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Only 24 Hours in a Day – French Time Posted by John Bauer on Sep 23, 2015
Before moving to France I had never said seventeen o’clock. In France, that’s the normal way to say five o’clock PM. France uses a 24 hour clock rather than an AM/PM system. This extends into the spoken language, and while you can say huit heures du soir (eight o’clock in the evening) or huit heures…
Have you ever counted to one billion? Posted by John Bauer on Sep 16, 2015
Les grands nombres (large numbers) are hard to understand in any language. The difference between one trillion and one billion seems so abstract that it’s impossible to conceptualize the huge quantities that are being referenced. French numbers are already difficult at 70 and 80 et en plus (and what’s more) the punctuation for numbers is…
Aéroports And Avions – Taking A Plane in French Posted by John Bauer on Sep 9, 2015
Je viens d’arriver aux USA (I just arrived in the USA) and after le long vol (the long flight) from France, with une escale courte (a short layover) in Spain, all I wanted to do was sleep. I’m back to my home state for the first time in a very long time. Before I got…
Keyboard Clash! Typing in French – AZERTY Posted by John Bauer on Sep 2, 2015
After all my hardware problems in the summer heat, I finally had to go out and buy a new computer. Qfter thqt; there zqs q proble, – After that, there was a problem. Le clavier (the keyboard) was in French, and Le clavier français is a bit different from le clavier anglais. Le clavier has…
Help! Attention! Urgence! Posted by John Bauer on Aug 26, 2015
Many medical and emergency words are similar in French, but they are also different enough to lead to major confusions. Médecin doesn’t mean medicine and an emergency is urgent, but in French it’s l’urgence that takes the name. That last sentence is confusing because of all the closely related words that are nearly the same…
Who Ya Gonna Call? Not Nine One One! Posted by John Bauer on Aug 19, 2015
After figuring out how les numéros de téléphones français (French phone numbers) work and when things are open (even on Sundays!), there is a big thing some people don’t release when they’re going abroad. Qui est-ce qu’on appelle en cas d’urgence ? Who do you call in an emergency? The American number, 911, does not…
En Garde! Pharmacies Are Always Open! Posted by John Bauer on Aug 12, 2015
Getting used to French working hours is pretty easy. You just need to plan ahead a little bit, and you can always find small things that are still ouvert (open) to hold you over if you’re caught in a long holiday. I was fine with all of that and working with the French schedule, until…