VCE Stuff > VCE French
50 in French - ask me anything
Maddie Trinh:
First off, congrats on your amazing score. You must have put in hell of a lot of studying and hard work to get that. ^^
If I may, do you have any tips for writing better in french? I read a lot of french books but I often find it very difficult to synthesize the way authors write, as such any french writing I do tends to sound really strange.
Also, this might be a weird question but how much french slang do you think examiners are fine with? For example from the dropping of the 'ne' to common but incorrect grammatical sentences such as 'tu fais quoi?'
Thanks for any help.
bingoman:
Hi there Maddie and thanks for your kind words. For your first question, my number one tip would be to improve your writing in English first, paying particular attention to the content and logical structure of your writing. Structure is particularly important in the French exam; the assessors really want to a see a well-ordered piece of writing with meaningful and topic-focused paragraphs. After you have perfected this, the key is to learn a wide range of vocabulary and connective phrases to enrich the content of your writing. Check some of my earlier posts to see the books and other resources that helped me enhance the range and accuracy of the vocabulary that I used.
The second question is an interesting one, and one that I asked my teachers on numerous occasions before the exam. Personally, I dropped the "ne" throughout the exam; it was definitely easier to speak more fluently without it. However, you should make sure that the standard of your oral is at a reasonably high level before doing this, as you don't want it to seem that you don't know the correct grammatical phrasing of negation. You seem like a committed and strong student in French, so you should go with whatever you are most confident with. If speaking without the "ne" comes more easily, by all means go for it. The judicious use of other slang (e.g. idioms) can also make your oral seem more natural, but take care, and don't use words that you don't know the meaning of. Make sure, however, that you always address the examiners as "vous" as opposed to "tu": the exam is still a formal interview, and you don't want anything you say to be misconstrued as disrespect.
All the best, I'm sure you will achieve an excellent result next year.
dux99.95:
Thanks for your advice :) I was reading your other posts too and your advice is so helpful. And WOAH, international scrabble player?! You're such a high achiever - congrats on your accomplishments!!
I'm still choosing my in-depth study topic for Hindi. Most people do celebrities(inspirational political figures) or issues/cases (like how you did). I'd like to do something different, so far I've thought of:
- Positive thinking / the psychology behind it (Things like the effect of thoughts on your mind, feelings, behaviour, life, etc and how motivation occurs and why willpower > motivation etc). This I feel is a great topic because it's completely new but also gives me TIME to read inspirational, motivational books.
- The science behind yoga postures (so I talk about the in depth physiological effects of each posture and the effect it has). I prefer the above topic because this is very in-depth and there is vast amounts of knowledge to be learnt. I don't do BIO or PDHPE either.
What do you recommend? ^ And do you say we should map out a path in our oral for the in depth study as well as the general conversation?
Maddie Trinh:
S'il vous plait, pourriez-vous être mon prof de français?
Hahaha, in all seriousness thank-you very much for your interesting advice. I find that writing is extremely important in second languages but often isn't addressed to the level that it needs to be. Your second advice pertaining to slang is also very reassuring.
Once again many thanks, best of luck for this year but I have no doubt you'll smash it ^^.
bingoman:
Hi saloni99.95, all the best with Hindi this year and thanks for your kind words! Personally, I would choose the yoga postures topic, but perhaps you could combine it with your ideas on positive thinking, after all, yoga has been scientifically shown to enhance both physical and psychological wellbeing. You definitely seem to have some very creative and original ideas, so I'm sure you will do very well in the detailed study section.
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