Category Archives: French versus English

Bannon assuring the FN of Victory

Posted on March 11, 2018 by Susan

BANNON IS SPREADING HIS FIRE IN FRANCE BUT DOESN’T SPEAK FRENCH AND HIS TRANSLATOR ISN’T SURE OF HERS EITHER! Who would have believed that Steve Bannon, after being fired by Trump, is now bringing his fiery support to Marine LePen … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Perspectives, French culture, French versus English, French vocabulary help, French-American politics, French-American relations, Language Tips, News from France | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Ouf = Whew !

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Susan

Ouf, whew, the Good Guy won and the French Trump equivalent lost, thank goodness! Reasonable people in France can finally breathe with relief. Now there is a new challenge: they have to win the legislative elections in about a month, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Perspectives, French culture, French versus English, French-American politics, Language Tips, News from France | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Political blackout so 3 Franglais freebies

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Susan

A campaign blackout covers France today – no news of tomorrow’s elections in the media. I could write my friends info from here but that wouldn’t be kosher (catholique en français).  Plus, I hope CNN and the web are still … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglicisms Invade, French versus English, French-American politics, News from France, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

July 14 terror in Nice, France

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Susan

This post has 3 items, all relating to the horrific attack on Nice, France, yesterday. 1) your basic French vocabulary about terrorism 2) graphic showing love for France 3) my response to the horror of yesterday’s attack Basic French vocabulary about terrorism: … Continue reading →

Posted in Boston French classes, Cultural Perspectives, French culture, French versus English, French-American politics, French-American relations, Language Tips, News from France | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Spelling Changes – Helping or Harming?

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Susan

The French are arguing again, 26 years later, over recommended spelling changes to their language. I remember agonizing over them when I was working on French textbooks at a publishing company back then. We ended up not changing our spelling, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Perspectives, French culture, French versus English, Language Tips, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Beautiful or untranslate-able words

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Susan

Our friend, Stéphanie, thought of our blog when she saw this article on French words that resonate with learners. I see why! Her favorite is ‘ronronner,’ which is very onomatopoetic. You can just hear the cat purring. Still, I would … Continue reading →

Posted in French versus English, Language Tips, Reasons to learn French, Stephanie, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Puzzling out Quebecois from TV5

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Susan

TV5 is such a fun way to learn French! A complete novice can get the melody from listening to the language in the background. Intermediate students can follow talk-shows, cartoons, films, soap operas and cultural shows with or without subtitles. … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Perspectives, French culture, French versus English, Language Tips, Reasons to learn French, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Has Wrong become Right?

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Susan

This is the Teachers’ Dilemma that’s been bothering me for years now: which form do I teach my students? Our grammar books give the definitions of to remember as: se rappeler and se souvenir de.  Current language has merged the … Continue reading →

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Perils of Mixing up “Tu” with “Vous”

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Susan

Carolyn V. sent the following wink at the perils of confusing Tu and Vous: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-og-bastile-vous-tu-20140711-htmlstory.html The dangers are serious! Already at 21, I made a peer feel that I was presumptuous when I said “tu” to a good friend of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Perspectives, French culture, French versus English, Language Tips, Only in France ! | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Words of the month, July 3

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Susan

I love French verbs that have no direct English translations. We can tell what they mean, but they are so concise, we have no one-word equivalents: fragiliser, relativiser, positiver, responsabiliser. A weird one that’s not even in the dictionary: dérembourser! … Continue reading →

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