Život v Cizine (was La Vie Expatriée)

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Diplôme de Français des Affaires, 1er Degré: The Results

So, I took this exam before I left Paris last June, and I've been waiting patiently for my results.

My certificate arrived today. I passed with a mention très bien, which indicates a score of 80% or better and is the highest mark given. Yippee!

Labels: DFA, French

posted at 5:15 PM permalink  2 comments

Saturday, June 23, 2007

The End of Classes

No more pencils!
No more books!
No more teacher's
Dirty looks!

Yesterday marked the end of my French classes (at least for the time being!). I'm feeling a little bit wistful now.

Now I have one last week in Paris, free of classes, before I head for Prague and my next round of classes. Whatever shall I do?...

Labels: French, ICP, ILCF, Paris

posted at 12:28 PM permalink  0 comments

Friday, June 22, 2007

Diplôme de Français des Affaires, 1^er Degré

For the past few weeks, I've been kind of antsy, and I couldn't figure out if it was because of the impending Diplôme de français des affaires, 1^er degré (DFA) or due to my upcoming relocation to Prague.

Well, I completed the DFA yesterday: it was mostly the DFA. (When I think about Prague now, I get a little tense, but nowhere near as unsettled as I had been.) In truth, it really wasn't anything to worry about, and I'm confident that I passed. I didn't do as well as I'd been hoping though: particularly on Tuesday's written exam, there were some words and concepts that we hadn't touched on in class, and I was obliged to guess. I had thought that perhaps nervousness was coloring my perception, but I've talked to some of my classmates, who confirmed my take.

The oral exam yesterday, though, was much less scary than I'd feared. The two examiners were both very non-threatening and the articles I had to work with were relatively easy. The English article was about the success of the owner of two Chicago-based pizzerias; the French article discussed the problems attached to the large number of people who live near the coast. (According to this article, 60% of the world's population lives within 60 km of a coast.) The vocabulary wasn't particularly complex, and I was able to sum up both articles easily.

It'll be at least a month before I have my results. As I said, I'm confident that I passed: the threshold for passing is only 60 (out of 100). In fact, I'm even pretty sure that I'll have managed a mention bien, which requires a score of 70. The real question in my mind is whether or not I pulled off a mention très bien, which requires at least 80. In the simulations that Mme Sainlos gave us in class, I consistently fell just below that level. On the one hand, Mme Sainlos suggested that our letters, résumés, and oral presentations would not be graded quite as strictly as she graded them, and on the other hand, this exam was harder than the simulations. So I just have to wait and see...

Labels: DFA, French

posted at 9:37 AM permalink  0 comments

Monday, January 08, 2007

That fatal phrase

It's worth pointing out that, to date, I have not once heard that fatal phrase, "My, what good French you speak, for an American".

I don't know if I've changed, or the French have. The most likely explanation, actually, is that I'm living in a residential neighborhood with a substantial immigrant population, so my French is not particularly noteworthy one way or another.

Labels: French, Paris

posted at 4:17 PM permalink  0 comments