Here’s a technique for learning how to express yourself as a native might do.
Soyez les bienvenus à Singapour-sur-Tamise
By Richard Good For a new era, a new vocabulary. As Britain prepares for its Brexit election, a new chapter in the often awkward relationship between Britain and France begins. If you’re English and travel to France, you’ll find Brexit is a frequent topic of conversation, so brushing up your vocab is good preparation. Le […]
Une méthode astucieuse
Richard Good Knowing the gender of nouns – masculine or feminine – is important if you want to become fluent in French. When you have difficulty remembering whether to say le or la un or une de la or du à la or au before a noun, it can undermine your confidence and make it […]
L’adresse du Président Macron
By Richard Good Honed in the techniques of rhetoric at the École nationale d’administration, French President Emmanuel Macron delivers speeches that are models of ordered thought. And as learners of French, the texts are a rich source of syntax and vocabulary to absorb. So for this month’s competition, you are to imagine you are une […]
Summer translation competition
Translation is a great exercise for stretching your knowledge of French. In this competition we asked you to translate a passage from What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver. The winner was Lesley. The French translation of the short stories – Parlez-moi d’amour translated by Gabrielle Rolin – is available […]
E.M. Forster’s Aunt
Conversation isn’t so easy when you start out learning a language, especially when there are several native speakers around. Often the exchanges seem to whoosh past; by the time you’ve formulated your own thoughts, the moment to express them has passed. Preparing in advance for such situations isn’t that straightforward either. The author E.M. Forster […]
I say tomato, you say « tomate »
When we speak words that have been written on a page, they take on a life of their own. When we read out loud we add rhythm and emphasis, or vary the pitch of our voice. The technical term for the additional baggage of spoken language is “prosody” – and it’s a very important part of successful communication.
Quoi de plus naturel en somme ?
Richard Good Alvin was the only Asian boy in our class, so he came in for a lot of bullying. Mostly he’d smile forgivingly, though one time he cracked. “You take too much piss!” he complained. His comically ungrammatical observation just prompted more fits of hysterical laughter. There are many definitions of what is and […]
Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux
Richard Good It was my grandfather who first introduced me to French culture. ‘Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,’ he taught us to repeat, suggesting we said it out loud to ourselves each day, as a way of staying healthy and keeping our spirits up. As I grew up, I got […]
The Syntax of French
“I’m playing all the right notes. But not necessarily in the right order.” Getting the syntax of French right is important.