Archive for 'Vocabulary'
French Music – A song for Christmas Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 15, 2020
Christmas is a time for joy and the season is full decorations, songs, and festive treats to remind us of that fact. But la Noël et la Saint-Sylvestre can also be melancolie. While les souvenirs des fêtes passées can keep us warm, they can also, as in this song, remind us of missed opportunities. Le dernier…
French Culture – Decorating Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 24, 2020
For many, the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US marks the official start of the holiday season. France doesn’t officially have Thanksgiving, and so souvent le temps des fêtes commence (the holiday period begins often) right after la Toussaint. Noël aux Grands Magasins One of the first signs of Christmas’s impending arrival, in Paris at least, can…
French Slang Posted by Bridgette on Nov 20, 2020
L’argot français et le verlan Aujourd’hui on parle de l’argot français et du verlan… today we are talking about French slang and verlan. C’est parti! Argot, as in any language, is an ever-changing and important part of the French language and culture. The more formal French you learn in school will be perfect for les…
French Culture – I’m hungry … and I’m in a hurry! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 17, 2020
A friend of mine was recently asking me about fast food in France. France – one of the world’s undeniable gastronomic powerhouses – has a complicated and conflicted history with la restauration rapide. La malbouffe France is, after all, the country that coined the term bad eating and where, in 1999, the future candidat à…
French Commerce – Glow in the dark Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 10, 2020
Well here we are, almost at the mi-novembre (mid-November). In France, tout comme aux États-Unis (just like in the United States), we’ve changed the clocks and it gets dark earlier. Growing up in the northeastern United States, I’m used to early evenings. But when I went to France for the first time, I was hardly…
France – Looking Forward Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 3, 2020
Last week I promised a change of pace, so while the world continues to grapple with Covid, this week I’ll keep the coverage to a minimum. Someday this global pandémie (pandemic) will be over and we’ll be ready to get back to life. What next? No one quite knows when this will all end, but…
French Culture – Curfew Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 20, 2020
France, like many parts of the world, is seeing a resurgence of cases of Covid-19 as the cooler weather of l’automne (autumn) settles in. In an attempt to get things back under control and to avoid another confinement, the French government has instituted un couvre-feu in many cities around the country. Couvre-feu Le couvre-feu (lit…