Archive for 'Vocabulary'
The ABCs of French Slang: A Posted by Hichem on Apr 26, 2010
Like we saw before, idioms are among the first challenges in learning a new language, and surtout (especially) French. Another challenge, almost as unavoidable, when you try to actually go to the country, meet and talk with its people, is the slang of that country, or as it is called in French: l’argot. L’argot is not necessarily…
Putting Your French Face On: Makeup Vocab Posted by Jennie on Apr 23, 2010
Évidemment (obviously), le maquillage (makeup) n’est pas nécessaire. But it’s fun to play with, and it’s one of the places you’re most likely to see French every day: Check your lip gloss. Does it also say “gloss à lèvres”? I learned a lot of the vocabulaire de maquillage from reading les emballages (the packaging) des…
Provence, terre insolite Posted by Jennie on Apr 22, 2010
Quand j’ai vécu (When I lived) en Provence, j’avais 15 ans. At age fifteen, I was already fascinée par la culture française, and especially by le sud de la France: the fabled South of France. When I decided to go to Provence (on a summer programme d’échange), I thought I would be Brigitte Bardot, passant…
The Zoo of French Idioms Posted by Hichem on Apr 21, 2010
Today, we will enter, in a visite guidée spéciale (a special guided visit), the parc zoologique des locutions (the zoological park of idioms.) Starting with le roi de la jungle (the king of the jungle), we find the expression “la part du lion“, which in this case (a rare one) can be directly deduced by comparing it to its English equivalent…
Travel and volcanoes! Posted by Jennie on Apr 20, 2010
Le volcan Eygalskjfksdfjncadufhaushdfsksjfaskjdfsjdsaa has really changed the game for le transport aérien (aerial transportation). It has directed traffic to other forms of travel, as well as to the pleasures of being cloué à Paris or wherever you are stranded (if you keep your bonne humeur!). For us, it’s a chance to brush up on some…
What is an “Énarque” ? (2ème partie) Posted by Hichem on Apr 14, 2010
We have seen, il y a deux jours (two days ago), a “special species” of people in France called “les énarques.” We found out that they in fact represent the French élite, the crème de la crème of the civil servants, a position in la société française (the French society) which naturally earns them both admiration and outrage. At the beginning, the É.N.A…
What is an “Énarque”? (1ère partie) Posted by Hichem on Apr 12, 2010
Getting into the ÉNA is akin to taking on les Douzes Traveaux d’Hercule (The Twelve Labours of Hercules): Like any other Grande École (Polytechnique is another one, famed to be the “French MIT”), you first have to go through une classe préparatoire, where you are in for a little “avant-goût” (“foretaste”) for what is to…