Advanced French Vocabulary: embedded in sentences
Om denne e-bog
This vocabulary builder is intended for intermediate French learners, who wish to rapidly raise their lexical knowledge to the advanced level.
French is one of the languages in which the purity of expression is most highly praised (a nice way to describe snobbishness, one might say….), up to the point at which non-native speakers could become exasperated by the multitude of nuances, specific tropes, and particular syntax structures that seem to flow in at every corner in written and spoken French.
The one thing to do…is to have patience, and always look for words and structures within sentences. Learning de-contextualized terms by heart is just hopeless. One needs the medium of sentences and phrases in order to acquire fast and stable knowledge of lexical terms and structures.
One also needs to read and if possible, speak in French as much as possible.
No manual or course can substitute the beneficial effect of directly reading and speaking in French.
But the present vocabulary builder will help. For each term or construction, at least three sentences or phrases are provided for exemplification and context.
After the vocabulary builder, a short story by Guy de Maupassant (Two friends/’Deux amis’ – published in 1883 and translated in English in 1903 by Albert M.C. McMaster) offers the chance to measure and verify the advancement made, as well as to add some extra vocabulary.
The story is presented in a bilingual, juxta-paragraph translation – French sentences or phrases are immediately followed by translation.
Readers should try to recognize the terms presented in the preceding vocabulary builder, and also to write down any new terms they might encounter, contextualized in sentences - thus taking advantage of the juxta-paragraph format.
This book closes with another story by Maupassant (‘Mademoiselle Fifi’ – published in 1882), whose original French text is annotated here with lexical footnotes.
Both of Maupassant’s stories, and the English translation, are now public domain. (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Short_Stories_of_Guy_de_Maupassant)
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Om forfatteren
Hermes Language Reference is the work of two PhD students in (ancient and German) philosophy, who, after facing the obvious reality that philosophy is not a very lucrative activity, thought they could put to some use their linguistic competence - they had to learn Latin, Ancient Greek (and a few other modern languages), the hard way, after they were already over 30 and language acquision is naturally slowed.
[UPDATE Our free vocabulary trainer at http://hermestrainer.
At the same time, the two would also feel rewarded if their experience and the e-books of Hermes Reference helped language learners to make some headway.
The principles we try to apply refer to:
1. Contextualised vocabulary
Most vocabulary builders on finds around (even when coming from prestigious publishing houses) present lists of words. Admittedly, sometimes they are arranged using categories, sometimes a handful of examples are also provided. But at bottom, these are word lists.
Instead, embedding vocabulary items in sentences appeals to the long terms memory because it is functionally superior – memory retains new content more deeply, to the degree to which this new content is linked to feeling and understanding.
2. Bilingual format, split in sentences or phrases
It is advisable in the preliminary stages to work with bilingual texts – if possible, having one sentence in the target language followed by the translation in the home language.
What is thereby avoided – the ‘evidence-based’ tendency of manuals for exclusive ‘language immersion’.
The ‘evidence’ in question looks at how children learn (new) languages. But not all language learners are children…Increasing language immersion is recommended, but towards the final stages of the process.
3. Grammar – not too much, not too little
What is thereby avoided – on the one hand, the related tendency of many modern manuals to ignore grammar or pay very little attention to it, on the other hand, the scholastic presentation of ‘serious’ methods, which go into such details that grammar acquision looks like an endless, life-time process.
Some grammars for Greek and Latin look like a joke – one would need decades to really assimilate them (let alone read them). In modern languages, the opposite tendency is to give grammar very little space (in conjunction with the abovementioned ethos of ‘immersion’). But arguably, this ignores the fact that, except children, most learners are in need of logical structures to ‘mould’ the lexical content.
4. Read what interests you
If one has the choice of reading a (bilingual) text already known (having been read in the native language) but boring, and reading a (bilingual) text that is not already known but looks exciting, one should pick out the latter option and not the former.
¤¤¤It might be that these principles reflect the methodology of mature learners, as we have been ourselves
Please e-mail us at hermeslanguagereference@gmail.
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Hermes Language Reference réunit le travail de deux doctorants en philosophie ancienne, qui, après avoir fait l'expérience de la manque d'efficacité de la philosophie sur le plan financier, ont cru pouvoir utiliser leur compétences linguistiques (grec ancien et latin, mais aussi quelques langues modernes) afin d'aider d'autres apprenants en langues. N'hésitez pas à nous contacter à l'adresse hermeslanguagereference@gmail.
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