Speak Frog

Dec.08
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Should we defend French?

Posted by in Blog, Language

‘Ne craignons pas d’être un peu puristes‘ keeps saying TV5’s Professor Cerquiglini.’Let’s not fear being purists’. In this video for example, he has a little rant about the word ‘frontière‘. Although he has interesting things to teach us about language, his criticisms of ‘anglicismes‘  or ‘americanismes‘ (= words or meanings directly imported into French from English or American English) he is very representative of the reactionary attitude of some 60+ people. Does it really matter to use the word French word ‘frontière‘ with its amercican meaning? The members of  the ‘Défense de la langue…read more

Dec.05
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He had been eating oysters

Posted by in Blog, Humorous, Language

Despite the high unlikeliness of you ever being in a situation where this sentence would make sense, please note that, as my 16-year old cousin’s English paper indicates: “He had been eating oysters for 30 minutes when a bear arrived” is translated by “Il mangeait des huîtres depuis une demi-heure quand un ours est arrivé”. After all, we don’t just learn a language to communicate in a practical way! Expressing crazy scenarios where bears interrupt oyster orgies can provide poetic pleasure… or in my cousin’s case, also knock a few…read more

To give one’s tongue to the cat?

Posted by in Blog, Language

To give one’s tongue to the cat (donner sa langue au chat). Sounds painful… And means that you give up on finding the answer to a question, which could be a painful sort of ‘letting go’. Je donne ma langue au chat… I give up! Now, what could these other expressions mean? Check them out on TV5 Monde’s website!

Dec.01
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If you speak English you actually already know a lot of French!

Posted by in Blog, Language

Words ending in ‘ible’. Same spelling and meaning in French as in English. accessible, admissible, audible, bible, comprehensible, convertible, credible, destructible, indestructible, deductible, flexible, horrible, impassible, imperceptible, intelligible, invisible, irresistible, irreversible, plausible, possible, impossible, reprehensible, submersible, terrible, visible. Words ending in ‘able’. Same spelling and meaning in French as in English abominable, adorable, acceptable, admirable, agreable, applicable, approchable, biodegradable, capable, cable, changeable, inter-changeable, charitable, comparable, incomparable, controlable, defendable, enviable, explicable, fable, table, honorable, imaginable, impeccable, impressionable, capable, incapable, miserable, memorable, observable, preferable, recyclable, table, vulnerable. Words ending in ‘ent’. Same spelling and meaning. Different, absent, abstinent, accent, accident, agent, apparent, ambivalent, compliment, condiment, decadent, denouement, detriment, effervescent, eloquent, element, enjambement, excrement, fluorescent, frequent.

Nov.11
0

Michel Thomas, the language master

Posted by in Blog, Language

Michel Thomas  was a polyglot linguist, language teacher, and decorated war veteran. Originally from Poland, he later lived in Germany and then had to move to France to flee the nazis during the war. Picking up new languages wherever he moved to, Michel Thomas put his skills to the service of the French Resistance. He also worked as a spy for  U.S. Army. After the war, Thomas emigrated to the United States, where he developed a language-teaching system known as the Michel Thomas Method. I studied this method and convinced of its quality, decided to use…read more

Oct.06
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