Annual Vacation: I will return June 5

Filed under Travelling by on May 20, 2011 at 11:49 am {3 comments}

It’s vacation time! I will be traveling through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece and Turkey for the next two weeks. I won’t have much (cheap/free) internet access after Sunday so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update the blog while I’m gone and I will be even further behind on replying to e-mails. (Sorry!) I will be back with lots of photos, realia and travel tips in June.

In the meantime, don’t forget to vote for Jennie en France as your favorite Language Learning blog in the Top 100 Language Lovers 2011 competition at Lexiophiles. Voting ends May 29 at 5:59 PM EST. Thank you!

Here are just a few of the places I’ll be:

Venezia veduta aerea

Piran sunset, August 2007

SplitRivaFromBoat

Zatoka kotorska 02

Santorin - 2000

All photos from Wikimedia Commons

Top 100 Language Lovers Blogs: Voting Starts Today at Lexiophiles

Filed under Learning French, Learning Other Languages by on May 17, 2011 at 3:52 pm {2 comments}

Lexiophiles’ Language Lovers 2011 competition is now open for voting. This year the four categories are: - Language Learning Blogs - Language Professionals Blogs - Language Facebook Pages - Language Twitterers Since I won 3rd place overall last year (in the Top 100 Language Blogs) and 2nd place in the Top 100 Language Learning Blogs, my blog was automatically [...]

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Starting my PhD in Languages and Linguistics… in Australia

Filed under Australia, Website by on May 9, 2011 at 12:11 pm {39 comments}

Here’s another secret that I’ve been keeping for a while: I’m moving to Australia in a few months to start my PhD in Languages and Linguistics. I received a scholarship that pays all of the tuition fees as well as a living allowance for three years. My research will be on the teaching of French [...]

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Thank You André and Rest in Peace

Filed under Learning French by on May 6, 2011 at 1:43 pm {7 comments}

My father-in-law, André, passed away yesterday. He was a very kind man and a devoted husband, father and grandfather. A few months ago, he helped contribute to the French Listening Resources mp3s by answering a few questions on French cuisine, traveling around the world and France’s national holiday. I hope that his words, spoken with his [...]

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French Language Tutorial (2nd edition) Now Available

Filed under Learning French, Website by on May 2, 2011 at 7:17 pm {4 comments}

The 2nd edition of French Language Tutorial is now available! This is a major update from the first edition, available in either PDF format or as a coil-bound paperback. Changes from the first edition: Much more vocabulary and sample sentences, such as asking for help, giving advice, expressing opinions, likes & dislikes, etc. New order [...]

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Numbers and Counting: American vs. French

Filed under French Culture, North American Culture by on April 27, 2011 at 6:15 pm {21 comments}

I’m still endlessly fascinated by cultural differences between the US/North America and France/Europe that most people probably don’t spend much time thinking about. A McDonald’s commercial on French TV got me thinking about numbers and counting in other languages and cultures.  You learn quickly that Europe uses the 24 hour clock for schedules and the [...]

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Comparative Grammar of the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Languages

Filed under Learning French, Learning Other Languages by on April 23, 2011 at 8:57 am {7 comments}

My new favorite book. Published in 1868! 400 pages of comparative goodness. Verb conjugations (we really should bring back thou hadst and the T-V distinction in English!) There’s even vocabulary at the end, though the words are not grouped thematically like they are in The Loom of Language. I’ve also ordered A Comparative Practical Grammar [...]

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Female Polyglots and Language Learners – Where Are You?

Filed under Learning Other Languages by on April 19, 2011 at 3:43 pm {15 comments}

The lovely Susanna, author of Language is Music, and I were talking about the lack of female polyglots online even though most language classes have higher enrollment of women than men and many language teachers are female rather than male. Most polyglots online – especially on YouTube – are men and we can’t seem to [...]

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Getting Used to Being an American Abroad (and Realizing that 30 Degrees is Hot)

Filed under French Culture, North American Culture by on April 11, 2011 at 7:32 pm {45 comments}

The weather has been gorgeous in France this past week and I’ve been looking at the forecast everyday hoping that the sunshine sticks around for a while. Yet every time I watch the météo on TV or check the prévisions on meteofrance.com, I always have to stop for a moment and convert the Celcius degrees [...]

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Recent Foreign Language and Traveling News

Filed under Learning Other Languages, Travelling by on April 6, 2011 at 9:29 am {3 comments}

Some interesting articles and websites on foreign languages and traveling that I’ve come across in the past week or two: In Troubled Spain, Boom Times for Foreign Languages: more Spaniards learning languages in order to find jobs abroad Scandinavians Rule, Russians Low in English Language Skills: ranking the proficiency of English among 44 countries and [...]

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Why is Jennie no longer in France?

I created this blog in September 2006 when I moved to France from Michigan to teach English. Many of the earlier posts are about my personal life in France, dealing with culture shock, traveling in Europe and becoming fluent in French. In January 2010, I started focusing more on teaching and learning languages in general. In July 2011, I relocated to Australia to start my PhD in Applied Linguistics. Although I am no longer living in France, my research is on foreign language pedagogy and I teach French at the university so these themes appear most often on the blog. I also continue to post about traveling (though now my trips are usually in Australia) and being an American abroad.

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Buy My French Books

My Say it in French phrasebook and Great French Short Stories dual-language book (both published by Dover Publications) are available at Amazon.com.

The 2nd edition of French Language Tutorial is now available as a PDF book. It has been updated with much more vocabulary, sample sentences, and cultural information, plus extended vocabulary lists, cross-referenced topics, and an alphabetical index.

Visit the Store to buy the PDF e-book for $14.95 or paperback book for $29.95.

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