Ahh, the smell of a new year . I hope you all have a 2012 that is fantastique and full of la prosperité! I know that I am moving in a good direction in 2012 and appreciate all my readers and students as we continue into the new year!

The simplest way to wish someone a Happy New Year in French is with Bonne année!, but Bonne année et bonne santé! (bone anay ay bone santay) is a classic expression in French. In English, we say “Happy New Year,” but the “new” is unnecessary in French – bonne année does the whole job. The addition of bonne santé (good health!) is not only a nice thought, but it also rhymes, making a little sing-songy sort of phrase .

So…good year and good health! Bonne année et bonne santé! May all your endeavors prosper in the new year – and start by subscribing to my newsletter if you want to get my blogs in your email every time they are published (usually 2-3 times a month these days) And browse the archives for all kinds of vocabulaire français – over 90 posts now for you to learn and review your French. See what a mot du jour (word a day) can do for vous (you)!

Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!

Can you believe another year is about to end, and we are again at Christmas time? Many people think of this time as a break from notre travail (our work) or l’ecole (school), or a time to give and get les cadeaux (gifts) that they will use for a while, and forget that this is the time that we should really concentrate on nos familles (our families) and la naissance de notre Sauveur (the birth of our Savior).

The photo above is from my church’s float in the Apex Christmas Parade , and it was beaucoup de plaisir (a lot of fun ) I was part of the singing band, singing chants de Noël (Christmas carols) with les anges (the angels).

In France, Christmas is a time for family and for generosity, marked by family reunions, gifts and candy for children, gifts for the poor, Midnight Mass, and le Réveillon.

The celebration of Christmas in France varies by region. Most provinces celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, which is a bank holiday. However, in eastern and northern France, the Christmas season begins on 6 December, with la fête de Saint Nicolas (Feast of St. Nicholas), and in some provinces la fête des Rois (Epiphany) is one the most important holidays of the Christmas season, celebrated on or around the 6th of January. In Lyon, the 8th of December is la Fête de lumières (Festival of Lights), when Lyonnais pay hommage to the Virgin Mary by putting candles in their windows to light up the city. French children put their shoes in front of the fireplace, in the hopes that Père Noël (aka Santa Claus) will fill them with gifts.

Although fewer and fewer French attend la Messe de Minuit (Midnight Mass) on Christmas Eve, it is still an important part of Christmas for many families. It is followed by a huge feast, called le Réveillon (from the verb réveiller, to wake up or to revive). Le Réveillon is a symbolic awakening to the meaning of Christ’s birth and is the culinary high point of the season, which may be enjoyed at home or in a restaurant or café that is open all night. Each region in France has its own traditional Christmas menu, with dishes like goose, chicken, capon, turkey stuffed with chestnuts, oysters, and boudin blanc (similar to white pudding).

(from http://french.about.com/cs/culture/a/christmas.htm)

As the leaves are swept into piles, and the trees become bare, we realize we are entering la saison froide (the cold season) of l’hiver (“leevare” – winter). It is nice to be in a cozy warm maison (house) when it is frosty cold outside, so let’s also remember the beauty of l’hiver too.

This picture was given to me this morning by one of my students – I teach this jeune fille (young girl) who lives in Russia chaque matin (every morning) on Skype. She said this looks like where she lives, and it certainly does look like a “winter wonderland” .

Do you live in an area that gets a lot of la neige (snow)? I grew up in Chicago so I have seen a lot of it! But then I moved to Florida, and didn’t see any…just les palmiers (palm trees) with lights on them to signify l’hiver . Now I live in Raleigh/Cary, and we see la neige a couple of times during the season, and it doesn’t stay for long.

Qu’aimez-vous de l’hiver? (What do you like about winter?) Do you like to go skiing (faire du ski) or make a snowman (bonhomme du neige), or just sit inside a cozy house watching the snow (la neige) fall?

Comment below – and yes, l’anglais is ok if you don’t know le français  .

Le jour de L’action de Grâce – literally “the day of thanksgiving” – happens in America, not France but here are some French words relating to this holiday and season of the year. See how many you understand!

On le jour de l’action de grâce, la famille shares un banquet. Traditionally, it is on the 4th jeudi of the semaine in Novembre, and tout le monde celebrates the American history of le pacte with les Indiens d’Amérique and la récolte, and these days, watches le football américain and a Thanksgiving parade. It is a day for giving les remerciements and being together.

They eat la dinde and la purée and la canneberge, and for dessert, la tarte à la citrouille. Que c’est délicieux !

• la famille – the family
• un banquet – a feast or banquet
• jeudi – Thursday
• semaine – week
• Novembre – November
• tout le monde – everyone
• le pacte – the treaty
• les Indiens d’Amérique – American Indians (Native Americans)
• la récolte – the harvest
• le football américain - football (American)
• les remerciements – thanks (like merci)
• la dinde – turkey
• la purée – mashed potatoes
• la canneberge – cranberry
• la tarte à la citrouille – pumpkin pie
• Que c’est délicieux! It’s delicious!

So how did you do? I hope you learned some new mots and enjoyed learning about Thanksgiving through this French vocabulary. Bon appetit!

I love les chansons françaises (French songs) – especially when they are sung by someone with as much passion as Edith Piaf. She is one of the most celebrated singers in French history, and was famous for the “Hymne de L’Amour” that I wrote about in a previous post (7/23/11). For a snapshot of who she was, and the summary of the movie “La Vie en Rose” that was made about her with some great spoken French (and English subtitles) -

Click here to view the embedded video.

Her unique sound makes the chansons below especially “Parisian” and I love the slideshow here of Paris (after seeing famous places connected with Edith first). If you have never been to Paris, here is your first “voyage”

Click here to view the embedded video.

She sings “Paris” and “Chante-moi” (Sing to me) – watch and enjoy

And here are the words for “Paris” in French and English (1st verse) -

“La cuisine” – Qu’est-ce que c’est? (What is it?) It literally means “the kitchen” but it is also used for “cooking” and “food“. Whether it is la cuisine francaise, la cuisine marocaine, or la cuisine algerienne, it is the food that is eaten in France, Morocco, or Algeria…or anywhere else for that matter.

If you go to a French restaurant, they will have many varieties of “cuisine” for your repas (meal), and depending on the time of day, you could have “petit déjeuner” (breakfast), “déjeuner” (lunch), or “dîner” (dinner). Or you could have hor d’oeuvres (/or durvs/ – appetizers) or dessert as well. Of course, they will also give you a grand selection of bière (beer) and vin (wine) or any other beverage you desire. My favorite French restaurant in Raleigh is Coquette (www.coquetteraleigh.com), in North Hills but the crêpes at Simply Crêpes (www.simplycrepes.com) are délicieuses aussi (too) !

La Boulangerie  (the bakery) – This is where you get les pains and les baguettes and all kinds of delicious goodies!

One of my students, Claire, just got back from a trip to Paris with her family, and brought mini chocolate treats and viennoiserie (sweet bread) – delicieux! The more popular Viennoiserie are croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins, brioche, baguette viennoise, and chausson aux pommes. Check this website for more visuals and info – http://foodloversodyssey.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/10/viennoiserie-breakfast-pastries-in-paris-best-boulangeries.html

And for a special lesson – let’s visit Alain and JeFrench.com for a lesson on going to the bakery – this is great for those who are just starting French too

http://www.jefrench.com/la-boulangerie

He really does a great job with helping with pronunciation and where words come from. Enjoy the lesson!

Bonjour tout le monde!

So today’s word is le pardon. Also used – tolérance, grâce, indulgence, clémence. Without even knowing French, you probably can guess what this word is – forgiveness.

Has anyone ever disappointed you? If it hurt a lot, and you didn’t think you could forgive them, what happened? You end up bitter and disappointed in them and life in general. You think everyone will treat you this way, and you determine to “never be hurt again”. So…you don’t open up to anyone, and you may live sad and lonely, unable to trust again.

Who benefits from your pardon, if you do give it? They do, bien sûr (of course), but you do as well. You learn that your coeur (heart) is stronger than you thought, and even though the hurt doesn’t go away immediately, it does go away eventually. And you give the other person a chance to redeem themselves and build a stronger relationship than before. You give up your self-righteousness and claim to independence, and you enter in to a renewed relationship that promises to be much better than it ever has been, IF you lay some ground rules for this and stick to them! NO clinging to the past…just moving forward with renewed respect and amour . One example is when Jean Valjean, in Les Miserables, reforms after the priest forgives him for stealing the silver and sends him on his way to become a new man after years in prison.

But even more powerful is the scene here in the movie The Mission. Here is a scene of le pardon that so resonated with me that I will never forget it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The burden of guilt and shame that was lifted off this man made him experience life in a whole new way – and I want to be able to experience that as well, don’t you?

Please comment if this made you think, and tell me your thoughts! :>

Ecoutez tout le monde! (e-koo-tay too le mond) – Listen everybody! French is such a beautiful language to listen to and speak! Now…I love reading it, especially since I know how to and I am such a visual learner.

But knowing how to say the words is the key to REALLY learning French and being able to use it practically. There are some basic rules … and once you learn those (just like any language) you can begin to pronounce and speak and ecouter la langue francaise.

So how do you begin to pronounce French words? By finding a private tutor like moi or finding cool French CDs or websites comme ça (like this) -

http://bonjour.com/

This will give you a great way to pick out the phrases that you want to learn tout de suite (toot sweet) right away – and practiquer! They give you ALL you need right here – the written form, the phonetic spelling, and then a great little play button to hear the French pronunciation. Voila! You repeat them, and you are speaking French .

Now there are NO excuses – as I told my students today – check out this site and start practicing! You’ll be a pro in no time!

Since la français and l’espanol are two of the top spoken languages in the world, it only makes sense that French people would want to learn Spanish, and Spanish people may want to learn French, especially since they are near each other geographically, and they are the same branch of language – Romance languages.

I started with a new family tonight, teaching them French from the very beginning. French is one of the best languages to learn, and since this Indian family wants to move to Quebec, they are interested in learning how to read and write French before they move there. And once they have learned French, they could always learn Spanish or Italian or Portuguese much more easily if they know one Romance language already.

Similarly, with my new Spanish student, who wants to learn French because she has a family friend in Belgium…so we are learning each other’s language, French and Spanish (mine by adoption, hers by birth ). I love pointing out the similarities to her, from the way the numbers are structured (un, deux, trois –> uno, dos, tres) to the grammatical rules for masculine and feminine words.

So it is good to learn a language outside of your own, and la français and l’espagnol are the best place to start!