madmoiZelle speaks English : atelier débat

[Cyns]

Feel free to correct anyone (including me of course !) if you read any mistake, we're here to improve ourselves ! And feel free to answer all or part of the questions, or develop in any way you want

If nobody correct us we aren't going to improve our english =)


I watch TV series everyday in English with English subtile when it's possible. Last week I saw Sex and the City  Actually I'm watching Lost Girl / GoT and Viking !
My favorite it's Viking, that real man !  And I don't know a lot of things about this civilisation, it's realy interesting.

If I watching GoT it's only because everybody talk about it and I try to understand why it's so famous. It's nice but, I am not suprise by the synopsis. I bought the first book in english, now I need to be courageous for start to read it ...

Lost Girl it's just for fun, you don't need to be focus for understand what's happen ^^

 

[Captain]

Hi everyone!
So... a little birdie told me some people over here wanted to write in English, what a good idea! :icon_4laugh:

First of all I don't really mind the debate thing but I think it won't really be a natural conversation between us so I prefer the idea of "I like it when...". I also think that we should talk about this in English. (That's already a debate)

So, lets get started... Mili, I am not sure that I understood you well so please let me know if I get your meaning intent wrong.

@Glouns     :
on the books turned into movies:

at first, I read a very good book.
I imagine all settings, all colour, all characters..each detail.
And..sometimes..I read because..I really love the characters i created in my mind. () or because places where so much amazing that I would stay in. (the book)

few months ago, I discover that..
1: it will not written for me, so I where not alone to love the novel
2: everyone want/love/fantasize on the book.

and, magic is a quite lost, you know.

in fact, history is adapted on a movie. So happy of this, I am the first girl who is behind the screen .

and..




stay here it will be fun..




but..



Lewis is dirty, he have a big nose () and..the actor is acting like he smack a door (in his nose)

DAMNED.

to conclude:  watching movie after readings have to be prohibited because it will be always worse than what i have in my head.

so, for me, book will stay a book. Even if I saw movie before I read, I will hate the movie then..

You have quite a good vocabulary to express what you like and dislike about the subject but there is mistakes due to the use of litteral translation... I think. There is a tip, when you write something in English, try to think about it in English aswell.
Your text was a good start. To improve it, a good thing would be to compare it with this: (which is your message rewrited in a better English)

"At first I usually read the book. I imagine all the settings, the colours, the characters... every single detail. Sometimes I read the book again because I love characters I created by imagination. Othertime it's because the places I imagine were so much amazing that I can't leave them. Few months ago I realised that
1: Books are not written only for myself, they have to please all the readers.
2: Everyone fantasize the books on their own way/taste (I am sorry I do not really understand what you mean here)
So I think once the book is adapted to a movie the magic that was created by everyone is quite lost. Actually when the story (Histoty= the story of the human beings in general / story= the story of a charactair or a person) is adapted I am happy about it and would be the fisrt one watching it.
(I do not get the part about Lewis, sorry)
To conclude, I would say that watch the movie once you have already read the book should be (a slight differance which makes your opinion less narrow-minded)  prohibited because it will never be as good as what I fantasized. So, for me, a book will stay a book, (Sorry once again I don't get it) even if I watch (watch= regarder / see= voir) the movie first, because once I have read the book, I will be desapointed by the adaptation..."

Well I hope it will be helpfull for you 

Edit: Just to be clear after reading the comments on that topic, the correction I offer is definitly not perfect (I make a lots of spelling mistakes for example). I agree with you guys correcting all the messages can be boring for those who have a good English level but it's still interesting and productive for those who are trying to improve their writting skills. I personally would be please to be corrected as well.

 

[Captain]

Hey Cyns, I hope this will help

I watch TV series everyday in English with English subtile when it's possible. Last week I saw Sex and the City  Actually I'm watching Lost Girl / GoT and Viking !

At present, I'm watching... / Actually= en fait, vraiment

My favorite it's Viking, that real man !  And I don't know a lot of things about this civilisation, it's realy interesting.

My favorite one (the more accurate you are the better the understanding will be) is Viking, what a real man!/ That's a real man (usually followed by "if you know what I mean... Ok that's actually a joke)

If I watching GoT it's only because everybody talk about it and I try to understand why it's so famous. It's nice but, I am not suprise by the synopsis. I bought the first book in english, now I need to be courageous for start to read it ...

If I watch /I'm watching... I try to / I'm trying to (if you start a sentence with a verbal form the second verbal form has to be the same).
I'am not surprised by the synopsis... book in English (languages name always have to be written with a capital letter)... to start reading it.

Lost Girl it's just for fun, you don't need to be focus for understand what's happen ^^

Lost Girl is just for fun (you only need one subject pronoun) to be focused to understand what's happening.

 

[Captain]

Lost Girl is just for fun (you only need one subject pronoun) to be focus to understand what's happening.

+ @Cyns
Beware! Just like in French, you use past tense after "be" in this type of sentence. (to be focused).

If you have a doubt or don't know how to use the passive voice, try to replace it by another verb (here, you can use "concentrate")

I'm not always on the forum these days but you can mention me anytime if you have questions, I'm a translator (maybe @Lemon Curd  would appreciate to take part, she's a translator too)

Wow thanks for the tip!

 

[PetitPlat]

First of all I don't really mind the debate thing but I think it won't really be a natural conversation between us so I prefer the idea of "I like it when...". I also think that we should talk about this in English. (That's already a debate)

why not?

I know I sound a bit annoying, but from experience, just chatting around is the best way to improve one's english. 

@Cyns actually just making the effort to write in english in order to communicate with others will improve your english greatly because others will be more fluent that you are and so you'll learn by watching (same goes when you watch movies or series or read books)
The best way is just to practice - practice - practice



If the thread turns into a "we're correcting every damn error we see" I won't stick around.
It's just not fun.

If it's just chatting around a particular topic I'm in.
This is not a threat (even though it sounds like one) just a heads-up.



books
I'm reading the liveship traders from Robin Hobb right now
I love it because it's fun, adventurous, full of magic and strong women.

Jasper Fforde is a wonderful author as well, especially with his series "Thursday Next", with a female main character and a world similar to ours but instead of cheering sports, they cheer literature. It's witty and there's time-travel, need I say more? 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Glaxy is another must read if you're into hilarious science-fiction

And a book that left a mark was 1984, I read it again not so long ago, such a brilliant book.
Another I found brilliant too was The Road and Ravage by René Barjavel. Both are post apocalyptic, I find those scenarios fascinating.

Oh! Another great book that left a mark was from Stephen King - Marche ou Crève
about kids who are forced into a day-night march until one of them survives. Nothing happens much but it's a very strong read.

tv-series
@Cyns I love GoT! Didn't like the first book though, painful read (slow and boring somehow) I had to force it down bleh.

And I'm guilty and watch lost girls too ^^'

Other guilty pleasures are New Girl and Mindy's project - very easy stuff

And I really like Criminal Minds and NCIS, it's always predictable so it's easy for me to work at the same time as I don't need to actually watch, I mostly listen.

 

[PetitPlat]

If the thread turns into a "we're correcting every damn error we see" I won't stick around.
It's just not fun.

We can always put our corrections in spoilers, because if nobody is telling someone she is making mistakes, how is she supposed to improve ? Especially when we cannot understand what the person means, nobody will answer her and she will probably get frustrated.
And by using the spoilers, we will not bother anyone as it will not appear directly in the posts.

When we don't understand > we guess and ask
When she asks for help > we help

I don't want people to be ignored just because they can't properly express themselves, that would be sad!


But most of the time (and again speaking from experience - I've been on english speaking forums with people at first struggling for over 4 years - on a daily basis) you learn and improve just because you participate.

You make mistakes, but you communicate and at some point you realize how to express yourself more correctly and you just do. Because when you participate you also read what others have to say, you will search for words using a dictionary and so on, so you're actively learning.

Someone coming to you and telling you "that should be written that way, this like this, ..." isn't helping because you haven't made the effort to improve your english yourself, so it won't stick.

It's a bit like cooking. You can read all the cooking books in the world, but at some point you need to dive in and actually cook (and cook often) to be able to create your own recipe.

I'm not against correcting per se, it's just not the most efficient way to learn and that's what I'm trying to explain

 

[Glouns]

Maybe those of you who want to be corrected can mention it at the end of their posts... Just a thought.

Nothing more to add, I'm here to help if need be, but I wanted to stop posting -I should be studying instead . (I'm a future English teacher but @glouns is probably more qualified than I am, haha.)

See you around!

My English hasn't been really improving since I started teaching. It has even started becoming worse! I don't see my English-speaking friends as often as I did when I was a student, I can't go to English Pub Night because I live 300km away, my life is miserable and my English is shitty.

DON'T become an English teacher, you hear me? Save yourself before it's too late!
Oh, it is too late already? You already took the CAPES, right? Then you're doomed. Sorry!




(No, seriously, I really love my job and teaching has always been my dream job, but my English is really starting to worry me.)

 

[Captain]

First of all I don't really mind the debate thing but I think it won't really be a natural conversation between us so I prefer the idea of "I like it when...". I also think that we should talk about this in English. (That's already a debate)

why not?

I know I sound a bit annoying, but from experience, just chatting around is the best way to improve one's english. :snowman

Sorry I may have express myself badly, I was refering to the idea of debates like some have offer as a start for this topic (for example, what do you think about book adaptation to movie? etc) which is, in my opinion, quite an unatural way of communicating unless you are fluent or writting an essai. So, as I saw in one of your previous comment, I think chitchating would be a better way to interact and improve the writting at the same time. 
By the way how did you learn English? You are so fluent, it is impressive.

I agree with @Binjoo, corrections could be done as spoilers but they must be some. I mean, we are here because obviously we want to improve our writting. By experience you can't learn by yourself if no one points out better way to say something or the mistakes you made. Keep in mind that there is different way of saying things to people, the goal is not to say "you are wrong this is the way to do it".  Mainly because there is not a way but multiple choices of expressing one opinion but also because expressions are different from an English speaking country to another.

About the book, TV show subject:
I am reading the GOT (in English but I have just begun the second volume) and I absolutly love de show despite the free interpretations made

Spoiler

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I think the realisators made some really good narrative shortcuts. They achieve to create conexions and interactions between charactairs that do not happen in the books and that makes the story even more interesting.

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 By the way, am I the only one who gets even more turned on by the books than the show? (Drogo an Daenerys... hinhinhin  

 

[Léona B.]

I watch TV series everyday in English with English subtile when it's possible. Last week I saw Sex and the City  Actually I'm watching Lost Girl / GoT and Viking !
My favorite it's Viking, that real man !  And I don't know a lot of things about this civilisation, it's realy interesting.

Oh my God, I'm glad meeting a female who actually likes "Viking"! This show is clearly not popular enough, the characters constatly change except for Ragnar, and I think it makes the show quite real about human nature confronting/facing power. And there are a couple bad-assfemale characters (Lagertha ! )

The other show I'm watching and which is not popular enough (I think) is "Shameless". None of my friends know it and it's a really cool show (season 4 has just finished and it's AMAZING).

And to correct couple of your mistakes : "tv shows" instead of "tv series", "my favorite is Viking" and really takes two -l ... (at least in American english, I'm no English teacher so forgive me )

 

[PetitPlat]

 By the way, am I the only one who gets even more turned on by the books than the show? (Drogo an Daenerys... hinhinhin  

really? yikes! *shivering at the thought*
And yes the tv shows totally rocks *___* I'm a wee bit less addicted this season than last one, but I love so many of the characters

And to answer your question, I was born in Germany, grew up in basically two languages French and German and went to a French school in Germany. Learned English starting in sixième and that's pretty much it. I was always good in English, but nothing impressive. And I was so ridiculously shy, I would not participate in class. (stupid, don't do that!)

But then later on when I started my invented work (I'm an artist to cut things short) I immediately went on full english to promote my work.
And since English is now the main language I use on a daily basis, coupled to the fact that I watch waaay too much movies and tv shows in English AND that I talk English with my closest friends AND that I mostly read in English, naturally I've become more and more fluent.
Sometimes I should force myself to use my French more (and my German too, but that's another story!)



For the corrections, I think it's best to go with the flow and we'll see how it goes
Help the helpless and oversee the slight mistakes
I just don't want the thread to end up into a correction only thing ^^


I need to see Viking and Shameless now ^^'

 

[PetitPlat]

Maybe those of you who want to be corrected can mention it at the end of their posts... Just a thought.

Nothing more to add, I'm here to help if need be, but I wanted to stop posting -I should be studying instead . (I'm a future English teacher but @glouns is probably more qualified than I am, haha.)

See you around!

My English hasn't been really improving since I started teaching. It has even started becoming worse! I don't see my English-speaking friends as often as I did when I was a student, I can't go to English Pub Night because I live 300km away, my life is miserable and my English is shitty.

DON'T become an English teacher, you hear me? Save yourself before it's too late!
Oh, it is too late already? You already took the CAPES, right? Then you're doomed. Sorry!




(No, seriously, I really love my job and teaching has always been my dream job, but my English is really starting to worry me.)

It actually makes sense.
I think you can only improve if you spend time with people that speak better than you do.
As a teacher you are always surrounded by people who do not speak fluently english, thus you can't improve.

 

[PetitPlat]

I agree about the communication aspect, but I'd just add that there are rules to be understood; if not respected, the communication becomes difficult because what is written is partly or quite ununderstandable. I know how that sounds, I don't mean to offense anyone of course, just draw the attention on this problem.
Maybe if we quote the major mistakes of a post in bold letters, the writer could try to correct them on her own? And only then ask for help?


(Damn it, I said I wouldn't take part in the debate )

Maybe we're over-thinking this.
If someone says something that is not understandable - well we can just ask and clarify.