Tips to Improve Your French Vocabulary

Tips to Improve Your French Vocabulary Words, words, words! Languages are made up of words, and French is no exception. Here are all kinds of French vocabulary lessons, practice ideas, and tips to help you get better at learning and remembering French words. Resources to Learn French Vocabulary The following resources will help you learn, practice, and master French vocabulary. French Vocabulary: Utilize vocabulary lists and lessons on all the basics and topic areas including introductions, food, clothing, family, and more.Mot du Jour: Learn 5 new French words a week with this daily feature.French in English: Many French words and expressions are used in English, but do not always have the same meaning.Cognates: Hundreds of English words mean the same thing in French, but some are false cognates.French Expressions: Idiomatic expressions can really spice up your FrenchHomophones: Many words sound alike but have two or more meanings.French Synonyms: Learn some new ways to say the same old things and master words like bon, non, oui, petit, and trà ¨s.   Know Your Genders One of the most important things to remember about French nouns is that each one has a gender. While there are a few patterns that let you know what the gender of a particular word is, for most words, its just a matter of memorization. Therefore, the best way to know whether a word is masculine or feminine is to make all your vocabulary lists with an article, so that you learn the gender with the word itself. Always write une chaise or la chaise (chair), rather than just chaise. When you learn the gender as part of the word, youll always know what gender it is later on when you need to use it. This is particularly important with what I call dual-gender nouns. Dozens of French pairs have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine, so yes, gender really does make a difference. Chance Encounters When reading French, its very likely that youll come across a lot of new vocabulary. While looking up every single word you dont know in the dictionary may disrupt your comprehension of the story, you might not understand anyway without some of those key terms. So you have a few options: Underline the words and look them up laterWrite down the words and look them up laterLook up the words as you go Underlining is the best technique because when you look the words up later, you have the context right there in the case of words with multiple meanings. If thats not an option, try to write down the sentence in your vocabulary list, rather than just the word itself. Once youve looked everything up, read the article again, with or without referring back to your list, to see how much more you understand now. Another option is to look up all the words after each paragraph or each page, rather than waiting until youve read the whole thing.Listening can also offer up a lot of new vocabulary. Again, its a good idea to write down the phrase or sentence so that you have the context to understand the meaning provided. Get a Decent Dictionary If youre still using one of those little pocket dictionaries, you need to seriously consider an upgrade. When it comes to French dictionaries, bigger really is better. Practice French Vocabulary Once youve learned all this new French vocabulary, you need to practice it. The more you practice, the easier it will be for you to find just the right word when speaking and writing, as well as to understand when listening and reading. Some of these activities might seem boring or silly, but the point is simply to get you used to seeing, hearing, and speaking the words - here are some ideas. Say It out Loud When you come across a new word while reading a book, newspaper, or French lesson, say it out loud. Seeing new words is good, but saying them out loud is even better, because it gives you practice both speaking and listening to the sound of the word. Write It Out Spend 10 to 15 minutes every day writing lists of vocabulary. You can work with different themes, such as kitchen items or automotive terms, or just practice words that you continue to have trouble with. After you write them down, say them out loud. Then write them again, say them again, and repeat 5 or 10 times. When you do this, youll see the words, feel what its like to say them, and hear them, all of which will help you the next time you are actually speaking French. Use Flashcards Make a set of flashcards for new vocabulary by writing the French term on one side (along with an article, in the case of nouns) and the English translation on the other. You can also use a flashcard program like Before You Know It. Label Everything Surround yourself with French by labeling your home and office with stickers or post-it notes. Ive also found that putting a post-it on my computer monitor helps me remember those terms that Ive looked up in the dictionary a hundred times but still cant ever seem to remember. Use It in a Sentence When you go over your vocab lists, dont just look at the words - put them into sentences. Try making 3 different sentences with each word, or try to create a paragraph or two using all the new words together. Sing Along Set some vocabulary to a simple tune, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and sing it in the shower, in your car on the way to work/school, or while washing the dishes. Mots Flà ©chà ©s French-style crossword puzzles, mots flà ©chà ©s, are a great way to challenge your knowledge of French vocabulary.

DEET Chemistry (Dimethyltoluamide)

DEET Chemistry (Dimethyltoluamide) If you live in an area with biting insects you have almost certainly encountered an insect repellent that uses DEET as its active ingredient. The chemical formula for DEET is N,N-diethyl-3-methyl-benzamide (N,N-dimethyl-m-toluamide). DEET was patented by the U.S. Army in 1946 for use in areas with heavy biting insect infestation. It is a broad-spectrum repellent that is effective against mosquitoes, flies, fleas, chiggers, and ticks. DEET has a good safety record and is less toxic to birds and other mammals than many other insect repellents, but all DEET products should be handled with care. DEET Safety DEET is absorbed through the skin, so it is important to use as low a concentration as is effective (10% or less for children) and as small an amount as is necessary. Up to a certain point, protection against insects increases with higher DEET concentration, but even low concentrations will protect against most bites. Some people experience irritation or an allergic reaction to DEET-containing products. DEET is toxic and potentially fatal if swallowed, so care should be taken to avoid applying repellent to hands or face or anything a child might put in the mouth. DEET should not be applied to areas with cuts or sores or around the eyes, since permanent eye damage can result from contact. High doses or long-term exposure to DEET have been associated with neurological damage. DEET can damage some plastics and synthetic fabrics, such as nylon and acetate, so be careful not to damage clothing or camping equipment. How DEET Works Biting insects use chemical, visual, and thermal cues to locate hosts. DEET is believed to work by blocking the chemical receptors for carbon dioxide and lactic acid, two of the substances released by our bodies that serve as attractants. Although DEET helps keep insects from locating people, there is probably more involved in DEETs effectiveness, since mosquitoes wont bite DEET-treated skin. However, skin only a few centimeters away from DEET is susceptible to bites. Recommendations for Using DEET Despite its hazards, DEET remains one of the safest and most effective insect repellents available. Here are some tips for using DEET safely: Reduce your need for repellent. Avoid behaviors that will attract biting insects (e.g., avoid strenuous exercise or eating lots of high sodium or potassium foods prior to going outdoors, which increase carbon dioxide release).Avoid applying chemicals that attract biting insects (e.g., floral-scented perfumes, scented sunscreens, dryer-sheet-scented clothes).Where possible, apply DEET-containing repellent to clothes rather than to skin.Apply DEET in a well-ventilated area.Avoid applying DEET to hands, the face, or any injured or sensitive skin.Avoid behaviors that will lessen the duration of DEET effectiveness (e.g., perspiration, rain, mixing with sunscreens).When you come indoors, wash off DEET-containing products using warm, soapy water.

Hurco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hurco - Essay Example Hurco Inc. specializes in providing customized automated programs to the metal industry. Their products cover interactive personal computer (PC) based control systems and software to aide their machine tools (â€Å"Investors – Corporate Profile†). On the other hand, as other market players, Hurco also offers sale and aftersale service. It is important to note that where other firms in the IT industry offer products compatible with the tools and machinery used by their customers, Hurco Inc. has a primary product line comprising machinery tools meant for the metal industry, and software as a peripheral product. Their products are meant to enhance productivity and efficiency in the operations of their customers by introducing user-friendly automation. Their core competency comprises specialization in microprocessor technology and software meant for machines tools used in the metal industry. In addition, interactive programmable software patented by Hurco allows users of th eir programs to produce peripheral software that can be either made part of an actual program through blueprints or computer-aided design and ensure speedy production processes without interruption, with maximum efficiency in operations (â€Å"Investors – Corporate Profile†). ... Due to customization available according to customer’s needs, Hurco is able to cater customers all around the globe. However, they have solely focused on the metal parts industry, which makes them a niche player. Hurco’s strengths and weaknesses along with industry attractiveness can be analyzed with the help of Porter’s five forces analysis. It is important to note that Hurco’s product line comprises machine tools that are considered as capital products or goods. The cyclic nature of the industry makes manufacturers in it highly vulnerable to market changes (Hurco Inc. 2). For supplies, Hurco relies on foreign suppliers and also their own subsidiary (Hurco Inc. 24). Presence of a fully-owned subsidiary makes them less susceptible to delays that can be caused by failure of other suppliers to meet the deadline. On the other hand, buyer’s power leaves Hurco vulnerable. It is important to note that the metal tools industry is greatly dependent on econo mic conditions prevailing in the industry. Therefore, limited buyer’s purchasing power also leaves Hurco to reduce its profit margins. Hurco also faces tough competition in the industry of machine tools. There are quite a few major competitors in United States and many in other countries that have better resources and a bigger capacity of utilizing economies of scale, which makes them capable of providing products that are cheaper than Hurco’s (Hurco Inc. 7). A threat of new entrants will always be faced by Hurco, as any other manufacturer. Although Hurco has patented its programs, there are a large number of IT firms that can provide automated solutions to companies using manually operated machines such as the ones provided by Hurco, without any major

Individual vs Circumstance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Individual vs Circumstance - Essay Example lity can play a significant role in the history not only when it is more or less adequately expresses (or seeks to express) the interests of the masses, but also when it is guided by purely abstract ideas and ideals, and sometimes even only by its personal interests and ambitions that cannot be rationally confessed by itself. Modern investigators show Lenins personality from different points of view. For a long time Soviet ideology praised Lenin as a role-model person for soviet people, showing him as "the most humane man" and the liberator from the bourgeois-landlord oppression. From the other hand, many writers and historians show Lenin as unprincipled politician, organizer of fratricidal slaughter and starvation, as inspirer of extrajudicial executions and blame him in collapse of his social experiment. Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin came from a family of progressive Russian intellectuals: his father worked as a teacher, was an inspector, and then a director of public schools in the province of Simbirsk, and his mother knew several foreign languages, played the piano well and had a tutor diploma. From his early childhood Lenin exhibited the traits of someone who needed to show others how to do things (Tumarkin, 64). His outlook during first periods of his youth was influenced by family upbringing and parents’ example. He also was under the influence of revolutionary and democratic ideas and learned about the existence of Marxist theory from his brother Alexander Ulyanov, who was later executed for participation in plotting of the assassination on Russian Tsar Alexander III. At the university young Ulyanov established links with the revolutionary-minded students, but then he was arrested for active participation in student gathering in December 1887 and later he was expelled from the University of Kazan and exiled to the village of Kokushkino, where he lived under the secret police surveillance spending his time on self-education. So Lenin’s personality was formed

Thomas Batemans Ten Years Diggings :: Archaeology Archaeological Essays

Thomas Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings Thomas Bateman at Calver Low, Derbyshire in 1860 Having been informed, on the 30th of August, that some skeletons had been discovered the day before, by men baring the rock preparatory to quarrying it, at the verge of the cliff overlooking the limekilns at Calver Low, I immediately went to the place and found that there had been five skeletons buried in a line side by side, a few feet apart, in graves sunk down to the rock which is there about two feet below the turf. The bodies were all extended at length with the heads to the west, so as not merely to admit of the corpses facing the east, as is the Christian custom of burial yet observed, but in this case also to face the village, and the pleasant valley extending towards Baslow--either motive may have prompted the arrangement, as there is reason to believe the interments to be of the Anglo-Saxon period, although it was suggested at the time, in one of the local papers, that they were remains of some who perished during the ravages of the plague at Eyam in 1666. In returning to the narrative, it will be best to describe the several skeletons, numbering from the north, premising that the legs of all had been cut away, owing to their being so near the border of a cliff, which descends for a considerable distance almost perpendicularly, having long been quarried for lime burning. 1.-A young person with very slender bones, the femur 17 1/2 inches long, undisturbed with the exception of the skull, which had been broken and robbed of the teeth previous to our visit; a small bit of coarse red pottery was picked up amongst the earth near the bones. 2.-Removed before our arrival, but from the few bones preserved, it appears that the person was older than the first, although the femur measures 16 1/2 inches only-the skull thin, a good deal decayed and very imperfect. 3.-Removed-the skull very perfect when found, since despoiled of the whole of the facial bones. The calvarium and lower jaw have been recovered. The former presents, when viewed from above, an oval outline with a very full occipital protuberance; the latter is well formed, and the state of the teeth indicates an early adult age. Imperfection in the thigh bones prevents measurement, they do not however appear to have been very long.

Fast Company Analysis

Fastenal Company was founded in 1967 in Winona, Minnesota by Bob Kierlin. During the first month of business, Mr. Kierlin only managed to make $157 in sales. Despite the slow start, Mr. Kierlin knew what he wanted to do to make Fastenal successful, and that was to provide the kind of service that keeps customers coming back. This is when â€Å"Growth Through Customer Service† was invented. Since then, â€Å"Growth Through Customer Service† has been the mission of Fastenal. Fastenal is an industrial supply company and since 1967, 2,500 stores have opened across 50 states, Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Netherlands, Europe, China, and Singapore. Each store utilizes local inventory, outside sales staff, and on-site delivery vehicles to help save the customers’ time and money. Fastenal also owns and operates 16 Distribution Centers with a fleet of over 180 semi-trucks and trailers. Fastenal’s organization structure allows a customer to receive a fully-customized part hand delivered by an employee within three days. Fastenal’s main inventory is fasteners like screw, nuts, washers, and threaded rod. Fastenal has over 700,000 individual inventory items that range from power tools to tape to janitorial supplies. Fastenal’s target market is mainly focused on companies that consistently need to buy parts for the jobs they need to complete regularly. Fastenal even has vending machines stocked with custom inventory to provide companies in need of access to certain parts without having to come into the store each time. Vending machines are critical to the business strategy of Fastenal; the machines provide excellent customer service and convenience without an employee having to be present. It ensures that the companies with the vending machine will continuously and consistently purchase products. Fastenal’s marketing plan relies on monthly product deals that are distributed to every account owner each month. Outside sales staff and managers will deliver the catalogs each month. Fastenal also has an online presence, companies have the ability to go online and design an order template for quick and easy purchasing. Fastenal currently sponsors Carl Edwards from NASCAR, America’s most viewed sport, as an additional source of marketing. In May 2011, Fastenal made over 200,000 sales, 29% more than 2010. Fastenal opened nine new stores this month and 57 this year-to-date. Fastenal has also hired 2,000 more employees compared to 2010. Performance of the company varies from month to month because the winter months of the year typically have less construction occurring which results in a smaller demand of what Fastenal offers.

Lesson Plans and Activities

Lesson Plans and Activities