French Lesson #234

Posted on December 31, 2009 by David

There are many words in French and English that look very similar to one another but they have totally different meanings and they are called faux amies (false friends). There are several that we have learned about but the other day I learned a new one as I was helping someone find a new hard drive for their computer. I’m slowing learning the different terms that are used to describe computers and their components, since this will be rather important for me to know.

So I was looking at the hard drive specs and there was one that was new to me – Taille de la Mémoire Tampon: 8 Mo. Tampon memory? This was a new one to me and also not very important when getting a new hard drive when you will mainly be using the laptop for email and watching movies, the other specs I was able to make out and we made a choice on which hard drive to purchase. So my guess was that this was just the Buffer Size based on the fact that it was 8 Mo (8MB in Geek-English). I came home and looked up Tampon and the definition is buffer. I’m still looking for a Geek-French-English dictionary to help me understand other standard computer terms – I’ve been tempted to buy Windows XP pour les NULS (Windows XP for Dummies) and see if it will teach me any new terms. Maybe next week I’ll check the library for it, then I won’t be stuck wondering why they are putting tampons in the hard drives.

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Reason for language school

Posted on December 28, 2009 by David

This video summarizes the importance of why we are spending so much time in language school, and is also slightly humorous. Enjoy!

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Answered Prayers

Posted on December 27, 2009 by David

Today was a special day for me today as I sat in church. My prayers before church have been “Lord please open my ears that I may understand the French and hear the message that you have prepared for me” and today after many months of attending church and even praying the previous prayer in French I was able to understand the vast majority of the preachers sermon today. Merci Jésus! (thank you Jesus) He preached on Mark 6:7-13 about sending the disciples out to tell people to repent and turn to God. I’ve read this section many times over the last year as I thought about the faith of the disciples going without extra clothing or food or any extra money but God will provide. I’ve been able to see how God provides first hand and I thought about that as he preached today.

He then went on to share about the missionaries that the church supports as the church is part of the EBM (European Baptist Mission) We then prayed for two missionary families that are currently serving in Cameroon. I was encouraged to hear of the work that they were doing and that they were in CAMEROON (Cameroun – French spelling)!

My second prayer that I have selfishly been praying is for God to send more French speaking workers into the mission fields. I know that God is changing our hearts as He changes our tongues to speak a new language and nowhere did I ever read that it was going to be easy, plus God loves to use the weak to shame the mighty (check out I Corinthians 1:27) and boy to I feel weak some days. The pastor announced that he would be serving with the EBM in francophone AFRICA and is currently working out all the details. Merci Jésus for sending a native French speaking missionary whose tongue does not need to be changed but has a heart that is broken for those that have never heard the story that many of us celebrated over the last few days as we remembered the birth of Jesus Christ.

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Translating the Christmas Story

Posted on December 24, 2009 by David

I recently read this story and I wanted to share it.

By Ron Snell, son of translators
“And it came to pass in those days,” began the story, “that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus.” Well now, that’s a bit of a problem. The Machis had never had any system of government more complicated than a household headman who got his power either by being the dad of the family, or by being an exceptionally good story teller . . .

Anyway, the story goes on to say that whoever it was decreed that a census should be taken. The Machis didn’t have a clue what a census was, though it would have been easy to take, given the fact they didn’t count past four. “One, two, three, four, many.” They had never cared how many of themselves there were, and hadn’t a clue why anyone else would care. Of course Caesar Augustus cared because he wanted all the world to be taxed. Fine. But what’s a tax? The Machis never had money, and if they had they wouldn’t have given it to somebody they didn’t know.  And besides, what did that have to do with counting the number of people there were.

So everyone went to be taxed, each to his own town. What’s a town? When Dad and Mom started their work, Timpia was about as large as a community got; one house for the Machis who lived there, one house for the Spanish landowner who made them work for him, and eventually one house for our family. It wasn’t exactly Bethlehem.

. . . Mary was pregnant and about to deliver her baby. The Machis at least knew about women being pregnant, not that they would know about being engaged or betrothed. Mary and Joseph headed for the inn . . . Mary gave birth to Jesus, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. Oh dear. What’s an inn? What’s a manger?

In the fields nearby, shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks, as you know. What you didn’t know is that the Amazon Indians didn’t keep animals except for dogs and the rare monkey, tapir or parrot that they caught alive. Those didn’t exactly qualify as flocks of sheep. They had no notion of how or why you would have people sitting out in a field watching animals, as if you could see them anyway in the jungle. The Machis sometimes spent days looking for an animal to eat. Besides, what’s a sheep? . . .

Read the rest of the story – Life is a Jungle by Ron Snell

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First Snow in Massy

Posted on December 18, 2009 by David

Snow FlakeYesterday the snow began falling shortly before our morning walk to school in the morning but started snowing harder as our walk progressed. I don’t think school delays or closing exist since everyone walks to school. Jonah had fun on my shoulders because as the snow fell on the top of my hood he was able to collect it and make Jonah sized snow balls to throw at his brother who was having fun trying to catch the snow in his mouth as it fell from the sky. When I dropped Jonah off at his school all his friends were excited to teach him the French word for snow, la neige. It’s always easier to learn when you have something cold and wet covering you to remember the word.

When I picked the boys up for lunch we attempted to make a snowman as we walked down the sidewalk and rolled a great big ball, it was a side street so there hadn’t been much foot traffic on this street. Unfortunately the snow wasn’t quite right for building the larger balls needed for snowman, I was hoping to leave a snowman standing at the bus stop – maybe the next snow. After lunch I dropped Joshua off and he was excited to get in the fence because they don’t stop recess because it’s snowing or there are a few inches of snow on the ground. All the kids were having a massive snowball fight.

On our way home after school Jonah asked if we could open presents now since it snowed. It gave me a chance to talk to ask the why do we celebrate Christmas; I was thankful they said Jesus. Then Joshua said but you can only eat the white snow not the yellow snow, because the yellow snow is for the dogs.

Snowball fight at Les Cedres on break (Thanks John!)

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Knocking on the desk

Posted on December 12, 2009 by David

Part of our language training includes having a chapel service in our class room where we are responsible for the music, prayer, scripture reading and meditation all in French. Other days of the week we meet as an entire school and some of the advanced students give the meditation and once a week a local minister from Massy or Paris comes and gives the mediation. This week was my turn to share the mediation in our classroom.

Our first French language instructor that we had in the states advised us to begin reading the Bible in French to aid with learning French and I began 2 months ago trying to read a chapter a day in French. I was encouraged after several weeks of reading that there was a chapter I understood all the vocabulary and so Luke 11 was what I decided to share with our class. I felt this chapter was very relevant to learning a language but telling a story about a man knocking on the door in the middle of the night and the reaction of another man was just fun to act out (I was both the friend in the house and the man knocking).

When was the last time that you asked for something, searched for something, knocked on something? Jesus said and I know that God gives good gifts. I know that God helps the lost and opens the doors. But I also know that He aids me when I study my French and when I’m searching in my Bible He opens my eyes. But lately I have learned that knocking my head on the desk when I study God opens my mind to understand the French.

Merci Seigneur pour ton aides et pour la Parole de Vie et pour ouvre la porte.

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What time did you say?

Posted on December 3, 2009 by David

We have been in France now for several months and have been blessed with a healthy family but yesterday Jonah starting showing some signs of illness that would require a visit to the doctor. We knew that there was a doctor across the street from our apartment because other families in our school have taken ill children there and they said they were very kind.

DeAnna had the phone number and was calling to setup the rendez-vous (appointment) since there is no such thing as urgent care, if it’s urgent call the ambulance (15 in case you need the number in France & 18 is Fire they don’t have 911) and they will take you to the hospital. It wasn’t that bad and we have learned all the vocabulary necessary to call someone and setup an appointment. The problem was that DeAnna understood everything the person on the telephone said except the time. The receptionist said it fast and hung up. I think they have something in the phone that helps speed up how fast numbers are said. So I was tasked with calling back to find the correct time of the appointment.

When we were learning to tell time one of our assignments was to go around town and ask people the time so we could practice hearing and comprehending how fast French people say their numbers. I did very well at this so DeAnna thought that I would understand the time. So I called back and used my French to have her repeat the time of Jonah’s appointment. The first number I thought I heard her say was trente and I repeated this and she said non (no) this went on a few more times and I finally asked her to say it lentement (French word for slowly) and in English she said 3 hours and 20 minutes. So I repeated it in French trois heures vingt and she said oui quinze heures vingt, au revoir (good bye). I finally realized our problem was I was thinking 3:20pm and she was thinking 15h20 and I wasn’t thinking past the number 12 since my watch only goes to 12. Jonah made it to his rendez-vous at the correct time!

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Arc-en-ciel

Posted on November 26, 2009 by David

Yesterday we were able to see a double rainbow (arc-en-ciel=rainbow in French) after we dropped the kids off at school and we were walking back to our class for lunch. As the rain stopped and the sun began to peak through the clouds I looked for a rainbow and right behind us was one of the most beautiful rainbows I had seen in a long time. The colors were very brilliant and as we continued to walk we were able to see the complete rainbow covering the entire town of Massy.

Now it was easy to get discouraged yesterday because it was windy, a little chilly and the rain started half way on our walk to the kid’s schools, the umbrellas were in our backpacks at our school because it was sunny when we left for lunch.  Also, all our families in the states were enjoying the day off feasting on food that is difficult to obtain in France. In the middle of all this we were reminded of God’s Promise with the rainbow that He gave us, and we stopped and gave thanks to the God of the Universe in the ally, we gave a prayer in French and continued on our way to school.

Yesterday for dinner we were able to enjoy a smoked bird (chicken), green beans with ham, stuffing and some fresh du pain (it was still hot when I picked it up from the bakery after class) and a delicious chocolate pie. Although we were far away from our families on another continent for our first holiday away we had many things to give thanks for. We enjoyed listening to what the boys were thankful for at the dinner table before we ate and we were reminded once again of all that God has blessed us with and what to be thankful for.

Dites merci au Seigneur, car il est bon! Oui, son amour est pour toujours ! (Psaumes 136 :1 La Bible)

Posted in France, home, Kids | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

French lesson #41

Posted on November 21, 2009 by David

I’ve been learning that there are slight differences between some words but it’s important to know what the differences are so that you can use the words correctly. I was glancing at the homework sheet that our instructor handed out and I noticed a picture of a stuffed animal and it had a different word for a child’s stuffed toy compared to the book that I had just read to the boys in French last night that talked about a child’s stuffed toy. My confusion was between the French word poupée and doudou these words sounds exactly like the English words for poopie and doo doo. If you have not used these words when potty training you might not see the same amount of humor that our class did on Friday.

So without thinking, something I have a hard enough time doing in English, I asked our instructor for clarification on the difference between poupée and doudou, in French. She explained the difference to me. But while explaining the difference between a stuffed animal (doudou) and a stuffed doll (poupée) there was a sudden burst of laughter in the classroom. I finally realized what I had asked and I saw the humor in my question so I said no, I have a doudou in my backpack (Jonah’s stuffed Stitch walked with us to class and I was holding him for the way back.) That only made it worse and to top off the laughter I had to explain to the instructor why all the American’s were laughing so hard. So when you hear a child in French say Je veux une poupée they don’t have to go to the bathroom they just want a doll.

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French language lesson

Posted on November 17, 2009 by David

Today we learned that you can start your day without washing (se laver) but it’s not possible to be sitting in your chair without getting out of bed (se lever). So after our instructor smelled a few students and graded their hygiene along with their pronunciation we moved around the class to list other reflexive verbs that we know. The first few that were listed I knew and when it got to me I said se maquiller which means to put makeup on.

Not really a big deal until the next question is to your wife asking if your husband wears makeup. Her answer was yes. There was one time for a tv interview I had powder applied to my forehead because there was a slight glare so my wife smiled and said yes he wears makeup, and since I didn’t raise my hand for washing or taking a shower earlier I now had the privilege of creating the past tense form of putting makeup on.

So now I am able to also use the reflexive verb s’amuser (to have fun) as we practiced making up sentences and writing down the sentences that our instructor gave us.

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