Archive for 'Culture'
Après moi, le déluge – Flood Vocabulary in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jun 2, 2016
If you’ve been following the news, you’ve probably heard of the torrential downpour in Europe that has caused flooding responsible for the death of at least 10 people. Unfortunately, la météo (the forecast) shows more rain in the coming days. Thousands of people in France have been evacuated as the floods have now been declared…
Qu’est-ce que j’ai fait?* Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 31, 2016
In 1986, Sabine Paturel had a hit with the song “Les bêtises“. There is just a handful (une poignée) of verbs in French that use the verb être to form the past tense, but most verbs in the passé composé are formed using the verb avoir (to have). Les bêtises gives you lots of chances…
Silence, on tourne!* Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 24, 2016
« A mes yeux Paris restera le décor d’un roman que personne n’écrira jamais.»** Paris, Julien Green, 1984 Before we get to this week’s post, I wanted to revisit last week. While I included examples like Bonjour / Bonne journée, I forgot to include Bonsoir et Bonne soirée (good evening) . . . and bonne matinée…
L’heure de la sortie / Quitting Time Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 17, 2016
Listening to one of my old favorites in the car the other day, I got to thinking about French expressions for time and in particular the difference between some very common expressions that, while not exactly confusing, can trip up the novice and experienced language learner alike. You see, the French have two words for…
Songs in French: Stephan Eicher Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on May 16, 2016
Stephan Eicher is a Swiss singer-songwriter who sings in many languages, including French, German, Italian, English, Swiss-German, and Romanche (a Romance language spoken in some areas of Switzerland). While his earliest success began in German-speaking countries, Eicher has become well known in French-speaking countries as well. Eicher debuted his career as a techno-punk artist, then gradually…
France’s 2016 Eurovision Submission! Posted by Josh Dougherty on May 12, 2016
It’s May, and for many Europeans, it’s the return of something very important. Non, je ne parle pas du soleil (no, I’m not talking about the sun), but Eurovision! Not familiar with it? Basically, every participating country submits a singer and song to represent them. From there, the songs are performed in 2 semi-finals and…
Follow The Footprints – Origin Of Pied-Noir Posted by John Bauer on May 11, 2016
Last week I interviewed Arnaud Fièvre as a part of the Real French Series. One of the things he talked about was le mot (the word) pied-noir. Litterally translated pied-noir is black-foot, but it has a different meaning in French. According to le Larousse, pied-noir is a noun and an adjective and has the following…