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French vocabulary – Making resolutions Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 15, 2019
Le nouvel an (New Year’s) is a perfect time for finding those little ways (comme apprendre une nouvelle langue / like learning a new language!) to make our lives better. As is the case in many countries, les Français (the French) use le jour de l’An* (New Year’s day) to declare leurs bonnes intentions (their good…
French Current Events – update on les gilets jaunes Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 8, 2019
It’s been about a month since I first reported on les manifestations (the protests) in France being led (?) by les gilets jaunes (the yellow vests). Sadly, while the ampleur (scale/volume/size) of the manifestations has gone down since then, they have become more violent. Les dernières infos / The lastest updates Since their peak in…
French language and culture – remembering New Year’s Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 1, 2019
Bonne Année 2019! Happy New Year! Le jour de l’an (New Year’s Day)* is a time for looking ahead and for looking back. And looking back over the last year got me thinking about the related vocabulary of memories. Like English, French has multiple words for remembering. For the most part, they mean the same…
French Culture – C’est Noël Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 25, 2018
Nous sommes le mardi, 25 décembre et c’est Noël! (It’s Tuesday December 25th… It’s Christmas!). Whether you are celebrating the holiday or partake of different seasonal traditions, it seems like a perfect time to highlight a few more of my favorite holiday traditions from France. La bûche de Noël / The Christmas log Not to…
French Vocabulary – The spirit of the season Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 18, 2018
The news from France hasn’t been the best lately. As of this past weekend, les gilets jaunes are still protesting in the streets of Paris – despite concessions from the French government – and of course there was the sad news out of Strasbourg of l’attaque du marché de Noël (the attack of the Christmas market). But…
French Music – Katty Line Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 11, 2018
December is here and the holidays are right around the corner! After the last few weeks looking back to World War I and the recent protests that have rocked France, I thought we could all use something a little lighter … something like this great groovy 1960’s hit from Katty Line. Qui est Katty Line?…
French Current Events – Les gilets jaunes Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 4, 2018
I have been doing my best to avoid the news recently, so it was with a shock that I discovered the recent news of nationwide protests rocking France. From Paris and into the countryside, these past few weeks have seen growing unrest which culminated in a rash of burned cars, smashed store windows, and injuries…