Archive by Author
The French Equivalent of Mixing Up “There”, “Their”, and “They’re” Posted by John Bauer on Apr 29, 2015
Un phénomène intéressant (an interesting phenomenon) when learning your native language is mixing up words that sound the same. Learning the rules can be tough and time consuming, and mistakes happen as often as misplacing une virgule (a comma). There are many homonymes that native French speakers often mix up or have trouble remembering when…
French Punctuation: How Different Could It Be? Posted by John Bauer on Apr 22, 2015
Something as basic as how to use a period, a comma, and a colon doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d need to learn how to use en français. A period goes at the end of the sentence, a comma separates clauses or lists, and a colon introduces a title or a list or…
Just Add Water – Le Pastis Posted by John Bauer on Apr 15, 2015
Au Sud de la France (In the South of France) there is a famous drink that isn’t wine. It often brings up thoughts of the Mediterranean sun for les Français. C’est le pastis! Un apéritif à base de réglisse parfumé à l’anis (an anise flavored licorice based apératif, or pre-dinner drink). The name pastis vient…
Voici Mon Numéro, So Call Me Maybe! Posted by John Bauer on Apr 10, 2015
Do you know how to appeler quelqu’un (call someone) in France? Do you understand how the French say and write les numéros de téléphone (phone numbers)? Les numéros de téléphone around the world are not always the same. Un numéro de téléphone français could just look like a series of random numbers if you’ve never…
April Fish! Fous d’Avril! Posted by John Bauer on Apr 1, 2015
Humor can be a bit hard to understand in another language, whether it’s a knock knock joke, or an inside joke that you’re not in on. Heureusement (fortunately), April Fool’s Day exists in France. That said, it has a different set of traditions and a very different name: April Fish or in French, Poisson d’avril…
Where to Hear Canadian French Posted by John Bauer on Mar 25, 2015
Le français est une langue parlée partout dans le monde (French is a language spoken all over the world). A big part of la francophonie in North America is Canada, with it’s large francophone population. If you have ever tried looking for content en québécois or in any variety of Canadian French, you might have…
Celebrate French And Tell Me Ten Words! Posted by John Bauer on Mar 18, 2015
While listening to RFI, I learned that this week is la semaine de la langue française (French Language Week) as part of the celebration for la journée de la francophonie (Francophonie Day) on March 20th. On l’émission (the show) they talked about one of the fun events going, Dis-moi dix mots (Tell me ten words)…