LE COIN FRANCOPHONE: MICHELLE’S MINI-SERIES EP. 1: ALSACE
If you want to learn how to read, write or pronounce well in French, writing about a subject you want to learn more about is the triple threat.
Michelle took on a big challenge of writing about the places she’d like to travel to in France, In one year, she finished a 17-article mini-series for our blog, which we’re thrilled to share with you.
I’ll let her words tell you the story of the evolution of her writing in French – an inspiration for your own progress – and the story of her bucket list that will give you food for thought. Today: Alsace.
Alsace is the first area that I have researched in my quest to learn more about France.
It is a very unique part of France due to its German influence over the years.
I enjoyed learning about the Christmas markets, the German-influenced food, the castles, and, of course, the storks!
Enjoy!
Michelle R.
(January 2023)
Ep. 1: ALSACE
Le premier domaine d’intérêt que je souhaite explorer est l’Alsace.
L’Alsace partage une frontière orientale avec l’Allemagne. Le Rhin est là aussi. Les montagnes de Vosges sont la limite ouest.
La France et l’Allemagne ont combattu l’Alsace pendant des siècles. Maintenant, l’Alsace est en France, mais il y a beaucoup d’influences allemandes.
Les choses les plus intéressantes à voir sont entre les villes de Strasbourg et Colmar. C’est ici que vous pouvez trouver les vignobles. C’est la route des vins d’Alsace. Le long de la route, vous pouvez déguster de nombreux vins. Les vins sont blancs et fabriqués dans la tradition allemande. L’Alsace est célèbre pour ses vins Riesling, Gewürztraminer, et Sylvaner. Ils ne sont fabriqués nulle part ailleurs en France.
Quand vous visitez l’Alsace, vous devez découvrir les marchés de Noël. La période du marché de Noël commence á la fin novembre et se termine le 1 janvier. Il y a des décorations partout… dans les rues, dans les fenêtres ! Vous pouvez manger des bretzels et boire du vin chaud aussi.
La cuisine alsacienne est riche. Certains plats sont le baeckeoffe (la cocotte à viande), la choucroute (le chou fermenté et saucisse), et la flammekeuche (la pizza). Le fromage de choix en Alsace est munster. Si vous aimez la pâtisserie sucrée, vous devez essayer le strudel aux pommes, cerisier bettelmann (la cocotte aux cerises), ou le kougelhopf (la brioche aux raisins secs, amandes et noisettes).
Les autres endroits à voir sont les ruines des châteaux médiévaux… en particulier le château du Haut-Koenigsbourg. Il a été reconstruit au début du 20ème siècle par Wilhelm II d’Allemagne.
La poterie de la région est magnifique. Les festivals avec des costumes traditionnels ne peuvent pas être manqués. Les cigognes ! Elles sont le symbole de l’Alsace. Vous pouvez trouver les nids partout en été.
La région de l’Alsace est pleine de culture et d’activités. Elle est certainement sur ma liste à visiter.
France: My Written Journey
In January 2023, Llyane encouraged me to develop my French writing skills.
At the time, this seemed like an impossible request. You see, I have a hard time coming up with ideas to write or talk about in English. Figuring out what to write about AND THEN translate that into French made my head spin. However, I am not one to back down from a challenge. So, I embarked on a journey that has elicited emotions such as dread, fear, and frustration but has ultimately resulted in joy, satisfaction, and pride.
Here is my journey.
After many days of contemplation, I decided to write about the different places in France that I may someday like to visit. This seemed accessible to me and would also be beneficial later.
Llyane and I decided on a schedule that included submitting an article every three weeks. I won’t lie. I had no idea how I was going to do this. At the end, there are a total of eighteen articles, and my process has evolved over the course.
The first article – the introduction to the series – was one of the hardest. I had no idea how much research I needed to do, how to translate my written English into written French, or how many pages was adequate.
So, I closed my eyes and jumped in with both feet.
The Research
Initially, I began research for my articles the week before I submitted them to Llyane. However, I quickly realized that I needed to begin research as soon as the last one was finished which gave me three weeks from start to finish.
Since my research would determine where I wanted to visit, some articles took longer than others to research as it was easy to go down various rabbit holes!
Once I settled into a loose format for the articles, it was easier to keep the research on point.
The first few articles were three handwritten pages double spaced. By the end, the articles were six handwritten pages double spaced. I’m grateful Llyane learned to read my handwriting!
Translating the Research
When I first finished the research, I didn’t know what to do with it. So, I began each article by writing it in English. This was the easy part as I was able to use the full extent of my native language.
The hard part came next – translating into French.
The objective of this writing expedition was to learn the French language. I eventually developed my own method. I would take each English sentence that I had written from my research and simplify it into a sentence that I knew that I could construct in French. This meant one sentence became two a lot of times.
Llyane always encourages me to pretend like I was talking to my son when he was four or five. This reminder helped me simplify the sentences without feeling like I was losing the context and feel that I wanted. Once I had settled on a simplified sentence, I would write it in French.
This process included looking up words that I didn’t know or colloquial phrases in Reverso. My final step was to use Reverso in reverse. I’d type in the French sentence I had written to see how it was translated into English. This would allow me to understand where my mistakes were and to make tweaks, if needed.
The Final Product
After translating the article into French, I’d put it away for a while. A few days before I submitted the article to Llyane, I’d look over it one last time to check word agreement – subject-verb and adjective.
I would also read over it out loud to myself right before my next session with Llyane. When Llyane and I would meet, I would read the article to her, and she would provide pronunciation correction and suggestions for better ways to word some of the sentences so that they portrayed what I was trying to get across.
The final step was providing Llyane with a brief introduction in English and a typed version of the article in French.
I hope you enjoy the articles on the amazing country of France. They are truly a labor of love.
Michelle R.
(January 2024)
NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
Tell us in the comments below what is YOUR list of places to discover in France?
Let me guess.
Do you constantly have the feeling that you can’t hear what the French say and you don’t know how to read all the French words because they are written so much differently than they sound?
Learn 3 secrets that will help you be self sufficient in the way you pronounce French words – even if you don’t know what they mean – so that you can read that sophisticated menu in your favorite French restaurant.
Immerse yourself as you FINALLY reach your dream of becoming bilingual, learn to speak Parisian French on Skype and BREAK your language barrier!
…and now, please SHARE this article with your friends. They’ll love you for it! : )
Always in your corner,
Llyane
Photo credit: Forbes.com
