Archive for 'Culture'
50 Shades of Green in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Mar 26, 2015
Le printemps (spring) has officially sprung — even if parts of the east coast in the USA still have a white blanket of snow. La nature et vos allergies sont revenues à la vie (Nature and your allergies have come back to life). Flowers are blooming, bees are hard at work, and all that was…
Where to Hear Canadian French Posted by John Bauer on Mar 25, 2015
Le français est une langue parlée partout dans le monde (French is a language spoken all over the world). A big part of la francophonie in North America is Canada, with it’s large francophone population. If you have ever tried looking for content en québécois or in any variety of Canadian French, you might have…
Celebrate French And Tell Me Ten Words! Posted by John Bauer on Mar 18, 2015
While listening to RFI, I learned that this week is la semaine de la langue française (French Language Week) as part of the celebration for la journée de la francophonie (Francophonie Day) on March 20th. On l’émission (the show) they talked about one of the fun events going, Dis-moi dix mots (Tell me ten words)…
Lève ton verre: French Drinking Songs Posted by Josh Dougherty on Mar 17, 2015
Tonight, many people around the world are partaking in a bit of drinking to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The French aren’t an exception. A few weeks ago, John taught you how to toast in French. Today we’re going to learn something just as important: la chanson paillarde or la chanson à boire (drinking song). There…
French Knock Knock Jokes Posted by John Bauer on Mar 11, 2015
Humor doesn’t always traduire (translate) well. What’s funny in one culture is often not that funny in another culture. Just imagine trying to explain why “to get to the other side” is une chute drôle (a funny punchline) to someone who’s never heard the famous chicken joke. En même temps, (at the same time) un…
France’s Wine Regions and Terroir Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Mar 2, 2015
One of the best (and most fun!) ways of getting to know France is through learning about its terroirs. Terroir is a French loanword in English that you might already be familiar with — especially if you are an oenophile — that loosely translates to a “sense of place”. In other words, terroir is the special characteristics of a particular…
15 Interesting Facts about the Pope’s Palace Posted by Josh Dougherty on Feb 26, 2015
No, we’re not talking about the Vatican. For about 70 years, 7 successive popes ruled from Provence in the south of France. The history is very long and interesting, and si vous voulez connaitre l’histoire à fond (if you want to learn about it in depth), I’ve included 2 YouTube documentaries at the bottom. This post is…