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Josh Riel Inner circle of hell 1995 Posts |
Balls. I had a whole Paragraph explaining the situation in detail, and somehow erased it. So I'll give the TL;DR version.
My son wants to make a girl in his class (5th grade, No hanky panky(I hope)), whom does not speak English, feel welcome. Can someone give me the Phrase in French that would say: "My name is ___. I don't speak French, but would be happy to help you in any way I can." Or, perhaps there would be something more appropriate. Other Nations; Other cultures, and all that. He doesn't want to be as unfriendly as I take pride in being. Thanks in advance. And if it seems like information is missing, it is... But I cannot bring myself to re-type it.
Magic is doing improbable things with odd items that, under normal circumstances, would be unnessecary and quite often undesirable.
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nucinud Inner circle New York, New York 1298 Posts |
Try Babelfish. It might help.
"We are what we pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Now U C It Now U Don't Harry Mandel www.mandelmagic.com |
KapBoy77 Loyal user Ottawa, Canada 213 Posts |
Can you read french?
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Bill Nuvo Inner circle 3094 Posts or 2742 Posts |
Je m'appelle ___________. Je ne parle pas de francais. Puis-je vous aider dans en tout ca?
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Josh Riel Inner circle of hell 1995 Posts |
No, I can't read french, but I'm hoping he can try, and she can help. I'm just trying to be a useful father. I'm assuming that if she sees he is trying to be friendly, she will get the jist. I don't know, I never personally try to become friendly, so I'm out of my element.
Thanks Bill. Thanks for the idea nucinud.
Magic is doing improbable things with odd items that, under normal circumstances, would be unnessecary and quite often undesirable.
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ElectricBlue New user 90 Posts |
Yup that looks alright.
I recommend not using bable fish though unless you want to sounds like an idiot. It never gets it quite right. Maybe you could get your son a beginers French phrase book? It could be a good opportunity for him to start learning a new language |
Bill Nuvo Inner circle 3094 Posts or 2742 Posts |
Just so you know Josh, my translation isn't exact. The first two sentences are pretty exact. The last part is better translated as: Can I help you in any way? Of course my French is a little rusty so I might be wrong.
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
? you'd be astounded how much a sincere interest in being open to helping someone and a little eye contact with a relaxed smile can communicate.
really - language is a tool to conceal meaning. just BE. Eye contact serves to connect - what follows can be without words.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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The Burnaby Kid Inner circle St. John's, Canada 3158 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-03 20:04, Josh Riel wrote: Bill Nuvo's response sounds fine to me. I'll toss mine in. Keep in mind that French is my third language at this point, so I take no responsibility for any errors in grammar or punctuation below. Verbally: Je suis _____ . Je ne peux pas parler en francais, mais je peux t'aider si t'as besoin. Literally: I am ______ . I can't speak french, but I can help you if you need it. Phonetically: Ju swee ______ . Ju nu pu pah pahrrrlay on fron-say, may ju pu tay-day see tah buzwayn. (All u's above sound pretty close to 'u' in 'put'. 'ah' sounds are meant to be flat 'a', somewhere between 'card' and 'dad', closer to 'dad' (in my ignorant opinion). The 'n' sounds above should be almost completely hidden, like you're about to make an 'n' sound but you stop short of committing to it. The 'rrr' should be guttural -- if he can't make the guttural sound, don't sweat it, just do 'r'). Subtextually: Let's get BIZZAY!!! (kidding on at least one of the above) Quote:
Or, perhaps there would be something more appropriate. Other Nations; Other cultures, and all that. Not really too much trouble there when it comes to the differences between English and French. The two languages are remarkably similar in that sense. We could talk about 'tu' and 'vous' ad nauseum, but really it's no big deal just doing a direct translation of what you'd want to say in English to what you'd say in French.
JACK, the Jolly Almanac of Card Knavery, a free card magic resource for beginners.
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abc Inner circle South African in Taiwan 1081 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-03 20:04, Josh Riel wrote: Will pay for original paragraph. Please retype it for us to read, |
Josh Riel Inner circle of hell 1995 Posts |
For abc:
O.K. My son comes home from school and tells me of this girl he has in his class. She's from France, and speaks French (As the only language, it would seem). Now this girl caught his attention, and he was seated next to her during class. He decides to strike up a conversation, however, she stares at him blankly. So he does the only thing a 10 year old boy can do and uses his deep linguistic talents... Saying "Bonjo" with startling rapidity. So after the first few times, she just turns her head away in disdain (so it seems from our conversation). It seems this process took up most of the last two days of school. I assume he did school stuff too, we didn't get that far, this was clearly more pressing to him. Anyway, he doesn't understand why she reacted this way, and asks me what he could do to help him talk to her. As a little background, my son is not his fathers son in the regards of people, he likes them, and always gets along well with all of them. I believe he could be right on the verge of making this one particular person an enemy, without even knowing it, since she has no way of knowing he is just being himself. He's friendly, and smile, and laughs. But taken out of context, and with what could easily be considered an insult (via "Bonjo") it could be bad for well meaning kids. So we decided that perhaps introducing himself to her, in her language, might be the ticket. It's been a while since I was 10, and even then I wasn't around a lot of other kids. So I'm kind of shooting from the hip. Anyway, I think this was most of what was in the original... Not very interesting, but what it lacks in interest it makes up in boredom.
Magic is doing improbable things with odd items that, under normal circumstances, would be unnessecary and quite often undesirable.
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abc Inner circle South African in Taiwan 1081 Posts |
If I was ten I would draw a stick figure story.
It starts with a boy and a girl. The story then splits into two. In story one the boy does something like kiss the girl and she hits him. He cries she feels sad and buys him ice cream. In story two the girls kisses the boy he is shocked but happy and buys her ice cream. Then on the next page you have an ice cream with an unhappy face and happy face which she can choose. Hand her the story and ask her to pick the happy or unhappy face being would you like an ice cream or not (kids when they are ten should really not be kissing but the story would be entertaining.) If she says yes buy her the ice cream and get her to teach you French (not kissing). Benefit of my method is you don't need to speak French. Josh, Thanks for the story though. I know it took some effort but it was worth it. Tell you son that a 30odd year old guy said that he is doing great and if he doesn't try hard on this he will regret it all his life. |
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