{"id":25044,"date":"2016-10-26T14:14:37","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T12:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=25044"},"modified":"2018-02-27T15:18:37","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T14:18:37","slug":"how-i-prepared-for-my-thesis-defense-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/how-i-prepared-for-my-thesis-defense-in-france\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Prepared For My Thesis Defense In France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of mon m\u00e9moire<\/strong><\/a> (my thesis) involved not just studying, but practicing my French and making sure I knew how to present my ideas clearly. I needed beaucoup de pr\u00e9paration<\/strong> (a lot of preparation) if I wanted to get un vingt<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago Taghreed left a comment asking for some tips on la soutenance<\/strong><\/a> (the thesis defense). To help Taghreed out this post will focus on how I prepared for ma soutenance<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"Taghreed<\/p>\n

The most important thing is la pr\u00e9peration<\/strong>. Making sure you will not just read les diapos\u00a0<\/strong> (the slides), but that you can actually talk naturally about the subject. Dans le m\u00eame temps<\/strong> (at the same time), you cannot just walk into la soutenance<\/strong> and improvise the whole thing!<\/p>\n

For me, the first thing on my mind once I had finished mon m\u00e9moire<\/strong> and began working on ma soutenance<\/strong> was how I was going to manage my time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I needed to be able to get through mon expos\u00e9<\/strong> (my presentation) in vingt minutes<\/strong> (twenty minutes). Dix<\/strong> minutes<\/strong> (ten minutes) to summarize mon m\u00e9moire<\/strong>, then dix minutes<\/strong> to briefly touch on some details avant de passer aux questions<\/strong> (before moving on to questions).<\/p>\n

I started un minuteur<\/strong> (an egg timer) and went through mon expos\u00e9<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Plus de trente minutes !<\/strong>
\nMore than thirty minutes!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even though I was more than dix minutes<\/strong> over my time limit I was glad to find out where I was having trouble avec les transitions<\/strong> (with transitions) and explaining things clearly. After reworking mon expos\u00e9<\/strong> and a bit of la relecture<\/strong><\/a> (proofreading), I started le minuteur<\/strong> again.<\/p>\n

Vingt-cinq minutes\u2026 Toujours trop long.<\/strong>
\nTwenty five minutes… Still too long.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Je devais recommencer<\/strong> (I had to start over), but this time with a clearer idea of what needed work. I made sure to note any words that I was having trouble pronouncing and if it was a word with an obvious alternative, I chose the other word.<\/p>\n

Par exemple<\/strong> (for example), I have a hard time saying the word structure<\/strong> <\/em>in French, so instead of saying:<\/p>\n

La structure d’une entreprise<\/strong>
\nThe structure of a company<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I could instead say:<\/p>\n

L’organisation d’une entreprise<\/strong>
\nThe organization of a company<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or I could break the word up into a few easier to pronounce words:<\/p>\n

Toutes les parties d’une entreprise<\/strong>
\nAll the parts of a company<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although sometimes changing words can complicate things and not exactly communicate the idea, which can then lead to la structure<\/strong> becoming less clear.<\/p>\n

For any of those important words that I had trouble saying I had to practice, practice, practice. One of the best way to practice pronunciation is recording yourself and, if you can, compare it to a native speaker.<\/p>\n

Transparent Language<\/a> has a great feature that lets you do just that! You can easily record your voice and compare your pronunciation to how it should sound.<\/p>\n

After more practice and a bit of la relecture<\/strong> I started le minuteur<\/strong> again.<\/p>\n

Dix-neuf minutes !<\/strong>
\nNineteen minutes!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Part of mon m\u00e9moire (my thesis) involved not just studying, but practicing my French and making sure I knew how to present my ideas clearly. I needed beaucoup de pr\u00e9paration (a lot of preparation) if I wanted to get un vingt. A few weeks ago Taghreed left a comment asking for some tips on la…<\/p>\n

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