Tag Archives: French language
French Vocabulary – For the birds Posted by Tim Hildreth on Aug 4, 2020
This week’s post is brought to you in part by my trip this weekend to la plage (the beach). In these times of social distancing a trip to the beach seemed like a relatively safe bet what with all the fresh air, sun, and space. As I relaxed sur la sable (on the sand) I…
French Vocabulary – Town and Country Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jul 28, 2020
It’s easy to think, when you look at a bilingual dictionary, that there is a right word in French for every word in English. Sometimes though picking the right word in another language is complicated by nuances of meaning. Le Rat de la ville et le Rat des champs Ville (n.f; la ville) is one such…
French Culture – Comfort Food Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 30, 2020
While France (and parts of the US, where I live) are starting to open back up, we can all sometimes still use a little escapism to take us away from the challenges that life can present. Especially with all the complex issues facing the world today, I thought this week we’d spend some time on…
French Vocabulary – Anatomy Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 16, 2020
Here on the Transparent Language French Blog we’ve covered the parts of the body and (more than once) the parts of the face. One thing we’ve never done (at least as far as I can tell) is gone inside. So this week we turn to … les parties du corps … Inside Edition Les organes…
French Vocabulary – Jewelry Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 9, 2020
Qui n’aime pas un peu de fantaisie (who doesn’t like a little fantasy) ? In these strange times, a little sparkle, a little distraction is always welcome. So this week, we look at la joaillerie. The French are glad to die for love … But in the infamous words of a classic song, diamonds are a…
French Vocabulary – In the street Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 2, 2020
The other day I was out for a walk and practicing my French en même temps (at the same time) by naming all the things I could see. Les arbres, les plantes, le ciel, le soleil, des boîtes aux lettres, et la rue (The trees, the plants, the sky, the sun, mailboxes, and the street). When I got…
French History – Shaking Things Up Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 19, 2020
The French have had more than their share of revolutions. They’ve never had a problem when things weren’t working, just scrapping it all and starting over. There’s a reason that the current political administration is the Ve République (Fifth Republic). Une histoire révolutionnaire / A revolutionay history Most students of French language and culture are familiar with…