Speak Frog

Is work torture?

Whilst in England we all dance in the rain around maypoles, don’t we?….In France, May 1st is much more associated with labour day and the International Worker’s day. It is practically illegal to work, unless you are self-employed or your boss is willing to pay double. Instead we are meant to visit relatives and bring them a sprig of lilies of the valley as the unions (and unfortunately the FN too) take it to the streets in their May 1st rallies. Happy labour day! Vocabulary Le travail: work La fête du travail: literally…read more

Apr.06

Learn the future with Joe Dassin

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language, Music

Whenever I teach the future tense, this 1975 ballad springs to my mind. It is quite cheesy, so I generally keep it to myself. In French we would say that it is à l’eau de rose: which roughly translates as ‘flavoured with rose water’ to mean that it is overly sentimental. However, I thought it would be interesting to share it here. For grammatical purposes. And also because it was very successful in its time and is a classic of French pop culture. Hence why it keeps popping into my…read more

Apr.06

semaine de la langue française et de la francophonie

Mar.18

The week of French language

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language

From March 15th to 23rd, the French Ministry of Culture celebrates and promotes French language throughout the world. Although French is not what it used to be: long gone are the days where French was THE international language, it is still one of the most spoken and loved. And not just by ‘snobs’! Because it is solid enough, it can take in new words, most often imported from English but also made up on the spot! Children make up words, young people try to differentiate themselves from their elders and invent…read more

What’s in a word?

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language, News

The french word genre, in its most common usage means ‘type, sort’. It is used as such in English to talk about an artistic style, mainly a cinema style. For example the ‘horror genre’…And in French it is also used to talk about ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ within grammar; as you may know, French nouns are either one or the other. In recent years the word has also been used as a translation of the English ‘gender’ specifically in the context of ‘gender studies’. Indeed, if you open a French dictionary, it is…read more

Feb.05

Happy New Year!

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language

Bonne Année! Is learning French a new year resolution of yours? I can help! Step into my office before January 13th and get a free trial class to get you started.

Jan.02

Vulgar French

Posted by Admin in Blog, Humorous, Language

When we picture them, some expressions or popular (in the sense of ‘of the people’) sayings are quite disgusting. But we use them (or not) because they convey a strong feeling. In English we say ‘to have one’s head up one’s…’ ? Well, in French it works pretty much the same way. It could be more or less useful to know certain of these slang expressions and sayings, so check out these pictures and see if you can match them with the polite definitions bellow. To be tired To be…read more

Oct.31

Oct.11

Group Taster classes @ Voilà Festival 2013

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language

We will be holding group taster classes at the Voilà Festival. Cockpit Theatre on 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 November from 12am to 1pm. Get started in style with the support of a small and informal group. Price: £8/person. Email: contact@speakfrog.co.uk to book your place.

Jul.24

The French are bad at English

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language

The French are notoriously bad at English and Slate.fr has tried to understand why. It seems to boil down to a lack of oral practice, students learn by writing and reading and are then left to figure out how to pronounce it all. And to a limited contact with English. Every foreign film or TV series is dubbed, therefore French ears never really get exposed to the language they are trying to learn. Baring this in mind, Speak Frog teaches French with an oral method and provides the student with real-life…read more

Never too old to learn!

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language

We often are told that children pick up languages more easily than adults. Having a more elastic brain and less inhibitions must definitely help. But be reassured that your adult intelligence may yet be a greater asset to your successful learning. Recent research suggests that adults may in fact be ‘better’ at languages. ‘Researchers think that, given the right study methods, adults may be as able to learn a language as children. The differences are how the language is studied, immersion versus memorization, and how the person continues to learn’. I am…read more

Jul.05

Language Forgetting

Posted by Admin in Blog, Language

Bilingual people always have a ‘dominant’ language. It is nearly impossible to perfectly master several languages at 100%. We always sacrifice a little bit of a language to gain in ease in another language. According to Psycholinguistics Professor François Grosjean ‘language forgetting is simply the flip side of language acquisition and (…) it is just as interesting linguistically’. In a paper published in Psychology Today, he also explains how bilingual children may learn and forget several languages in a life-time. This is interesting and echoes with my own experience. As…read more

Dec.13