State of the Union 2014 analysis

http://www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/ats/25.htm


This morning I studied two chapters of Spanish grammar: uses of ser and estar, and el participio.  Essentially the same usage as in French.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7beuWewFAc


I also watched a video from 29 Jan 2014 entitled “La visión de Rusia sobre el discurso del estado de la Unión de Obama.”  It was produced by Euronews, a station operating out of Lyon.  This video was in Russian, dubbed over in Spanish, with name/title captions in English.  It was a challenge to pay attention to the Spanish while filtering out the Russian.  I understood that they were talking about the recent State of the Union address by President Barack Obama.  The interviewer asked Mr. Kortunov, a political analyst, about several topics including Ukraine, Iran’s nuclear program, and the war in Syria.


I originally clicked on this video because I thought it would analyze Mr. Obama’s speech from 20 Jan 2015, but it’s interesting to look back a year at an analysis of important issues as they stood in early 2014.  A lot has happened since then – Ukraine is embroiled in violence, a sizeable jihadi force is challenging both the Iraqi and Syrian governments for control of territory, the West is still negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program, to name a few.  I look forward to revisiting this video when I have a better understanding of Spanish.


Linguistically, I am beginning to be able to identify the parts of speech when I hear a sentence, and there are many words that are similar to French and English words.  I recognize common endings of adjectives and adverbs, but I'll often lose track of the message when I spend even half a second extra trying to decipher an unfamiliar word.  One way I'll improve is to expand my vocabulary, both by listening to authentic material like this video, and by making/studying lists of words.

New project

From January to April 2015, I will be studying French and Spanish.  I intend to use this blog as a record of my language learning activities; after reading an article or watching a video, I will post the link to the blog and write a summary/reflection.  Target frequency is 2-3 posts per week, although I may read/listen/watch more than this without posting about every article/video.  I also intend to study grammar through websites devoted to this end, in addition to paying attention to usage in articles/videos.


Target competencies for improvement are listening and reading.  Writing blog posts in the foreign language will allow me to improve in that area as well.  Speaking and interacting is harder to do when learning on your own, but I am comfortable with pronouncing words, reading aloud, repeating the dialogue on videos, etc.  Of course, nothing beats conversing with a native speaker, so I'll keep an eye out for opportunities when I'm traveling, in the mall, etc.


Goals for French: be able to better understand familiar French as well as the French that is used in the rest of the Francophone world.  I am most comfortable with the language used on news broadcasts, in the classroom, in the restaurant, etc., because I've been exposed to those situations the most.  I have trouble with street French - the lower registers of the language that often mix with Arabic, for example, and that are used most by young people.  I would like to expand my vocabulary on the upper end of usage, as well - the flowery, sometimes obscure words you'd find in a poem or a dissertation.


Goals for Spanish: be able to understand most news broadcasts and articles; establish a strong familiarity with the grammar; be able to pronounce every sound in the language; and begin to understand the cultures and worldviews of Spanish-speaking regions.


Organization of the blog: At the top are the pages: Home, francais, espanol.  Home is where all blog posts live.  The francais page provides quick access to resources for learning French, including instructional sites and French-language news sites, etc.  Ditto for espanol.  The labels, located on the right-hand side of the blog, allows you to filter the posts by language and by competency.  For example, clicking on "francais" takes you to all posts that relate to my study of French.  The "listening" label takes you to all posts where I have watched a video, listened to a song, etc., regardless of the language.

Débat - risque d'amalgame ?

***écrit par Cody Anderson en français, 20 janvier 2015***


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT_V--c23O0

 

Après les attentats en France en janvier 2015, un débat se déroule sur le terrorisme et comment l’empêcher.  L’état a réagi avec au moins 69 arrêts pour l’apologie du terrorisme (Amnesty International, « France faces ‘litmus test’ for freedom of expression as dozens arrested in wake of attacks, » 16 janvier 2015) et le déploiement de 10 000 militaires sur le territoire français pour la protection civile (Radio Canada, « La France déploie 10 000 militaires pour assurer sa sécurité, » 12 janvier 2015).  Beaucoup de journaux partout dans le monde ont publié des images en solidarité avec Charlie Hebdo, et des millions de personnes ont participé dans des ralliés, affirmant la liberté d’expression.  Dans ce climat inquiet mais aussi passionné, il y a certainement un risque d’amalgame – c’est-à-dire de traiter la communauté musulmane comme responsable pour le terrorisme.

 

France 24 demande à quatre personnes de discuter ce risque et d’offrir leurs perspectives.  Cette première partie du débat devient passionné et démontre que la France, voire le monde, fait face à des questions importantes.  Mohamed BAJRAFIL, un imam, défend sa religion comme paisible, alors que le professeur de philosophie Rémi BRAGUE tire des exemples du Koran pour essayer de montrer que le prophète lui-même a commis des actes violents.  Le philosophe qui est assis face à M. BRAGUE soutient que l’histoire est remplie d’exemples de violence et de gentillesse, et c’est notre choix au présent comment agir, quel que soit le précédent d’un homme très respecté comme le prophète.  A mon avis, c’est une observation sage.