Hazer

Pssst....Dragon! Check out my age...I was in Grade 9 when French was first introduced. I remember the first cereal boxes coming into our home with French and English printed on them.

Polenta, French is a requirement for any government job, whatever the level. Never mind that you'll probably never need to use it.
Lesson 2...I wish someone had told me that!!
Lesson 3...I would much rather have been given the opportunity to learn a second language I could have made some use of, but French was the only option when I was in school.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Sheri Moon Zombie, Melissa Sue Anderson, Linda Hamilton, Olivia Newton-John (1948) , Lynn Anderson(1947), Bryan Ferry(1945). Anne Robinson, Winnie Mandela, Donna Douglas, Patrick O'Neal, Julie London, Marty Robbins, Jack LaLanne, George Gershwin, Pope Paul VI, George Raft, TS Eliot, Edmund Gwenn and Johnny Appleseed.

Baldur

Baldur atypically added the years three of these people were born in to today's list because they surprised me.
I would have guessed that Olivia Newton John was 10 years older than Bryan Ferry, and that Lynn Anderson was 20 years older than Olivia.

Dragon

Hazer, I had forgotten that you can go into any government facility and ask to be spoken to in French.
I always think its a little funny when we get some product that is only made in another country and it only has english on the packaging. It's like there's something missing even though the only thing I ever do with the french side is turn it around to face the back. Actually, whenever I have to put a label on a box of meds at work I always put it on the french side, so I geuss I do use it for something. hehehe

Polenta, all Canadian children (nowadays) have to take some french classes but it's up to the parents as to whether they want to put them into French Immersion school which means every class is done entirely in French. My best friend who did this ended up hating french, she also had a little trouble with spelling as she always spelled things the french way rather than the english, not something that hugely impacted her life but with her best friend being a spelling nazi it did make for some interesting conversations.

Dragon

-geuss +guess

polenta

I think speaking a foreign language always adds something to you. Not only can it help you get another kind of job but it can also OPEN YOUR MIND. Seeing how other people have managed to describe actions, feelings, communication lets you see that the solutions man gives to his problems are ENDLESS and therefore opens your mind.

Hazer

I do agree with you polenta. The only problem I have is way in which it was imposed on us. We should have been free to choose. I think our tax dollars could have been spent in a more beneficial way.

Normal

Thanks to Dragon & Hazer for the interesting discussion. Oddly, I chose to major in French in college & was informed by one (dreadfully midwestern-accented) lady prof that I had a horrible midwestern accent. Oh well. Life dealt me 10 yrs in Germany and none in France, though the 4 yrs in Montreal was fun. In Europe, a French friend joked about the bizarre accent of "Quebecquois." I recall sitting in a Duesseldorf restaurant booth overhearing folks there for a shoe trade fair, speaking "real" French that I could actually comprehend! Did not realize there were so many regional variations to Canadian French, though it's certainly true in France.

And here in the US. In Germany, I could go to sleep on the night train to the mountains and know just where we were by the speech of the new arrivals in the corridors. Always fascinating to me.

polenta

We had 4 years of French (compulsory) in high-school and as I did law pre-universitary studies, we had one year of compulsory Italian. They said you needed it to study Roman Law, which is the basis of all our law. I think in English speaking countries, law is based on the Common Law or jurisprudence or on former court decisions.
In reality, you needed law preuniversitary studies for anything connected with humanities.
I think being able to choose whatever foreign language is much better.
I wonder if Normal has learned German just by living there. I always wonder how you can do it.... but it seems true that YOU CAN.

polenta

I think the purpose of our studying French, English or Italian in high school was to read bibliography in those topics. If this was the purpose, it's always said that you don't learn so much how to speak but to read textbooks in your future university studies.

polenta

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QHA2CUzC5OY/Swvqtg8W_PI/AAAAAAAAD68/LUQtLGvS_4Y/s1600/gabriel+pereir a.jpg

There is an American movie actor who looks very much like this guy. Do you know his name?

Arw65

he looks a bit like Steve Carell
http://www.google.com/images?q=steve+carell&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&am p;client=firefox-a&um=1&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=14 40&bih=737

polenta

Thanks for your answer Arw. I know your actor's face but it's not the one I say. Maybe someone else knows him. Thanks for answering Arw.

Baldur

Baldur is terrible with face recognition. When I went to Los Angeles for my son's wedding last year I might have passed dozens of 'stars' on the street without knowing who they were.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Lil Wayne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alexis Stewart, Shaun Cassidy, Meat Loaf, Wilford Brimley, Jayne Meadows, William Conrad, Thomas Nast, Samuel Adams, King Louis the XIII of France and Cosimo de Medici.

marius

Polenta ... don't think this is American actor ... but maybe you're thinking of Joseph Fiennes?

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=&q=joseph+fiennes&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sou rce=univ&ei=tKygTIGRMsPflge06sHUCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resn um=1&ved=0CDAQsAQwAA&biw=1259&bih=620

polenta

A million thanks Marius, it's not this guy but it's a well-known movie actor who is not a big star such as Tom Cruise etc. Maybe if you enlange the photo, someone could find him also VERY, VERY SIMILAR TO HIM. This guy has a longer nose than the two actors mentioned above and is less good-looking than they are.
Perhaps someone else might know him.

http://www.google.com.uy/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QHA2CUzC5OY/Swvqtg8W_PI/AAAAA AAAD68/LUQtLGvS_4Y/s1600/gabriel%2Bpereira.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.telemedios.com.uy/2009/ 11/entrevista-exclusiva-gabriel-pereira.html&usg=__LR0L5_owAjhMVL7OLzPWaqtmYcI=&h=322&a mp;w=482&sz=29&hl=es&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=PMle8O_VCEyEoM:&tbnh=123& tbnw=169&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGABRIEL%2BPEREIRA%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1W1GFRE_e s%26biw%3D1076%26bih%3D428%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=297&ei=sL CgTIq-HsKqlAevx8jjCQ&oei=sLCgTIq-HsKqlAevx8jjCQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=11&ved=1t :429,r:0,s:0&tx=67&ty=48

polenta

I think the above link doesn't work. Here I have a YOUTUBE video. The guy is the journalist who appears at the very beginning of the video and is called Gabriel Pereyra. There is a movie actor who is his look-alike. Does he remind you of any actor, maybe American?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvTvI9jevdM

Baldur

Baldur just received this email and thought it interesting, I've copied the entire text here:


A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect.

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way so I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather, not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on the list.

If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right -- only who is left.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted paychecks.

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.

Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "In an emergency, notify:" I put “A DOCTOR."

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

I used to be indecisive; now I'm not sure.

I always take life with a grain of salt... plus a slice of lemon... and a shot of tequila.

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Baldur

polenta, apparently the Radio Baldur listening audience would make terrible papparazzi.