Posted by Admin in Blog, News

Today most people celebrate Valentine’s Day but in 1970’s France it was still quite rare. Not everyone knew what it was. To mark the day, INA shared an old report featuring street interviews of young and older men. I wonder why no women feature in the report. Maybe it was considered unseemly? But then, the reporter was female… Anyway, the video is interesting! It allows for a bit of time travelling and the soundtrack features some old love songs. My favourite is Brassens’ song Les amoureux des bancs publics Here…read more

Feb.14

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

Jan.21

A day at the office

Posted by Admin in Blog, Humorous

This clown is a man of few words… but he likes idiomatic expressions and metaphores. From 3’48 onwards what does he mean? Complete his sentences if you can! ‘Alors là, autant tout de suite se…’ ‘On est tous entrain de…’ ‘Et heureusement que j’ai la présence d’esprit de…’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUlRNqklcBs

London’s SkyCycle project

Posted by Admin in Blog, News

Paris led the way with the ‘velibs‘ and London followed with the Boris bikes. More and more people use bicycles as way to get around in the city but some of us remain (rightly so) concerned that the life on the road is dangerous for a cyclist. Here is an idea for a ‘cycle highway’ which would make it a much more pleasant and safe experience in London. Read the French summary of this GQ Magazine article.

Jan.10

8 reasons not to lose faith in France

Posted by Admin in Blog, News

As a response to the current wave of ‘French bashing‘, the French ambassador in London wrote a 10 point statement in English. And, in French, Le Monde also gives 8 reasons to keep believing in France. It contradicts certain stereotypes which, for example, see the French as lazy workers who take 2 hour lunch breaks. Interestingly, French workers would be the 3rd most productive in the world.

Jan.10

French bashing

Posted by Admin in Blog, News

I’ve recently come across the expression ‘French bashing‘. This term is used to describe the exaggeratedly negative views expressed about France and its economy by -mainly- English speaking journalists. And since the year started, the tradition of French bashing has apparently been re-awoken, and a multitude of negative articles have been published in the US and the UK, prompting outraged and sarcastic responses alike. So… what are the key ingredients of a a bad article on France? Amongst others, Slate.fr lists a wrong figure, a reference to the 75% tax or…read more

Jan.07

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

Dec.16

French Hamburger

Posted by Admin in Blog, Cuisine, Humorous

Maïté is France’s first celebrity TV chef in the 80s. and 90s Her style is a bit more rustic than Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Oliver’s. Originally from the south west, she loves all things duck, including foie gras, which she puts here in a giant hamburger. Bon appétit!

Sartre, Camus and the CIA

Posted by Admin in Blog, Literature

The two most famous post-war French writers were closely watched by the CIA over several decades. The american secret services were interested to know if existentialism and the philosophy the absurd were off shoots of communism. Ironically, the agents in charge of their surveillance had to study philosophy in order to decipher the hacked phone calls, the stolen documents, as well as the works of the two thinkers. Andy Martin (professor of French at Cambridge, and author of The Boxer and the Goalkeeper) is currently researching the extensive files of…read more

Dec.14

The football coach and the voice coach

Posted by Admin in Blog, Humorous

This is a funny video of an italian football coach speaking very approximate French. Whilst it’s good to be bold and ‘go for it’, the point of speaking is ultimately to be understood. Taking French classes would achieve that goal. I would teach you accurate conversational French. Or if you are an actor or a public speaker needing to deliver a pre-written text in French, I can also coach you! I will help with pronunciation, diction and accent, to make you sound convincing and understandable. Speak Frog provides dialogue coaching for actors…read more

Dec.02