french kiss french bread french toast

with my so-called free time (we could also call it vague confusion & lack of direction), it might be a good idea to take some kind of definitive French test.

That way I could say to a future employer “In French I am level XYZ according to ABC standard”. That would be more specific than saying “intermediate level” _{according to whom?} “conversational French” (and to be honest, probably “crap level” written French).

• Now, there’s the DELF, which is an international standard, so that is tempting, but I think the test is only administered once a year, and I think I just missed it.

• And then there’s the TEF (test d’evaluation du francais) – I’m not sure if that one’s an international standard. It might be. The TEF is offered several times a year (register by Sept 5 for the test at the end of Sept) but the cost of taking the test is around $400, add another hundred or two if I want the supplemental “written expression” and “oral expression” components.

In contrast the DELF test is only $100.

and enjoyed it just as much as the first time :-)

to the French language meetup – and it was loads of fun.

Absolutely worthwhile. I must go again.

to go to a French language meetup. It’s tomorrow after work.

I really want to go, however I think I started to get the flu today.

...Wait a minute, what am I doing in front of my computer? I should be in bed right now – at least then I’ll have a better chance of not being sick tomorrow!

Time to brush my teeth now.

I want to go to Quebec. Maybe just for a week, even. I don’t know if my boyfriend will be interested in going – probably not, but I know I could talk him into it.

Unfortunately, I told my boss when I took the job that I wasn’t going on holidays until the end of August. And I can’t really afford to take time off, nevermind the actual cost of the trip. Hmmm.

I spent 2 hours speaking conversational French. It was good practice, but mentally exhausting. Near the end I actually became worse, I kept forgetting words which I already knew, and mixed in more and more English. But oh well, it’s still good practice.

I feel more confident now about going to some French Social Club events. I think the next one will be next week.

It was fun, and I’ll miss it. Unfortunately it’s really expensive and the class starts 1 hour before I finish work, so I can’t reregister for the next term.

But I did make a new friend, which is always good. And today at work I was talking with my boss about the French class and one of our regular customers mentioned that he studies French too. I told him about the French language social group in Vancouver… mind you, I haven’t actually gone to any of their events yet.

But now that my class is over, I guess it’s time to force myself to go be a French-speaking extrovert, reluctant as I am ^{sort of}.

I also asked my prof about the DELF test, and he said he thinks I should probably take the B1 or B2 level test (intermediate level). It’s not offered again until June, I think, so I will need to do something to keep myself current in French between now and then.

I MISSED my class on Monday. I remembered about it the day before, and even in the early afternoon, then whoops! suddenly it was 11:30 at night and I remembered my class started at 5:30. :-(

Today I’ll go early and study in the library.

I was a bit worried because they put me in the advanced class, but of course advanced is a relative term.

The class went pretty well, the prof was nice, and there are only 5 of us in the class (supposed to be 6, but one person didn’t show). And there’s a big library full of magazines, DVDs and books designated by level. Woo hoo!

I got Le Petit Robert for Christmas!

And, I went to a party where I met one of my boyfriend’s friends who is bilingual. She’s Quebecois originally but has lived in Vancouver for a long time and has no one to speak French to. Maybe I can get her to come to the French language Meetups they have in Vancouver. I’ve been contemplating going for a while, but have been on an antisocial kick.

Just for the record, my New Year’s resolution is to socialize more (which won’t be too hard, considering how little I’ve done up to now).