Penpals

Un peu perclus et prisonnier d'un arrondissement où il y a des gaz d'échappement dans toutes les rues et de l'escroc à tous les étages, je ne fréquente guère les gens d'ici. Je m'échappe par Skype où je retrouve des amis de tous les pays du monde rencontrés sous prétexte qu'ils voudraient ou auraient voulu apprendre le français, dont certains vraiment, car la moitié d'entre eux sont professeurs de français en titre à Santa Fe ou Hochiminhville, Toronto ou Novovosibirsk et bien d'autres endroits,
Je m'adresse à eux ici.

One penpal sent to me an internet book to learn french.  It was a good idea to send that to me, because I had not thought to tell that the language is not the last chapter of a tourist guide, and that it is possible to find about it elsewhere, for instance there:

http://www.etudes-litteraires.com/grammaire.php

Perhaps it could seem complicated, but it is the fault of the language, which is so. If you go in the forum of the same site, you find me with the nickname of "Putakli" there.

I found very funny the internet book to learn french because I understood why I had read so often on Skype "Comment çà va ?" which seemed to me so strange: it had been learned in this kind of sort of things which want to be an internet book and a special book to teach french.
So I went to take my coffee in a bar and told the story. Although Paris is empty from this night, people came to buy tobacco or to drink a coffee, and we waited for a "Comment çà va ?" There were none. Usually "Bonjour" was sufficient. A few "Comment allez-vous ?", and no "Comment çà va ?".
Anyhow, it is possible, but not said simply. Like a joke, you say that in the same time you strike the shoulder.

So, because I have beginned to speak here to my nice penpals Skype friends, I go on writing what I have to repeat at the most of them:

E
e without any accent is pronounced like the "u" of to hurt
é with an "accent aigu", pronounced like the "a" of baby
è with an "accent grave", is pronounced like the "e" of bed our the ea of bear.

consonents
Inside a word, don't pronounce the consonents which are combinated with a voyel, like "in" , "un", "on", "en". Not at all, and never say like in english, "in", "on". Suppress that completely.
Outside the word, when you have the same combinated consonents at the end of the word, before another word beginning by a vowel, pronounce the consonent to make a bridge from the word to the next one, and do it strongly, because when you stop between each word (you do that when you read first and translate one word after the other), you have a broken speaking. To avoid that, learn one or two sentences, and accustom you to pronounce loudly thee bridge-consonent.
Sometimes you hear that in french the last syllable is accentuated. It is not the best way to explain that what is really pronounced is the last consonent of a word before the wowel of the next one. It is the reason why in french poetry you have alternatively masculine and feminine verses.

The negative
The negative is "ne...pas". Don't forget "ne". Some of your books tell that in oral "ne" is suppressed. It is wrong. If you want to abreviate, you can say: "Rien à voir", but you cannot say: Il y a rien à voir" and must say "Il n'y a rien à voir".

The negative is "ne...pas". Don't forget "ne". Some of your books telle that in oral "ne" is suppressed. It is wrong. If you want to abreviate, you can say: "Rien à voir", but you cannot say: Il y a rien à voir" and must say "Il n'y a rien à voir".

You can correct my english in this page.