Coucou les French learners,
Le quinze aôut est déjà passé ! 15th August is gone already!
15th August is a day off. “And we work?”, “Like a normal Sunday”
To find out more about why the 15th August is such an important day off, read my newsletter from two years ago. There are lots of interesting French articles in there. For example did you know le 15 août was in fact la fête nationale until the Revolution changed the day to le 14 juillet.
However, it is still celebrated in l’Acadie, a region on the East coast of Canada. Read about the tragic story of the Acadians in Kimberley R. Anderson’s book Au revoir l’Acadie. I did a review about this excellent French reader here.
Les vacanciers se préparent à retourner travailler !! The holidaymakers are getting ready to go back to work!!
I must say I am so happy not to be working in a school anymore, especially not be working in a school in Germany. To me, it seemed always so bizarre to go back to work in the middle of August. Being French, August is LE mois des vacances, the month for holidays! If you are a French teacher going back to school now, have a look at my blog series about #Agen2019. There are many useful takeaways, tips and free resources for YOU there.
Well I have actually been working a lot this month BUT from home, c’est la GRANDE différence, the big difference! And the sunny weather feels like holidays anyway. J’adore ça ! I love it!
Time to ENJOY & SIMPLIFY!
SIMPLIFIE l’acquisition du Français
Since launching the membership, I have had questions from members about how to use the stories available on the site.
KEEP IT SIMPLE & ENJOY
” Men should put as much zeal to simplify their lives as they put into complicating them. ” Henri Bergson, philosophe français.
One particular question by a new member was: “What is your suggestion about how much time each day to listen and read to acquire French? Should I listen and read the same story repeatedly? How many times?”
Here is my answer:
SAVOURE le Français
It is difficult to translate “enjoy” in French. There is no exact equivalent to me as what it means in English, but I find the verb savourer to be a good mix between profiter, aimer and se délecter. All of these verbs mean “to enjoy” in English but in different ways and savourer is also used for food. Hence I like it: savourer le Français like you enjoy a particular meal or dish!
This is exactly why the motto on my site is the Czech proverb “Learn a new language and get a new soul”! Because some words and feelings are not translatable. You have to understand the culture and the way of thinking of the people who speak the language: a language is a TOOL to communicate.
Like this Portuguese word “Saudade” which has no translation in any other languages. I try to explain it here.
The script is available when you become a member! Watch the video and read the script or read the script and watch the video.
For as little as 4.75EUR/month, you have access to many comprehensible and compelling stories, as well as all the eBooks. You can NOW download the dyslexic version of the 30 scripts of the season #1 videos. When you become a member, you get it for FREE!
Take your French to the next level.
Be part of the French learners community.
#trusttheprocess
Happy French acquisition!
P.S. Did you watch my last video about the pretty town of Ponte Da Barca, in the North of Portugal? This afternoon, I will record the podcast with my eldest son about cars and drifting. It will be available on the membership along with the script!
P.P.S. The eBook (pdf) about the adventures of Marie et Médor avant Noël are being proofread! 24 scripts in the present and in the past tense to be dowloaded SOON! And for FREE when you become a member of the French Learners Community 🙂