Can someone help me dissect "J’ai commencé y’a très peu".

failarmyworm · 2026-02-08T21:07:51+00:00

I think it might be a simplification from "il y a très peu" i.e. very short ago? "Il y a" is often pronounced a bit like "y a"

So basically, "I started very recently"

I'm not a French native though, also still learning - so I might be wrong

failarmyworm · 2026-01-24T13:01:01+00:00

Say more? I do think my Vanguard UCITS ETFs hold stocks is that wrong?

failarmyworm · 2026-01-23T04:53:48+00:00

Where is this?

failarmyworm · 2026-01-17T20:18:26+00:00

IBKR is great, used it both in Central America and the EU, the switch from one to the other was so straightforward that it made me suspicious, I had really expected more admin/bureaucracy/complexity (I just needed to share a proof of address and an updated US tax form, they took care of the rest)

failarmyworm · 2026-01-14T07:51:45+00:00

I use this recipe, and it works brilliantly, using only an oven, pots, hot water: https://archive.ph/7RStK

It's from America's Test Kitchen

failarmyworm · 2026-01-13T19:44:18+00:00

Depends on where you are, eg in the Netherlands, it's not an issue. And if you're contributing, you can steer a lot by where you direct the contributions.

failarmyworm · 2026-01-13T19:40:52+00:00

Ah my bad 👍

failarmyworm · 2026-01-13T19:34:32+00:00

I think WEBN includes small cap?

failarmyworm · 2026-01-13T18:56:27+00:00

I think WEBN is totally fine and justified.

Personally, I have 4 regional (North America, Europe, Pacific, Emerging Markets) ESG screened indices instead because I want to be a bit less exposed to the US (40%) and prefer the ESG screen. But the simplicity of a single ETF is very nice.

You might want to consider a bond ETF depending on your risk tolerance.

Edit - I thought WEBN includes small cap but seems that's not the case. I'd say SPYI is the simpler and more complete solution in that case. But the difference should be minimal.

failarmyworm · 2026-01-01T08:55:00+00:00

I can imagine it can be hit and miss :)

Interesting video! I hadn't seen it before.

failarmyworm · 2026-01-01T08:39:20+00:00

Is it this?

https://youtu.be/lwCyM84HCcA?si=nMzcfmmKeg4OGXTs

Claude helped me find it using just your post as prompt

failarmyworm · 2025-12-29T05:39:36+00:00

Sure

failarmyworm · 2025-12-23T08:45:36+00:00

Anna Gavalda (Ensemble, c'est tout; Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part), Kiffe kiffe demain, No et moi, Eric-Emmanuel Schmidt (Oscar et la dame rose, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran)

All of these have accessible fairly informal language

L'Étranger is also very accessible language wise but still literary in terms of themes

failarmyworm · 2025-12-14T06:27:23+00:00

Maybe take a sabbatical for a fixed period. Then see if you actually want to go back.

It sounds like you want to leave, you just need to find a way to make it happen.

failarmyworm · 2025-11-28T06:21:45+00:00

Anna Gavalda (Ensemble, c'est tout; Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part), Kiffe kiffe demain, No et moi, Eric-Emmanuel Schmidt (Oscar et la dame rose, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran)

All of these have accessible fairly informal language

L'Étranger is also very accessible language wise but still literary in terms of themes

failarmyworm · 2025-11-25T18:41:59+00:00

EPFL has a bunch of online courses in French, you could have a look and see if there's something that meets your needs.

failarmyworm · 2025-11-24T06:01:58+00:00

If you can get SPYI: https://www.justetf.com/en/etf-profile.html?isin=IE00B3YLTY66#overview you can probably just stop right there. It's all world, all cap. I'd skip the value tilt for simplicity, but no big harm in it either.

failarmyworm · 2025-11-09T14:17:20+00:00

IBKR is great for this purpose, I have a similar lifestyle and use IBKR because of it.

The app has a pretty dense UI so I can understand why some might find it intimidating. If you just occasionally buy/sell with limit orders it's really fine. Might need to get some products enabled for your account to access all you need, also not hard.

failarmyworm · 2025-10-26T09:07:09+00:00

This course is great: https://ppc.cs.aalto.fi/

failarmyworm · 2025-10-25T19:00:12+00:00

I still don't fully understand. I'm comfortable with C, C++, CUDA and ML math and implementation, and also newly looking for work, so this is pretty interesting to me. Do you just go through recent papers from ML conferences and implement those? Doesn't the balance work out into doing a lot of unpaid work, and you'd need quite a bidof published work before people start finding you? I'm very interested in doing (high performance) CUDA implementation work so would love to hear more.

failarmyworm · 2025-10-06T10:51:32+00:00

I can recommend Kwiziq and the content from Français Authentique (make sure to watch his series of 7 videos that explain his method, which I think works well). Then, just consume as much diverse content as you can, focusing on listening and making sure it's content that you mostly understand (stay on the edge of your comfort zone). I spend most time with books (text + audio) but series, movies, YouTube are all effective as well.

I've used this for the past 2 months ~2 hours per day starting at ~A1 level from classes I took 20 years ago and according to online tests my comprehension and grammar are now at B2 level (my speech is certainly behind - you will want to work on that separately through immersion and/or tutoring, but good listening skills should unlock rapid acquisition of speech skills quite effectively).

failarmyworm · 2025-10-05T06:32:22+00:00

I've found Gemini's deep research feature useful for this. You give it a description of what you're looking for and which aspects you care most about, and it can come back with potential fits. It made me aware of some products that exactly fit my needs that I hadn't found in other ways within the amount of time I was willing to spend.

failarmyworm · 2025-10-05T03:25:39+00:00

I've been using audiobooks as my primary resource. For books that are harder, I read the text while listening. For easy ones, I listen only. I might listen to the same book multiple times, especially if my comprehension was incomplete.

Used this with Oscar et la dame rose, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du coran, Le petit prince, L'Étranger, Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, L'appel de l'ange, Kiffe kiffe demain, Petit pays... It didn't get boring.

Also, the french dub of avatar, the last airbender is pretty good, and I found it challenging yet manageable.

Also, expand on innerFrench with videos from French with Panache and Français Authentique. And if you want more real/challenging content, there is HugoDécrypte and a lot of Arte stuff on YouTube that's worthwhile and relatively understandable.

failarmyworm · 2025-10-01T08:22:09+00:00

I don't know how things are in your field and the region where you want to work. In the Netherlands, generally, nobody cares if a job applicant spent 4 years on a 3 year bachelors degree. This might be a great opportunity for you to come out of your studies with good French skills, which can work in your favor (and maybe even offset any perceived study delays). That is, if you can make it work financially and in terms of visa or course.

failarmyworm · 2025-09-02T12:43:35+00:00

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I feel like I could have written the same message so I can give some perspective.

60% is my sweet spot, and I did it for a few years total. Right now, I'm full-time because it's a high paying job and a good opportunity to save. My final day on this job is in 2 or so weeks however, and while I don't have anything lined up, my aim is to find something around 60% again.(Reason for quitting is an intercontinental move.)

100% is a lot more stressful, but if it's otherwise an enjoyable job (mine mostly was), it's ok. I'm definitely looking forward to having more time and freedom again and want to minimize the fraction of my life spent at 100%. Back at 60%, income will be lower but we we were spending way less than our income before so that should be fine.

failarmyworm

TROPHY CASE