u/AttackBookworm

The number of “give me a plan to learn French” and “how do I reach X level in X amount of time” posts are out of control. People are not even doing the most cursory search before posting. The number of learning resources is finite, and the answers aren’t going to be any different since the day before when it was answered four times. Megathread? Sidebar with a summary of commonly recommended resources? More moderation? Something? Anything?

I’ve had a hard few weeks and was feeling particularly down today, so I took myself out to lunch. I pulled out my iPad to watch the next episode while I was eating, which turned out to be the Eli Scruggs episode. Brutal. I was already sad and now I’m fighting not to cry in public, ha.

Here’s part of a non-formal email I wrote:
“Au début, j’ai pensé que l’offre d’été était quelquechose de nouveau. Après m’être abonnée, j’ai realisé presque immédiatement que je me suis trompée! J’avais prévu à vous ecrire bientôt auprès de ça.”

When I put this in Google translate to test it, it returned exactly what I wanted to say:
“At first, I thought the summer offer was something new. After subscribing, I realized almost immediately that I was mistaken! I had been planning to write to you about it soon.”

However, when I reversed the process and input the English to see what Google would suggest for the French translation, I got this:
“Au début, je pensais que l'offre d'été était une nouveauté. Après m'être abonnée, je me suis rendu compte presque aussitôt que je m'étais trompé ! Je comptais vous écrire à ce sujet prochainement.”

Regarding tense: in this context why would “thought” and “made a mistake” be in imparfait? Both of those are concrete actions that happened at a specific point.
Regarding phrasing differences: Is anything I wrote incorrect? Is this a case of nuance I’m missing, or are the 2 translations functionally equivalent?

Thank you!

I’m not all the way through season 4, so no spoilers if possible, but why would Katherine move back to Wisteria Lane where something bad obviously happened, where people know her, and where she can easily be found? (Also, if they lost “everything” in Chicago, how are they affording Wisteria Lane and she’s sitting around not working?) I know it’s a soap, and I often tell people myself that you just have to go with it, but Katharine voluntarily moving back into the thick of things is really bugging me.

I’m 45 and don’t look bad, but things are starting to droop. Main concerns: spots/uneven skin tone, undereye crepiness and malar bags, the beginning of jowling.

After a consultation, the dermatologist recommended: Ulthera full face/neck (4500), 2 vials sculptra in jawline (2000), fraxel face, 3 sessions (2200), pdgf under eyes, 3 sessions (2400). Total cost 11100. (EDIT: With current specials, it would be 10,030. I do live in a large city.)

I don’t really have any context to know if this is a solid plan and reasonable prices. The money is not a problem, but of course I don’t want to overpay! I do have one other consultation scheduled to compare recommendations.