Hello, world!
, a well known sentence for programmers, usually used to illustrate the basic syntax of a language.
But no worries about programming or coding talk: it's just here an adequate title for a first introductory post to this blog, blog that I'll try to feed more or less.
Readers will probably notice the note My English sucks...
and the choice I've made to write in English anyway. It may sound silly, but the reason is quite simple as my French also sucks.
Considering my English is understandable enough to make my shitposts available to everyone, writing English is the best thing to do. At least I'm less ashamed of making mistakes in a non-native language and it gives me the ability to practice.
My French sucks
Let's start from the beginning, as French is my mother tongue, a few explanations are probably required.
As far as I can remember, French lessons at school have been like hell. And it was until I graduated.
Paradoxically, I love the French language and do my best to express myself as well as possible: grammar, conjugation, spelling, formulation, ... Making my French as fluent and pleasant as possible is hard. I'm not a writer.
My memory, which doesn't allow me to remember things, and my understanding of grammar rules don't help. Combination of both (understanding and remembering the rules) is a total failure.
Next comes formulation. Formulation may be more a question of practice. The more you read, the more the brain unconsciously memorizes and reproduces a particular writing style, through a kind of societal mimicry. At least it's my feeling.
In my younger days, I read a lot (science magazines, translated novels as well as classics of French literature) and that's probably why my French just sucks instead of to be awful.
My English sucks
- Now for someone for whom grammar is a problem, trying to learn a foreign language through pure application of grammar rules is a real challenge. Because yes, in my school time, to learn a foreign language it was like:
Learn grammar
Memorizes vocabulary and irregular verbs
Then practice a little bit what you've learned
No real practice. For teacher, trying to engage the conversation with 30 students sounds very difficult. And internet didn't existed yet, French television systematically broadcasts translated films. English school was the only one option to practice
.
I really learned English at the age of 35, when I moved to a new job and became part of an international team where English was not an option.
I learned from my colleagues, who were patient enough to rephrase their explanations in simpler English, so that I was able to understand what they were saying. And taking intensive English courses, 6 to 8 hours per week during 18 months, practicing everyday conversation rather than grammar rules, really helped me.
So my English sucks but I'm able to speak, read and write it enough to not be totally lost. And let's be honest: I'm using online translator too. It helps in many ways, from translating a word to a sentence, but I don't just copy/paste the result, I try to understand and remember how it was translated, trying to improve a little bit my own skills.
Hello, world!
Talking about my languages skills but do not forgot the main topic: this blog's first post.
I'm not a writer. And caught between office work and the 8 months little boy, I have no time. Or to be more precise my free time is splitted in really small periods of 5~15 minutes.
In these condition coding stuff is quite difficult, painting stuff is even more difficult. I suppose maintaining a blog will be difficult too, but let's see.