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Post by acilf on May 15, 2008 3:15:33 GMT -5
Okay I'm pretty sure there's at least one French-speaketh person here.
I need's help. I've done spanish, and Latin but haven't glanced at French in 5-6 years.
Comment t'appelle-tu? comment tu t'appelle? comment vous vous appelez? comment vous appelez-vous?
What's the difference between them? ie: are some more formal with other's (cause that'd be the case if it were for Spanish)?
Also. asking what his/her name is....
is it spelled "comment s'appelle-t-elle?" our just pronounced like that? Cause our teacher pronounced it like that but didn't initially write it like that, and then she mentioned something about there being the 't' but was also muttering in French at the time so didn't get all of what she said.
I didn't have time to ask her and i figured if I posted here, there's probably a better chance of me getting an answer then if I email her.
Merci!
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Post by alba on May 15, 2008 3:27:17 GMT -5
Well, 'vous' is for (a) groups of people or (b) as a sign of respect for someone older, whilst 'tu' is for (a) people younger or (b) people whom you know well (for instance parents). 'Tu' is always singular. I'm not sure what the difference is between 'comment t-appelle-tu' and 'comment tu t'appelle', though.
As far as 'comment s'appelle-t-elle', I do believe that's how it's spelled. The 't' is there because without it it's difficult to pronounce, nothing more than that.
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Post by Trey on May 15, 2008 10:25:27 GMT -5
REAL French or Quebec French?
=P
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Post by acilf on May 15, 2008 10:33:50 GMT -5
@ trey: according to our teacher it's a cross between France-French and Quebec-French. a sort of Able-to-be-understood-anywhere-but-not-entirely-correct-anywhere-French @ alba: sweet, so it is similar to Spanish. Thanks
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Post by alba on May 15, 2008 10:56:58 GMT -5
What's the point in learning that? Wouldn't it make more sense to learn some kind of distinct real French? I get to learn Real French, as Trey puts it, next year XD
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Post by Trey on May 15, 2008 11:17:12 GMT -5
Pfh, Quebec French is fake, as are all of it's residents. They're fake. FAKE I TELL YOU!
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Post by Aindel on May 15, 2008 11:40:54 GMT -5
Okay, jumping on this before esfi does, because it makes me feel smarter:
"Comment t'appelle-tu?" - Lit. "What do you call yourself?" in an informal, intimate way. You actually have to know the person to be able to use 'tu' without seeming rude.
comment tu t'appelle? - See above
comment vous vous appelez? - Lit. "What do you call yourselves?/What do you call yourself?" Used in a group setting, or with someone you don't know as a gesture of politeness.
comment vous appelez-vous? - See above.
You can word the question either way, with the hyphenated verb, or with the reflexive pronoun beside the pronoun. The reason the reflexive pronoun is there in the first place is so that the question becomes more of a "What do you prefer to be called?" as opposed to the stark "What is your name?". It's just a lot more conversational.
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Post by Clover on May 15, 2008 12:56:06 GMT -5
Well Aindel got there before me so I'm just gonna sit back and scowl. Also, Alba, they're teaching a mishmash, I think, because its more applicable. There's probably a bit of a bias towards Quebecois-style, if only cause its closer to home, but never the less...
I have to get back into French... you can't do anything in law or politics without it. They say 'bilingual', which I am, but they mean Anglo-franco-phone. U_U
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Post by alba on May 15, 2008 12:59:47 GMT -5
yeah, in Canada bilingual and Anglo-Francophone are pretty much synonymous, although technically bilingual just means two languages. That's part of the reason I'm picking up French again (that and I'd die if I had to take anymore Latin again) so that if I come back to Canada I'll be bilingual.
I would have thought that if you could speak one properly you would be able to speak the other, too. Isn't it kind of like British and North American English?
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Post by acilf on May 15, 2008 13:01:50 GMT -5
I'm in agreement with clover's reasoning. The mishmash is so that you can go to anywhere Frenchish and be understood. Instead of learning France-French and going to Quebec and being screwed/laughed at. They may use some different wording/pronunciation but in general you're good to go where ever.
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Post by Aindel on May 15, 2008 14:59:27 GMT -5
Except not really, because they speak it, like, 110x faster than what you're used to. At least, that's what happened to me. I didn't have a particularly good French teacher until about Grade 11, so when I went to Quebec in Grade 9, I was a little screwed because no one had taught us the shortcuts and slangs, so we were all used to Textbook Canadian School French.
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Post by Clover on May 15, 2008 18:33:15 GMT -5
God, yeah. I was like that with english--I went to a very posh private school in the Islands, so we were taught By The Book. To this day my pronunciation is off on a few words, and my syntax and grammar and way of speaking is a little more antiquated--at least when I'm trying. As a general rule I can adapt a pretty cavalier method of speaking, but that's with effort.
But yeah... and oh man, Spanish is a bitch of a language to learn for that. Its worse then French, because each Spanish colony had its own accent, dialogue and slang. And there are a LOT of Spanish dialects. So, for example, in the Dominican Republic, a papaya is a fruit. In Cuba, it means whore. In Mexican, pajaro means bird. In the DR, it means queer. However, in the DR and Puerto Rico, Maricon just means 'jackass', while in Mexico, it has the distinct and unflattering meaning of 'faggot'. So yeah. Knowing what words to say in what dialect is a hardship and a half. U_U
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Post by Trey on May 15, 2008 19:03:23 GMT -5
I would have thought that if you could speak one properly you would be able to speak the other, too. Isn't it kind of like British and North American English? What, so completely different languages? Because fuck if I can understand a Brit talking in native tongue.
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Post by alba on May 15, 2008 19:11:59 GMT -5
Really? I suppose I'm biased because I was raised on both Scottish English and Canadian, but I always assumed them to be kind of similar.
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Post by Trey on May 15, 2008 19:12:41 GMT -5
not. at. all.
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