[Course Forum] French 1-7 by Memrise

fanny_sta · March 6, 2019, 4:30pm

Indeed, “aller (at the present tense) + infinitive” is a future tense called the futur proche or “near future”. Similarly to the difference between “I am going to do” and “I will do”, the near future (je vais faire, tu vas faire, etc.) and the simple future (je ferai, tu feras, etc…), indicate slightly different moments in the future: one nearer (near future), the other more distant (simple future) to the present.

In spoken French, the near future is more commonly used, the same way that the passé composé (j’ai fait) takes over the passé simple (je fis) and this is why we are teaching these tenses as you are more likely to need them in your conversations in French.

I hope this helps

Best,
Fanny

jefemcmahon · March 17, 2019, 2:03am

This is subtle, but I think important:

“j’ai toujours rêvé d’être un joueur de golf professionnel”

is translated by Memrise as

“I always dreamed of being a professional golf player”

But it should be:

“I always dreamed of being a player of professional golf.”

Why? Because the adjective professionnel modifies golf not jouer. So in English, the adjective professional should modify golf, not player.

You might say it would be unusual for an English speaker to say “player of professional golf,” but it’s not less unusual for an English speaker to say “professional golf player,” because we have the word golfer. It’s likely an English speaker would say, “professional golfer.”

In any case, the more correct English versions should not be judged wrong.

MaxineDownunder · March 18, 2019, 8:37am

That all sounds reasonable to me @jefemcmahon - though I’m no expert myself. @fanny_sta can you please take a look at this? Merci.

fanny_sta · April 10, 2019, 3:10pm

Dear French learners,

We’ve been working on a new feature and we’re really excited about showing it to you and to hear what you think about it. If you’re up for it, we’d just ask you to head over to the survey (you’ll have a sneak peek of the feature there with examples for complete beginners). Filling it out will only take two minutes, and your thoughts will be super helpful and valuable to us. Merci beaucoup !

Fanny, French Language Specialist at Memrise

jefemcmahon · April 13, 2019, 1:27am

Examples in which Memrise should allow the literal translation, rather than requiring a far-out idiom, because the literal translation would help us learn French better. These are all from French 6:

I’m really not sure about “got you” as the translation of " je t’ai compris". How about “I understood you.”
L’ordre public is translated as “law and order” but we have “the public order” in English.
<< Qui ne tente rien n’a rien >> is translated as “Nothing ventured nothing gained.” The two idioms play the same role in their respective cultures, which is doubtless why they are equated in the translation. But it will be a lot easier for English speakers to remember the French if it’s translated literally, “Who attempts nothing has nothing.” Otherwise we’re liable to forget about the Qui at the beginning. The literal translation helps us to remember the Qui.
“espérons des jours meilleurs” is translated as “let’s hope for clear skies.” But the literal translation, “let’s hope for better days,” is at least as common in English as “clear skies.” It makes learning more difficult if we have to look at "“espérons des jours meilleurs” and somehow remember clear skies.
“Il faut etre positif” is translated as “one must think positive thoughts.” What’s wrong with the literal translation, “One must be positive”? The word ‘thoughts’ occurs nowhere in the French sentence.

trishia1994 · May 13, 2019, 7:53am

Hi!
I’m not sure if this is where I should post this. If not, please let me know.

I updated my memrise and started from French 1 again. It seemed like the content changed a bit.

In level 1, they included merde ! However whenever they review me, there are always two merde ! choices. Is this an error on memrise’s part or is there really a difference?

Thanks!

lurajane · May 25, 2019, 7:20pm

A subtle correction:

In French 3 for US English, the French word “l’armoire” is translated to English “the wardrobe”.

But in US English, a large movable cabinet that holds clothes is most often called - wait for it - “armoire”. “wardrobe” typically refers to clothing, not furniture.

See here: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/wardrobe

lurajane · May 25, 2019, 7:30pm

In French 5 for US English, the French word “impatient” is translated to US English “excited”. This translation is incorrect.

Sonnenkrieger · July 2, 2019, 4:07am

By itself, that does seem like an odd translation. It has not been corrected though.

JBarnard · July 3, 2019, 8:57am

Hi, I noticed an error in intranslating French “impatient” to English in Level 5. The memrise course says it means “excited” in English, but the Collins Fre/Eng dictonary says spelling and meaning are the same in both languages.

wlwee · July 5, 2019, 9:36am

Hi, it seems to me there’s an error in French 1.

I’m pretty sure it should be ‘à côté de’.

JeanLucDelhaye · August 2, 2019, 11:09am

"prendre le petit déjeuner = to have breakfast

JeanLucDelhaye · August 2, 2019, 11:20am

viens-tu ? is indeed rather formal, but used by the well educated.
est-ce que tu viens ? is rather used by the poorly educated.
“tu viens ?” is correct (and usual) french language.

fanny_sta · August 2, 2019, 11:35am

Hi @wlwee,

You are right! This has now been corrected. If you log out and in again from your profile you will see the change.

Thanks a lot!
Fanny

fanny_sta · August 2, 2019, 11:38am

Hi @lurajaneand @Sonnenkrieger,

Thank you for spotting this. This has been corrected and you can see the change once you log out and in from your profile

Fanny

Speakgeek · September 15, 2019, 4:21pm

I love the first grammar lesson in iOS app! But I wish it had audio when I select the right answer. This is because when I read the words I’m pronouncing them with my English bias, which makes me say them wrong and reinforces incorrect pronunciation.

JamesS414 · September 27, 2019, 3:18pm

It’s impossible to hear the locals in French 2 unless you turn the volume way up, and then all the other sound effects are very loud. Any fix coming on this?

patrickbouvryca · November 1, 2019, 2:25am

In French level 2, my 10 years old daughter was seeing translations written as “Fuck-yeah!” or something very similar using the F word.

In addition to all the other France-only slang words taught in Memrise which are NOT part of the normal French language (I’m native French and I don’t even know these expressions), Memrise seems more like a bad joke than a serious way to learn the French language.

From a paying customer… please refrain from teaching slang and offensive words to kids (or anyone) as if this was normal. Bastardised expressions and ‘englicised’ terms should not be part of basic French courses, irrespective if people in France use them. French is not only spoken in France!
What’s next, teaching kids to say "putain ! "? You should know better.

fanny_sta · November 1, 2019, 11:29am

Hi @patrickbouvryca

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. Our app is designed towards our main audience and learners, which are young adults and adults. Our goal is to teach everyday, spoken language based on usage rather than academic language. We therefore have included some common swear words and expressions, but have stayed away from purely offensive language. We understand that certain things may offend some and not others and have included an “ignore/skip” option so you can remove the items you are not comfortable or happy with.
It is true that the French courses are based on how the language is spoken and used in France currently, and we would love to create courses of French from other territories too in the future, as French languages spoken around the world are rich and unique and deserve their own courses too. Could you tell us which France-only slang words and anglicised terms you are referring to? We would be happy to review them as we want our courses to be as natural and real-worldly as possible.

patrickbouvryca · November 13, 2019, 6:43pm

Hi @fanny_sta,

The idea to create French courses based on regional habits and expressions is great. However it would be better to first have a basic French course which remains neutral and focusses on teaching how to communicate in French with ‘general’ terms. This would exclude many expressions currently included in the Memrise basic French course which are only understood and spoken in France.

There are thousands of regional words and expressions which could be part of side courses, but why choose some over others (or any) for the basic Memrise French courses? This seems arbitrary and works against a valid teaching of a language’s fundamentals. The site axl.cefan.ulaval.ca is a very good reference to identify regional variations of words and expressions.

“Could you tell us which France-only slang words and anglicised terms you are referring to?”

I don’t use the app (my 3 children do), I only help them. So my examples from the app are limited, but in general, words such as “shopping, baskets, ferry, pressing, parking, chewing-gum, camping car, scooter, week-end, pipeline, le foot, des baskets/tennis, un jean, des boots, sneakers, un T-shirt, un short, un pull, un sweat, etc.” are NOT French words even if they are used in France. See francaisavecpierre.com or the link above for more examples.

Memrise is a good app, and I’ve got my money on it versus Duolingo (HelloChinese is better for Chinese). However, insisting on teaching words which are not understood nor used internationally hurts the app’s reputation as a serious tool for kids and adults to learn a language with such a variety of expressions internationally (and even within France). Much better care should be brought to the standard courses, and a cleaning of local words/expressions should quickly be made.

Good luck!