La vie en rose: Expressions with Pink Posted by Josh Dougherty on Apr 9, 2015
This week’s post’s title comes from a very famous song by French songstress Edith Piaf. This song has known international success – I would say in part to its catchy chorus. I chose the title because we’re going to continue with colorful expressions. Last time, we looked at le vert, and this time, we’re going…
Top 5 Francophone Albums Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 6, 2015
Listening to music is a great way to learn another language. Why? It is easier to memorize melodies and lyrics together than to just memorize sentences. Something in my brain is triggered when I hear music and, although I wouldn’t say that I have a great memory, I remember every note and lyric of the songs…
Prends garde à toi! “Carmen” by Stromae Posted by Josh Dougherty on Apr 2, 2015
Yesterday, Belgian singer/songwriter Stromae released le clip (the music video) to his new single “Carmen.” Stromae (verlan for maestro) came to major popularity with his song “Alors on danse,” which topped the charts in France and Belgium and peaked at 19 in the USA. A remix of this song with self-proclaimed music god Kanye West…
April Fish! Fous d’Avril! Posted by John Bauer on Apr 1, 2015
Humor can be a bit hard to understand in another language, whether it’s a knock knock joke, or an inside joke that you’re not in on. Heureusement (fortunately), April Fool’s Day exists in France. That said, it has a different set of traditions and a very different name: April Fish or in French, Poisson d’avril…
Top 10 “Untranslatable” French Words Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Mar 31, 2015
I hesitate to use the word “untranslatable” here because, frankly, there is no perfect translation between languages. Words and concepts have different shades of meanings in different languages based on particular linguistic cultures and histories. But non-native speakers can have an idea of a particular word, even if they don’t know all shades of its…
50 Shades of Green in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Mar 26, 2015
Le printemps (spring) has officially sprung — even if parts of the east coast in the USA still have a white blanket of snow. La nature et vos allergies sont revenues à la vie (Nature and your allergies have come back to life). Flowers are blooming, bees are hard at work, and all that was…
Where to Hear Canadian French Posted by John Bauer on Mar 25, 2015
Le français est une langue parlée partout dans le monde (French is a language spoken all over the world). A big part of la francophonie in North America is Canada, with it’s large francophone population. If you have ever tried looking for content en québécois or in any variety of Canadian French, you might have…