French Language Blog

Let’s start at the very beginning…

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 03:30:00 +0000

As they say, it’s a very good place to start. It turns out, it’s also a good place to end. After 6 years … and over 300 posts! … this will be my last blog for Transparent Language.

Me at the Pont Alexandre III, 2012, with the Grand Palais in the background

All good things…

My French journey began way back in 1981 when I was in the 7th grade. My local college only offered French and so I – and about 30 of my classmates – got our first taste of foreign language from the fabulous Madame Rankins. Despite a boring old textbook (in which we followed the adventures of John Hughes, an American living in Paris … and from which I still remember the phrases “Voici une lettre pour vous.”¹ and “Ma faute? Comment cela?!!”²) she made learning le français fun!

In the intervening years, I had the pleasure of crossing paths with Madame Rankins more than once. She taught my step-daughters French in the mid ‘90’s, and in the early ‘00’s I worked alongside her at the same school where she initially taught me French, when I taught French myself!

I had so much fun learning French that in 1985 I left my hometown and moved to France for a year! It was an experience that, as I shared in my first post for Transparent Language way back in March, 2016, completely changed my life.

Since that first trip over 35 years ago, my French family has grown. I still love going to visit people in France as often as I can (like I did here and here and here) but now I also have extended family in Canada and I love visiting them and the wonderful places they live (like here and here and here) to keep my French skills up and immerse myself in the nearest thing I can find to France this side of the Atlantic.

And I owe so much to two more people. My high school French teacher, Madame Wheeler, who encouraged me to pursue my passion for French in new ways and to the whole team at Transparent Language who not only gave me the opportunity to share that passion with all of you these last years, but also helped set me on my career path with my first job!

My son and I, Champs de Mars, 1995

And I have so enjoyed our time together these last 6 years sharing my love for French literature(like here, here, and here), films (like this and this and this), television (here and here and here), and songs (like this and this and this and this and this).

But toutes les bonnes choses ont une fin³ but as another famous song says, ce n’est qu’un au revoir! And so, until we meet again, mes amis, keep learning, keep loving the wonderful gifts of language, of cross-cultural connections, and keep growing! Write your own love letter to France, keep falling for France, et vivre heureux!⁴

And if you’ve enjoyed reading me these past 6 years (or you’re just joining the journey) you can revisit my past posts here. I’ll miss our weekly connections but I’ll still be immersing myself in all things French!

À la prochaine!⁵

The post Let’s start at the very beginning… first appeared on French Language Blog.

1 Here is a letter for you.

2 My fault? How can you say that!

3 All good things come to an end

4 live happy

5 Until next time!

A sentimental education

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 03:30:38 +0000

In 1869, Gustave Flaubert published his Éducation sentimentale¹. This classic example of the Bildungsroman or roman d’apprentissage² tells the story of law student Frederic Moreau and his infatuation with the older Mme Arnoux in his hometown in Normandy. This week we’ll have our own éducation sentimentale³ as we explore les sentiments en français⁴.

Photo CC0 from Juan Mendez at www.pexels.com

Sentiments ou émotions

“On pense, à tort, que les sentiments et les émotions se réfèrent à la même chose mais en réalité ils s’agit de deux notions différentes.”⁵ But like our sensations are tied to our senses, les émotions et les sentiments sont étroitement liés⁶. And their differences – for our purposes – are less interesting than what they have in common! “Les sentiments font vivre toutes sortes d’émotions et, à l’inverse, les émotions peuvent générer des sentiments.”⁷

Whether good or bad, high or low, for me les sentiments et les émotions pimentent la vie!⁸ Some of the major feelings and emotions in French include:

La joie (joy)
Je suis heureux/heureuse – I am happy (m./f.)
Le bonheur – happiness
Le sourire – the smile
sourire – to smile

La tristesse (sadness)
Je suis triste – I am sad
pleurer – to cry
les larmes – tears

[And of course, between happiness and sadness … the best emotion … Elle est plus belle / Que Notre Dame de Paris / Elle est plus jolie / Qu’une mélodie de Satie / Elle est plus belle / Que le printemps qui fleurit / Elle s’appelle la mélancolie]⁹

L’amour (love)
Je t’aime – I love you
adorer – to adore
le cœur – the heart

La haine (hate)
La jalousie – jealousy
détester – to detest
haïr – to hate

La peur (fear) – This classic post from former blogger Josh covers all things fear-related.

La colère (anger, which often is really just la peur trying to put on a brave face!)
Je suis fâché – I am upset/angry
Ca m’énerve – That annoys me/makes me mad
Je lui en veux – I am upset with him/her

L’espoir (hope, all that remained when Pandora opened her boîte) – and after all, what do we have if we can’t have hope. Pour être heureux dans la vie, il faut avant tout garder l’espoir.¹⁰

Want more? You can go here, here, or here to go deeper into your exploration of French feelings and emotions.

Le Tour de France

It’s Tour season! As discussed last year, you can follow all things Tour de France on the official website here … that is as long as Covid doesn’t up-end the race. “Le virus est entré sur le Tour de France [et] quatre coureurs testés positif au Covid ont dû quitter la course. Une première sur le Tour.”¹¹

Le 14 juillet

And of course, this week is Bastille Day! You can find details about this year’s feu d’artifice here, the défilé here, or find previous Transparent Language blogs on the history and happenings of July 14th here.

The post A sentimental education first appeared on French Language Blog.

1 You can find the integral novel here on Google Books.

2 coming-of-age story

3 emotional lesson

4 emotions in French

5 People think, mistakenly, that feelings and emotions are the same thing, but in reality they represent two different ideas.

6 emotions and feelings are tightly coupled

7 Feelings animate our emotions, and in the other direction, emotions can generate feelings.

8 feelings and emotions spice up life

9 More beautiful than Notre-Dame, More beautiful than a melody by Satie, More beautiful than the springtime in flower, her name is melancholy

10 To be happy in life, above all else, keep hope.

11 The virus has arrived in the Tour [and] four riders have tested positive for Covid and were forced to abandon the race. A first for the Tour.

Comments

@beatriz In reply to beatriz. Merci à vous! Bonne lecture! by Tim Hildreth
merci beaucoup j ai appris beaucoup avec votre blogs, j ... by beatriz

What’s in a name?

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 03:30:51 +0000

When I first moved to France in the 1980’s I stood out for many reasons, among them the fact that my name is Tim Hildreth. When I lived in France, everyone (or so it seemed) had very “classically” French names like Pierre or Paul, Marie or Monique or Jean. Things have changed a lot in the intervening years!

Photo CC0 from www.pexels.com

Comment vous appelez-vous?

Up until 1993, parents in France where required to choose their children’s names from a list of approved names. In fact, “la législation française était très stricte sur la question. [Une] loi [datant] du 11 germinal an XI (1er avril 1803) obligeait les parents à choisir un prénom dans divers calendriers ou parmi les personnages de l’Histoire antique”¹

The change in law has resulted in a proliferation of different names (check out the post below for the most popular names from 2015!) though there are still limits. “Si un petit nom semble contraire à l’intérêt de l’enfant, l’officier d’état civil prévient le procureur de la République et un juge aux affaires familiales décide de son maintien ou de sa suppression. Régulièrement, des prénoms jugés contraires à l’intérêt de l’enfant sont ainsi refusés.”²

The video below highlights the top names pour les filles et pour les garçons³ from 2021. You can also see where different names are more common across l’Hexagone.

While we’re on the subject, here are some useful phrases and vocabulary related to names.

Le nom / the name

Le nom de famille / the surname or family name

Le prénom / first or given name

Le nom de jeune fille / maiden name

Comment vous appelez-vous? (Or Comment t’appelles-tu?) / What is your name? (Lit. How do you call yourself?)

Quel est votre (ton) nom? / What is your name?

Quel est votre (ton) prénom? / What is your first name?

Je m’appelle… / My name is … Or I am called … ⁴

Mon nom est… / My name is …

Top French Baby Names!

A Revolutionary Calendar

The post What’s in a name? first appeared on French Language Blog.

1 the laws were quite strict on the question. [A] law [dating to] 11 germinal year XI (April 1, 1803) required parents to choose a first name from among certain calendars or from among historic people.

2 If a name strikes the registrar of names as not in the child’s best interest, they can alert a federal magistrate and a family judge will decide if the name can stand or not. Regularly, names that are deemed not in the child’s interest are refused.

3 for girls and for boys

4 In American English it’s more common to use “my name is …” where Brits will often say “I’m called …”

Comments

@Faby Gagne In reply to Faby Gagne. Merci, Faby, c’est ... by Tim Hildreth
Merci Tim. Très informatif. by Faby Gagne

Did you know?

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 03:30:08 +0000

I keep a file where I collect ideas for future blog posts. Sometimes these ideas turn into full posts, sometimes they find their way into longer posts as bonus content … and somtimes enough of them build up that I think “ok, let’s get these out into the world!” This week I’m sharing a round-up of these items in a little post I’m calling Le saviez-vous?¹

Le saviez-vous?

Photo CC0 from www.pexels.com

Saviez-vous que le jeu de société Risk a été inventé par un Français?² Originally called La conquête du monde³, Risk was first developed by the French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse (of Le Ballon rouge/The Red Balloon fame … you can watch it here.) before being licensed first to French game maker Miro and then to Parker Brothers. Learn more here.

Les quartiers d’Auteuil, Passy, Les Batignolles, Montmartre, La Chapelle, La Villette, Belleville, Charonne, Bercy, Vaugirard, et Grenelle n’ont pas toujours faites partie de Paris. Le saviez-vous?⁴ It wasn’t until 1860, under Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann (whose grand works we’ve discussed before), that these communes were incorporated into the city, growing Paris from 12 arrondissements to 20.

Mini-grammar minute! Did you notice the two different forms of Did you know? in French? In English, the pronoun it is implied in the question and so can be omitted while in French you have to include it. At the start of a complete question (like Saviez-vous que le jeu de société…) you don’t need it/le but when you are asking simply Did you know (it/that)? in French, you have to say Le saviez-vous?

The English words gargoyle and dandelion come to us from the French. Le saviez-vous? The French word for gargoyle is gargouille and comes from the French verb gargouiller … which means to gargle!

The English dandelion is thought to come from the French dent-de-lion/lion’s tooth though today in France, dandelions are more commonly referred to as des pissenlits. The name pissenlit comes from the fact that eating the leaves of dandelions serves as a diuretic. If you eat too many pissenlits you are likely to literally wet the bed!

Aimez-vous les chevaux? Saviez-vous qu’il y a un championnat du monde de cheval … à deux pattes?!!⁵ First developed in Finland and imported to France in 2017, les competitions de cheval à deux pattes (or hobby-horse racing) include three rounds: la reprise de dressage, le saut d’obstacles, et le hennissement⁶.

You can read more about the history and the events as well as see some quite interesting videos from previous competitions here on the organizations’ official website.

Et maintenant … vous savez! And now you know!

Zazie . . . bis!*

French Grammar – Past imperfect

The post Did you know? first appeared on French Language Blog.

1 Did you know? in French uses the imperative. You can read more about it, and about the differences between the verbs savoir and connaître in the posts linked at the bottom of today’s post.

2 Did you know that the board game Risk was invented by a Frenchman?

3 Conquer the world

4 The neighborhoods of … were not always part of Paris. Did you know?

5 Do you like horses? Did you know that there is a world championship for … two-legged horse riding?!!

6 dressage/choreography, jumping, and neighing

Enough

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 31 May 2022 03:30:21 +0000

I recently rediscovered this song from Calogero that I thought felt particularly relevant to these times. The context (a young man losing his life in a street fight of some kind) may be different … different than the war in Ukraine, different than the recent shootings in the U.S. … but the message is the same.

Photo CC0 from Inzmam Khan www.pexels.com

I’ll back in two weeks with our normal programming, but for now …

Échirolles centre banlieue sud de Grenoble / Echirolles heart of the southern suburbs of Grenoble
Je m’appelle Sofian j’ai 20 ans / My name is Sofian, I’m 20 years old
Kevin c’est mon pote on est inséparables / Kevin is my buddy we are inseparable
J’ai un job, moi je vis simplement / I’ve got a job, I live simply
Le soir à Villeneuve, les grands frères et les gosses / Evenings in Villeneuve, older brothers and kids
Les terrains de foot et la boxe / Soccer fields and boxing
Qui a eu tort la raison du plus fort / Whose fault was it might makes right
Pour un regard en croix / For an angry look
Je suis mort / I died
Toi mon frère dis moi pourquoi / My brother, tell me why
La vie continue sans moi / Life goes on without me
Dis moi pourquoi j’étais là / Tell my why I was there
Un jour au mauvais endroit / One day in the wrong place
Les cafés, les cinémas / Cafes, cinemas
Je n’y retournerai pas / I won’t be going back there
Ma vie s’est arrétée là / My life stopped there
Un jour au mauvais endroit / One day in the wrong place
Dans la violence s’est brisée mon enfance / My childhood was broken by violence
J’ai perdu l’existance et le sens / I lost my life and my direction
Dans les allées du parc Maurice Thorez / In the paths of the (Maurice Thorez) park
On a poignardé ma jeunesse / Someone stabbed my youth
Qui a mis ça, la geurre dans nos quartiers / Whose fault is it, the battle in our neighborhoods
L’abondon, l’ennui, la télé / Abandoned, bored, t.v.
Des couteaux de combats dans les mains des gamins / Fighting knives in the hands of kids
Pour un regard en croix / For a sideways look
C’est la fin / It’s the end
Toi mon frère dis moi pourquoi / You my bother, tell me why
La vie continue sans moi / Life goes on without me
Dis moi pourquoi j’étais là / Tell me why I was there
Un jour au mauvais endroit / One day in the wrong place
Les cafés, les cinémas / Cafes, movie theaters
Je n’y retournerai pas / I’ll won’t be going back there
Ma vie s’est arrétée là / My life stopped there
Un jour au mauvais endroit / One day in that bad place
Et c’est parce qu’ils étaient là / And it was because they were there
Un jour au mauvais endroit / One day in the wrong place
Qu’ailleurs, ici ou là bas / Wherever, here or there
Pour nos frères plus jamais ça / For our brothers never again
Plus jamais, plus jamais, plus jamais ça / Never again, never again, never that again
[Répéter a la fin … ] / [Repeats to the end … ]

The post Enough first appeared on French Language Blog.

Comments

Merci mille fois! J'ai oublié cette chanson et c'est si ... by MaddieT
@Tony In reply to Tony. Merci, Tony. by Tim Hildreth
good song by Tony

Diverse May

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 17 May 2022 03:30:39 +0000

After our miscellaneous March and April news round up, we’re back with the monthly news and some fun vocabulary updates for mai divers¹.

Photo CC0 from Werner Pfennig at www.pexels.com

Eurovision

As was widely anticipated, Ukraine won the most recent edition of the Eurovision Song Contest this past weekend. “Le Kalush Orchestra, dont la chanson Stefania mêle hip-hop et musique traditionnelle, a recueilli 631 points.”².

The results for France, unfortunately, were not as good. Despite a strong performance, Alban & Alex, the French group signing in Breton, where avant-dernière au classement³. “Seuls les jurés internationaux de l’Arménie, de l’Azerbaïdjan et de la Géorgie leur ont accordé quelques points. Quant aux téléspectateurs, ils n’ont distribué que 8 points à la France.”⁴.

You can find the lyrics of the group’s song, Fulenn, as well as its translation into French here. As the article says, la chanson “s’inspire de la légende de Katell Gollet (Catherine la perdue, en breton), une jeune femme qui préférait danser autour du feu plutôt que de se soumettre à un mariage imposé”⁵.

La meilleure pizzeria d’Europe

Pizza, while not French, is one of my go to foods when I’m in France. While I can never really get my fill of soupe à l’oignon, foie gras, and galettes or a good jambon baguette with a diabolo menthe, when I want something different, I know I can always find a good pizza in Paris.

And now, apparently, next time I’m in Paris, I will be able to get the best pizza … not just in Paris, but in all of Europe! A recent round up of the 50 best pizzerias in Europe named Giuseppe Cutraro’s restaurant Peppe (rue Saint-Blaise) as the best of the best! Cutraro has a second restaurant, Casa di Peppe, 222, rue Saint-Jacques if you can’t find a spot at Pepe’s.

So many colors

I came across a fun report this week from RTL.fr about “[l]es couleurs disparues de la langue française”⁶. You can read or listent to it here⁷

I quite like the sound of zinzolin (a reddish purple) and smaragdin (a green tint, from the Greek for emerald (the stone)) but my favorite is gludure … a made up word that, according to its creator, was “[l]a plus envoûtante, la plus belle de toutes [les couleurs]”⁸ (even if it only appeared in a black and white comic that left it up to you to imagine just what gludure looked like!)

Rainbows

The post Diverse May first appeared on French Language Blog.

1 A play on fait divers / anecdotes

2 The group Kalush Orchestra, whose song Stefania mixes hip-hop with traditional music, received 631 points

3 second-to-last

4 Only the international juries from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia gave them any points. As for the tv viewers, they attributed 8 points to France

5 the song “is inspired by the legend of Katell Gollet (Catherine the lost, in Breton), a young woman who preferred to dance around the fire than to submit to a forced marriage”

6 the colors that have disappeared from the French language

7 In fact, a great way to practice your skills is to first listen to the recording, then read the article, then listen again. See how your understanding changes through each phase!

8 the most enchanting, the most beautiful of all [the colors] (Note: I’ve translated envoûtante as enchanting, however bewitching might be more appropriate, as it comes from the French envoûter-to put a spell on, to control as through magic.)

Stereotypes

Tim Hildreth — Tue, 03 May 2022 03:30:30 +0000

Prejudice and stereotypes (les préjugés et les stéréotypes) are almost always bad … except when they are the source of a humorous campagne publicitaire¹ from the French financial company Cofidis. This week we look at some pubs² that highlight common misconceptions that people make about other people.

Photo CC0 from www.pexels.com

Don’t judge …

A book by it’s cover! In French we would say “L’habit ne fait pas le moine.” However you say it, the meaning is the same: don’t assume you know a person based on age, race, gender, or other superficial categories.

Cofidis, a company which lends money/provides credit to people, played up this idea for effect in a recent ad campaign³.

Préjugé: Les Papis roulent toujours à deux à l’heure⁴

Préjugé: Les Mamies paient toujours avec des petites pièces⁵

Préjugé: Les hommes ne supportent pas la douleur⁶

Vous trouvez ça absurde? Nous aussi!⁷

Here are three more, featuring real people, that I hope you’ll enjoy!

Les gens ne lissent plus de livres?⁸

Les Français font toujours la tranche?⁹

La techno c’est que pour les jeunes?¹⁰

It’s official!

You’ve undoubtedly seen the news, but just to close the loop: Emmanuel Macron won the second round of the French Presidential elections last month and will be President of France for another 5 years.

Despite his seemingly solid victory (~59% of votes cast to ~41% for Marine Le Pen), the newly (re)elected President will begin his next quinquennat¹¹ without a clear mandate. A higher-than-normal number of people simply chose not to vote for either candidate (Macron only received ~38% of the votes of all those eligible to vote) and France remains very divided.

The outcome of the upcoming legislative elections will determine just how much Macron will be able to accomplish with his next quinquennat.

N’oubliez pas

The Eurovision Song Contest is la semaine prochaine¹². Semifinal rounds (le 10 et le 12 mai¹³) as well as the Grand Finale (le 14) will be streamed live on the Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel (and for those of you in the US, will also be aviable for viewing on the Peacock streaming platform).

Pop and Politics

Le Jardinage

The post Stereotypes first appeared on French Language Blog.

1 ad campaign

2 tv commercials

3 I’ve included a select few here, but you can see all the ads from the campaign here.

4 Stereotype: Grandpas always drive two miles an hour

5 Stereotype: Grannies always pay with change

6 Stereotype: men can’t handle pain

7 You find that absurd? Us too!

8 People don’t read books anymore

9 French people always look mad

10 Techno music is just for young people

11 five year term

12 next week

13 May 10th and 12th

Comments

@anand In reply to anand. Thank you for reading and for ... by Tim Hildreth
I would have preferred a French translation of the texts side ... by anand

French Language Blog

Let’s start at the very beginning…

All good things…

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A sentimental education

Sentiments ou émotions

Le Tour de France

Le 14 juillet

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What’s in a name?

Comment vous appelez-vous?

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Enough

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Diverse May

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So many colors

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It’s official!

N’oubliez pas

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