Archive for 'Vocabulary'
French Vocabulary – Going to a Café Posted by Transparent Language on May 26, 2009
I have just read in my international edition of Newsweek that the French government is going to lower its tax rate by 72% on food and drinks at restaurants and cafés this summer hoping that people will start frequenting the country’s beloved cafés again as many are closing due to the financial crisis. I wrote…
French Time Posted by Transparent Language on May 14, 2009
These days, with all the rushing and schedules to stay on, telling the time and understanding the time is so very important in any language and anywhere you are. So, today, we’ll talk about telling time in French. First of all, the very important question is: Quelle heure est-il? (What time is it?) And the…
French Vocabulary – Face Riddles Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 27, 2009
I was working on some vocabulary with my daughters and I came up with an idea for a blog article that I thought might be fun. First of all, let’s go over some face vocabulary: la bouche mouth la joue / les joues one cheek / cheeks le front forehead le menton chin le nez…
Le Jour de la Terre Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 22, 2009
It’s Le Jour de la Terre (Earth Day) so, I thought I would celebrate it with a list of environment-related French vocabulary. des aliments écologiques ecological food développement durable sustainable development écologie ecology l’énergie solaire solar power l’environnement the environment l’érosion erosion la couche d’ozone the ozone layer la déforestation deforestation la diversité biologique biodiversity…
French Vocabulary – Word Building Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 19, 2009
Building funny French phrases is a way to learn more vocabulary and even improve your grammar. The challenge lies in finding a root word and then expressing the same word as a noun, adverb, verb and adjective all in the same sentence. Here are some examples: La commode commode a été accommodée commodément. Le commentateur…
French Language – Body Slang Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 9, 2009
As I’ve written before, understanding and then being able to use expressions and slang in another language is a huge step forward in the language learning process. So, I’ll let you in on some more French slang. These expressions sound like they have something to do with the body, but in fact, do not. Be…
French Language – Faux Amis Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 30, 2009
When you’re learning French and especially, when you’re trying to speak French, you can get easily confused or confuse others with these deceitful false friends or false cognates. Faux amis, as they are called in French, are pairs of words that seem to be similar in two different languages, but in fact, are not. I’ll…