This year is the 30th anniversary of the March for Equality and Against Racism, also known as “Marche des Beurs“, the ‘walk of the arabs’. Started in Marseille in reaction to the racist violence inflicted by police on the migrant youth of the suburbs, the walkers covered over a thousand km through France and ended in Paris. Watch the news report of the time: A feature film titled ‘La Marche‘ is also released in France today.
So… my little English friends?… As the french playground saying goes “C’est celui qui dit, qui est!” (It’s the one who says, who is!) According to archeologist David Jacques, the people of England would have been the original frog eaters and imported their (disgusting) tradition to France… I personally don’t mind, I tasted frog legs once and thought it was ok. A bit of a cross between fish and chicken. With enough garlic it was perfectly good! And given the opportunity, I would probably do it again. Frog: grenouille Frogs’…read more
French-speaking men are quite verbal in expressing their attraction to a woman, unfortunately this often turns nasty in big cities like Paris or Brussels. In 2012 Sofie Peeters decided to walk around Brussels with a hidden camera to record the harassment she was she was experiencing on a daily basis. The result was the film Femme de La Rue, which shocked those who had no idea of the sexism women are often subjected to. In France, Anaïs Bourdet realised that what she was going through in the streets of Marseille was…read more
France is looking at today’s strike in the UK with interest. This article from Le Monde explains how this could be the biggest strike since 1979’s ‘winter of discontent’. Here is some useful vocabulary: Fonction publique: public service Grève: strike. Faire la grève: to go on strike Douane: border control Retraite: retirement Syndicat: trade union
TV5 offers online exercises to help you practice your French using news reports from around the world.
The Guardian reports on Nicolas Sarkozy’s luxury spendings. Apparently not even multi-millionaires have ovens installed in their private planes. So is France really that well off or is Nicolas Sarkozy off on one? ‘Planer‘ means to soar, which is what planes do and also to be highly disconnected from reality, which could be said about the French president on this occasion. Here is the French translation of the David Mitchell’s article for the Guardian and few key-words: Avion: plane Milliard: billion Milliardaire: billionaire Atterissage: landing Mitonner: simmer Monnaie: currency or change Contribuable:…read more
Let’s not legalise Injustice is the Guardian’s headline regarding the current arrests of looters in the UK. Courrier International offers a French translation of Roger Graef’s article. Here are a few key words to help you out! Riot: émeute Pillage: looting Pillard: looter Piller: to loot Loi: law Manifestions: protests Maintien de l’ordre: order keeping Pagaille: colloquial for ‘mess’ If yo need to, you also can refer to the original article.
