Spoken French: What Conjugations? Posted by John Bauer on May 13, 2015
Speaking French is easy! Sure, there’s a ton of conjugaisons, but they don’t always matter when you speak. I’ve touched on des fautes (mistakes) francophones make when writing French and how ces fautes can be useful in learning how to speak like un vrai français (a real French person). This time we’re not going to…
Le Jardinage Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on May 11, 2015
I can’t resist: This week blossoms bloomed where I am in New York as the weather finally began to warm up. So I’m dedicating this post to the lovely flowers I see outside of my window, the dogwoods, tulips, daffodils, magnolias, and pansies that make me want to step outside of my dark office and enjoy…
Top French Baby Names! Posted by Josh Dougherty on May 7, 2015
How many typical French names can you list off the top of your head? I’m sure there are some Jean-Pauls, Michels, Brigittes, and, of course, some Pierres in your lists, but I can assure that these names aren’t all that common anymore. Have you ever met a French Kévin? Jessica? I remember the first time I…
I Invoke The Right of Parley Posted by John Bauer on May 6, 2015
Do some fautes (mistakes) people make in English annoy you? Mixing up then and than or effect and affect? Des fautes that make no sense grammatically, but still happen all the time. Ces fautes might be annoying, but they provide a lot of insight into how people really parlent (speak). La semaine dernière (Last week)…
Prehistoric France Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on May 3, 2015
Have you ever seen Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)? If not, rent it now. It’s an incredibly powerful movie that allows those of us who are not archeologists to commune with the past in a meaningful way. While not about French culture per se, Herzog’s documentary focuses on the Chauvet caves in southern France, the…
The French Equivalent of Mixing Up “There”, “Their”, and “They’re” Posted by John Bauer on Apr 29, 2015
Un phénomène intéressant (an interesting phenomenon) when learning your native language is mixing up words that sound the same. Learning the rules can be tough and time consuming, and mistakes happen as often as misplacing une virgule (a comma). There are many homonymes that native French speakers often mix up or have trouble remembering when…
10 Nouveaux Mots Pour 2015 Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 27, 2015
Every year, the editors of the French dictionnaires Le Petit Robert and Le Petit Larousse announce the new words that will be added to the next year’s edition. There are normally two rules the linguists employed by these dictionaries use in order to determine whether a new word should be incorporated: 1. the frequency of the…