People tend to have strong feelings about this video, or at least that’s been my experience. They either love it or they hate it. Needless to say, I’m in the former group. As a foreigner something about it is very “French” to me, though the song is about two Americans and that strange instrument is Brazilian. At the same time the song doesn’t seem to me as old as it is, sounding like something much closer to our time, perhaps the 90s. It’s possible I like it because I heard it as a child. Listen for these lyrics, and how they play with the rhythm: Il faut croire Que c'est la société Qui m ..read more

From Radio France Internationale comes a half-hour program and podcast all about the French language: varieties spoken around the world and in history, the evolution of spelling, Francophone literature, and much more. Around 100 episodes are available to listen to on the RFI website or to download via iTunes. This is the sort of thing you should burn to a CD and listen to in the car on your commute, or put it onto your mp3 player for the bus or train ride. The more French you hear, the more you absorb ..read more

..read more

clignoter to flash, to blink grignoter to snack, to nibble le ouistiti marmoset gaz lacrymogène tear gas ocyctérope aardvark brouillard fog, mist ..read more

..read more

The letters -ill are almost always pronounced /ij/, as in: French English fille girl brille shines (v) aiguille needle famille family grésiller to crackle, sizzle, sleet or hail scintiller to scintillate, twinkle, sparkle vaciller to waver, falter, stagger, flicker, or wobble osciller to oscillate, waver or sway But there are a small number of words in which -ill is pronounced /il/ because of their pronunciation in Latin (according to Bescherelle’s Le vocabulaire): French English mille thousand ville town tranquille quiet These last three are super easy to remember using the mnemonic ..read more

I’m pleased to see Belgian grammarian Monsieur Grevisse well-represented on Archive.org, with several works available for borrowing, including but not limited to Le français correct, Le bon usage, Quelle préposition, and Savoir accorder le participe passé. There is even what appears to be a downloadable recent edition of the venerable Le bon usage, though it is certainly still in copyright so there’s no telling when it will be removed ..read more

Speaking of the Petit Larousse dictionary/encyclopedia in the July 27th post, here is a free Archive.org source for some past editions of Petit Larousse. You can freely download the editions of 1906 and 1922 in PDF format and the 1959, 1989, 1993 and 1991 are borrowable for two week periods. The motto of Larousse publications as well as that of its founder, French grammarian, lexicographer and encyclopedist Pierre Larousse, is “Je sème à tout vents”, which explains the dandelion motif on so many of the covers ..read more

Hey, I wrote an app. It was originally just for me, but I realized it might be of use to others. It’s basically a number recognition drill, similar to flash cards, but more versatile and fun. The object is to say or think the random number shown by the app before the next one is shown. You can vary the number format, drill speed, and font. It can be used by students of any language, not just French. I think that many French language learners coming from English have a problem with their speed recognizing certain ranges of French numbers, specifically the numbers 70 through 99. I sti ..read more

Merriam-Webster’s French-English/English-French Dictionary has pronunciation in IPA (invaluable for a beginner!), short grammar section, verb conjugations, short concise definitions. Includes both international and Canadian usages. Hardcover but the medium format is small enough to take anywhere. French Grammar in Context by Jubb and Rouxeville: I love this book. One chapter on each grammar topic, each with a short text. Not too long, softcover, decent explanations, exercises with an answer key. Older, used editions are just as good and cheaper. Les verbes et ..read more