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Busy day...
Jun. 14th, 2011 11:37 pmI put another significant dent in the current translation project, after which Galina and I ate lunch, after which I then set off for the improve-my-French session at St.-Germain-des-Prés. Galina, in the meantime, was determined to visit the Galeries Lafayette, which we had passed during our walk yesterday.
The conversation session went well, and had I known that the group was having a sort of "goodbye for the summer" get-together from 7 pm to 9 pm tonight, I may not have signed up for a meetup of a group called Franglish, which is designed to allow Francophone and Anglophone participants to converse one-on-one in a sort of speed-dating format: 7 minutes of English conversation, followed by 7 minutes of French, and then everyone finds another table at which to sit.
Today, our little group at the Cercle International de l'ARC consisted of me, a young man from Bangladesh, a Kurd from Turkey, a young man from Taiwan, and a fellow from Wales. The conversation covered a pretty broad spectrum, from the fact that Kurds at one time were followers of Zoroaster (who our facilitator confused for a moment with Zarathustra), to the fact that polygamy is not legal in Bangladesh (despite the fact that 80% of the population there is Muslim). I also learned, from the fellow from Taiwan, that everyone in China, whatever local dialect they speak, learns Mandarin. That, in turn, led to a discussion of the extinction of various languages of very limited diffusion, such as some of Native American languages for which only a handful or so of speakers may remain.
I walked from the Left Bank to the 4ème arrondissement for the meetup, and eventually found the Lizard Lounge at 18 Rue du Bourg Tibourg, where the group was meeting in the basement. The conversations I had there (with a glass of kir) were also very beneficial, and the one-on-one format allowed for some more focused conversation (such as, for example, how one uses the rent-a-bicycle system, more about which someday, maybe).
I decided to walk home from the Lizard Lounge, mostly just for the exercise and to see what there was to see along the way. There was quite a bit, including an electrically amplified street performer near and some public art at the Place Igor Stravinsky.
Walking home was perhaps not the best idea I've had while in Paris, as my feet are currently in discussions to declare a general strike, but it was a pleasant way to spend the time.
As it turned out, soon after I left, Galina closed her eyes and slept for a while. The Galeries Lafayette will have to wait for another day.
Cheers...
The conversation session went well, and had I known that the group was having a sort of "goodbye for the summer" get-together from 7 pm to 9 pm tonight, I may not have signed up for a meetup of a group called Franglish, which is designed to allow Francophone and Anglophone participants to converse one-on-one in a sort of speed-dating format: 7 minutes of English conversation, followed by 7 minutes of French, and then everyone finds another table at which to sit.
Today, our little group at the Cercle International de l'ARC consisted of me, a young man from Bangladesh, a Kurd from Turkey, a young man from Taiwan, and a fellow from Wales. The conversation covered a pretty broad spectrum, from the fact that Kurds at one time were followers of Zoroaster (who our facilitator confused for a moment with Zarathustra), to the fact that polygamy is not legal in Bangladesh (despite the fact that 80% of the population there is Muslim). I also learned, from the fellow from Taiwan, that everyone in China, whatever local dialect they speak, learns Mandarin. That, in turn, led to a discussion of the extinction of various languages of very limited diffusion, such as some of Native American languages for which only a handful or so of speakers may remain.
I walked from the Left Bank to the 4ème arrondissement for the meetup, and eventually found the Lizard Lounge at 18 Rue du Bourg Tibourg, where the group was meeting in the basement. The conversations I had there (with a glass of kir) were also very beneficial, and the one-on-one format allowed for some more focused conversation (such as, for example, how one uses the rent-a-bicycle system, more about which someday, maybe).
I decided to walk home from the Lizard Lounge, mostly just for the exercise and to see what there was to see along the way. There was quite a bit, including an electrically amplified street performer near and some public art at the Place Igor Stravinsky.
Walking home was perhaps not the best idea I've had while in Paris, as my feet are currently in discussions to declare a general strike, but it was a pleasant way to spend the time.
As it turned out, soon after I left, Galina closed her eyes and slept for a while. The Galeries Lafayette will have to wait for another day.
Cheers...
