As vacation season arrives – in this very strange (almost, hopefully!) post-Covid world – it seemed like a good to time to trot out some useful vocabulary. So this week it’s time for a French geography lesson.

Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

A French Geography Lesson

With apologies to anyone who associates geography lessons with school, the common terms below are as useful for geography as a science as they are for geography as a tool for deciding where to spend les vacances¹vacation, holidays; remember vacances is always plural in French.

Les vacances 2021

Summer is here and like many around the world, les Français are ready to get out and enjoy life. While August is traditionally la période des grandes vacances⁶the main vacation period, people are already on the move across France.

And this year, whether its un camping dans les montagnes⁷a camp site in the mountains or quelques semaines au soleil à la plage⁸a few weeks of sun at the beach, les Français are choosing to spend their vacations closer to home and choosing l’Hexagone for their vacances 2021. “Avec la crise sanitaire, 83% des Français envisagent de privilégier la France durant l’été 2021“⁹With the current health situation, 83% of French people are planning to prioritize France/French destinations for summer 2021.

La Seine à la nage?!!

According to a recent IFOP survey, while a majority of French view the Seine “comme emblématique de la capitale”¹⁰as emblematic of the capital, 70% also have “une mauvaise image de la Seine”¹¹an unfavorable (bad) image of the Seine. For many, la Seine is “polluée, sale, malodorante, et dangereuse”¹²polluted, dirty, smelly, and dangerous and only 12% “des Français aimeraient s’y baigner”¹³of French would like to swim in it.

This week I saw an interesting story about the Seine. In an attempt to “sensibiliser [les gens] à la cause environnementale“¹⁴make people aware of environmentalism, 19-year old adventurer Arthur Germain¹⁵who is the son of Anne Hildago, the mayor of Paris, is swimming la Seine “de sa source à son embouchure, soit 775 kilomètres“¹⁶from its source to its mouth, so 775 km.

French Vocabulary – Town and Country

French Vocabulary – Maps and Directions

Which State/Province Are You From? Expressing Location in French

• 1
  vacation, holidays; remember vacances is always plural in French.
• 2
  What’s the difference between an ocean and a sea? By most accounts, it’s a question of scale.
• 3
  This is a good example of a word where the accent matters (as Bridgette discussed last week). La cote means ratings or odds. The expression avoir la cote means to be trending, be popular.
• 4
  France has 5 main fleuves: la Seine, la Loire, la Garonne, le Rhône, and le Rhin.
• 5
  The major mountain ranges in France include: les Alpes, les Pyrénées, le Massif Central, le Jura, and les Vosges.
• 6
  the main vacation period
• 7
  a camp site in the mountains
• 8
  a few weeks of sun at the beach
• 9
  With the current health situation, 83% of French people are planning to prioritize France/French destinations for summer 2021
• 10
  as emblematic of the capital
• 11
  an unfavorable (bad) image of the Seine
• 12
  polluted, dirty, smelly, and dangerous
• 13
  of French would like to swim in it
• 14
  make people aware of environmentalism
• 15
  who is the son of Anne Hildago, the mayor of Paris
• 16
  from its source to its mouth, so 775 km