Archive for 'Music'
French Language – Demonstrative Pronouns bis Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 25, 2020
A few weeks ago we reviewed demonstrative pronouns in French. As we discussed, les pronoms démonstratifs generally agree in gender and number with the nouns they replace … with one exception that we’ll look at this week. Le cas exceptionnel de ce Ce (or c’ when it comes before a vowel) is a demonstrative pronoun…
French News – A la une Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 18, 2020
Bienvenue (welcome) to another round up of the latest news from France! In areas as diverse as la politique (politics), la météo (the weather), la musique (music), and l’urbanisme (urban planning), a lot has been going in France. Le temps s’améliore Last week’s song by Saint André featured a weather term that was also very…
French Music – Saint André Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 11, 2020
We had Groundhog Day here in the US recently. The Groundhog Day tradition veut (is supposed to mean) that the arrival of spring will – or will not be – early depending on whether la marmotte (the groundhog) sees its ombre (shadow) or not. En attendant le printemps Regardless of what the groundhog said, we…
French Culture – Oh what a year! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 31, 2019
It is once again New Year’s Eve, and around the world people are greeting un nouvel an even as they look back at the year (et toute une décennie ! / and a whole decade) that is coming to an end. And what a year it was! Les Français dans les rues As far back as La Révolution…
French Music – A Christmas Song Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 24, 2019
Today is le réveillon de Noël (Christmas eve) … et demain c’est Noël (tomorrow is Christmas). And while it is a time of joy and celebrations for many, it is also a time to remember those who cannot fully enjoy the saison des fêtes (holiday season) for whatever reason. In 2015, the French singer Michel Polnareff released…
French Culture – Songs, songs, songs Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 10, 2019
Le nouvel an (New years) is just a few short weeks away, but it’s not just a new year, it’s a whole new décenie (decade). The perfect time for a look back … and for un cadeau (a gift). In the new year, Transparent Language will be sponsoring a “greatest hits” Spotify list of songs…
Retro French Music – Michel Fugain Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 5, 2019
Michel Fugain is a French singer and songwriter who, with his ‘Big Bazar’, chanté l’insouciance et la joie de vivre (sang about being carefree and about the joys of living). This week, just for fun, a song from the early 1970’s that embodies this spirit (and will, I hope, tide you over until i have…