Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

Generali

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I thought the move to Australia was a permanent one?

That was originally the idea. Mrs G hasn't been so impressed by the whole living in Aus experience though: I think the place has changed quite a lot since she was a kid and a lot of the things she liked about it have gone, probably forever.

lostinrates wrote: »

Are your wife and kids French speakers too? (My mother's school french has the most shocking antipodean accent) How old will the kids be then?

I was thinking yesterday about all the restaurants I'd love to take dh too in S. of France. Those amazing places you only find out about by word of mouth and you get no choice at all about what you eat but they bring plate after plate and its all fabulous. I bet I'd forgotten where they are now ooh....I'm thinking about the best duck I've every eaten now...

I don't want to go to NYC either...because of the family thing i.e. far too many of them

Mrs Generali has some French and her work will help her to learn if we move. The Generalissimos were originally raised bi-lingual with French. They went to French nursery in the UK and had a French nanny. We plan to get a French nanny and you learn fast if you're living in a place. I'd like them to go to international school wherever we end up so they will be taught in English.

SingleSue

I sometimes think I should be a proof reader, I tend to notice these things, almost like they are jumping out at me...and then I cannot move away from them at all, it just bugs me for the rest of the document.

The link was only really for last night, doubt I will be on the radio again this year as it was only really a special last night for the Eurovision but I do have the perfect face for radio! :rotfl:

It was surprising how confident I felt in the end, probably because of the earlier mistake when the mic was left open as then, the initial "Oh blooming hell" feeling and nervousness didn't happen, there was no chance to get nervous as it had already passed. It was a bit of a chore trying to remember that most listening could not see what was going on and having to remember to describe the visual picture I was seeing. I even did some of the scoring (originally I was not going to be doing that), so that by the end of the transmission, I was not just for additional comments but was doing the show jointly.

It's been a busy few days, got a call from the school on Friday afternoon to pick up a very distressed youngest as he had accidently knocked the fire alarm at the school which had then gone off (he is so small that he was knocked to the side and his bag caught the alarm in the rush between lessons). He was absolutely distraught, scared by the noise, by the rush of students after the alarm went off and felt horribly guilty when another child hurt their hand going out of the school to the field.

He was so eek afterwards that he wouldn't talk at all and wanted to be by himself for the rest of the day (not in a sullen way but in a completely freaked out way). Thankfully, at least it has been the weekend and he has had a chance to chill a little.

He has also had an asthma check up, the additional medication he has been given appears to be working brilliantly, his peak flows are now running in a straight line although the asthma nurse was a little confused as to why he was on the medication plus his inhalers as usually this medication is used in isolation (he has two asthma nurses, it was the other one who came up with the idea). I did point her to recent research (released last week!) that although it was usually used for mild asthmatics in isolation, it has also been discovered that the use of it combined with inhalers improves the condition of those with severe asthma.

Either way, the proof is in the pudding and for the first time in his life, his asthma is under control, so much so that he has grown 3 inches in 3 months....a very rare thing for youngest who already has a growth problem (at 18 months old, he had bone growth/age of a 9 month old). He is still small for his age but 3 inches is 3 inches, a massive improvement.

Also on Friday, I had to go back to the school office after picking middle son up at the end of the day, a child had jumped on his back at lunchtime, breaking his school bag, fingers crossed now that the child pays for a new one.

Yesterday was BBQ time for my sister in laws birthday and in typical fashion, it rained half way through :rotfl:. We carried on though and it turned out to be a good day...and fingers crossed, she may be pregnant again after they lost a baby late last year.

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

The Generalissimos were originally raised bi-lingual with French.

That's the key...the early exposure I think....e.g. when DH's cousin came to stay with us for a while she was really worried about communicating in English, having forgotten that her mother used to communicate with her in english only when she was tiny. After a month she was speaking like a native, never searching for a word. Her siblings were not spoken to in English at their mothers knee, and though both have had longer stints here, neither are as fluent as their sister. I was raise bi ligual with French too, but struggle since th brain break. (because, I think, because noone spoke french to me afterwards because I was in UK). I understand ok, but not fluently. when we went to Paris for a work thing I nipped out and did some shopping and was fluent and chatting, then I realised I shouldn't be, then it became ''an issue'' and struggled. Brains are weird.

LydiaJ

Oh Sue, your poor youngest with the fire alarm. That would be a scary experience for anyone, but especially awful for him. But good news about the asthma.

PasturesNew

I did school French - and learnt many other languages over the years... but as I've never been abroad I kind of couldn't see the point of learning them.

What annoys me is foreigners who think they speak English, but don't.... and can't understand why they can't be understood. It's because you're speaking it all funny/wrong and in an accent!!!

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

What annoys me is foreigners who think they speak English, but don't.... and can't understand why they can't be understood. It's because you're speaking it all funny/wrong and in an accent!!!

That also applies to a lot of native English speakers!

SingleSue

lostinrates wrote: »

That's the key...the early exposure I think....e.g. when DH's cousin came to stay with us for a while she was really worried about communicating in English, having forgotten that her mother used to communicate with her in english only when she was tiny. After a month she was speaking like a native, never searching for a word. Her siblings were not spoken to in English at their mothers knee, and though both have had longer stints here, neither are as fluent as their sister. I was raise bi ligual with French too, but struggle since th brain break. (because, I think, because noone spoke french to me afterwards because I was in UK). I understand ok, but not fluently. when we went to Paris for a work thing I nipped out and did some shopping and was fluent and chatting, then I realised I shouldn't be, then it became ''an issue'' and struggled. Brains are weird.

My children have had languages spoken to them since they were babies...not just French but other languages too (but mainly french).

When we went to Disneyland, I insisted the boys only spoke French to the staff (I am a strong believer in speaking the langauge of the country we are in) and they managed brilliantly despite being young. Unfortunately, neither eldest or middle sons wanted to do languages at GCSE but youngest wants to do German.

vivatifosi

lostinrates wrote: »

That's the key...the early exposure I think....e.g. when DH's cousin came to stay with us for a while she was really worried about communicating in English, having forgotten that her mother used to communicate with her in english only when she was tiny.

I agree that it helps to learn early, however I think any immersion is good. I did German at school having given up French at 14, however for many years I worked for an American company that had its European HQ in France. As a result I had French speakers around me for years. As a result I can speak French - badly I hasten to add - with some confidence, but because I was immersed at a spoken level I can't read or write it very well at all. It gives me a sense of what being illiterate must be like. What's really frustrating having been surrounded by Europeans for years speaking different languages is that I can say most things in a different language, just not the same foreign language... It's very annoying when say, you are trying to describe a journey somewhere but then a critical verb comes to you in spanish and the noun you're ferreting around for comes in german.

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

I agree that it helps to learn early, I can say most things in a different language, just not the same foreign language... It's very annoying when say, you are trying to describe a journey somewhere but then a critical verb comes to you in spanish and the noun you're ferreting around for comes in german.

That sounds like me....just in English though! As well as French, I had decent but not fluent Spanish. Now.....very little. The only time I can fin a word in spanish in the rattly head is when I'm looking for it in French or Italian :rotfl: Now all that is bad enough, but of course, that's how I felt ALL the time,in English too for a while. Its much less common I grope for a word and can't find anything passable even if its something in lieu f the word for which I search but its wretchedly infuriating. Honestly, though I can't blame MSE overuse on lingustic training so much any more, it helped a lot. Trying to respond, and most importantly not being interrupted or ''helped'' my dh and family who found it frustrating beyond belief. Very occasionally I stop dumb mid sentence now, more often I keep talking but just lose train of what I was saying so start saying one thing and finish on a different topic entirely.

lostinrates

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Davesnave was right my cheapo camera was a false economy and I can't share how mzing these colours look together because they just don't show. The columbines are fire orange/red and yellow and sort of ''vicious apricot'' an the lupins are pink/yellow onthe right (its called Lulu the variety so you could see it on goggle image but its the least exciting) and the bigger onw is orange and topical sunset purple and dark pink.

Its a combination I don't expect many compliments on but I love it. Its the start on a new patch in my ''rose gold'' aka ''sunset'' border.