Archive for January, 2017
Longues Layovers – Delayed Flights In French Posted by John Bauer on Jan 18, 2017
I had un long vol (a long flight) back to les États-Unis a month ago to make it home for the holidays. Le vol was unfortunately delayed which led to many conversations with the staff in l’aéroport (the airport) trying to figure out how I was going to get home. Je me suis réveille à…
A pink canoe for two? Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 17, 2017
As promised, another “story song” this week to help you with your French. I find that des chansons (songs) – especially ones like this with extended spoken sections – can be very helpful in working on your listening comprehension skills and to model your own pronunciation on. [Parlé:] C’était pas l’année* dernière [Spoken :] It wasn’t…
5 French Idioms You Should Know Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jan 16, 2017
Idioms (les idiotismes, m.) are expressions that don’t necessarily make sense literally, but have a well known meaning to native speakers. In order to be able to understand a language’s idioms, therefore, you can’t just know the exact definition of a word but you must also understand the social and cultural meaning behind that word. It is also…
Music and lyrics Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 10, 2017
If you’ve been following my blog posts this past year, you know that I love a good song. And what’s a good song, other than a story set to music? And who doesn’t love a good story? The 1980’s was the heyday of good story-songs and they are a great tool for learning language and…
French Recipe: Hachis Parmentier Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jan 9, 2017
As the temperatures cool down, there is nothing I like more than cooking warm, hearty meals. In New York, we’ve already hit some uncomfortable lows. That means it’s time to break out one of my favorite recipes: hachis parmentier. Hachis parmentier is a well-known French comfort food, and is similar to the British shepherd’s pie. Even better…
The Ultimate Transparent French Blog 2016 Year in Review Quiz Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jan 5, 2017
Another year has come and gone, and what a year it was. The team at Transparent has had a lot of fun writing articles for you every week, but now we’re going to test to see how much you retained 😉 In 2016, the French blog received almost one million hits! We also added another…
Bonne Année – Welcome 2017 In French! Posted by John Bauer on Jan 4, 2017
Le nouvel an est ici (the new year is here) ! The whole world is celebrating as 2017 is welcomed and we say au revoir to 2016. While la Saint-Sylvestre (New Year’s Eve) is all about welcoming in le nouvel an, the traditions around it can vary around the world, from la boule horaire (the time ball)…