Tag Archives: France
Zazie . . . bis!* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Aug 2, 2016
Zazie isn’t just dans le métro . . . or au cinéma. As promised in last week’s post, this week I’ll talk about another Zazie. And in a throwback to my Potpourri post, also share a random collection of other useful tidbits to keep you motivated and learning French! Zazie is one of my favorite…
A Bastille Day Tribute Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jul 19, 2016
Last week’s Bastille Day celebrations ended in tragedy. Any day is the wrong day for such a terrible act, but on that day – a celebration of the French ideals of liberté, égalité, et fraternité (liberty, equality, and brotherhood) – it felt especially awful. July 14 may be changed forever by the events in Nice…
École le samedi ?!! * Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 21, 2016
C’est la fin de l’année scolaire (en France comme aux Etats-Unis). / It’s the end of the school year (in France and in the United States). In many ways school in France isn’t all that different from school in America, but in other ways, it’s quite different. School in France is highly centralized, and as…
Silence, on tourne!* Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 24, 2016
« A mes yeux Paris restera le décor d’un roman que personne n’écrira jamais.»** Paris, Julien Green, 1984 Before we get to this week’s post, I wanted to revisit last week. While I included examples like Bonjour / Bonne journée, I forgot to include Bonsoir et Bonne soirée (good evening) . . . and bonne matinée…
L’heure de la sortie / Quitting Time Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 17, 2016
Listening to one of my old favorites in the car the other day, I got to thinking about French expressions for time and in particular the difference between some very common expressions that, while not exactly confusing, can trip up the novice and experienced language learner alike. You see, the French have two words for…
‘Zapping’ for beginners Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 3, 2016
« Le zapping est, dans le langage familier, une manière de regarder la télévision consistant à changer régulièrement de chaîne, et le plus souvent à une fréquence élevée, dans le but de trouver un programme que le spectateur jugera satisfaisant à regarder. Une pratique courante est de zapper durant les coupures de publicité. »* https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapping, May 1…
Août en Bretagne Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 5, 2016
I arrived in France for the first time at the end of July (‘fin juillet’). I was jet-lagged, confused, and a little scared at the prospect of spending the next year so far away from everything and everyone I had grown up with back in the US. Before I even had time to settle in…