Thread: French penpals.

I just started learning French and I would like to meet somebody who can help me with it a little bit but who can speak English too coz Im just a beginner

I think I could be this someone you're looking for. Just ask all the questions you want about what troubles you... or not.

Thank you so much!
Well I have a couple of questions for now. They're pretty random.
Ive read that pronounciation is very important and French people dont really understand foreigners because of their accent. Is it true? I just dont know how to deal with so many vowels, they're all the same to me!
I've also read that in spoken French people usually say "C'est pas..." instead of "C'est ne pas..." (as my book tells me) Its kinda confusing too
Im trying real hard but for some reason its the small things I have problems with, like the gender etc. Blah.

I appreciate any help

Originally Posted by maladiedunfou

Thank you so much!
Well I have a couple of questions for now. They're pretty random.
Ive read that pronounciation is very important and French people dont really understand foreigners because of their accent. Is it true? I just dont know how to deal with so many vowels, they're all the same to me!

I think it's the same problem with any language and not peculiar to French only. Just learn at your own speed and try not to pay too much attention to all these hearsays.
Do you learn French for the fun of it or because you have to do it for whatever reason?

Originally Posted by maladiedunfou

I've also read that in spoken French people usually say "C'est pas..." instead of "Ce n'est ne pas..." (as my book tells me) Its kinda confusing too

That's correct, we tend to not pronounce the "ne" of the negation. It's not a real problem in spoken language because the context, the visual of the situation and the pronunciation of other words surrounding the negation help to figure out the meaning of the sentence.
But in written language it's important to write the full negation since none of what I just said above will help you. So, to avoid any misunderstood and to make the reading easier it's better to write the full negation. Some people may tell you the opposite but I wouldn't recommend to follow such advice.

Originally Posted by maladiedunfou

Im trying real hard but for some reason its the small things I have problems with, like the gender etc. Blah.

I appreciate any help

There's no rules concerning the genders so you'll have to learn them as you learn the words.

Thank you so much for your reply!

Well, Im learning French because I like it, because its fun and because I think speaking foreign languages is a very useful skill.

Just because I never speak French Im really slow when it comes to writing or saying something even though Im sure that I know some words. And yeah, for some reasons it seems to me that French (just like Italian, Portuguese and Spanish) is quite difficult. Oh well, maybe its just me

Hi all
I have not read this forum for some time but I should be able to help you too.
French is indeed known to be a quite difficult language, because of the genders, conjugaison and all the exceptions in the rules, but I also think it might be nothing compared to arab, chinese and maybe... russian !
As for the negation, I would like to confort spiderkat : noone should ever tell you not to use the full negation in written language. You can skip the "ne" only on forums or e-mails, if you want to write in a particular style... that is to say, if you precisely want to write as you would speak !
For example : "C'EST PAS JUSTE !!!" instead of "ce n'est pas juste" would be acceptable in written language only because ot the free style way of writting and behaving on forums.
Have fun with french !
Lyl.