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Below you will find a number of useful websites that you can use to access more information on France generally and including a link for currency exchange if there is a need to transfer large amounts of currency or make regular transfers for anyone thinking of moving to France.
A little understanding of the language will endear you to the French people and make your holiday more enjoyable so I have also included some links to language learning web sites. Of course you can also enter the shopwindow below and search for a 'french language course' to get a much wider range of options including the Michel Thomas courses which are highly recommended and very affordable.
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| best hotels Guernsey the best low cost hotel accommodation offering superb facilities and amenities and second to none service. | La Terrasse - Self catering accommodation in the Tarn region of France close to the towns of Soreze and Revel. | Lake Tahoe Marathon, We offer hotel and lodging services at over 50 Hotels around Lake Tahoe | Silver Star Resort Whistler, Silver Star and Sun Peaks resort accommodations and holiday properties and resort info for your ski holiday in Canada. | |
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| French Property - Search over 75,000 international properties from the world's leading estate agents and developers. | 4u2-rent.co.uk Villas, apartments, gites, farmouses, chalets and chateaux - rentals in Languedoc-Roussillon France | Mosquito Bite Relief and Prevention |  |
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Learning French shouldn't be that difficult should it? After all 60% of English comes from French anyway and the rest mostly comes from the common source of Latin, courtesy of our other founding fathers, from a language perspective, the Anglo Saxons and Romans. Not really sure what the ancient Britons did before they were invaded by the Romans, Normans and the Anglo Saxons but that is another story I suppose.
After living in France for around 3 years, progress is finally being made on the language front. First and foremost has been the realisation that learning another language, even if you live in the country, does not happen by osmosis. You do actually have to put some effort in.
Before going on however, I would like to point out this is not an article aimed at those looking for perfect French grammar, rather it is aimed at those that simply want to hold a conversation in French. So for the perfect French language solution, you will, I am afraid, need to look elsewhere.
Back to 'La Langue' it is as M. Michelle Thomas says 'une question de prononciation' or as we like to say ' a question of pronunciation'. A point very elegantly made I think. But there is a little more to it than that, there is also the order of presentation as well. The French structure their sentences differently to us, and that is why my first reference is to M. Michelle Thomas. He has produced some excellent CD's that teaches you in a completely unique way, how to structure the French language.
This is a great starting point for anyone trying to learn the language, you get a really good insight into how to order the words. Problem is M. Thomas does not really help you expand your vocabulary.
So how do you get around that one? One way is to write stories or short accounts of past experiences in French. By using real events, you find yourself using real words that you would also normally encounter in your day to day living. The process of finding and using those words in your French story helps you to fill the gaps in your vocabulary.
There are actually some very useful books and associated CD's that do exactly that for you e.g. what you might need to say if you take your car to a garage, or go shopping for food etc. etc. and they definitely do help. But writing your own accounts and reviewing the accuracy of the words you use, well for me, aids remembering the words and phrases.
Then there is the final stage, now think about this, if you always have to translate, either when speaking or when listening, you will never be able to keep up. Especially if there is a word or two in there that makes you hesitate. This is the hardest part to conquer, you have to be able to speak, hear and think in French. No translating, no recounting in your head in your native language what has just been said to you in French. Do that and you will have lost the battle.
This is where for me Rosetta Stone comes in, it teaches you French in a way a child might learn it, through association of visual with audible. Of course you can have the program present you with written text as well, and initially you may want to do that. But the sooner you move on to pure audible statements which you have to associate with the correct visual scenario, the sooner you will start to hear the words and understand what they mean in French.
There is a lot of functionality that comes with the Rosetta Stone program to help you with all aspects of the language concerned, but hearing French spoken by native French speakers in its purist form is probably one of the most powerful features. That said it is not for everyone and you probably need to assess whether it suits you.
Everyone learns in different ways and what suits one may not suit another. But I remain convinced that utilising and adapting the materials provided by a range of different courses combined with real life encounters with the French at large is probably the only way you will get a reasonable grasp of the French language.
Photography has without doubt become much easier with the advent of digital photography. There is still a need to spot a photographic opportunity, recognise when the light is good and of course to be able to frame a picture.
But now there is also the huge benefit of pretty much instant feedback. You can take your photograph check whether it looks half decent and discard or keep it for free i.e. none of the effort or cost of getting the photograph developed.
What this means in essence is that your average happy snapper, and that was snapper not slapper, can turn out the odd corker of a photograph with little or no technical skill. Especially if armed with a half decent camera.
So does that mark the end of the professional photographer?
No not at all, the man or woman that understands and knows how to use their equipment will win over the happy snapper every time. Even if you base that statement on percentages alone. Would you for example put the recording your special day in the hands of a happy snapper or would you prefer to play safe and know that you have a professional photographer at the helm who is pretty much sure to get things right first time? I will leave you to answer that question.
Also if we all went around relying on the settings of our semi-automatic or automatic cameras, no matter how many pixels it has, how would you get that shot that really does stand out from the crowd. Meaning excellence as opposed to just very good.
No there will always be a need for people who make the effort and excel at their trade, but in the mean time you will also find quite a few amateurs who are a lot happier with their lot in life, since those amazing digital cameras came along. Here are a few of my efforts but I am afraid you will have to visit the website Pictures of France for the rest.
Everyone in life starts life as a child and some things all children love to do are paint, draw pictures and armed with a camera they will soon polish off a roll of film or run down a set of batteries.
Picasso once said ~every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up ~
Well to me the obvious solution to that particular problem is to keep doing it. Take some time out, chill and get the paints out. Now clearly the reason I am writing this is that I would love you to decide to do exactly that at our gite in the South of France, where coincidentally we do offer photographic courses, painting holidays and taster days for budding artists :-)
But that aside, how many of us aspire to do something someone else can do, take great photographs, play a musical instrument, speak another language or paint a fabulous picture.
Then what do we do, we procrastinate or write ourselves off without even trying. Not really a good way to find out what we are capable of. If you never dip in a toe, you are never going to get wet. What's the worst that could happen, well I suppose you could drown, to keep the analogy going, or you might just find you can swim like a fish.
So whatever frustrated ambitions you have got, go and give it a try. Dip that toe in and find out what you can actually achieve.
If it does happen to be painting or photography, remember, I know just the place.
Brian Stephens is a participant in the Amazon Europe S.à r.l. Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk
