A French Level II class posing with their tutor, monsieur Antoine Lombard. The students are Bernadine (left), Amy and Solomon.A small group of people has just completed their level two French after six weeks of three-hour weekly classes. The lessons were organised by the Alliance Française de Port Moresby, as facilitated by Monsieur Antoine Lombard, who also teaches French to students at the University of Papua New Guinea.
The group comprised a house wife, a computer networking staff, a staff with a migration organisation and a journalist.
The group completed the course with an examination that comprised listening comprehension, reading comprehension and written comprehension exercises.
French is not really foreign as some may think. English has adopted a lot of French vocabulary as in terms like bon café, chauffeur, en masse, déjà vu, crème de la crème and chef de mission, to name a few.
Learning a different language enables one to look into the lives of a group of the people who speak that language and helps one learn about the culture and way of life.
To communicate with this people in their language brings one to identify oneself with them. A kind of knitting occurs between the learner and those who speak the language – something that those who do not know the language would not have.
Then there are concepts embedded in the language that a translation may not completely capture.
People learn another language for various reasons.
Some study it to learn about the people and their culture. Anthropologists and other social scientists may want to do that to understand the people who speak a language with the knowledge that some concepts will only be understand in its proper sense with the knowledge of the language that the people use.
Missionaries also learn languages to communicate to the people that they are called to minister to. Hudson Taylor, the English missionary had to learn Chinese on top of his medical science knowledge to become useful in China.
Some learn a language to use it as a tool to understand certain literature. Taylor Caldwell is the author of Dear and Glorious Physician, the book that tells the story of the life of the disciple Lucanus (or Luke), the Greek medical doctor who penned the history of the early Christian church. Some of the oldest documents on the church are written in Latin and she had to translate bits from these to be used in writing the book.
Others learn another language to challenge themselves. A journalist who learnt level one French early in the year said he attempted the subject as he attempted to study foundation mathematics years ago.
He said: “Everything does not become clear in the first few lessons; one must work consistently and perseveringly to master the basics.”
Yet others learn a language to possibly work or study in a country where people speak that language. Many professionals in the Third World work to master English to apply for residency status in Australia or America.
To the east of PNG, the French territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia (including Tahiti) and Wallis and Futuna are strictly francophone (French-speaking).
The language of commerce, of instruction in schools and in daily life is French. Someone who does not know French would be lost should the chance come to visit countries or cities that are francophone.
Early this year a relative, who is in the sales business, accompanied a sports team to New Caledonia. He was armed with his business cards and tried to make business contacts with people there. He said he never got past saying Bonjour (Hellow/Good day) because the person he was attempting to communicate with could not speak English.
When the PNG sports representatives went to Noumea for the Pacific Games in September, the leader of the PNG mission and a journalist wrote that they wished they learnt French.
While doing laundry, the mother of a young man on a PNG team that brought home a gold medal found a note in his son’s trousers pocket that read something like: “Je t’aime. Claire.”
The mother was confused and asked a student with the Alliance Française for a translation. The translation provided was: “I love you. Clare.”
The student notified the mother that the words in the note do not necessarily imply that there was romance. They could be words offered by one to express great admiration for another as when fans of Céline Dion wave placards with the words when she performs live in Paris.
Incidentally, French happens to be the official language of Dion’s home province of Quebec in Canada. She was singing songs in French long before she learnt English and sung for the English-speaking population. (Probably some of her best songs are sung in French, not English.)
French also happens to be the language of Blaise Pascal, the mathematician and philosopher, Claude Debussy the musician, Louis Pasteur the chemist and microbiologist, Alexandre Dumas the writer of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo and Victor Hugo the creator of Les Miserables, among others.
The students with the Alliance Française will start classes early next year.
Anybody interested in learning French and accessing related resources can contact Monsieur Lombard on 326 1764, 326 7120 or by email direction.afpom@gmail.com or check the website www.afportmoresby.org.
The group comprised a house wife, a computer networking staff, a staff with a migration organisation and a journalist.
The group completed the course with an examination that comprised listening comprehension, reading comprehension and written comprehension exercises.
French is not really foreign as some may think. English has adopted a lot of French vocabulary as in terms like bon café, chauffeur, en masse, déjà vu, crème de la crème and chef de mission, to name a few.
Learning a different language enables one to look into the lives of a group of the people who speak that language and helps one learn about the culture and way of life.
To communicate with this people in their language brings one to identify oneself with them. A kind of knitting occurs between the learner and those who speak the language – something that those who do not know the language would not have.
Then there are concepts embedded in the language that a translation may not completely capture.
People learn another language for various reasons.
Some study it to learn about the people and their culture. Anthropologists and other social scientists may want to do that to understand the people who speak a language with the knowledge that some concepts will only be understand in its proper sense with the knowledge of the language that the people use.
Missionaries also learn languages to communicate to the people that they are called to minister to. Hudson Taylor, the English missionary had to learn Chinese on top of his medical science knowledge to become useful in China.
Some learn a language to use it as a tool to understand certain literature. Taylor Caldwell is the author of Dear and Glorious Physician, the book that tells the story of the life of the disciple Lucanus (or Luke), the Greek medical doctor who penned the history of the early Christian church. Some of the oldest documents on the church are written in Latin and she had to translate bits from these to be used in writing the book.
Others learn another language to challenge themselves. A journalist who learnt level one French early in the year said he attempted the subject as he attempted to study foundation mathematics years ago.
He said: “Everything does not become clear in the first few lessons; one must work consistently and perseveringly to master the basics.”
Yet others learn a language to possibly work or study in a country where people speak that language. Many professionals in the Third World work to master English to apply for residency status in Australia or America.
To the east of PNG, the French territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia (including Tahiti) and Wallis and Futuna are strictly francophone (French-speaking).
The language of commerce, of instruction in schools and in daily life is French. Someone who does not know French would be lost should the chance come to visit countries or cities that are francophone.
Early this year a relative, who is in the sales business, accompanied a sports team to New Caledonia. He was armed with his business cards and tried to make business contacts with people there. He said he never got past saying Bonjour (Hellow/Good day) because the person he was attempting to communicate with could not speak English.
When the PNG sports representatives went to Noumea for the Pacific Games in September, the leader of the PNG mission and a journalist wrote that they wished they learnt French.
While doing laundry, the mother of a young man on a PNG team that brought home a gold medal found a note in his son’s trousers pocket that read something like: “Je t’aime. Claire.”
The mother was confused and asked a student with the Alliance Française for a translation. The translation provided was: “I love you. Clare.”
The student notified the mother that the words in the note do not necessarily imply that there was romance. They could be words offered by one to express great admiration for another as when fans of Céline Dion wave placards with the words when she performs live in Paris.
Incidentally, French happens to be the official language of Dion’s home province of Quebec in Canada. She was singing songs in French long before she learnt English and sung for the English-speaking population. (Probably some of her best songs are sung in French, not English.)
French also happens to be the language of Blaise Pascal, the mathematician and philosopher, Claude Debussy the musician, Louis Pasteur the chemist and microbiologist, Alexandre Dumas the writer of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo and Victor Hugo the creator of Les Miserables, among others.
The students with the Alliance Française will start classes early next year.
Anybody interested in learning French and accessing related resources can contact Monsieur Lombard on 326 1764, 326 7120 or by email direction.afpom@gmail.com or check the website www.afportmoresby.org.
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