France has announced its Euro 2016 football anthem, and nobody is all that happy. The anthem, sung by popular French rock band Skip The Use, is a cover of a song by American band, Kiss. Their hit from the late…
Tag: French language
Sacre bleu, mais merde…ZUT!
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: bands, culture, English language, entertainment, euro 2016, Football, French language, marketing, music
The world’s grumpiest hitchhiker
Learning how to speak French can be challenging, especially for those who move to France knowing only croissant, un, deux, trois, and merci, like me. Everyone has their own methods to improve their language skills, and mine began with driving. I started…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: culture, driving, French language, kindness, Le Grand Bornand, strangers
French-style doggy bags – yum yum!
Lately, doggy bags have made French news. There’s a push to prevent food wastage, and to allow people to take the rest of their meals home with them. Restaurants in France are now legally obliged to provide doggy bags. When…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: culture, food, French language, law, marketing, restaurants, shopping
Mundolingua language museum in Paris
I stumbled across a poster for the Mundolingua museum of languages during a busy long weekend in Paris. Given my love of language and Scrabble, this looked like my type of museum. Miraculously, I saw the poster during my only…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: education, English language, entertainment, French language, museums, Paris, travel
No, these sweets aren’t a joke!
Stopping in for lunch on the way back to Haute Savoie a few weeks ago, I spotted these haute gourmandise sweets for sale. The boxed version on the right is the most bizarre packaging I’ve seen so far in France,…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: chocolate, culture, food, French language, marketing, shopping, translation
EAT GARLIC
As if the French needed any encouragement, this roadside sign says ‘Mangez de l’ail‘ (‘Eat garlic’). Fortunately, the rolling fields of garlic had no discernible scent when I drove through the region recently. I was avoiding the heavy traffic on…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: culture, food, French language, landscape, marketing, road trip, travel
A straightforward French government website!
If you’ve ever tried to look up information such as how to get married in France, buy a car in France or register for work in France, you’re probably familiar with the pointlessness of many French websites. For starters, you’ll…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: culture, driving, French language, marketing, paperwork, websites
French word of the month: canicule
Anyone living in France at the moment will have heard the word ‘canicule‘ numerous times. Everyone is talking about the canicule – the heatwave that hit Europe last week. French TV stations are playing community service announcements about how to…
No, this really is a new French product
Does anyone sound more attractive than a French person talking about something they love? Take food, for example. Dine with a group of French people and you can be entertained for an entire evening just by listening to those smooth…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: culture, food, French language, marketing, shopping, translation
The acceptable fart sound
In France, it’s unheard of to start a meal with without saying “Bon appetit“. Cheese is served before dessert. Kids are shooshed if they talk loudly in a public place (making the parents far louder than the kids), and it’s…
