Le Pape démissionne ("The Pope resigns")

Benoît XVI renonce à son pontificat, un nouveau pape attendu avant Pâques
Benoît XVI a surpris en annonçant renoncer à son pontificat au motif qu'il n'a "plus les forces" pour diriger l'Eglise en raison de son "âge avancé", 85 ans.

Benedict XVI renounces his pontificate, a new pope is expected before Easter. 
Benedict XVI surprised (everyone) by announcing he was renouncing his pontificate because he "no longer had the strengths" to lead the Church due to his "advanced age", 85. 

Pape : que va-t-il se passer d'ici au 28 février 20 heures ?
En renonçant à sa charge, Benoît XVI plonge le Vatican dans une ambiance inhabituelle. Mais jusqu'à la fin du mois, il poursuivra son pontificat sans bouleversement majeur.

Pope : what's going to happen from now by February 28th 8pm ?
By renouncing his office, Benedict XVI places the Vatican in an unusual situation. However until the end of the month, he will carry on his pontificate with no major disruption.


From other newspapers

Pour la première fois depuis huit siècles, un pape en pleine possession de ses moyens mais à la santé fragile annonce librement sa démission. [La Croix]

pour la première fois : for the first time; en pleine possession de ses moyens : in full command of his faculties; le siècle : century; démissioner : to resign; la démission : resignation; la santé : health; fragile : weak

Le pape Benoît XVI a annoncé lundi sa démission à partir du 28 février, dans un discours prononcé en latin lors d'un consistoire au Vatican, a annoncé à l'AFP le porte-parole du Saint-Siège. [Le Parisien]

annoncer : to announce; le porte-parole : spokesperson; le Saint-Siège : the Holy Seed; le consistoire : consistory

A little experiment : building French vocabulary with the press

Today's headlines are an opportunity to start a test : by translating some of the headlines of popular French newspapers, I'm going to try and offer intermediate learners of French an opportunity to build vocabulary.
For this fun task I will occasionally use a site that is particularly suited for translators and language students, Linguee (www.linguee.fr). I hope you'll enjoy the test.

Все10, a typing tutor for Russian (cyrillic) characters

There are tons of resources to learn Russian, but as soon as you get serious about it, you need to learn how to type with a Russian keyboard.
For the last two weeks, I have been copy/pasting Russian words into Google Translate and occasionally completing words with the Russian-Phonetics virtual keyboard, but increasingly I have realized it was time-consuming to figure out the "phonetic equivalent" and keyboard location for characters like ч, я or щ.
So, yesterday I decided to go on a search for free typing tutor, клавиатурный тренажер, from the word клавиатура, keyboard. It wasn't long before I found Все10 (www.vse10.ru) on Google.

Bce10 is an online typing tutor with a great design and completely бесплатно, free. The only little downside is that it's entirely in Russian, but that should not stop you: the big yellow button попробуй прямо сейчас (try it now) on the homepage allows you to get a feel for what's ahead. Try it for fun (remember to switch to a regular virtual Russian keyboard) or go straight to the registration/login page войти (login).

Registration
There, you get offered to login or register yourself, зарегистроваться. On the form you will need to provide the usual Name, Email address and enter your password (twice) with no less than 4 characters :

• Ваше имя
• Адрес эл. почты
• Пароль (не менее 4-х символов)
• Пароль еще раз

That's it ! You can start using it immediately. An email will be sent to your address but it's not "click again" to finalize your registration. 

How to use it

A large button "начать упражнение", start exercise, clearly shows the way. Switch to the Russian keyboard, and start typing the letter that appear in the top section. The keyboard on the screen shows the location of each character and the ideal position of the hands. 

After each exercise you get an evaluation of your speed, number of error and rhythm. 

знак : character

вы набрали : you typed

со скоростью : at (speed of) 

процент ошибок : percentage of errors

ритмичность : rhythmicity

As with other typing tutor, the difficulty is progressive. You can only move to the next level, следующее, if you've met the expected average (средний). If you fail, the only visible option will be go (try) again : пройти заново. 

When you register, your progress is recorded and you can start again at anytime from the last level you reached. You can view your stats from моя страница, My Page, Статистика.

I played with this for an hour and I made amazing progress, so I highly recommend you give it a try.

Happy typing !

PS : click here for the French version of this post here.

How to evaluate online courses (for Russian)

Привет,

Long time no post, but I've been very busy learning and evaluating resources to learn Russian. So far I have been working with Busuu.com and LearnRussian for a structured course and here's an attempt to evaluate them with objective quality criteria.

• Busuu
• course structure : Lessons are structured around vocabulary themes, backed up by images (sometimes a bit far fetched) and spoken phrases (with translations)
• navigation : it's silly but I couldn't see the list of lessons. I found them but clicking on the tree image at the top, although again there was absolutely no indication this was a clickable animation.
• cost : freemium, you get extra service by registering
• course flexibility : You cannot choose your lessons, you have to go with the proposed order
• content value : My opening lessons were "Giving your opinion", "Using the Internet" and "Looking for a job".  I didn't find those topics very appealing, although I learnt useful vocabulary. I'm lacking grammar reminders. 
• overall impression : Useful... but.  Need to dig a big further into the next lessons..."Horoscope", "Plus Perfect tense", "On the phone".... I wonder if I should try level A2. 

• LearnRussian
• course structure: lessons on vocabulary or grammar points, you learn through images, recorded dialogues and multiple choice exercises. Dialogues are natural and pleasant, spoken with just the right speed for a new starter. Images/comics backup spoken dialogues.
• navigation : no nonsense, "Lessons" menu at the top, completed by sections to the left of the screen. 10 out of 10.
• cost : free !
• course flexibility : absolute flexibility, you can go in order or skip to what you like
• content value : only did two lessons, but it was just the right mix of vocabulary and grammar.
• overall impression : More flexible, I found this more lively than Busuu, more "natural" with real spoken dialogues.

That's a first attempt of evaluation. I'll probably refine in future versions, but that should give you a good overview. One issue I've had with both systems is that being online, you need to type Russian words for exercises to make the most of it. And there too I have made a beautiful discovery that I'll share in my next post.

The Common European Framework for Languages

So, according to vocabulary tests I did on Busuu, I'm currently at level A2, for which they suggested I study level B1. As I'm not sure which vocabulary I'm expected to know at which level, I went back to the Common European Framework for Languages to get a better understanding.

Very odd, at first look this framework is pretty self-centered: it's all about me me me and my ability to describe more and more about myself, my needs, background, etc... Philosophically, the study of languages should be defined around discovering others and their culture, through the language. My opinion is that it should be more visible in the framework. I wonder if the self-centric view is distorting the way we're taught languages...

Anyway, here are the objectives for the first four levels and some comments.



A1

Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type

Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. 

Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. 

I am going to dig a bit deeper on expressing needs in Russian. Need to check numbers. 

Suggested required phrases
Hi, good evening, thank you, where is restaurant, toilets, I want water and two beers, please.
My name is, I live in Paris, I know a few people, I'm a translator, I have two computers and no pet.
Please speak slowly, can you repeat your name ?

A2

Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). 

Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. 

Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

Getting more descriptive, need to add more adjectives and adverbs. Need to define better these areas of most immediate relevance with places, people, action verbs, descriptions (adjectives + nouns).

Suggested required phrases
So, your father owns a supermarket in the centre of Moscow. I want to go on holidays. 
How much is this ? Can I have two tickets ? I think it's raining, do you have an umbrella ? When do you open ?
I studied Russian at university (10 years ago), I have one brother. This is delicious, it's far from here. This is a beautiful house. 

B1

Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. 

Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst traveling in an area where the language is spoken.

Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

That's getting serious. Even if simple text, at this stage you need to write properly, i.e. with correct word order, verbs, cases and word endings need to be polished. 

Suggested required phrases
I've been studying Russian for a week. I love cooking and sports.
Excuse me, my luggage hasn't arrived, when can you deliver it to my hotel ? 
I would love to go around the world and meet tons of people, who could share their view of the world. What do you think of global warming, what do you think we can do to stop it ?

B2

Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization. 

Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. 

Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

At this stage, I should be able to understand jokes and show my good sense of humor. Reading the newspaper without effort and Google Translate should also be possible.

Is Busuu a good way to learn a language ? First impressions...

I just completed the first lesson at Busuu.com, B1 module, Express your opinion ("Выскажи своё мнение"), and here are my first impressions...

Learning interface
The Busuu user interface is simple and effective, menus are well structured and easy to navigate. The design could be improved though: part social network, part online video game, there are plenty of examples available to make it more modern.

The content
I'm a little surprised by my first lesson. It's a series of verbs to help you express opinions : to suggest, to recognize, to approve, etc. Although certainly useful, it's a little puzzling why Busuu chose to start with this kind of vocabulary. I would have liked something else, but I can't define what.

Progression
To move on to the next lesson (level), you need to 1) translate a little piece of text, typically using vocabulary learnt during the lesson, select a corrector, then 2) correct the text written by another student.