Les embouteillages! Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 20, 2015
Normally I try to focus on writing about the fun things about summer: gardening, going to the beach, and going to music festivals. However, there is one unavoidable (and not-so-fun) fact of summer life in and around large French cities: les embouteillages! Un embouteillage is a traffic jam, and there can be a lot of…
Le Festival d’Avignon – A Big Theater Festival in a Small Town Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jul 16, 2015
Ugh, another post on the south of France? Oui, chers lecteurs (yes, dear readers), but it’s a very special region to me, and this one’s quite interesting 😉 It’s July in Avignon, and that can only mean one thing (not counting daily trips for local ice cream, I mean – may I recommend La Princière in…
The 14th of July: French Fireworks Posted by John Bauer on Jul 15, 2015
Cette semaine on fête le 14 juillet ou la fête nationale or Bastille Day as it’s known in English speaking countries. Le 14 juillet is something like la version française (the French version) of the fourth of July. Pendant le 14 juillet there are a few big celebrations: le défilé militaire (the military parade) during…
French Songs: Partons Vite Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 13, 2015
In my mind, learning French will always be linked with several songs, although one song stands out in particular. That song is Kaolin’s “Partons vite,” which translates as “let’s leave fast.” The reason? It’s catchy, there is just enough repetition to remember the lyrics easily, and the song uses simple words. Kaolin is a band…
I’m blue da ba dee da ba die… Shades of Blue in French! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jul 9, 2015
Yo listen up here’s a story About a little guy that lives in a blue world And all day and all night and everything he sees Is just blue like him inside and outside Blue his house with a blue little window And a blue corvette And everything is blue for him and himself And…
The Computer Magasin: Getting Technical Posted by John Bauer on Jul 8, 2015
Last week mon ordinateur était en panne (my computer was broken) and I had to go to le magasin d’informatique (the computer store). I was worried that mon vocabulaire d’informatique (my computer vocabulary) wasn’t good enough and that I wouldn’t be able to explain the problem. On top of that, with la canicule, it was…
Today in the French News Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 6, 2015
Want to improve your French language skills? One thing that always helps is reading les journaux (newspapers) in French. Yes, the language used in newspapers can be more difficult, but I find that it is easier to grasp the gist of un article (an article), too. If you know les titres (the headlines) in English, you…