merde!

[sigerson]

It's surprising how three hours of French doesn't even make me blink.

But thirty minutes more, from 4-4:30, sweating over a sermon from Evreux, with someone whispering about forty feet away, and my comprehension of the grammar draining out of me till all I'm doing is translating word-by-word...

That last thirty minutes has me wanting to stab the dictionary. Tipping point much?

Comments

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

Attaque ce dictionnaire avec un poignard!

(God is my French rusty. Four initial spelling or gender errors out of six words?!)

[sigerson.livejournal.com]

Mais aussi! En stabbitant!

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

Bah oui!

Because I am a geek that way...

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

By the way, what dictionary are you using?

I majored in French in college, so if there's a way that I can be helpful, please let me know. :)

Re: Because I am a geek that way...

[sigerson.livejournal.com]

Currently, one-half of the big-ass Harper Collins. Because I...um. I removed half of it.

Yup, I defaced a textbook. I took the bet that I would rarely need the "English-French" half, and tore it right out of the binding. My backpack, my daily commute, and my shoulders are thanking me already.

Sadly, there's not a lot that can be done to help me (&$%~! pleonastic ne). The class only lasts eight weeks, though, and I should have reasonable competence in translating by the end of it.

Re: Because I am a geek that way...

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for your purposes the English to French would be a bit surperfluous. I still swear by my AMSCO, but I suspect that a)it's no longer in print and b)it doesn't have the depth of vocabulary you'd need for specialized translation.

Eight weeks isn't too bad though. Just remember, ne...que isn't negative (it's only) and you'll be fine. :)