[Course Forum] French Courses supported by Maxine_Downunder

@Maxine_Downunder

Cheers Maxine. It is a bit off-putting only because I don’t use the accent bar - I use ALT codes instead as I know them off by heart and find them faster to type.

Merci encore !

PS That was a bit weird using the term “off by heart” there as, coincidentally, the verb where I discovered the ligature wasn’t accepted was “to memorise” - « apprendre par cœur » !

PPS I am sure that I have used that ligature in another course for « un œil ».

Good for you Kim. I should learn them “off by heart” also. For general users it really needs to be on the accent bar though. I also agree with you it being “a bit weird” seeing as that term started this in the first place - LOL.

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Hi @Maxine_Downunder,

I think it’s just the case that being a ‘contributor’ (not the ‘creator’) that’s preventing you from simply adding “œ” to the in-browser keyboard. If you tag Joshua or Memrise Matty, I’m sure they would add it for you.

Good luck!

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Thanks @alanh, that makes sense. @Joshua and/or @MemriseMatty, can you please add « œ » to the toolbar for this course?

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@Maxine_Downunder and @timangleterre

Salut Maxine et Tim !

I don’t know which of you to ask but is there some way of differentiating between répéter ( http://www.memrise.com/course/809/french-verbs/16/?action=next ) and redire ( http://www.memrise.com/course/809/french-verbs/15/?action=next ) as they both are defined as “to repeat” which is very confusing. Perhaps redire could have (not rép…) and, likewise, répéter could have (not red …). I know that one is difficult as they both begin with the same letter.

Oh, and while I am here, I found out quite by accident that epérir (to perish) - http://www.memrise.com/course/809/french-verbs/13/?action=next - is not an actual verb (being listed neither in Larousse or verb conjugation charts and sites such as http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/ or Bescherelle).

I found this out when I answered périr instead by accident and it was accepted (and is, indeed, the verb “to perish”). On closer inspection of listings in Bescherelle, I found there is not a single verb where a word beginning with an e and followed by a p is not accented with an acute (eg épouser).

However, why both spellings are accepted, I don’t know. Also, I can’t recall the pronunciation as many words have barely audble recordings but I will post a note when it is up for review (but that isn’t for another 5 days).

Sorry for the long post and thanks to both of you for looking after this terrific course.
À plus tard !
Kim

Hello.
I would suggest to translate redire as “to say again”, since “again” is a common meaning of the prefix re-, for instance: refaire “to do again”, relire “to read again”. A hint (like “compound verb” or “one word”) would be necessary because “to say again” can also be dire à nouveau.
Cordialement,
Yves

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@Yves_Codet @Maxine_Downunder @timangleterre

Thanks Yves. Maybe even:
redire - to repeat, to say again
and
répéter - to repeat, to rehearse.

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Hi @ripcurlgirl, thanks for your post which I’ve just read. Good pickup on “répéter” and “redire” - I thought I’d fixed up these types of confusing words. Happy to do so now. I will most likely follow @Yves_Codet advice as he’s the expert. Thanks Yves_Codet. Regarding “epérir”, that was in the course when we took it on, but I’ll consider removing it. Interestingly though, since reading your post I googled it and note that it is recorded as a verb in a number of other Memrise courses. I also found it on Quizlet - but not sure about the veracity of that. Thanks again!

@Maxine_Downunder

Thanks Maxine.

WordReference doen’t list epérir as a valid word either : http://www.wordreference.com/fren/epérir and see here also: http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/ep�rir.html

Shame to remove it altogether. though I won’t forget the French verb meaning “to peish” (which can be dépérir also) or the fact that all ep… verbs have an acute accent on the e.

Hello again @ripcurlgirl. I have changed epérir to périr per your suggestion and I do concur with your comments. I have also changed the English, ie added to it, for redire and répéter. Thanks again for your input.

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Yes, you are right, I had neglected the meaning “to rehearse” for répéter.

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Unless I am mistaken, a word cannot begin with e (without acute) followed by a single consonant in French. But it can begin with e followed by a doubled consonant (effacer, essayer) or a group of consonants (espérer, estimer), in which case it is pronounced like è. So epérir is impossible (it must be some contagious typo), épérir would be possible but it happens not to exist, dépérir does exist.

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I obviously have much more to learn! @Yves_Codet, you will note above that I made the change to périr (to perish). I have checked this out and believe it to be right. Please correct me if I’m not. Merci beaucoup.

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You are quite right.
Je suis heureux de pouvoir être utile :slight_smile:

Hi @ripcurlgirl, just to pick up on your comment about the levels of audios. I haven’t forgotten this and have today verified 4 of the course levels (25 to 28). The result is that there are now 27 verbs where the audio has been replaced with the same audio at a higher level (in some cases after processing to remove background noise). The remaining levels will be checked!

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Hi @timangleterre - you are doing a great job Tim. Sorry I’ve given you a little bit more work in changing “epérir” to “périr” (level 13). Merci beaucoup.

@Yves_Codet

Merci de la confirmation !

@timangleterre

Thank you for amending the audio. It must be a huge undertaking but it will enrich this course.

@Maxine_Downunder

Thanks for the amendment and response.

And to all mentioned above, it is so pleasant to be taking a course with such great administrators and advisers. Merci.

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Re périr.

I just had this come up in a review. Thanks Tim for amending the audio and also to @Maxine_Downunder for updating the word.

Kim

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@Maxine_Downunder

Salut !

I have come across two words with the same English definition “to draw”:

tracer here: http://www.memrise.com/course/809/french-verbs/18/ and

desiner here: http://www.memrise.com/course/809/french-verbs/6/

If a clue like [not d…] and [not t…] could be added, respectively, it would take the guess work out of it.

Merci d’avance, Kim

Thanks @ripcurlgirl. I actually have a list of other French words in this course with the same English definition (including your two above). I need to drag it out again and make those updates to the course. Hopefully within the next week I’ll get that done! Merci beaucoup.