French wouldn't be French without its characteristic nasal sounds. They were the first thing that John Palsgrave noticed when he travelled to Paris in 1514. Henry VII’s daughter Mary Tudor was …
A method for French vocabulary building
Learning French really isn’t very complicated: Ce n'est pas sorcier. It’s not rocket science. But it is a big project and that can be daunting. So one of the main challenges can be managing your …
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Learning to fly
Trying to learn a foreign language can be a traumatic experience for those of a sensitive nature. It's nothing new. 140 years ago the American author Mark Twain wrote of the despair he felt trying to …
La chanson de Roland
CARLES li reis, nostre emperere magnes, Set anz tuz pleins ad estet en Espaigne : Tresqu’en la mer cunquist la tere altaigne. N’i ad castel ki devant lui remaigne ; Mur ne citet n’i est remés a …
Qu’est-ce qui a provoqué l’incendie?
Often it's our native language that leads us down the wrong path. Take, for example, the word what. What plays many roles in English. It is a word that stands for missing information in direct …
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Mastering the subjunctive
The French subjunctive can be a challenge for a few reasons. English speakers don’t use the subjunctive in the same way, so don’t have a reference point. The subjunctive involves what appears to be a …