Archive by Author
French For Libraries Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Aug 10, 2015
According to Bernard Fixot, the owner and publisher of the small French publishing house XO: “There are two things you don’t throw out in France — bread and books” (see the original article in which Fixot in quoted here). Because of this cultural aspect, and because of French regulation on prices of books and e-books, French…
Territorial Reform in France: La réforme terrritoriale Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Aug 3, 2015
Last summer, my mother-in-law and I brought my son to the store Nature et Découvertes in Paris to find a little toy to keep him occupied on the plane ride home. We didn’t find the perfect toy to keep a 1-year-old happy on an eight hour flight (I’m not sure that it exists!), but we did find…
L’International des Feux Loto-Québec (The Montreal Fireworks Festival) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 27, 2015
The summer is the season of fireworks. Some years my family has been lucky: We get to see Fourth of July fireworks in the US before heading out to Paris for our annual pilgrimage and watching the spectacular fireworks for la fête nationale. This year, however, we are not traveling and I am stuck dreaming…
Les embouteillages! Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 20, 2015
Normally I try to focus on writing about the fun things about summer: gardening, going to the beach, and going to music festivals. However, there is one unavoidable (and not-so-fun) fact of summer life in and around large French cities: les embouteillages! Un embouteillage is a traffic jam, and there can be a lot of…
French Songs: Partons Vite Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 13, 2015
In my mind, learning French will always be linked with several songs, although one song stands out in particular. That song is Kaolin’s “Partons vite,” which translates as “let’s leave fast.” The reason? It’s catchy, there is just enough repetition to remember the lyrics easily, and the song uses simple words. Kaolin is a band…
Today in the French News Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 6, 2015
Want to improve your French language skills? One thing that always helps is reading les journaux (newspapers) in French. Yes, the language used in newspapers can be more difficult, but I find that it is easier to grasp the gist of un article (an article), too. If you know les titres (the headlines) in English, you…
How to Guess the Gender of French Nouns Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 29, 2015
One of the hardest things about French is memorizing the genders of nouns. In the beginning, it’s based on pure memorization. However, after a while, many non-native French speakers will tell you that they just have a feeling about a word, even if its one they’ve never heard before. But, as the band Boston puts…