Archive for March, 2019
Long Arms To Reach Farther – Powerful And Influential French Expression Posted by John Bauer on Mar 28, 2019
Having long arms won’t help you learn French faster, but being able to say avoir le bras long will help you learn a new expression! La semaine dernière (last week), I shared a story about learning how to use a common sarcastic expression, long comme le bras (as long as your arm): As Long As…
France and le Grand Paris Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 26, 2019
A few weeks ago as I was exploring the public opinion research from IFOP, one of the studies that caught my attention was an examination from last December of public perceptions of the ensemble d’initiatives connues sous le terme du Grand Paris (group of initiatives known as the Great / the Big Paris). Le Grand…
As Long As Your Arm – Exaggerating In French Posted by John Bauer on Mar 20, 2019
There’s more to learning French than memorizing vocabulary and conjugating verbs. The real goal is learning how to s’exprimer (express yourself) and let your personality shine! Beyond la grammaire and la culture, a big part of speaking une nouvelle langue (a new language) is the person speaking. Sometimes struggling to speak French correctly has a…
French Music – Spring is in the air Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 19, 2019
This year, here in the northern hemisphere, le mercredi 20 mars (Wednesday, March 20th), is le premier jour du printemps (the first day of spring)! What better time to share another fun French-language song, one that kicks off la nouvelle saison* (the new season) tout en joie (with joy). C’est l’printemps / It’s spring This…
Le Second Degré – Sarcasm In French Posted by John Bauer on Mar 13, 2019
L’humour (humor) is one of those things that goes beyond le vocabulaire (vocabulary) and steps into the realm of la culture, making it one of the hardest aspects of le français to really understand. Sometimes les blagues françaises (French jokes) are easy to understand or are simply a matter of understanding a specific reference. Once…
French Culture – What do the French think Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 12, 2019
As I was recently following up on news about les Gilets jaunes I stumbled across a great resource for anyone interested in understanding what les français pensent (the French think) on any number of different topics. Qu’en pensez vous? / What do you think? There’s no better way to know what someone is thinking then…
Burning Out Like A Candle – Recently Deceased In French Posted by John Bauer on Mar 7, 2019
There’s some vocabulary that can be hard to talk about. Not because it’s difficult or different, but because it’s tied to emotions, memories, or history. One of the hardest things to talk about, regardless of the language, is someone close passing. It can be hard to think of anything when les emotions are fresh and…