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michele

By michele
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Tony Jones Grand Master

Tony Jones

Posted
Posted
michele - 2007-11-14 3:57 PM

 

It a good collins one as well ? maybe obviously not good enough..

 

Thank you all :D

 

First time we ever went to France (1978, 4 people, 2 tents in a Bedford CF van), we didn't have a dictionary so we bought a Collins "Gem" one over there - exactly same as English edition, except the cover was in French. We then took it with us every trip, and found it completely CONSISTENT - every time we looked up a word, in either direction, it wasn't there!

 

Fast forward 20yrs: when the kids did a French at school, one of them got a big paperback Oxford Fr/Eng dictionary, so we made room for that in the camper, but still took the Collins for when we went out on foot. It still never had the words we needed, so a few years ago we bought a new one - Collins Gem French edition again, but at least twice as thick as the old one. Big improvement, words are always there when we look for them. This summer we forgot to pack it, so we bought another, this time a "Larousse," similar size & shape to the newer Gem, but nowhere near as complete - kept catching it out with words it didn't know.

 

Is it us? Do we use strange words? Are we too ambitious in what we want to say (or read!)? And does anyone want a well-thumbed 1978 Collins Fr/Eng dictionary??

 

Tony

 

PS (in edit): as to your original question 'Chele, I agree with His Lordship - "leisure activities," but it always seems to be used to signpost swimming pools, sports centres & suchlike. Not my idea of leisure!!

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Mick H. Mentor

Mick H.

Posted
Posted
Tony Jones - 2007-11-14 5:08 PM

 

michele - 2007-11-14 3:57 PM

 

It a good collins one as well ? maybe obviously not good enough..

 

Thank you all :D

 

First time we ever went to France (1978, 4 people, 2 tents in a Bedford CF van), we didn't have a dictionary so we bought a Collins "Gem" one over there - exactly same as English edition, except the cover was in French. We then took it with us every trip, and found it completely CONSISTENT - every time we looked up a word, in either direction, it wasn't there!

 

Fast forward 20yrs: when the kids did a French at school, one of them got a big paperback Oxford Fr/Eng dictionary, so we made room for that in the camper, but still took the Collins for when we went out on foot. It still never had the words we needed, so a few years ago we bought a new one - Collins Gem French edition again, but at least twice as thick as the old one. Big improvement, words are always there when we look for them. This summer we forgot to pack it, so we bought another, this time a "Larousse," similar size & shape to the newer Gem, but nowhere near as complete - kept catching it out with words it didn't know.

 

Is it us? Do we use strange words? Are we too ambitious in what we want to say (or read!)? And does anyone want a well-thumbed 1978 Collins Fr/Eng dictionary??

 

Tony

 

PS (in edit): as to your original question 'Chele, I agree with His Lordship - "leisure activities," but it always seems to be used to signpost swimming pools, sports centres & suchlike. Not my idea of leisure!!

 

 

So if you've been going since 1978 do you need a dictionary.

 

 

 

Mick H.

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BGD Grand Master

BGD

Posted
Posted
Mick H. - 2007-11-14 5:19 PM

 

Tony Jones - 2007-11-14 5:08 PM

 

michele - 2007-11-14 3:57 PM

 

It a good collins one as well ? maybe obviously not good enough..

 

Thank you all :D

 

First time we ever went to France (1978, 4 people, 2 tents in a Bedford CF van), we didn't have a dictionary so we bought a Collins "Gem" one over there - exactly same as English edition, except the cover was in French. We then took it with us every trip, and found it completely CONSISTENT - every time we looked up a word, in either direction, it wasn't there!

 

Fast forward 20yrs: when the kids did a French at school, one of them got a big paperback Oxford Fr/Eng dictionary, so we made room for that in the camper, but still took the Collins for when we went out on foot. It still never had the words we needed, so a few years ago we bought a new one - Collins Gem French edition again, but at least twice as thick as the old one. Big improvement, words are always there when we look for them. This summer we forgot to pack it, so we bought another, this time a "Larousse," similar size & shape to the newer Gem, but nowhere near as complete - kept catching it out with words it didn't know.

 

Is it us? Do we use strange words? Are we too ambitious in what we want to say (or read!)? And does anyone want a well-thumbed 1978 Collins Fr/Eng dictionary??

 

Tony

 

PS (in edit): as to your original question 'Chele, I agree with His Lordship - "leisure activities," but it always seems to be used to signpost swimming pools, sports centres & suchlike. Not my idea of leisure!!

 

 

So if you've been going since 1978 do you need a dictionary.

 

 

 

Mick H.

 

I didn't take that meaning from what Tony wrote.

 

He said the first time he went to France was 1978, and then he mentioned 20 years later, so that'd be 1998; and from the remainder of his post, I surmise that he's returned at least a couple of times since1998.

 

4 or 6, or even 10 or more holiday visits to a country which uses a completely different language really aren't going to make you fluent in that language.

 

We've lived permanently in inland Spain, in a 99% Spanish village, for nearly 5 years now, and I still find myself regularly referring to our Spanish-English dictionary; albeit usually for the more technical words nowadays.

 

 

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Tony Jones Grand Master

Tony Jones

Posted
Posted

Thanks Bruce, you're right, there was a delay - although not quite that long. Completely off-thread (sorry Michele!) but here's the story:

 

Two tent trips (pre-kids) 1977/78 then nothing outside UK until 1987, when we bought our 1st camper - pop-top VWT2.

Went abroad (mainly France) in it & its 2 successors (both Glendale coachbuilt jobs) only 4 times over next 9 yrs, since we lived in Cumbria & it took 2 days to get to coast!

Finally, kids were getting too big for overcab (plus we had one of each), so "between vans" for about 3 yrs, but did a Keycamp (ready-erected tents) run one year during that.

Kids grew some more, decided they weren't going on hols with us anymore.

Dad: "Is that your final answer?" Kids: "Too right." So in April 2000 bought Hannibal (Son: "You've not gone and bought THAT!!!").

France or beyond most years since then - dead easy from here, Dover in under 2 hrs.

 

BUT (back on thread - just!) longest we've ever been away at one go was a bit over 3wks, and that was in several countries, so still not fluent. Anyway, they're ALWAYS coming up with words I've never heard before. I think they do it on purpose - worse than teenagers!

 

Tony

 

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Mel B Grand Master

Mel B

Posted
Posted

The problem with relying on a dictionary for translation is that it doesn't always give all the variants of how a word is spelt especially in French. Depending on the context/phrasing of what you are translating the word could be spelt in many different ways, for example:

 

To have: verb "avoir"

 

J'ai = I have

Tu as = you have (informal)

Elle a = she has

Il a = he has

Nous avons = we have

Vous avez = you have (formal)

Ils/Elles ont = they have

 

So if you were reading a sentence (in the present tense) which went something like "Nous avons une voiture ... (We have a car) and tried to look up the meaning of "avons" you wouldn't find it, you'd have to know that this was a conjugation of "avoir".

 

Even the more standard ones like "choisir" = to choose, isn't that simple:

 

Je choisis

Tu choisis

Il/Elle choisit

Nous choisissons

Vous choisissez

Ils/Elles choisissent

 

At least they all start with the same beginning though!

 

But the prize for the most commonly used but irregular verb conjugation in my view goes to the wonderful verb for "to be/am", eg:

 

Je suis = I am

Tu es = you are (informal)

Il/Elle est = he/she is

Nous sommes = we are

Vous etes = you are (formal)

Ils/Elles = they are

 

Try finding all of those in a normal dictionary page!!!! You need to have some knowledge of French to realise that they are conjugations of a verb (an explanation of "conjugation" is that the verb basically changes depending on what it follows, I, you, he, she etc). It's similar to the English, I AM, He IS, He/She IS, We ARE etc, it's just that we are used to these and don't have to even think about it.

 

Then you get into the future and past tense conjugations ... but we won't go there!!!

 

If anyone wants them I've got a table I typed up with a lot of verbs already 'conjugated' from when we were doing our French classes.

 

If you want more of an explanation about it all I've just found the below link to Wikipedia:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_verbs

 

:-D

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twooks Veteran

twooks

Posted
Posted

I got a posh schools dictionary plus grammar collins for £1 from one of those cheapo book shops -

It's been brilliant cos if you have time you can find most things - except local menu dishes sometimes - but gives all the verb options.

Doesn't cover latest jargon or colloquialisms or the French alphabet pronunciation- which is useful - and some camping terms can be a bit obscure - but -

that's part of the fun, as long as you have a go - they will usually bale you out - frequently in better english than wot you speke ;-)

 

B-)

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BGD Grand Master

BGD

Posted
Posted

Mel - yes, French uses a similar grammatical sentance format to Spanish (ie conjugating the verb, rather than altering the rest of the sentence, depending on it's usage).

 

I think all the Latin-based languages do that, using the usual 6 participles: I am, you (singular) are, s/he is, we are, you (plural) are, they are.

 

 

 

 

But in Spanish although most verbs are regular, the particalar verb "to be" is even more fun than in French, 'cos there's two of them, depending on the context: Ser and Estar.

 

So, in the present tense:

 

Ser: soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son.

 

Estar: estoy, estas, esta, estamos, estais, estan.

 

In all other tenses, it gets even more complex - there's no way you'd find the conjugated verb in your English/Spanish dictionery (unless it had one of those verb table thingies at the back, and you had an hour to kill).

 

Then, just to make life yet more exciting, "Spanish" (or Castellano) is only one of the 5 native, officially recognised languages spoken in Spain.

Whilst it is the official national language of the whole country, in many regions people speak and write in their own region language as well - thus in our Costa Blanca region you will hear and see just as much Valenciano as Spanish (and they are more or less entirely different languages).

 

Never a dull day here.....I can misunderstand almost anyone at any time.

 

 

:-D

 

 

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michele Grand Master

michele

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Bonjour mes petits Chéris vous sont comment tout aujourd'hui. J'espère que vous êtes tout puits et j'espère que vous tout aident mon Howie de camarade avec choisir un cadeau de Noël pour sa femme. Faites attention tout et Joyeux Noël à vous tout. Aimer Michele.

 

 

:D :D

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michele Grand Master

michele

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Hello my small ones Cherish you are how all today. I hope that you are all well and I hope that you all assistance my Howie of friend with to choose a gift of Christmas for his woman. Watch out all and Joyous Christmas to you all. Like Michele. -----. Who took the jam out of your Doughnut..?

 

 

Whhhhatttttttttt thats not what i put in it I think its been lost in TRANSLATION :D

 

On the upside Howie you have a woman :D :D :D :D :DDont tell the wife she will be after you :D

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malc d Grand Master

malc d

Posted
Posted
michele - 2007-11-15 2:39 PM

 

Bonjour mes petits Chéris vous sont comment tout aujourd'hui. J'espère que vous êtes tout puits et j'espère que vous tout aident mon Howie de camarade avec choisir un cadeau de Noël pour sa femme. Faites attention tout et Joyeux Noël à vous tout. Aimer Michele.

 

 

:D :D

 

Michelle:

Now that you've 'cracked' the French language maybe there's a chance that you could come up with a French/English dictionary just for tourers.

I often wonder what those important signs lit up over the motorway are,so please include a range of those.

 

 

 

 

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michele Grand Master

michele

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Bison Futé"

The "Bison futé" (in English the cunning bison) is the one that does not follow the crowd, but seeks out less crowded easier routes, the "routes bis", thus the "bis-on". If you see a bison futé sign, it will be directing you either to information about alternative routes, or to the alternative routes themselves. On summer Saturdays, being a cunning bison is often well worth it, unless you love sitting in bottlenecks.

 

 

there you go theres two for you to ponder ;-)

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michele Grand Master

michele

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Les véhicules de classe 2 aménagés pour le transport des personnes handicapées bénéficient de la classe 1.

C’est la mention « handicap » sur la carte grise du véhicule qui permet l’attribution de la classe 1.

 

 

just noticed this so its class 1 from now on for disabled badge holders.

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