| Importance of French Spelling
|
< Older | Newer >
Importance of French Spelling
Lome, Togo West Africa
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com
I am trying to rent a home in Lome to use as a resting house for weary travelers. My new proposition of working serendipitously on projects is helping me to be more patient with the Togolese people as nothing I am focusing on progresses, however what I am not focusing on does progress towards a goal.
Last night the one older women who I have had maybe 10 discussion meeting with called me on the cell phone, I am not sure all she said, but I heard the words,
- tout de suite -
These words mean right now, so I walked to the woman house immediately.
- tout de suite -
I looked these words up in the French Dictionary, and if I would have typed them, I would have written,
- tout suit -
This is my French Lesson problem, I am learning French as I hear it and not as I read it, write it maybe, then try to say it. I hear the word and I try to repeat the word, I often do not see the word written.
For Example, when I want a Taxi to go slow, or I want a person to be careful I need to say,
- Dousma -
or
- Douzsma -
I cannot find the word, the ironical problem of a dictionary, if I knew how to spell it I could find it in the dictionary, and if I knew how to spell it, I would not be trying to find it in the dictionary.
The older women does not read French well, however she does speak French more or less ok. I can read French well, however I my pronunciation is bad.
The women asked an younger niece or relative to come to the house and translate from Mina to English or English to Mina etc. The first language of the older woman is Mina, Ewe or something local. The contract is in good French.
I am being weighed by my intentions, the lady can see that the contract is in good French, as her one son requested of me, he said write an offer
- bien clair -
This is the annoying part, I cannot find these phrases as they are said to me, I understood what the man said, I know he wants a very clear offer made to them in French, so I did this as I heard him say.
I skipped the offer part, I thought this is too crazy, I will write the lease contract I want and they can read it as an offer is just a something prior and not clear, the final lease is clear.
Except anything I do, never progresses towards my intended goal. I wrote a very clear lease in French for the son to read, the mother to read and nobody reads it.
Serendipitously working towards the goal, I now do not care, as who cares, I am not trying to accomplish something by doing a clear contract, I know I am trying to accomplish something by accident. What I did serendipitously was demonstrate to her I am serious.
Serendipitously working is trying to make good accidents happen, make good accidental progress towards some cloudy and overcast goal. The difficult part is to not stay focused, just keep intending to make progress and do not enforce people to focus, allow them to go off-topic.
I keep learning in life, people only hear what they want to hear.
Read the Blog comments and you know they hear what they want to hear, not what I wrote. And I know there is a difference between reading and hearing, however this is the nature of understanding.
I have had many people say to learn words in the contextually, that you can learn words by using them or how they are used in sentences.
I think… let me think of a percentage, I think this is
95 percent horseshit, words said by people to lazy to go and look up words, however 99 percent of the people on the planet.
I must learn to spell the word, I must look the word up in the French Dictionary, I must read the word, I must write the words. When I hear a word, I need to somehow learn how to spell the word.
I am in country where people do not write words down, they do not spell words, they do not speak French, they speak Mina. I am trying to accidentally learn French, by continuously learning the words I am not trying to learn. However, I must read the word, write the word, and I need to continually check the spelling.
If I spell it correctly, I have a chance of pronouncing it correctly.
People that want to learn a language have dictionaries.
Weary travelers want to rest in a place where what they expect to happens, does indeed happen.
Importance of French Spelling
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Airport Parking
Gatwick Parking
Holiday Insurance
Manchester Airport Parking
-------------------- advertisement ------------------- Hobo Ads ---
< Older | Newer >
Share on Facebook
Language For Travelers Table of Contents | Languages |
Previous Posts
Working Effectively in Africa - Working Effectively in AfricaLome, Togo West AfricaSaturday, August 4, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comI like to solve problems, and here in Togo, West Africa I have many problems to solve if I wish. Thes ...
A Hobo with No Cell Phone Internet in Togo - A Hobo with No Cell Phone Internet in TogoLome, Togo West AfricaSaturday, August 4, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comTogocel in Togo effectively cut off GPRS Cellular Network Internet Access here for me Au ...
Togo - TogoLome, Togo West AfricaFriday, August 3, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comTogo…Togo…Togo…This is Africa.If I can avoid temptation right now, I will just allow this day to pass, I am in Togo, West Africa ...
Togo and The Travel Dilemma - Togo and The Travel DilemmaLome, Togo West AfricaFriday, August 3, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comC'est l'AfriqueThis is a phrase used in Togo, which means,“This is Africa.”I prefer to say,“Welcome to Af ...
Togo Travel Confusion - Togo Travel ConfusionAtakpame, Togo West AfricaThursday, August 2, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comShall I go North, or shall I go South, maybe I should go to Ghana. I never know where I am going or what ...
Newer Posts
Togo a Test of Love - Togo a Test of LoveLome, Togo West AfricaSunday, August 5, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comIf you loved me, you would give me money.I think giving money to Africa is an interesting test.A person that is l ...
Is Talking Loud Primitive Behavior - Is Talking Loud Primitive BehaviorLome, Togo West AfricaMonday, August 6, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comI would propose that talking loud, screaming the words is Primitive Behavior. I have observed peop ...
African Clatter - African ClatterLome, Togo West AfricaTuesday, August 7, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comSometimes I listen to a song, and then I proceed to sing the song to myself for days even after I am bored with the ...
What is Possible What is Not - What is Possible What is NotLome, Togo West AfricaWednesday, August 8, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comWhat is possible and what is not, I am alone here in Lome, Togo and I am not sure where to go to find ...
The Cost of My Travel Decisions - The Cost of My Travel DecisionsLome, Togo West AfricaWednesday, August 8, 2007Andy of HoboTraveler.comI was asked the other day, how much do I spend per day here in Togo. I had to think, but my answer ...
Reader Submitted Comments | Deleted Comments (0)
Anonymous said on Monday August 6th, 2007 10:22:00 PM
why make a guest house there ? To house travelers with malaria ? No repete business bad business modelcome on Andy are you losing your mind ?
Richard Trillo said on Tuesday August 7th, 2007 03:14:00 AM
Hi AndyFrench is an absolutely pig of a language to learn, almost as hard as English I'm told. But if you know the word means slowly, why not look up slowly in the English-French section. And then you should it find it says "doucement". Actually I've just tried it with the rather crap translation widget I sometimes use and that translated slowly as lentement and gently as doucement. But even that's a help – French adverbs usually end -ment, just as English ones end -ly. Good luck, or I guess I should say bon chance! Or is it bonne chance as chance is feminine. . . damn.Richard Trillorichardtrillo@blueyonder.co.ukhttp://theroughguidetokenya.blogspot.comhttp://theroughguidetothegambia.blogspot.comhttp://theroughguidetowestafrica.blogspot.comDiscount flights with profits to development: www.northsouthtravel.co.uk
Leave a Comment
< Older | Newer >
|
|
|
|
|
