When you walk into my house you'll have to look hard to figure out that I'm learning French at home. The French section in my library is très petite: one hand-me-down French/German dictionary, a few old magazines snagged from past Air France flights, three exercise books on grammar and four books (three of which are children's books- merci à Alexandra, Peter et monsieur_foufou!). Voilà tout.
On my office wall, a few inches away from my computer screen, I have a list with French greetings and a collection of phrases for use in eMail correspondence. I used to have a list of four French verbs which I wanted to change every two weeks but I never learned from it so I took it down. I didn't need that kind of discouraging decoration.
Tucked into my carnet de Moleskine of the moment is a list of French phrases that I'm always on the lookout to sneak into some correspondence, witty banter or a post:
esprit de l'escalier "spirit of the staircase", repartee thought of only too late
gardez la foi keep the faith
homme moyen sensuel the average non-intellectual man
mauvais quart d'heuere "bad quarter of an hour", uncomfortable though brief experience
nostalgie de la boue "nostalgia for the mud", homesickness for the gutter
nuit blanche "white night", sleepless night
vogue la galère "let the gallery be kept rowing", keep on whatever may happen!
à bon chat, bon rat "to a good cat, a good rat", retaliation in kind
à bras ouverts "with open arms", cordially
de mal en pis from bad to worse
écrasez l'infâme crush the infamous thing
My computer is another story. I have a lot of podcasts, songs and bookmarked sites and never enough time.
Ou est le français dans votre maison?
très petite/petit very small
voilà tout that's all
carnet de Moleskine Moleskine notebook
Ou est le français dans votre maison And where's the French in your house?
La photo: dans la pièce dorée de L'Alhambra de Grenade, en Espagne. Janvier 2006
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