Archive for January, 2019
Singing Happy Blue Songs – Moana In French Posted by John Bauer on Jan 31, 2019
It’s no secret how much I think taking a moment to chanter une chanson (sing a song) is great for practicing French. What may be a bit of surprise, even more than singing along to French pop songs, is how I often use les chansons de Disney as well! Mon film préféré de Disney (my…
French Culture – Recent News Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 29, 2019
This past month has had its share of news. Some of it happy, some sad, but as we say au revoir (good bye) to janvier (January) and look towards le mois de février (the month of February), a few in particular are worth pausing on in this week’s review of recent news out of l’Hexagone. Tintin a 90…
Tool Trouble Hinging On A Good Night’s Sleep – Hardware In French Posted by John Bauer on Jan 23, 2019
One of the best vocabulary tests in the world is urgently needing to explain something important. When there’s no time and no room for les fautes (mistakes), the reality of vocabulary limitations becomes inescapable. Not too long ago mon lit (my bed) broke in the middle of the night. It was a pretty simple fix…
French Music – More from Calogero Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 22, 2019
Calogero has quickly become one of my favorite French singers. He has a way of combining great melodies with powerful language that evokes emotions, memories, and plein de sentiments (lots of emotion). Like Voler de Nuit which I shared previously, the song below is from his great 2017 album Liberté chérie (Cherished freedom). On a tous …
La Newsletter – Mixing Up Les Genres In French Posted by John Bauer on Jan 16, 2019
One of the hardest parts of learning French is trying to remember les genres des mots (the gender of words). The seemingly random choice of one word being masculin and another being féminin always leads to making mistakes. Sometimes the fast pace au bureau (at the office) doesn’t leave time for corrections and small errors…
French vocabulary – Making resolutions Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 15, 2019
Le nouvel an (New Year’s) is a perfect time for finding those little ways (comme apprendre une nouvelle langue / like learning a new language!) to make our lives better. As is the case in many countries, les Français (the French) use le jour de l’An* (New Year’s day) to declare leurs bonnes intentions (their good…
A Game Of Cat And Mouse – Dancing Mice Expression In French Posted by John Bauer on Jan 9, 2019
As 2019 begins and les vacances (vacation) come to an end, there’s a special kind of lethargy au bureau (at the office), especially when les chefs (the bosses) aren’t finished with their long holidays. There’s no shortage of fun expressions that throw French learners for a loop. The balance between trying to figure out why…