Tag Archives: French vocabulary
French Music – A Christmas Song Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 24, 2019
Today is le réveillon de Noël (Christmas eve) … et demain c’est Noël (tomorrow is Christmas). And while it is a time of joy and celebrations for many, it is also a time to remember those who cannot fully enjoy the saison des fêtes (holiday season) for whatever reason. In 2015, the French singer Michel Polnareff released…
French Language – Pom, pom, pom Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 17, 2019
I’ve heard it said that if you don’t encounter a language before a certain age, there are sounds in that language that will not only be difficult (if not impossible) for you to pronounce properly, but even hard for you to hear! I say it’s never too late as long as you apply yourself. This…
French Commercial – Sharing the work Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 26, 2019
Ariel is not just famously the Petite Sirène (Little Mermaid), in France, it is also the name of a well-known laundry detergent. On my recent trip to France, I saw the following commercial that resonated with me. Commercials are not only a great way to learn vocabulary, since they are often very concrete and the…
Retro French Music – Michel Fugain Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 5, 2019
Michel Fugain is a French singer and songwriter who, with his ‘Big Bazar’, chanté l’insouciance et la joie de vivre (sang about being carefree and about the joys of living). This week, just for fun, a song from the early 1970’s that embodies this spirit (and will, I hope, tide you over until i have…
French Language – Of numbers and letters Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 22, 2019
Des chiffres et des lettres is a long running television program in France that challenges contestants’ spelling and computation skills. The two different parts of l’émission (the program) can help you build your spelling and counting skills in French. Le mot le plus long / The longest word In the first part of le jeu (the…
French Language – Gender Neutrality Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 15, 2019
One of the trickier aspects of learning to speak French, for the average English speaker at least, is dealing with the rules of gender. Not just remembering which nouns are masculin and which féminin, but also l’accord des adjectifs, keeping professions straight, and understanding why one man in a group of 99 women takes precedence…
French Language – Three Wise Monkeys Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 8, 2019
A random line in one of my favorite French podcasts sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole to explore a variety of expressions … and from rabbits I was soon at des singes (monkeys)! Il n’y a pas pire aveugle … A few years back, I wrote a blog on the senses in…