French Archives » Page 10 of 10

Wakfu is the best cartoon in recent decades Season 1 and 2

07/15/201701/20/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

When Wakfu came out it quickly became a cult hit and it had a small but excited fan base that shared it around and recommended it. Hailed as the revival of French animation I was curious to check it out but put off that it was based on a video game that I had no intention of ever playing. So how exactly is Wakfu? Is it actually any good? Well let’s take a look at the first two seasons that started the franchise.

Wakfu is one of those rare treats that come out of nowhere and deliver. What we have here is a very polished show with not only beautiful animation but an extremely interesting world and a large memorable cast of characters. The show does constant world building which if you are familiar with other Wakfu media you’ll be able to dwell deeper into other aspects of the Wakfu world. I was amazed by how unique and fun this world is and just want to see more of it.

Forming a Habit to learn French

07/14/201701/19/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Le Coin Français

There are many things that you need to consider when you want to speak another language. Part of it is having the right material to work with, practice, memorizing and many others. The most important out of all of these however is forming a habit. It might seem like the simplest thing to do but it’s also the hardest.

For example, last week I talked about some apps that you can use to learn French. But if you don’t begin using them daily, you never form a habit and then you stop using them. I know this because it happened to me before and it wasn’t until I forced myself to practice every day that they became part of my routine every day. If we always leave things for “When I have time”, you’ll never achieve things because there will always be stuff that comes up and takes that time away. So, It is imperative that you force yourself to make time for it.

My Favorite French Apps to learn French

07/07/201701/19/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Le Coin Français

As a former foreign language teacher I thought I’d give my review of some language learning apps that I’m using to learn French in one year. The following Apps I have formed a habit of using daily, I’ll describe how they fare and how I am using them on my day to day basis.

Memrise

A fun alternative to the more popular Duolingo, they include mostly vocabulary focused exercises which is great. It’s easy to use and you feel progress as you change “levels’ and move from “planet to planet” as you explore the solar system of the stuff you need to learn. In the past they used to give you a “preview” of the exercises behind a paywall which was nice since they were generous with those previews but they don’t really do that anymore. It still works fine as the meat and bones of the app are still free. I aim to complete all the words I have to review and “half” a planet each day.

Music Match French Songs ft. Sophie Hunger, Indila, Air

06/26/201701/19/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Music Match

As I posted I’m trying to learn French over the next year. In honor of this this weeks Music Match features three music videos of songs in french, so you get to learn some new vocabulary and discover some new bands this week. I don’t normally post lyrics but as part of the learning process they’re there in French with the English translation.

Sophie Hunger – Le Vent nous portera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyUp1rnv7rY

Learning French in one year, join me!

06/23/201701/18/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Le Coin Français

It’s always important to better ourselves and learn new things and because of it I decided to set a new goal for me: To learn French in one year. Over the next 364 days I will be practicing french daily throughout different means to get better at the four skills, speaking, writing, listening and reading.

For a little background, I’m not starting from zero, I’d consider myself almost at an intermediate level. I studied French for 3 years back in High School but of course I didn’t learn how to speak it and it was quite a few years ago. I then studied it for a year and a half about 4 years ago and started studying again since last fall, now I haven’t been the best student and classes are only twice a week for 4 months of the year so while helpful, they aren’t the best if you really want to learn at a faster pace and it leaves a lot of room to get unmotivated.

The Problem with Duolingo to learn another language

05/12/201701/12/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

The problem with..

Can you really learn foreign language from an app? I should point out that I was a language teacher for more than a few years, I’ve been bilingual my whole life and I’m trying to learn a new language. But back on topic.. A few years ago when I began to take French classes again I discovered Duolingo . Back then the app was still fairly new and it wasn’t as well known as it has become over he past few years. I really enjoyed the app but every time I started I would eventually stop using it until recently that I’ve been able to keep it a habit. Part of why I couldn’t stick with it was I hadn’t made a habit out of it. So let’s analyze duolingo and see the problems with it.

If you don’t know, Duolingo is an app that tries to teach you a foreign language and it does this by having a series of exercises that you must complete on different topics. You make a placement “test” in the beginning that judges were you should start in their academic “pyramid/tree”. The app promotes itself as being able to learn with only a few minutes a day and you can set your daily learning goal so you only have to do one exercise or up to 5. Of course you can practice as much as you’d like but the limits are to remind you to practice at least that amount every day. This works fairly well in the beginning since Duo the owl keeps reminding you every day unless you stop using it for a few days in which Duo decides to throw the towel on you until you open the app again. This is actually a nice feature but it’s a reason of why it’s dangerous to keep your “streak” going and not make a habit of ignoring your daily routine. Having a streak of practicing is one of the motivations to continue using it since there isn’t much more in the app, they know this since they offer to keep your streak if you pay them a certain amount if you miss a day or two.

Instant Star “Waste My Time” French cover by Marie-Mai

02/07/201701/07/2021 Luigi Kawasaki

Music

Instant Star was a Canadian show that dealt with Jude Harrison, the winner of a music reality show contest’s first season and her life after it. It’s a fairly interesting show and one of the best songs ever featured was “Waste my Time” who Alexz Johnson (Jude Harrison) performs. Not long after a singer from Quebec, Marie-Mai covered the song and while she changed the lyrics somewhat it’s still a cover. A neat coincidence is that like the show she was initially known as one of the finalists of the first season of the Quebec reality show Star Académie, quite a fun parallel from the concept of the Canadian show.

The song is her second album Dangereuse Attraction. Also check out a live version of Tôt Ou Tard at EXPO Québec in 2009, the lyrics (paroles), and translation below.