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    Advanced French Vocabulary: Embedded in Sentences
    Advanced French Vocabulary: Embedded in Sentences
    Advanced French Vocabulary: Embedded in Sentences
    Ebook193 pages1 hour

    Advanced French Vocabulary: Embedded in Sentences

    By Hermes Language Reference

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    About this ebook

    This vocabulary builder is intended for intermediate French learners, who wish to rapidly raise their lexical knowledge to the advanced level.

    French is one of the languages in which the purity of expression is most highly praised (a nice way to describe snobbishness, one might say....), up to the point at which non-native speakers could become exasperated by the multitude of nuances, specific tropes, and particular syntax structures that seem to flow in at every corner in written and spoken French.

    The one thing to do...is to have patience, and always look for words and structures within sentences. Learning de-contextualized terms by heart is just hopeless. One needs the medium of sentences and phrases in order to acquire fast and stable knowledge of lexical terms and structures.

    One also needs to read and if possible, speak in French as much as possible.
    No manual or course can substitute the beneficial effect of directly reading and speaking in French.

    But the present vocabulary builder will help. For each term or construction, at least three sentences or phrases are provided for exemplification and context.

    After the vocabulary builder, a short story by Guy de Maupassant (Two friends/’Deux amis’ – published in 1883 and translated in English in 1903 by Albert M.C. McMaster) offers the chance to measure and verify the advancement made, as well as to add some extra vocabulary.
    The story is presented in a bilingual, juxta-paragraph translation – French sentences or phrases are immediately followed by translation.

    Readers should try to recognize the terms presented in the preceding vocabulary builder, and also to write down any new terms they might encounter, contextualized in sentences - thus taking advantage of the juxta-paragraph format.

    This book closes with another story by Maupassant (‘Mademoiselle Fifi’ – published in 1882), whose original French text is annotated here with lexical footnotes.

    Both of Maupassant’s stories, and the English translation, are now public domain. (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Short_Stories_of_Guy_de_Maupassant)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHermes Language Reference
    Release dateDec 25, 2017
    ISBN9781370776313
    Advanced French Vocabulary: Embedded in Sentences
    Author

    Hermes Language Reference

    [UPDATE Our free vocabulary trainer at http://hermestrainer.pythonanywhere.com ]Hermes Language Reference is the work of two PhD students in (ancient and German) philosophy, who, after facing the obvious reality that philosophy is not a very lucrative activity, thought they could put to some use their linguistic competence - they had to learn Latin, Ancient Greek (and a few other modern languages), the hard way, after they were already over 30 and language acquision is naturally slowed.At the same time, the two would also feel rewarded if their experience and the e-books of Hermes Reference helped language learners to make some headway.The principles we try to apply refer to:1. Contextualised vocabularyMost vocabulary builders on finds around (even when coming from prestigious publishing houses) present lists of words. Admittedly, sometimes they are arranged using categories, sometimes a handful of examples are also provided. But at bottom, these are word lists.Instead, embedding vocabulary items in sentences appeals to the long terms memory because it is functionally superior – memory retains new content more deeply, to the degree to which this new content is linked to feeling and understanding.2. Bilingual format, split in sentences or phrasesIt is advisable in the preliminary stages to work with bilingual texts – if possible, having one sentence in the target language followed by the translation in the home language.What is thereby avoided – the ‘evidence-based’ tendency of manuals for exclusive ‘language immersion’.The ‘evidence’ in question looks at how children learn (new) languages. But not all language learners are children...Increasing language immersion is recommended, but towards the final stages of the process.3. Grammar – not too much, not too littleWhat is thereby avoided – on the one hand, the related tendency of many modern manuals to ignore grammar or pay very little attention to it, on the other hand, the scholastic presentation of ‘serious’ methods, which go into such details that grammar acquision looks like an endless, life-time process.Some grammars for Greek and Latin look like a joke – one would need decades to really assimilate them (let alone read them). In modern languages, the opposite tendency is to give grammar very little space (in conjunction with the abovementioned ethos of ‘immersion’). But arguably, this ignores the fact that, except children, most learners are in need of logical structures to ‘mould’ the lexical content.4. Read what interests youIf one has the choice of reading a (bilingual) text already known (having been read in the native language) but boring, and reading a (bilingual) text that is not already known but looks exciting, one should pick out the latter option and not the former.¤¤¤It might be that these principles reflect the methodology of mature learners, as we have been ourselvesPlease e-mail us at hermeslanguagereference@gmail.com for any suggestions or criticisms - we'll try to use them to improve our work. And also, if you felt that anything of what we publish was particularly helpful, drop us a line as well - we'd be glad to hear about it.https://hermeslanguagereference.wordpress.com---------------------Hermes Language Reference réunit le travail de deux doctorants en philosophie ancienne, qui, après avoir fait l'expérience de la manque d'efficacité de la philosophie sur le plan financier, ont cru pouvoir utiliser leur compétences linguistiques (grec ancien et latin, mais aussi quelques langues modernes) afin d'aider d'autres apprenants en langues. N'hésitez pas à nous contacter à l'adresse hermeslanguagereference@gmail.com, et à nous communiquer vos idées, vos éloges et vos critiques.https://hermeslanguagereference.wordpress.com

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      Book preview

      Advanced French Vocabulary - Hermes Language Reference

      Introduction

      This vocabulary builder is intended for intermediate French learners, who wish to rapidly raise their lexical knowledge to the advanced level.

      French is one of the languages in which the purity of expression is most highly praised (a nice way to describe snobbishness, one might say….), up to the point at which non-native speakers could become exasperated by the multitude of nuances, specific tropes, and particular syntax structures that seem to flow in at every corner in written and spoken French. 

      The one thing to do…is to have patience, and always look for words and structures within sentences. Learning de-contextualized terms by heart is just hopeless. One needs the medium of sentences and phrases in order to acquire fast and stable knowledge of lexical terms and structures.

      One also needs to read and if possible, speak in French as much as possible.

      No manual or course can substitute the beneficial effect of directly reading and speaking in French.

      But the present vocabulary builder will help. For each term or construction, at least three sentences or phrases are provided for exemplification and context. 

      After the vocabulary builder, a short story by Guy de Maupassant (Two friends/’Deux amis’ – published in 1883 and translated in English in 1903 by Albert M.C. McMaster) offers the chance to measure and verify the advancement made, as well as to add some extra vocabulary.

      The story is presented in a bilingual, juxta-paragraph translation – French sentences or phrases are immediately followed by translation.  

      Readers should try to recognize the terms presented in the preceding vocabulary builder, and also to write down any new terms they might encounter, contextualized in sentences - thus taking advantage of the juxta-paragraph format.

      This book closes with another story by Maupassant (‘Mademoiselle Fifi’ – published in 1882), whose original French text is annotated here with lexical footnotes.

      Both of Maupassant’s stories, and the English translation, are now public domain. (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Short_Stories_of_Guy_de_Maupassant)

      A. Vocabulary builder

      À la bonne heure

      At the right time, so be it, that’s great.

      ≈≈≈≈

      Un remède doit être pris à la bonne dose, à la bonne heure.

      Medicine has to be taken in the right measure, at the right time.

      Pour gagner, tout ce que vous avez à faire c'est vous présenter au bon endroit à la bonne heure.

      To win, all you have to do is show up at the right place at the right time.

      Si l'on veut m'en croire, à la bonne heure.

      If I may be believed, so be it.

      ◊◊◊◊

      étreindre

      embrace, hug 

      ≈≈≈≈

      Elle a étreint son fils avant de le mettre au lit. 

      She embraced her son before putting him to bed.

      Le mari étreint sa femme avec amour. 

      The husband hugs his wife lovingly.

      Les supporteurs se sont étreints après la victoire de leur équipe. 

      The supporters embraced after their team won.

      Ce serait probablement une bonne idée d'étreindre nos ennemis et de tenir nos amis à distance.

      It is probably a good idea to clutch one's enemy close to one's breast and keep one's friends at arm's length.

      Dieu n'a que nos bras pour étreindre ce monde misérable.

      God has no arms but ours with which to embrace this pitiable world.

      ◊◊◊◊

      échoir (à)

      fall due, fall to, benefit

      intérêts à échoir - accruing interest 

      ≈≈≈≈

      Le sort qui lui est échu n'est guère enviable.

      It is hard to envy his destiny.

      Le loyer de l’appartement échoit le 25 janvier.

      The rent-bill for the apartment is due on January 25th.

      C'est à lui qu'échut la fortune du père.

      It is him who benefits from his father’s fortune.

      C'est à moi qu'il échoit d'annoncer la mauvaise nouvelle.

      It falls to me to announce the bad news.

      La création de richesses et d'emplois doit échoir à ces populations.

      Wealth creation and the generation of jobs must benefit those populations in need.

      ◊◊◊◊

      En faire accroire à quelqu'un

      to try to deceive somebody

      ≈≈≈≈

      On ne me fera pas accroire que le fédéral n'a pas les moyens de corriger le déséquilibre fiscal.

      You will not convince me that the federal government does not have the resources to correct the fiscal imbalance.

      Ils veulent essayer de faire accroire à la population qu'ils règlent les problèmes, alors que ce n'est pas vrai.

      They would have the public believe that they are solving problems, even though that is not true.

      On peut bien nous faire accroire n'importe quoi aujourd'hui, on a ici des documents qui nous disent qu'il ne faut pas aller dans cette direction.

      They can try to sell us on anything all day today, but we have the documents here to tell us not to go in that direction.

      ◊◊◊◊

      Louper

      flunk, miss out on, fail

      ne pas en louper une – to put one’s foot in it repeatedly

      ça ne va pas louper – it is bound to happen

      ≈≈≈≈

      Tu vas tout faire louper.

      You will spoil everything.

      Je l'ai loupé de sept minutes, il venait de partir.

      I missed him by 7 minutes, he had just gone out.

      Tu as loupé l'occasion de te taire.

      You missed the chance to be silent.

      Il n'en loupe pas une!

      He is always putting his foot in it!

      ◊◊◊◊

      Battre froid (à quelqu’un)

      give somebody the cold shoulder

      ≈≈≈≈

      Fernande trouve que tout le monde lui bat froid.

      Fernando thinks that everyone is giving him the cold shoulder. 

      Si ceux-ci lui battent froid, peu lui importe.

      If they give him the cold shoulder, he does not care. 

      Le premier l'accueille avec bonhomie, mais le second lui bat froid.

      The first welcomes him with cheerful friendliness, the second gives him the cold shoulder. 

      ◊◊◊◊

      Le funambule (syn. danseur

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