Does a French Version Of Board.ie exist in France?

segosego89

Just wondering are there any forums similar to Boards.ie that are exclusively in the French language? I ask because I thought it would be a great way to converse with people in French on an ongoing basis...

CelticRambler

Simple answer: no!

The French were relatively late to the whole internet thing (on account of their attachment to the Minitel system) so more-or-less skipped over the usenet/forum stage and went straight to Facebook groups and WhatsApp chats. Of those few (very few) forums that were created for special interests, there are still few hanging around (e.g. https://forum.tradzone.net/ for traditional music and dance) but the number of conversations has dropped right off since the good ol' days of the mid 00s.

Besides the rarity, you'll have another problem to contend with using a text-based platform for conversations: grammar, syntax and spelling like you've never learnt in any textbook!

Désolé les S ne se mettent pas il faut appuyer plus fort car le bitognio qui est dessous la touche déconne car il doit y avoir une poussière ou un truc du style =P =P

(example picked at random from yesterday's posts on the above mentioned Tradzone)

segosego89

CelticRambler wrote: »

Simple answer: no!

The French were relatively late to the whole internet thing (on account of their attachment to the Minitel system) so more-or-less skipped over the usenet/forum stage and went straight to Facebook groups and WhatsApp chats. Of those few (very few) forums that were created for special interests, there are still few hanging around (e.g. https://forum.tradzone.net/ for traditional music and dance) but the number of conversations has dropped right off since the good ol' days of the mid 00s.

Besides the rarity, you'll have another problem to contend with using a text-based platform for conversations: grammar, syntax and spelling like you've never learnt in any textbook! (example picked at random from yesterday's posts on the above mentioned Tradzone)

Cheers for the helpful reply.

Just wondering could you recommend any French based forum that would be a good way to improve my French? The Trad Zone website that you mentioned would not be suitable as I don't have any interest in Trad Music....


Would reddit/r/france be my best option?

CelticRambler

segosego89 wrote: »

Just wondering could you recommend any French based forum that would be a good way to improve my French?

Well, it depends on what interests you. If it's for Leaving Cert general vocab, simply reading regular newspapers (online) in conjunction with listening to the same day's news on a streamed radio station would be a useful start. If you want a bit more of an in-depth report on a single "hot topic" there's a very good programme on France Inter on Sunday mornings called Interception that covers a wide range of subjects (one a week) in documentary form. Like I said above, forums are probably not a great place to learn - if you can even find one.

segosego89

CelticRambler wrote: »

Well, it depends on what interests you. If it's for Leaving Cert general vocab, simply reading regular newspapers (online) in conjunction with listening to the same day's news on a streamed radio station would be a useful start. If you want a bit more of an in-depth report on a single "hot topic" there's a very good programme on France Inter on Sunday mornings called Interception that covers a wide range of subjects (one a week) in documentary form. Like I said above, forums are probably not a great place to learn - if you can even find one.

I've tried reading La Monde but it's quite difficult. I'm constantly looking up words etc.

Probably French children's books would be my best option? I remember being able to get my hands on a French version of the Tintin comics which were quite helpful...

CelticRambler

segosego89 wrote: »

I've tried reading La Monde but it's quite difficult. I'm constantly looking up words etc.

Looking up words is how you learn them!

I've been using the language (almost) every day in my professional and personal life and am still looking up words.

When you're not fully immersed in the environment, the best way to embed vocabulary into your brain is to read it and hear it. Radio is much better in this regard than television, because you have to force yourself to listen to the words; priming your ears with the written version makes that a lot easier, especially in helping sort out confusing names like Monsieur Lemaire who might not be le maire referred to in the report!

Weather and traffic reports are great for training your ear to hear French properly, as the range of vocab is relatively limited but repeated in many different ways.

Canard

I'd recommend Duolingo Stories (miles better than the drag of the old exercises, I have it on mobile but some people seem to need to use the desktop version for it).

I'd also recommend Twitter and following French people though, as mentioned above, French people have awful grammar/spelling in their own language because of all the silent letters.

Another lovely resource is 1jour1actu: https://www.1jour1actu.com/info-animee/est-ce-vrai-quil-y-a-plus-de-loups-en-france/. You have it explained with pictures, it's interesting and often topical, and there are transcripts down below.

All of those help with 'natural' French and Twitter would, in theory, let you interact back, but it depends what you're looking for. Lastly, for reading, what could be good are parallel text story books. Penguin do some and if you search Amazon there's a wide range. The level is quite high, but the text is on the opposite page in English, so you can highlight any new words / phrases / structures.

segosego89

Canard wrote: »

I'd recommend Duolingo Stories (miles better than the drag of the old exercises, I have it on mobile but some people seem to need to use the desktop version for it).

I'd also recommend Twitter and following French people though, as mentioned above, French people have awful grammar/spelling in their own language because of all the silent letters.

Another lovely resource is 1jour1actu: https://www.1jour1actu.com/info-animee/est-ce-vrai-quil-y-a-plus-de-loups-en-france/. You have it explained with pictures, it's interesting and often topical, and there are transcripts down below.

All of those help with 'natural' French and Twitter would, in theory, let you interact back, but it depends what you're looking for. Lastly, for reading, what could be good are parallel text story books. Penguin do some and if you search Amazon there's a wide range. The level is quite high, but the text is on the opposite page in English, so you can highlight any new words / phrases / structures.

Thanks so much for providing that address to 1jour1actu. It's a very good website.
I will take your advice regarding the reading items on Amazon also!

Thanks very much!