French Language Blog

Even les débutants(the beginners) at learning the French language should be able to enjoy the French Blog!

Today, we suggest you review with us the basic unités du temps (units of time.)

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* Tout d’abord (first of all), il y a la seconde (there’s the second.)

“Le tour du monde en 80 secondes” (“Around the world in 80 seconds”)!

Directed by two voyageurs: Romain Pergeaux & Alex Profit. A project performed within only 3 semaines (3 weeks.) This route is a tribute to the famous Jules Verne‘s book “Le tour du monde en 80 jours“. The making of the video, pictures of the trip, and an interview of Alex Profit can be found at http://www.tourdumonde80.fr!

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* Ensuite, il y a la minute (then, there is the minute), qui se compose de soixante secondes (which is composed of sixty seconds.)

This short video will be a “blast from the past” for all les nostalgiques of French TV in the 90s!

The générique of the News bulletin on the French channel M6 called “6 Minutes“—Some claim that the music includes a message in Morse code which says “M-6″… Can anyone confirm this?

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- Soixante minutes nous donnent une heure (Sixty minutes give us an hour.)

“L’heure exquise” (“The Exquisite Hour”) by the French and Venezuelan-born Reynaldo Hahn, a composition which has famously brought fin de siècle symbolist Paul Verlaine to tears

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* Et vingt-quatre heures nous donnent un jour (And twenty four hours give us a day.)

If you are new to the French Blog, you should know that this Noir Désir music video has already been featured here: “Un jour en France” (“A Day in France”)

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* 365 jours, and 12 mois (12 months), forment une année (365 days form a year), except if it is une année bissextile which has 366 days.

“Année” as in “Bonne année” (“Happy New Year”)!

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* Et cent ans (one hundred years) nous donnent un siècle (give us a century.)

A short video that briefly describes (in French) “le siècle des Lumières” (“The Enlightenment”), which happens to mention the Duc d’Orléans—A pity that it doesn’t “shed any light”, even briefly, on the particularly “obscure role” played by this very same Duke, together with his “3 SUiSSES”, in undermining the truly bright work of Lafayette and his American-backed faction at the outset of the French Revolution!

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* Enfin, dix siècles donne un millénaire (Finally, ten centuries give a millenium)!

Sommet du Millénaire de Montréal (Montreal Millenium Summit):
A “globalist event” hosted by many well-intentioned people (among others, with different “time agendas”, of course)

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• Picture shared by Atylia via Flickr

How about an exciting voyage dans l’espace (space travel)?

But non, we won’t be taking off from Cape Canaveral, Kourou, or Baikonur…

Instead, our journey will start from France: “Space Mountain Paris“: Fruit de l’imagination of the prominent French writer Jules Verne combined the magic world of the American Disney!

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To understand how the adventure began, you have to go back in time: During la guerre de secession (the Civil War) in America, which pitted le Nord (the North) against le Sud (the South.)

In the midst of this deadly war came up an invention known back then as “columbiad“, which was a tremendously powerful canon (cannon.) Both sides of the American conflict viewed it as the ultimate weapon that would once and for all secure victory to their side.

But what the American warriors saw as a military invention, a French scientist and prominent futurologue (futurologist) by the name of Jules Verne would see it in complete different way.

Instead of serving as des engins de mort (machines of death), he thought these “columbiads” could quite littérallement (literally) propel humanity into the following century.

Comment (how)?

By sending humans “de la Terre à la Lune”, meaning “from Earth to the Moon”—and “De la Terre à la Lune” is precisely the title of the Sci-Fi book he published in the aftermath of the American Civil War, in 1865.

The hero of Jules Verne’s space travel novel was actually based on his personal friend, Félix Nadar, a balloonist and photographer, who also inspired him the novel “Cinq semaines en ballon” (“Five Weeks in a Balloon”)

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Fast forward to the 20^th century: After the Apollo 11 mission was crowned with success, l’astronaute Neil Armstrong saluted the pioneering genius of Jules Verne.

Several years later, when Euro Disneyland opened a park in Paris, the idea of constructing an attraction based on the ideas of Jules Verne’s “De la Terre à la Lune” finally emerged.

A detailed 1995 documentaire (documentary) produced by the BBC features the making of Space Mountain Paris

Malheureusement (unfortunately) for the fans of the genre, 10 years later, in 2005, most of the Jules Verne’s references were removed, ceding the place to an “upgraded” version of the attraction: “Space Mountain Paris: Mission 2.”

If you happen to go to Paris, and want to experience a typically Jules Verne attraction, you can always give a shot to “Les Mystères du Nautilus“, which is based on another famous novel of his by the name of “Vingt mille lieues sous les mers” (“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea“), featuring the all-too-famous Captain Nemo!

                                                    
Jules Verne’s widely famous “Vingt mille lieues sous les mers” (“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”) was published in 1870, only five years after “From Earth to the Moon.”
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• Pictures shared by Xavshot and Yan San via Flockr 

Avez-vous l’âme d’un poète (Do you have the soul of a poet)?

George Sand (her real name is Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin) has once exclaimed: ”Que ces grandes peintures des plus puissantes émotions de l’âme des poètes restent pourtant à jamais vénérées !“ (“How these great paintings of the most powerful emotions of the soul of poets remain forever venerated!”)

What can be said about les peintures (paintings) of the visual world as conduits of powerful emotions is also valid, and perhaps even more so, in the world of les chansons (songs.)

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Charles Trenet‘s hit song, “L’Âme Des Poètes” (The Soul of Poets), has known interpretations by une pléthore d’artistes (a plethora of artists), each one in their own style and sensibilité musicale:

* Gigliola Cinquetti:

* François Deguelt:

*Jacqueline François:

* Maurane:

And finally, la chanson originale (the original song), by one of the main “tenets” of “old” French songs, Charles Trenet.

“L’Âme Des Poètes” (The Soul of Poets)

Longtemps, longtemps, longtemps
Après que les poètes ont disparu
Leurs chansons courent encore dans les rues
La foule les chante un peu distraite
En ignorant le nom de l’auteur
Sans savoir pour qui battait leur cœur
Parfois on change un mot, une phrase
Et quand on est à court d’idées
On fait la la la la la la

Longtemps, longtemps, longtemps
Après que les poètes ont disparu
Leurs chansons courent encore dans les rues
Un jour, peut-être, bien après moi
Un jour on chantera
Cet air pour bercer un chagrin
Ou quelqu’heureux destin
Fera-t-il vivre un vieux mendiant
Ou dormir un enfant
Tournera-t-il au bord de l’eau
Au printemps sur un phono

Longtemps, longtemps, longtemps
Après que les poètes ont disparu
Leur âme légère et leurs chansons
Qui rendent gais, qui rendent tristes
Filles et garçons
Bourgeois, artistes
Ou vagabonds.
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• Picture shared by Miles Davis (Smiley) via Flickr