Feedback on French

I got feedback on my French from my sermon buddy yesterday. I haven't gone properly through her report (headings on two side of A4) but from our quick discussion after the service the issues fall into two basic areas:

1) basic slips (like I would do in English and probably nobody would normally notice apart from having printed notes to look at)

Things like forgetting the occasional contraction (de + les = des, etc.); occasional gender changes, the odd concordance des temps etc.

It's just a question of being careful, and perhaps when I stop giving people printed texts to critique, they won't notice any more!

2) pronominal verbs

This is a more tackleable issue, and I propose to put a checklist by my PC at home.

e.g. in French you don't repent, you repent yourself. You don't turn to God, you turn yourself to God. You don't convert, you convert yourself (se repentir, se tourner vers Dieu, se convertir)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Point 2 is interesting. Do you have to emphasise that it is God who takes the initiative in salvation in order to counteract the 'oneself' element, or is that not necessary within the meaning of your phrases?
Alan said…
Not really - because that se construction is also used for the passive, which is what we want, kinda.

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