Friday, August 25, 2006

du jour



What does it take to make your day... Français?

I'm not in France or a French-speaking country so I cannot easily absorb French through ma vie au quotidien. The French that's available to me is limited. There's one channel on la télé that leaves me saying "huh?" after the first five minutes. Weekly rentals at my local library of les disques vidéos has me currently at letter "F". That translates to 4 movies.

And les livres? Well
I'm on page three of understanding Coke en Stock. I actually don't know what the title means. Looking it up online at WordRef and piecing it together gets me "cocaine in stock". I am definitely misunderstanding this aventure de Tintin.

Clearly, I have to make a quotidian if not herculean effort in addition to my homework to make the quantum leap in French.
The following sites help - of course the trick is to visit them tous les jours!

Mot du jour Word of the Day

or if you prefer: un mot par jour A Word per Day


La Leçon du jour Today's Lesson


La Citation du jour Daily Quote

Une lettre d'information journalière française Daily French Newsletter

Un blog par jour A Blog per Day

Photographies quotidiennes Daily photos of places in France for la inspiration
Arradon, Bastia, Cherbourg-Octeville, Paris, Rouen


du jour (actuel) current; aliment (fresh)
ma vie au quotidien my daily life

la télé television

le disque vidéo digital video disk (dvd)

le livre book

aventure de Tintin adventure of Tintin (comics)

tous les jours every day, daily; everyday, each day


La photo: Warehouse à Chicago en 1990

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Play!



Le theme de cette semaine le site d'IllustrationFriday est "play". Of course the interpretation of the word "play" is left open to the imagination. Je choisis de jouer!


Prêt à jouer? Ready to play?

les jeux informatiques français French computer games


jeu de société board games


jeu de mots word games
mots-croisés, bourreau et les mots cachés
crossword puzzles, hangman and word search


écoutez et jouez listen and play the Frenchpodclass Game 55



Le theme de cette semaine le site d'IllustrationFriday est
The theme of this week on the website IllustrationFriday is

Je choisis de jouer I choose to play!


Le dessin: made with the help of one of Jean Tinguely's drawing machines, Tinguely Museum
à Basel, en Suisse. Août 2005.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

What it takes to be a man



Quelle est la différence?


He's kind and so is she. To the French: il est gentil et elle est gentille.
They are both beautiful and happy. In France: Il est beau et heureux et elle est belle et heureuse.
She's quite patient - but he?


elle, americaine: tu es impatiente!

il, française: impatient (masc.), impatiente (fem.), l'impatience

elle: you have the impatience of a woman then!
il - he smiles and chuckles. Apparently he also has a bon sens de l'humour.

It's not only the "le" that "makes a man". As with nouns, so with
adjectives: the ending separates the femmes from the hommes.

Vive la différence?


Quelle est la différence? What's the difference?

bon sens de l'humour a good sense of humor
Vive la différence! Long live the difference

La photo: on the grounds of Real Alcázar (Plaza del Triunfo) à Seville en Espagne. Janvier 2006