French For Football/FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (Foire aux questions)

(Note: if you don't find an answer here, you can add your own questions at the bottom of the page!)

Why not merge this book with the main French Wikibook?

To develop a single topic in great depth in the main French Wikibook would create an unbalanced presentation, and could make that book less attractive to the general reader.

Doesn't this book duplicate material which is present in the main French Wikibook?

This is thought to be justifiable, as the material is being presented in a completely different way and is aimed at a narrower audience - i.e. students with a strong interest in football.

What level of language competence is taught in this book?

It is not easy to give a simple answer to this question as the course is not written to satisfy any standardised scheme for measuring fluency. The aim is more to give students sufficient fluency to talk to French speakers about football, and to understand the core factual elements of football reports in broadcast, printed and on-line media. Thus greater emphasis is put on listening and speaking followed by reading and then writing with least importance, with the vocabulary always being heavily biased towards the subject of football. Generally, standards will be used if helpful to the aims of this book and set aside if not helpful.

Why not write this as a school text book?

Schools usually have to follow a strictly defined curriculum and provide courses which are of equal interest to all students. They are probably more interested in a range of self-contained work sheets of which a few could be used in a class with mixed interests, such as the commercial "Football Fever" flashcards by Susan Thomas for UK primary schools. It seems from the publicity material that a more comic-like style is used there for younger readers and the main focus remains to help children with their French exams by exercising as much standard vocabulary as possible. Wikiversity would be the best place for free learning materials like that. As there is no known pre-existing book on this topic, it is thought better at this stage to concentrate on a recreational book, which maximises the football vocabulary and which can be used by older learners at home or in evening classes.

Why not include American Football and Rugby in this book?

This could create difficulties for the students who would prefer to skip the sections which are of less interest to them, but would miss out material on common vocabulary and grammar if they did that. As a language course, it is intended that students work through all the lessons in the book sequentially.

Why are there so many mistakes in this book?

If you can see something that is obviously wrong, then why not correct it yourself? That's how Wikis are supposed to work. If you are proposing a major rewrite though, it would be polite to post a proposal on the discussion area of the relevant page so the original authors can comment on it. Remember, co-operation and mutual respect are the watchwords for working together in Wikibooks.

Why are literal English translations sometimes used instead of more idiomatic expressions ?

Idiomatic English expressions often have a weak relationship with words used in the French expressions, and can cause confusion about the meaning of the French words. For example "il donne le coup-franc" could be translated into "he takes the free kick", but "donner" is "to give" not "to take".

Couldn't the material be arranged in a more logical way?

If the book were about the history or development of football, then a different order might have been used. Generally the material is intended to be arranged according to the difficulty of the language for the student. Why not join the debate in the discussion part of the Planning page?

What is the actual process behind the writing of the book?

This is described on the Planning page.

How can I contribute?

If you are interested in this subject, it is quite likely you can make a positive contribution somewhere. The table below gives some suggestions for areas where you might be able to help depending on your background and experience.

Your background	How you could contribute
English speaker learning French	Suggest vocabulary and topics to be included in the book on the Miscellaneous Notes page. Comment on the effectiveness of any modules which are flagged as ready for use.
English or French speaker with a good knowledge of football	Help to correct any factual errors or misuse of terminology in the phrase book or word list
French speaker with a interest in football	The writing of source text material for conversion into language exercises.
Language expert with knowledge of educational methods & linguistics	Help checking the appendices .