La Poésie (French Poetry) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Sep 26, 2016
It can be very difficult for non-native French speakers to read, comprehend, and even enjoy poetry in French. This is because the language can be more florid than in prose, there may me multiple layers of meaning not easily deduced by the non-native reader, and it may depend on cultural references. But, alas, not all is…
Defending My Thesis In French Posted by John Bauer on Sep 21, 2016
Last week j’ai passé ma soutenance de mémoire (I defended my thesis). After working hard on mon mémoire, everything came down to un exposé (a presentation) in front of mes professeurs (my professors). La soutenance is the last step in completing un master (a master’s). Finding a concise way to present all la recherche et…
Des livres au cinema* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Sep 20, 2016
J’adore lire. (I love to read.) Et pour entretenir mon français, je lis beaucoup en français. (And to maintain my French, I read a lot in French.) I especially love classic novels about the royal era of French history. Unfortunately, I don’t always have the time to read as much as I would like. BREAKING…
The French Causative Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Sep 19, 2016
The causative construction in French is somewhat self-explanatory. This kind of grammatical construction occurs when the subject causes something to happen rather than doing the action themselves. So, for example, a causative construction would be needed if you are describing that someone else will do the action of the sentence besides the subject of the sentence…
Never Ever be Confused by This French Word Again! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Sep 15, 2016
Bonjour, tout le monde ! As a French student, you already know that the language is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a little tricky. When you learn a second language, you start to notice a few things about your native tongue that you may have never considered before. Why is our grammar…
Blank Page Anxiety – Writer’s Block In French Posted by John Bauer on Sep 14, 2016
L’angoisse de la page blanche, the anxiety of the blank page, the French way to say writer’s block. The direct translation paints a pretty picture, but how much is lost in translation? While writing mon mémoire, I had to deal with l’angoisse de la page blanche all the time. I would write as long as…
Les Adjectifs Démostratifs (Demonstrative Adjectives) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Sep 13, 2016
What are demonstrative adjectives, you may ask? While the term may sound scary, we use them all of the time. Demonstrative adjectives are adjectives that “demonstrate” or point out a particular noun. In English, these include this, that, these, and those. In French, there are only four adjectifs démonstratifs: ce, cet, cette, and ces. As with most adjectives in French, they must agree…