resources/series104.html#
  If you go to the part that says &quot;Related Resources&quot;, and go to the part that says &quot;Teaching Foreign languages k-12&quot; then go to #7 (on the next page), and you can watch this lady do a class for third graders in German. She says that her students listen to about 30 minutes of German every day. I'm thinking that if I can listen to 30 minutes of German every day, I might be able to actually learn it to the point where I can communicate with someone in German one day. 
  I actually try to find German sentences and memorize them. Also, I am working on making German Crossword puzzles to learn German vocabulary. But I think the real key is hearing it alot and becoming familiar with the sound of it. Happy Studying! Gute Studieren!]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,84,140529#msg-140529</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2008 23:00:19 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Help with my short spanish speech?</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140528,140528#msg-140528</link>
      <author>skankfish215</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hiya. So it's exam season and I need to prepare two short spoken pieces for next Monday. Can someone with better spansih than me please give them a read below and help me iron out any syntax or grammatical errors? Thanks ain advance! Don't worry about the accents and things.
Dom


1/ recounting past event. All three past tenses

En el verano pasado, mi novia Laura y yo fuimos a España. Una de las cosas más asombrosas que hicimos que la vacación era ir al parque nacional de Ordesa y monte perdido, en la frontera francesa.
Cuando habíamos llegado en el pueblo bonito se llama Torla, cerca del parque, montamos la tienda y dormimos. 
En la noche, el sonido de animales grandes nos despertamos. Hemos entendido ahora que eran lobos. Habían sido asustados del olor a masculino de mío.
Después en el día, salíamos al parque principal. Era un lugar bonito, y mientras estábamos andando al fondo del valle, miramos a los acantilados alrededor de nosotros. 
Eran más de un kilómetro de altitud. “Vamos para arriba allí”, dije, como un imbécil.
Después de siete horas de andar y escalar, había llegado a la cumbre, entonces montamos la tienda una otra vez y dormimos en piedras incómodo.
Durante desayuno en la tercera día, decidimos regresar a Torla por los acantilados. ¡Mal idea! 
Lo qué nos pasó primero era que estábamos caminando en las montanas cuando de momento desaparecía el sol y empezó a nevar. ¡Vaya faena! 
Qué divertido… entonces, ¿sabe lo que nos pasó? 
Continuábamos andando por algunas horas, y conseguimos perdidos varias veces. 
Finalmente, encontramos el sendero abajo la montana. Era muy, muy empinado, y muy peligroso. 
Entonces, lo recuerdas muy bien, cuando hacía bueno y había mucho calor ¡nos quedamos sin agua! ¡Ay! 
¡Entonces, Laura lastimó su pierna muy mal! 
La noche había comenzado, y ¡entonces la linterna se rompió! 
Tuvimos que caminar abajo un kilometre de altitud, por tres horas y media, con Laura a dañado, sin luz, sin agua. 
Fuimos un pedacito loco, y al final del valle yo saltaba en el río y bebí siete galones de agua mugriento. 
Aunque, no he aprendido nada, y quiero regresar allí una otra vez. Me gusta el riesgo y la adrenalina, y las montanas me impresionaron mucho. Laura no conviene. Tengo un espíritu aventurero.

2/ talking about future plans

Este es mi último ano de universidad, y en cuatro semanas a estas horas estaré terminando mi último examine. 
Después, me gustaría dedicar dos o tres semanas con mis amigos, sin trabajo, sin esayos y examines. 
Es posible que no los veré para mucho tiempo, así que voy a despedirlos correctamente. 
Creo que habrá muchas fiestas, barbacoas, y viajes diarios a la playa.
Cuando yo veo mis amigos una otra vez, habrán conseguido trabajos, posiblemente niños también. ¡Hola la edad adulta¡
En Noviembre iré a viajar con mi novia Laura. Antes de ése mí tendré conseguir un trabajo y ahorrar un poco dinero. 
Vamos a Asia suroriental por cinco meses. Comenzaremos en malasia, la visita Indonesia, Borneo, Singapur, Tailandia, Vietnam, Camboya, Laos, China y Hong-Kong si tenemos tiempo.
No tenemos muchos planes porque querremos relajar completamente. Normalmente, cuando vamos a viajar es bastante agotador porque no tenemos mucho tiempo y deseamos hacer todo.
Acabamos de conseguir un trabajo en Japón que comienza en abril, así que volaremos allí luego, probablemente desde China, pero podremos volar a Japón de casi dondequiera.
En este caso, tenemos mucho tiempo y habrá muchos menos tensión.
Elegimos Japón porque una de nuestro amiga es la directora del programa de enseñanza allí, y ofrecido nos un trabajo.
Deseé siempre ir allí, así que está es mi oportunidad.
Ensenaremos a inglés y aprendido a japonesa por un ano. Quisiera aprender algunos artes marciales también.  
Después, regresaremos a Inglaterra. 
Me encantaría tener un trabajo que permite que viaje y que trabaje en el mismo tiempo.
En la invierno de 2010, iré a Nueva Zelandia y entrenaré para hacer piloto de la línea aérea de Easyjet. ¡Al final, un trabajo apropiado!]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140528,140528#msg-140528</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2008 12:08:55 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: Why I am Learning to speak German at 40 something</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140449,140527#msg-140527</link>
      <author>Kenneth Kinchen</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I admire and encourage your learning German. German is my second language, French my third, and Enlgish is my native language. Here's a tip that will help you with word order and learning the &quot;feel&quot; of the language: Play your language CD's while driving, or anywhere you can. It's not important that you understand them. Just listen to them as often as you can. That's how we all learned our native tongues. kk]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140449,140527#msg-140527</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2008 10:43:38 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: Hallo !</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140446,140526#msg-140526</link>
      <author>Didier69</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hallo Michael !

Vielen Dank für Ihre Antwort. Ich will sehr gern mit Ihnen auf Deutsch schreiben. So können wir unsere deutschen Kenntnisse ausüben. Ich interessiere mich sehr für Sprachen. Ich kann auch Englisch, Schwedisch, ein bisschen Portugisisch und Französisch ist meine Muttersprache. Ich wohne in einer kleinen Stadt in der Region Provence in Südostfrankreich. Hier spricht auch niemand kein Deutsch mit mir. Wo haben Sie Deutsch gelernt ? In der Schule ? Meinerseits habe ich Deutsch als Autodidakt gelernt, weil ich diese Sprache immer gemocht habe. Ich werde mich sehr von Ihnen zu lesen. Wenn Sie möchten, können Sie direkt an meine E-post schreiben. Es ist hotfruit38@yahoo.fr       Bis zum nächsten Email !
                     Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
                                Didier]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140446,140526#msg-140526</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2008 10:17:22 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: Hallo !</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140446,140525#msg-140525</link>
      <author>jmepps</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Grüß Gott!

Ich bin Amerikaner, der auch mein Deutsch verbessern möchte.  Ich wohne in Tennessee.  Mein Sohn lernte Spanisch in der Oberschule und meine Tochter lernte Französisch in den Oberschule und Universität.  Leider spricht niemand hier Deutsch mit mir!
  
Schreib wenn Sei wollen.

Michael]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140446,140525#msg-140525</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 18:52:10 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Re: Spanish book recommendations</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140313,140524#msg-140524</link>
      <author>halvenon</author>
      <description><![CDATA[How about books in English, etc with Spanish translations? John Grisham's The Brotherhood and La Hermanidad are a pair - with a lot of dialogue as well as description. Try reading a section in the English first, then the Spanish; and vice versa.]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140313,140524#msg-140524</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 13:03:30 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Re: Differences between essays</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140521,140523#msg-140523</link>
      <author>Joe Prohaska</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Great question.  Very interesting.

My native language is English, and I have read many essays in English but not so many in Spanish.  So I am not perfectly positioned to answer your question, but I still have some thoughts!

If you read great essays in English from the 19th century, you will find that a lot of them have a remarkably complex sentence structure, not to mention a challenging vocabulary and perhaps a lot of French and Latin, along with German and Italian and Greek (or Castellano!) if they are quoting their favorite authors in those languages.  Most readers these days would find reading these essays rather hard work.  The sentences can be so long and convoluted, the words and phrases difficult to understand, etc., that it is difficult to follow what is being said.

These days the tendency in good English essay writing is simplicity.  I do not know if this is because of Hemingway and my favorite author, Pirsig, or what.  But I think most educated writers now strive to use vocabulary and language appropriate to the intended audience.  Languages like English and Spanish are incredibly rich in their vocabularies, and that is a treasure and a joy, but a good (conscientious) writer is careful in his selection of words to use in each situation.  Use of unnecessary untranslated foreign language is deprecated.  For my part, I have little patience with unnecessarily complicated writing these days.  It strikes me as pretentious and muddled.

The basic goal of essay writing has surely always been the same in whatever language: to have the reader understand what you intend them to understand.

Of course, it always tempting to try to achieve another goal: to show off!  I am not even saying that this is terrible thing.  Sometimes it has some good effects.  But often it undermines what I think really should be the main goal, again, to communicate clearly, to be understood (correctly!).

And then may be even other goals, for example, to provoke, both in a perverse sense but maybe also in a more positive sense.  In that case you might write your essay with words and language that is intentionally ambiguous, vague, evocative, provocative.  But by default I think the goal should always be to communicate as clearly and gracefully as possible, in whatever language.

In Spanish perhaps I have read too many essays by older members of the RAE and old-fashioned newspapers, but often I have thought that the essays are unnecessarily complicated and full of unusual words.  Sometimes they have seemed too formal, too &quot;puffed up&quot;.  But I read them primarily to exercise my Spanish, to work on learning Spanish, so it is okay with me.  Sometimes though I think that most Spanish writers do not work hard enough on keeping their language as simple as possible.

And perhaps now in some Spanish essays there is more English than is necessary.  Maybe that is because English is bit de moda, and it is fun (for the writer) to throw in some English.  It's not a problem for me, obviously, I am not anti-English!  But I am not sure what the intention of the writer is.  Can they be confident that most of their readers will understand the word of phrase?  Or do they have other intentions in doing it?

In fairness to the 18th century English writers and perhaps the Spanish writers I have chosen to read, they simply assumed a higher level of education and erudition than what I think is reasonable these days.  While I have read many classical authors, I can assure you I do not read Aristotle in Greek or Seneca in Latin nor Diderot in French.  If you throw that at me, I will have to get a dictionary and even so will be nearly totally lost.

So the punchline, I suppose, is that I think there is no difference between good writing in English and Spanish these days.  The principles and methods are the same.  Get clear in your mind what you want to say, then lay it out step-by-step for your reader so they can build up in their minds what you are trying to communicate to them.  Say it in a clear, interesting way.  I think a lot of good writers first strive to get their thoughts down on &quot;paper&quot; and then revise and revise and edit and edit until it is as simple and direct and clear as they can get it.

I hope this has been helpful, or at least a little provocative.  :-)

Joe

P.S.  I forget which writer said this, whether it was perhaps Mark Twain, or Kurt Vonnegut, or someone else, but it was something like &quot;When I write something that strikes me as especially fine, I strike it out!&quot;  I fear I have mangled that, but the idea I believe is that the point is not to write something that is really clever and impressive and pleases YOU but something that will be appreciated and understood by your intended reader(s).]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140521,140523#msg-140523</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 12:40:29 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Differences between essays</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140521,140521#msg-140521</link>
      <author>Aixa Yilemy</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hello.

My native language is Spanish. I need the differences between an essay in English and an essay in Spanish. 

Thanks a lot]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140521,140521#msg-140521</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:20:47 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Re: amar or querer?</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140203,140520#msg-140520</link>
      <author>Aixa Yilemy</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hi 

Spanish is my native language. Amar is something much deeper. If you say &quot;te amo&quot; it means you love a lot. Querer is for shallower feelings. And, desiring someone is expressed by deseo]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140203,140520#msg-140520</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:09:33 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Learning Spanish in Spain</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140517,140517#msg-140517</link>
      <author>lauramary</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hóla all,
last month I spend 3 weeks in this school an it was one of the best experience I have ever made. Alhambra Instituto offers individual courses for beginners and advanced speakers...so if you want to learn spanish rapidly or only want to improve your knowledge go for a few month to a Alhambra Instituto for more infos check out their page Alhambra-instituto.org
Muchos Besitos
Laura]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140517,140517#msg-140517</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:12:05 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] deleted</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140516#msg-140516</link>
      <author>norman</author>
      <description><![CDATA[a]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140516#msg-140516</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:07:10 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] french books</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140515,140515#msg-140515</link>
      <author>bibi28</author>
      <description><![CDATA[hi, I'd like to know how many people would be interested in having access to second-hand french written novels in England and elsewhere?
Bonjour, je voudrais savoir combien de gens seraient interesses a avoir acces a des romans d'occasion ecrit en Francais en Angleterre et ailleurs?]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140515,140515#msg-140515</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:45:45 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] Re: Vous parlez francais? Je peux vous aider.</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140514#msg-140514</link>
      <author>Nuna</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Merci beaucoup Norman de votre reponse. Actually, I don't speak French fluently. I'm still learning :(  Je parle un peu de Francais.]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140514#msg-140514</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:28:17 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] books</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140513,140513#msg-140513</link>
      <author>pmaggoo</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I'm looking for good, simple books on basic French pronunciation.  I have no prior knowledge at all but would like to have some idea of how to say words without sounding like I'm butchering the language.  Any recommendations?

Thanks!]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140513,140513#msg-140513</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:12:52 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Italian Language and Culture] Re: Italian courses in Italy</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?13,85543,140511#msg-140511</link>
      <author>MHiggins3</author>
      <description><![CDATA[If you are looking for a great school in a small hill town you might want to look at the ACCADEMIA LINGUA ITALIANA ASSISI in Assisi.  The school is great and the town is wonderful.

The web site of the school is: http://www.aliassisi.it/fees.htm

Buona fortuna,

Mike]]></description>
      <category>Italian Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?13,85543,140511#msg-140511</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:26:44 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] deleted</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140510#msg-140510</link>
      <author>norman</author>
      <description><![CDATA[a]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140510#msg-140510</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:33:05 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] Re: Vous parlez francais? Je peux vous aider.</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140509#msg-140509</link>
      <author>Nuna</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Bonjour Norman!

J'etude le Francais, est-ce que tu m'aides comme tu dis? Je suis a la troisieme niveau au centre Francais. Je suis une administrative clerk, mais j'ai ete trainee dans une banque il ya quelques annees et j'aime y travailler. 

Awaiting ta reponse. A bientot :)]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140484,140509#msg-140509</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:49:43 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Re: Spanish book recommendations</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140313,140508#msg-140508</link>
      <author>Joe Prohaska</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I'm not sure how this will work for everyone, but I sure have enjoyed reading the Manolito Gafotas series by Elviro Lindo.  Molan.  Molan un pegote.

Joe]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140313,140508#msg-140508</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:45:55 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] hi</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140507,140507#msg-140507</link>
      <author>faithroses</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hi!

Anyone who can help me to find how to speak correctly french language and learn the french language.

I am here right now in France and I want to be able to communicate with them but for now I cannot able to do for I cannot speak correctly their native language.

Help me!!!

Merci a tous.]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140507,140507#msg-140507</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:10:00 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] Re: Listening to French</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,394,140506#msg-140506</link>
      <author>faithroses</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hi!

Anyone who can able to help me find a site to exchange communication by english and french.

I want to learn learn french language and to speak french.

Merci a tous]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,394,140506#msg-140506</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:04:28 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] Re: French support group</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,308,140505#msg-140505</link>
      <author>Ship</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I too would be interested in the group, I now live in France I have a French diploma but I am always looking at ways of improving, and would be more than happy to help others.]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,308,140505#msg-140505</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:41:34 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] Re: Speaking French/English Dictionary</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,214,140504#msg-140504</link>
      <author>Michael</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I am sorry to say that I found the automated pronunciation at [www.research.att.com] incomprehensible.]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,214,140504#msg-140504</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:43:20 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[French Language and Culture] Re: Going to France</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140493,140503#msg-140503</link>
      <author>JXBrown</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Lucky you!  Would Saint Etienne work for you?  It's the 9th largest city in France (i.e. not too large) and very rugby oriented.  Toulouse might be a possibility too.]]></description>
      <category>French Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?11,140493,140503#msg-140503</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:35:56 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Re: native Spanish speaker to converse with</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140472,140500#msg-140500</link>
      <author>nodrog102</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hola

Thank you for your reply. I just want to practice, but I'd be happy to try to speak on particular topics. I have multiple interests - culture, sports, history, business - so whatever as we say &quot;floats your boat.&quot;

I live near Philadelphia and am planning to move soon to Los Angeles, where I spent 2 of the past 5 years. I only mention that because I'll be in a different time zone soon - but my schedule is really flexible and I can adjust to suit yours. As I said, my phone rates are fixed - I don't pay long distance rates for any calls, so I'd be happy to call.

I'm a writer, formerly in management for many years at a Philadelphia PA-based energy company. I currently write for several magazines, do some business consulting and teach French at a nearby Community College - so, if you have any interest in learning/ improving/ practicing French, I'd be happy to help.

Let me know where you're located and if/ how you'd like me to contact you!

Again, thanks for your reply

Bob Gordon]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140472,140500#msg-140500</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:37:00 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[Spanish Language and Culture] Re: native Spanish speaker to converse with</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140472,140499#msg-140499</link>
      <author>Clarhe200</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hello

I am a Spanish native speaker.  Do you want to converse to learn more about a specific topic or would you like to just practice?]]></description>
      <category>Spanish Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?14,140472,140499#msg-140499</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:45:51 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: Why I am Learning to speak German at 40 something</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140449,140498#msg-140498</link>
      <author>HarryR</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hi

Congrats on deciding to learn another language!
It's much more difficult - that is, maintaining the momentum of learning - when not living in a country where the language is spoken. 

It's very satisfying to arrive somewhere and hear your own voice saying these odd sounds and people actually understanding you and replying. 

Be warned that they will not always be surprised that you are in Germany and speaking German. 
Possibly, they'll even be annoyed that they have to concentrate to understand your accent. 

Think of the equivalent situation in your own country. 
Also their reply may not be on your script so be ready to at least ask them to repeat what they said. 

The final fall back is to ask if they speak English. 
You lose all accumulated points for this, of course and this should be avoided; perhaps by starting again with someone else.

The opportunities for gaining points are immense, tho. 
Going into a shop and actually coming out with what you went in for becomes a hugely entertaining sport. 

As you progress with the language it becomes part of you so the words and grammar you were struggling with before become obvious and the quirks necessary.

Progress is not measured in time. 
Studying something for 3 weeks, 3 months or 3 years is not a useful indication. 

Progress is made by practice, practice, practice.
Think of new ways to make use of words or grammar constructs and get a german speaker to correct them. 
Learn new words each day. 

Write a description of something familiar to you in English and then translate it into German. 
This way you learn the German words of nouns, verbs, adjectives that are relevant to you rather than words that are specific to the context of a German book. 

Add the words to your list and test yourself on the list each day. 
Both German-English and English-German. 
Always learn a noun's article together with the noun: it is essential for the grammar. 

When the list is too long, break it into subject categories. 
Words you always get right can be moved to a weekly or monthly test. 

Write comments on German blogs or amazon.de. 

Spend some of your study time thinking of new ways to study. 
Have a framework so you can just sit down and begin doing something useful. 

Always have something to study with you.
This way you can make use of the odd 10 minutes when you have to wait for something.

Can you get hold of a German newspaper or magazine?
Stern is a chatty, colourful, photo-rich weekly that uses a broad vocab and picks a weekly theme from the zeitgeist.
Are these sold in nearby big cities?

The heavy duty (Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemein) and trivial papers (Bild) make intense use of german language and / or current German culture and may be slow going or impenetrable. I prefer to read an aticle in a  serious paper than Bild. 
Bild is a wash with cultural references from TV, german celebs, etc that defeat the use of a dictionary.

I'm 40 something too. 
For a limited time only tho as I shall be 50 in August. 
I'm currently in Munich improving my German. 
I first learnt it 25 years ago and I had a whim to take time out and refresh it having made limited progress with French.

Try this interesting website for people from all over the world learning a variety of different languages http://www.livemocha.com.
Users pick a course in their chosen language(s) and do the exercises.
The idea is that the native speakers of each language correct the exercises of those people learning their language.
Currently free to use, tho there's the implication they may charge for it in some way in future.

If you register come and say &quot;Nah, wie geht's&quot; to me. My user name on the site is also &quot;HarryR&quot;

Last but not least is that along with the language comes the culture. People in otherparts not only speak different they think and behave different too.

They come from a different planet too, as their assumptions about history, politics, music, philosophy, humour, religion etc may be very different to your own. 

They will bicker and argue like you do but not necessarily about the same things. 
Their taboos may be different. 
They may be familiar to varying degrees with many of your cultural references ( mtv, hollywood, presidential elections) but you may be aware of very few of theirs.

Just as cultures vary across your own land, germans will differ as individuals and also by region.

Which of course is why learning the language so that you can discover these things is so satisfying!

Harry]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140449,140498#msg-140498</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:45:34 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[German Language and Culture] Re: Why I am Learning to speak German at 40 something</title>
      <link>http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140449,140497#msg-140497</link>
      <author>catlady62</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Thanks.  I'll have to see if I can find it.  I struggle a lot with pronunciations and the audiobooks I use seem to vary in pronunciations.  My daughter has a friend who was an exchange student from Germany.  I thought about seeing if he could help me via the internet.  Have you had any one on one lessons?]]></description>
      <category>German Language and Culture</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://forum.champs-elysees.com/read.php?12,140449,140497#msg-140497</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:57:04 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>
