January Filers at the CSC - How are you doing?

[aravis227 1]

Good morning everyone! How are we all doing today? I'm being anxious and impatient.

I like your new pictures You look like you could be my sister! My girls and I both have the curly hair like that... Lol

Thank you! I don't have any sisters...so maybe you're like a long lost one.

About teaching French...have you tried Rosetta stone? It's fantastic.

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I'm trying to find a good way to teach French to Bryan. Would you have any ideas?

Waow!! I know what you're talking about...

When I was living with my fiancé, I tried to teach him French, but it didn't work out so much...

First of all, does he want to learn French, is he motivated?

Josh knows some words, but that's all.

He, after trying with some books, bought a CD room, I would have to ask him what was the name of it!

It seemed to be a good way to learn French, but he wasn't doing it too frequently! He needs to really want to learn French! not me wanted him to speak French.

He says he wants to learn but he doesn't seem very motivated.

He bought a CD rom (with a book), played with it for a while and then forgot about it.

I'm trying to find a good way to teach French to Bryan. Would you have any ideas?

Not even married yet and she's already trying to change her man

... Of course if you set a reward system for his good efforts then he will be quite motivated to learn. It's an easier language to speak than to read (at least that's my take).

I'm not trying to change him, I'm just trying to make our life easier and funnier it would be great to be able to talk a language that no-one around us would understand.

And he knows he will have to learn at one point, because when we have kids, they will speak both languages. So, it's better if their dad can tell when they are insulting him

I thought about the reward system. I think I'm going to think about it more, it could be a good way to do it

I know that learning French is quite difficult (more difficult than learning English). And I think he knows it too. And Rachel, you are right, when you can't practice you forget how to use it. Last year we broke up for several months (won't go into details, I'm glad we realized we needed each others so much!) and when we first started to talk via the webcam and microphone I was scared I would not be able to understand what he says! but it worked perfectly

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Hehe. Hmm, what could you do? Does he know any French at all? I was wondering if you could do something like write e-mails in both French and English, or maybe compile a small vocabulary list for him, or start off with a very few words - for example, getting him to greet you in French and say goodnight in French?

He knows how to say hello, goodnight, I love you, yes, no, my name is Bryan, what's your name. that's a good start

I don't know if it is just me, but I have real difficulty distinguishing distinct sounds in spoken languages, even sometimes in English. I watched anime regularly for years in the original Japanese language and picked up maybe one or two words. Other people picked up whole phrases! I've always found writing and reading easier.

It is not just you. Writing and reading is so much easier than understand what people say! I met some people in the USA that I couldn't understand (but Bryan said it's because they didn't speak good English). It's probably easier now, after spending so much time together, and it will be easier after more months in the USA. but it's quite scary to go to a country where I can only understand half of the people!

So maybe I'm going to start typing some of my emails in both languages, and then ask him to make small sentences (with the words I'll have explained in my emails) and if it's correct there will be a reward

[Pam&Josh 0]

[quote name='aravis227' date='May 23 2008, 05:40 PM' post='1865839'

About teaching French...have you tried Rosetta stone? It's fantastic.

Yep, thanks Aravis! Rosetta Stone was the name of the CD room I was talking about!

It is a little expensing, but if motivated, really helpful!

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I sometimes wonder why I'm marrying an American. All my kids will be able to speak is English and bastardized English.

I know what I immediately thought of when I read 'reward system'.

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I sometimes wonder why I'm marrying an American. All my kids will be able to speak is English and bastardized English.

I know what I immediately thought of when I read 'reward system'.

We probably all thought of the same thing

Your children will be lost! should they use "theatre" or "theater"? "learnt" or "learned"? at least mine will have two completely different languages

[aravis227 1]

About teaching French...have you tried Rosetta stone? It's fantastic.

Yep, thanks Aravis! Rosetta Stone was the name of the CD room I was talking about!

It is a little expensing, but if motivated, really helpful!

"motivated" being the important part! I have it and what languages do you think I speak? English and....English.

I sometimes wonder why I'm marrying an American. All my kids will be able to speak is English and bastardized English.

I know what I immediately thought of when I read 'reward system'.

We probably all thought of the same thing

Your children will be lost! should they use "theatre" or "theater"? "learnt" or "learned"? at least mine will have two completely different languages

My opinion? "theater" is where you see movies, "theatre" is where you see plays, operas, or ballets...at least, that's how I use them. I don't think I've ever used "learnt"...

[Alex & Rachel 78]

It is not just you. Writing and reading is so much easier than understand what people say! I met some people in the USA that I couldn't understand (but Bryan said it's because they didn't speak good English). It's probably easier now, after spending so much time together, and it will be easier after more months in the USA. but it's quite scary to go to a country where I can only understand half of the people!

So maybe I'm going to start typing some of my emails in both languages, and then ask him to make small sentences (with the words I'll have explained in my emails) and if it's correct there will be a reward

It must be very scary! I am so grateful that I will not encounter a language barrier; although I still frustrate Alex by making him order things for me in shops.

And that sounds like a plan; good luck!

I am not always good at speaking English myself. Accents aside, I stammer sometimes and say 'um' a lot. When I write I can revise what I have written and make amendments if necessary. I day-dream a lot and when I am speaking my mind often wanders and I end up breaking off mid-sentence because I have completely forgotten what I was talking about!

[shes 0]

may i ask...after getting the NOA2..i heard couples who called NVC to check if they've received the application from csc..

how's that? when we should call and what number? do you know guys? especially those who've been approved already.

can anyone share their experience with it.

tnx in advance!

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I'm leaving work now, it's the weekend

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I sometimes wonder why I'm marrying an American. All my kids will be able to speak is English and bastardized English.

I know what I immediately thought of when I read 'reward system'.

We probably all thought of the same thing

Your children will be lost! should they use "theatre" or "theater"? "learnt" or "learned"? at least mine will have two completely different languages

I know! I know most of the obvious ones but I keep finding differences that surprise me. For example: Canceled vs. cancelled, or silicone sealant = caulking.

Also, I've learned not to use 'learnt' or 'dreamt' or 'whilst' too often online because some Americans see this as a form of 'pretentiousness'. Likewise using 'cinema' instead of 'theater'.

Alex helps, though. For example:

Me: I am cutting shapes out of aluminium foil.

Alex: What?

Me: I'm cutting shapes out of aluminium foil.

Alex: What do you mean?

Me: I'm sorry, I'm cutting shapes out of a-loo-min-um foil.

Alex: See, I knew you'd get there eventually!

He's terrible!

[BlakeandOlha 0]

So maybe I'm going to start typing some of my emails in both languages, and then ask him to make small sentences (with the words I'll have explained in my emails) and if it's correct there will be a reward

Actually I was thinking of Cecile walking around with a pocket full of crackers- and whenever Bryan used a word correctly, she could flip him a little treat.......what were you guys implying

The reason why I say to focus on the spoken rather than the written at this point is that unless he intends to walk around with a dictionary all the time it will not be very practical for daily activity. My sister and her husband, who have just moved to Belgium, started speaking french to each other about 5 years ago, and really made it an enjoyable activity in their daily lives. Because they were able to laugh their way through the process, learning was not viewed by them as a task. Now they are both relatively fluent. The ear can certainly be trained - I'm reminded of Spanish classes I took, the first week everything sounded like dadadada-dadadada-dadadrrrrrrrdadadada-dada, but shortly thereafter I could distinguish individual words. I worked for a French comapny as well and learned some of the language for that - same process. Bryan will probably not be communicating by writing but by speaking, and in order to speak well you have to be able to hear the spoken language.

Edited May 23, 2008 by BlakeandOlha

[aravis227 1]

I sometimes wonder why I'm marrying an American. All my kids will be able to speak is English and bastardized English.

I know what I immediately thought of when I read 'reward system'.

We probably all thought of the same thing

Your children will be lost! should they use "theatre" or "theater"? "learnt" or "learned"? at least mine will have two completely different languages

I know! I know most of the obvious ones but I keep finding differences that surprise me. For example: Canceled vs. cancelled, or silicone sealant = caulking.

Also, I've learned not to use 'learnt' or 'dreamt' or 'whilst' too often online because some Americans see this as a form of 'pretentiousness'. Likewise using 'cinema' instead of 'theater'.

Alex helps, though. For example:

Me: I am cutting shapes out of aluminium foil.

Alex: What?

Me: I'm cutting shapes out of aluminium foil.

Alex: What do you mean?

Me: I'm sorry, I'm cutting shapes out of a-loo-min-um foil.

Alex: See, I knew you'd get there eventually!

He's terrible!

Dennis and I were talking one time while I was in my kitchen and we had this conversation:

Him: Do you have a garburator?

me: a what?

him: ...a garburator?

me: ...what?

him: That thing in your sink that grinds up food

me: Ohhhh...a garbage disposal!

This whole different words thing is fun.

[BlakeandOlha 0]

I sometimes wonder why I'm marrying an American. All my kids will be able to speak is English and bastardized English.

I know what I immediately thought of when I read 'reward system'.

We probably all thought of the same thing

Your children will be lost! should they use "theatre" or "theater"? "learnt" or "learned"? at least mine will have two completely different languages

I know! I know most of the obvious ones but I keep finding differences that surprise me. For example: Canceled vs. cancelled, or silicone sealant = caulking.

Also, I've learned not to use 'learnt' or 'dreamt' or 'whilst' too often online because some Americans see this as a form of 'pretentiousness'. Likewise using 'cinema' instead of 'theater'.

Alex helps, though. For example:

Me: I am cutting shapes out of aluminium foil.

Alex: What?

Me: I'm cutting shapes out of aluminium foil.

Alex: What do you mean?

Me: I'm sorry, I'm cutting shapes out of a-loo-min-um foil.

Alex: See, I knew you'd get there eventually!

He's terrible!

We all know the English can't spell correctly, nor can they follow simple vowel-consonant-vowel conventions - and I think that using words like "whilst" are quite in keeping with your accent, and very cute - don't stop doing that Note, that if an American would say those words too often (notice you do not pronounce the "t" in american english) then they would be viewed less favorably.

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Note, that if an American would say those words too often (notice you do not pronounce the "t" in american english) then they would be viewed less favorably.

Depends which Americans! I've heard 'often' with the 't' pronounced and without it, in the same city!