COP21: The 2015 Paris Climate Conference Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Nov 2, 2015
A very important climate conference is taking place in Paris from November 30 to December 11th. The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (or COP21) seeks to work on a new international agreement to keep the level of global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Why? Because environmental scientists have…
Back To Le Futur in Version Française Posted by John Bauer on Oct 28, 2015
Last week was le jour (the day) that Marty McFly went into the future, but with le voyage dans le temps (time-travel), being off by a week doesn’t matter too much. There’s still plenty of time to watch the movie in French! The title of the film is une traduction littérale (a literal translation): Retour…
Have a Hair-Raising (ébouriffant) Halloween! Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 26, 2015
“Hair-raising” is a great adjective in English. It’s descriptive and makes you understand exactly what it conveys…a fright that makes your hair stand up on end. Some dictionaries offer “terrifiant(e)” as the French translation of “hair-raising.” Another translation–and perhaps one that is more accurate–is “ébouriffant(e).” Neither of these words, however, are as descriptive as the original…
An Eye for French Vocab – Words with “Eye” Posted by Josh Dougherty on Oct 23, 2015
Ah, October is here (but Josh, October is almost over! I know, shhh…)! Tis the season for piles of leaves, scary costumes, sweaters, and pumpkin spice everything. For me, October has always been a sad time of year. Everything in nature is going from green to beautiful shades of red and orange, all before turning brown…
Editor’s Note: Understanding Acronyms and Abbreviations Posted by John Bauer on Oct 21, 2015
French uses many sigles (acronyms) and abréviations (abbreviations) in everyday writing beyond textspeak. There are many in English aussi (as well) that people don’t think about very often: etc, eg, ie, PS, and many more. I was reading an article en français (in French) and I came across un sigle that I couldn’t understand: Ndlr…
Super Scary…Superlatives (2) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 19, 2015
Last week, I went over French superlatives using the formula le/la/les + plus/moins + adjective/adverb, as well as some irregular superlative forms (le/la meilleur/e). To use the superlative form of bon in order to say that something is “the best,” you would use le/la meilleur(e). For example: Notre-Dame de Paris est le meilleur livre de Victor Hugo. (The Hunchback of…
French Hard? Hakuna Matata! Learn French Through Disney Songs! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Oct 15, 2015
Have you ever been speaking a foreign language and you suddenly forget a simple word? It’s happened more times than I’d like to admit, but that’s part of foreign language experience. (Who am I kidding? Happens to me in English sometimes, too :-p ). Maybe I should start taking ginkgo biloba? Anyway, I’ll be speaking…