Archive for 'Culture'
Music At The Opéra Garnier Posted by John Bauer on May 17, 2017
Now that I am settled in I have time to explore the sights and sounds of Paris. La ville lumière (the city of lights) is a massive international hub with history pouring out of every corner. Walking down any street can lead to amazing sights and new experiences. L’autre jour (the other day), I was…
French pronunciation basics part 3 Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 16, 2017
Many words in French end in ‘e’. And while the final ‘e’ can make us pronounce other letters (think ‘petit‘ vs. ‘petite‘ or ‘français‘ vs. ‘française‘), it is, in itself, usually silent. Usually, but not always! In poetry, and often in songs (which are, after all, just poems set to music), a final silent ‘e’…
Don’t Forget La Fête Des Mères! Posted by John Bauer on May 10, 2017
Mother’s day is this weekend aux États-Unis, but not everywhere else in the world. As la fête des mères that matters to my mother approaches there are no ads to remind me because la fête is still a couple weeks away en France! Holidays celebrating les mères can be traced back to antiquity. La Grèce…
It’s spring and inspiration is in the air Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 2, 2017
May has returned and with it the beautiful weather of le printemps (spring) at least here in my little corner of the world. In France that means – even with the stress of les élections présidentielles (the presidential elections), which are particularly heated this year*, and a recent spate of cold weather in the north…
What would you do? Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 25, 2017
Last summer I asked ‘what I did‘ and ‘what you are going to do‘ (looking at the past and future tenses in song). This week, a look at another French tense – and a new song – to learn about le conditionelle (the conditional). Le conditionelle is not actually a tense, but a mood…
Practicing French By Playing Video Games – StarCraft In French Posted by John Bauer on Apr 19, 2017
I am not a big gamer, but parfois (sometimes) I like playing les jeux vidéo (video games) in between having to study and work. Recently un jeu (a game) from my childhood, StarCraft, was released for free. L’entreprise (the company) behind the game, Blizzard, is getting ready for a new HD release of le jeu…
A final trip to the store Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 18, 2017
Last week* we took a tour around France and learned about les gentilés (‘the names of the inhabitants’) of a number of French cities and towns. This week we’ll complete our shopping trip with a look at the new food labeling coming to France en avril (in April). In order to help les consommateurs…