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A real star Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 28, 2017
Céline Dion is surely one of the world’s most successful and well-known French-language singers. Born in the Canadian province of Québec and singing originally exclusively in French, Céline has gone on to international stardom in English and in French, selling over 200 million albums worldwide (making her the best-selling Canadian artist of all time). Céline’s…
French pronunciation basics part 2 Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 21, 2017
A few weeks ago, I shared a fun song that highlights proper pronunciation for the common ‘oo’ sound in French, based on requests for more help with pronunciation. This week in our continuing journey of sound, I thought it would be a good time to talk about final consonants. As many of you probably know…
A few of my favorite things Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 14, 2017
This week marks my cinquante-deuxième (52nd) entry to the Transparent Language French blog! Bon anniversaire à moi! (Happy anniversary to me!) Cinquante-deux semaine (52 weeks) means it’s been just un an (one year) since I first introduced myself to you! I hope it’s been une bonne année (a good year) for all of you and…
French pronunciation basics part 1 Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 7, 2017
In a recent reader survey, one of the top requests you, chers lecteurs, (dear readers) of the Transparent Language French blog made, was for more help with pronunciation. Providing a comprehensive overview of French pronunciation would take une éternité (an eternity / forever), but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a go at it! A…
Mind your manners Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 28, 2017
The French are very big on manners and following the rules of étiquette. You can read here about the rules for gift giving, here for proper greetings, and here for the rules for kissing (yes, they even have rules for that!). But do you know where the rules come from? The rules of French etiquette…
Let’s eat! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 21, 2017
Everyone knows that the French love to eat (and that they know how to set a fancy table!). But do you know all of the different ways to talk about food in French? This week, we’ll review key vocabulary around eating . . . and drinking while we’re at it. Bon appétit!* On mange…
Love and animals? Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 14, 2017
Happy Valentine’s Day! C’est le 14 février*. Le jour des amoureux ! (It’s the 14th of February. The day of lovers!) In honor of the day, I thought a little song about love was in order. Malheureusement (Sadly), l’amour n’est pas toujours facile ! (love isn’t always easy!) So while today’s song is about love…