I work for a company that used to encourage exchanges between their several international branches. I transferred to France from Ohio nine years ago, speaking hardly a word of the language at the time. The company made the move really easy, with language lessons, an expat stipend, a company car, company apartment, two paid trips home a year, and tax attorneys in both countries.
Not every company coddles their expats they way mine did, but I'd still definitely recommend transferring within a company. Moving to France with no job and no French skills would have been daunting.
I learned the language and culture well enough within a few years that when they kicked me off the expat contract I was capable of taking care of myself. I'm still in France today, living more like a grown up again.
One of the things that I do to help stave off the occasional hunger is to drink more fluids. I've found that the low-calorie Crystal Light...
On that note, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I prefer, well, tea. Specifically, hot brewed tea. Most teas are unprocessed and certain varieties are allegedly beneficial, (green teas). Of course, it's not so healthy if you load it down with sugar and cream, so you're better off finding a variety you like straight-up.
As far as exercise goes, running can be a very solitary exercise if you live or work in a sparsely populated area. It can also be a very geeky venture, especially if you train for a race. There's tons of research on the physiology of performance and lots of race training regimens based on the acquired knowledge (caveat emptor, though, some are more well grounded than others). I've been partial to the Furman Institute's programs for foot race training.
For a few months now, smoking is banned in most public places in France. Bars and restaurants have a grace period until 2008, when they too will not legally be able to allow smoking.
Believe it or not, the French seem to be respecting the new restriction, for the most part.
Could this be used to filter water from urine?
That might come in handy in survival situations, or in closed environments such as habitable space modules. Or simply for weirdo geeks.
Speaking as an American who moved here to France five years ago, I think most perceptions of arrogance on both sides are due more to cultural differences than efforts or non-efforts to speak the language.
The French are more polite than Americans in certain situations and less so in others. For example, have you ever stood in line in France? It's every one for his or her self. Americans would find this very rude, but in France it's normal. On the other hand, in France you say hello and good-bye at least once to everyone you do business with, including the person at the toll booth as you plunk change into her palm while hardly even stopping the car. An American probably wouldn't think twice about never saying a word in such a situation, but a French person would probably find it rude.
There are many other examples of courtesies that are simply different between the two cultures. If an American isn't aware of the differences, he or she may find French people rude and perhaps arrogant, and vice versa.
The problem with vegans is that they're a bunch of self-righteous pains in the ass that refuse to get along with anyone that eats meat
I can't imagine anyone not getting along with someone as clearly friendly, non-judgmental, and accepting as yourself. I have known many people who don't eat any kind of animal products of any kind, and they all do so as a personal choice that they don't impose on others.
You think Europe has no rednecks? Think again pardner. I see them over here all the time. Where do you think American rednecks came from? They migrated from Europe.
Europe isn't exactly immune to American cultural influence, either. Arguably the most popular sitcoms, movies, and music in France are American.
>French is deceptively difficult language for Americans
As an American who learned French after moving to France five years ago, I find it easy to communicate in French because so many English words are French cognates. Once I caught on to French pronunciation, I suddenly understood a lot because I recognized many words that are very similar or the same in English. When speaking, if I don't know the French word for something, I sometimes try using the English word pronounced with my best approximation of a French accent. Often this works.
Cognates help in reading as well. Take a look at this sentence from an article in today's Le Monde online newspaper:
Le candidat démocrate estime que la politique du président américain en Irak a coûté aux Etats-Unis leurs respect et influence dans le monde.
Nearly every word in that sentence could be recognized by an English speaker.
Le candidat = the candidate
démocrate = democrat
estime = feels, (related to the English word esteem, which as a verb has the same meaning)
la politique = the politics
président = president
américain = american
Irak = Iraq
coûté = cost, (the circumflex accent indicates an unwritten 's' that follows the letter)
Etats = States
Unis = United
respect = respect
influence = influence
All together, the sentence in English is:
The democratic candidate feels that the politics of the American president in Iraq has cost the United States their respect and influence in the world.
Try thumbing through an English dictionary sometime and look at the etymology of words. Many, if not a majority, of English words come from French.
As for the differences between Canadian-French and French-French, I've never been to Quebec, but I've never had trouble conversing with Quebecois in French.
Slashdot Mirror
I work for a company that used to encourage exchanges between their several international branches. I transferred to France from Ohio nine years ago, speaking hardly a word of the language at the time. The company made the move really easy, with language lessons, an expat stipend, a company car, company apartment, two paid trips home a year, and tax attorneys in both countries.
Not every company coddles their expats they way mine did, but I'd still definitely recommend transferring within a company. Moving to France with no job and no French skills would have been daunting.
I learned the language and culture well enough within a few years that when they kicked me off the expat contract I was capable of taking care of myself. I'm still in France today, living more like a grown up again.
One of the things that I do to help stave off the occasional hunger is to drink more fluids. I've found that the low-calorie Crystal Light...
On that note, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I prefer, well, tea. Specifically, hot brewed tea. Most teas are unprocessed and certain varieties are allegedly beneficial, (green teas). Of course, it's not so healthy if you load it down with sugar and cream, so you're better off finding a variety you like straight-up.
As far as exercise goes, running can be a very solitary exercise if you live or work in a sparsely populated area. It can also be a very geeky venture, especially if you train for a race. There's tons of research on the physiology of performance and lots of race training regimens based on the acquired knowledge (caveat emptor, though, some are more well grounded than others). I've been partial to the Furman Institute's programs for foot race training.
From TFA: "this is the first time we've taught them an abstract concept - 'a dog'"
I'm not so sure 'dog' is such an abstract concept to dogs. Have you ever seen the way a dog reacts to seeing another across the street?
For a few months now, smoking is banned in most public places in France. Bars and restaurants have a grace period until 2008, when they too will not legally be able to allow smoking. Believe it or not, the French seem to be respecting the new restriction, for the most part.
I thought he lived circa 500 BC, which would make the problem at least 2500 years old, not 1200, if he were working on it.
Could this be used to filter water from urine? That might come in handy in survival situations, or in closed environments such as habitable space modules. Or simply for weirdo geeks.
You named your computer "Wives"?
Yeah, and which their enemies didn't have, which accounted in part for Germany's early success.
Speaking as an American who moved here to France five years ago, I think most perceptions of arrogance on both sides are due more to cultural differences than efforts or non-efforts to speak the language.
The French are more polite than Americans in certain situations and less so in others. For example, have you ever stood in line in France? It's every one for his or her self. Americans would find this very rude, but in France it's normal. On the other hand, in France you say hello and good-bye at least once to everyone you do business with, including the person at the toll booth as you plunk change into her palm while hardly even stopping the car. An American probably wouldn't think twice about never saying a word in such a situation, but a French person would probably find it rude.
There are many other examples of courtesies that are simply different between the two cultures. If an American isn't aware of the differences, he or she may find French people rude and perhaps arrogant, and vice versa.
Monty Python? Holy Grail? Hello? Anyone?
I fart in your general direction.
Wearable phones? That's so 2003. I recently saw a street guy in Paris talking into a banana.
You think Europe has no rednecks? Think again pardner. I see them over here all the time. Where do you think American rednecks came from? They migrated from Europe.
Europe isn't exactly immune to American cultural influence, either. Arguably the most popular sitcoms, movies, and music in France are American.
As an American who learned French after moving to France five years ago, I find it easy to communicate in French because so many English words are French cognates. Once I caught on to French pronunciation, I suddenly understood a lot because I recognized many words that are very similar or the same in English. When speaking, if I don't know the French word for something, I sometimes try using the English word pronounced with my best approximation of a French accent. Often this works.
Cognates help in reading as well. Take a look at this sentence from an article in today's Le Monde online newspaper: Nearly every word in that sentence could be recognized by an English speaker.
- Le candidat = the candidate
- démocrate = democrat
- estime = feels, (related to the English word esteem, which as a verb has the same meaning)
- la politique = the politics
- président = president
- américain = american
- Irak = Iraq
- coûté = cost, (the circumflex accent indicates an unwritten 's' that follows the letter)
- Etats = States
- Unis = United
- respect = respect
- influence = influence
All together, the sentence in English is:Try thumbing through an English dictionary sometime and look at the etymology of words. Many, if not a majority, of English words come from French.
As for the differences between Canadian-French and French-French, I've never been to Quebec, but I've never had trouble conversing with Quebecois in French.