Mostly a summary of rules to remember around the various conjugations in present, hypothesis forms, some useful vocabulary to remember for nuances, and replacement pronouns.
| GENERAL FRENCH REVIEW | |
| B. Standard conjugations |
Avoir
être
Parler
|
| C. |
Just over two years ago, perhaps closer to three, I started using DuoLingo as a way just to keep my mind occupied with French. I have no grand illusions that an app like this will make me “fluent”, and I feel the same way about even the more intensive programs like Rosetta Stone.… Read the rest
Back in the day, when I started my french training, I struggled with the five main verb tenses as many new students do. While the present tense is always considered the easiest, I confess that I always found it a bit abrupt. For example, “je mange” which translates simply as “I eat”.… Read the rest
Okay, so I know WHAT the tests look like and what I have to practice. I spent a lot of time tonight that seemed almost wasted, although mostly it was identifying certain phrases that I need to simply memorize the structure of, and to recognize them when they show up in the test.… Read the rest
I was finally able to get the one-on-one french training started last week (some long delays due to administrative inertia followed by a few weeks of figuring it out with the new approach to delivery followed by a mixup that delayed me two more weeks), and the first week went about as I expected.… Read the rest
I’ve been working on my structure for my review of French to support my next written test. Lots to review, but since a lot of it will be all over the place, with multiple tools, I need a structure to figure out what exactly I’m “reviewing”. It will also be the basis for future oral review too, so I’m trying keep some of those things in mind too.… Read the rest
For my last update, I finished with “I’m going to blog my way through my re-certification process, from low-level beginner back to moderately fluent. Wish me luck…”. Fast-forward 8 months, and not much changed. I pushed for training, and ran into massive administrative inertia as to what I was supposed to do for training.… Read the rest
When I left off my last update, I fast-forwarded through seven years of non-use of my french at work. Non-use is a bit of an exaggeration, I use it occasionally, but I certainly don’t “work” in French. More like active listening in meetings. It’s even worse over the last 10 years as I’m working in planning.… Read the rest
After all that hard work, all the stress, I didn’t use my french much at work. I really felt uncomfortable displaying my crappy language ability with my professional colleagues, and over time, I got more and more rusty. I was fine for reading, I was fine for listening somewhat in meetings (I can understand enough in context, as long as multiple people aren’t speaking at the same time and I can actually hear what is being said and it isn’t rapid fire speed!).… Read the rest
I met my tutor for breakfast, we had a quick conversation in french to get me ready, and off I went.
This was my third attempt. When we all did the first attempt, we went in cocky. We had heard there was an examiner named Jacques, “Jacques le Couteau” was his nickname, and we all wanted Jacques.… Read the rest
I’d really like to call this post something else, but it’s time I stopped holding back on what some people think is their God-given right to complain about how they think the public servant’s job should be done, and that all public servants will “obviously” agree. What triggered my lack of inhibition?… Read the rest
Most people who know me might think that since I have a pretty strong view about what limitations on freedom of speech look like and don’t look like for government workers, and that I even blog about stuff related to government, I would likely tilt against the current windmill of supposed Government censorship or muzzling of “scientists”, as the argument is aptly captured in the press (Information watchdog to investigate policies that ‘muzzle’ government scientists | CTV News.)… Read the rest
Each year, thousands of people compete for jobs at the Department of Foreign Affairs. But, while many are called, few are chosen (100-ish). Yet yesterday, DFAIT’s ranks swelled by 1800 people, most of whom no doubt greeted the news with a lot less enthusiasm than DFAIT’s normal hirings. With the announcement that CIDA was being “folded” into DFAIT, many are stressed that this sounds a death knell for development, that all principles of development will go out the window, and that CIDA will essentially disappear.… Read the rest
It’s not that often that you see the Public Services Commission doing something innovative, but a new pilot project that starts today may qualify. And with all things HR-related, the impact may turn out to be either good or bad for employees on a referral list, depending on how the theory translates into practice.… Read the rest
So, the federal Public Service is downsizing. Which means they are going to cut staff. And like all large bureaucracies, there are bureaucratic terms to understand what it means if you get “laid off”, so to speak. But wait, you say you have a letter appointing you in the first place to an indeterminate position, presumably “permanent”?… Read the rest
