A recent search raised the question of a good translation for the “&” character, sometimes called ampersand in English. The most common translation is “et commercial” due to its ubiquitous usage in the business world. However, its usage was started a long time ago by scribes always looking for ways to save room on a . . . → Read More: &?
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Anyone who got to spend some time around Christmas in the Lyon area is familiar with those treats. They come in a small shiny wrapping, like a little present, which hides a delicious chocolate treat with (soon) to be discovered fillings. Take one, just pull the extremities, and the papillotte unrolls itself to offer first . . . → Read More: Did you get your “papillottes” According the French post office, Victor Hugo is the most popular writer street name with 1625 streets named after him. After that, it is very difficult to know for sure. Maybe the development of OpenStreetMap will give us more information. Meanwhile, Here are few other names extracted from the Dictionnaire des noms de rues: Albert . . . → Read More: Who is the most famous French writer? “C’est un trou de verdure où chante une rivière Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons D’argent ; où le soleil, de la montagne fière, Luit : c’est un petit val qui mousse de rayons.
Un soldat jeune, lèvre bouche ouverte, tête nue, Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu, Dort ; il . . . → Read More: Eternal French texts: “Le Dormeur du Val” A book in English talking about the French language? The authors, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, both Canadians, one French native speaker, the other English native speaker put together an exhaustive review of why the French language still counts as a major player is today’s world. The book is full of interesting and funny anecdotes. . . . → Read More: The Story of French An easy way to check the precision of a language seems to be to look at the number of words available in dictionaries. According to Wikipedia, Le Littré has about 70,000 words, and a little bit less for the Larousse and the Robert. However the English language article on Wikipedia tells us that the Oxford . . . → Read More: Does French lack accuracy? As an engineer, I have to review a lot of technical texts. Finding the right French-English equivalence of terms is sometimes a real challenge that requires a good understanding of the technology in question. Technical dictionaries may be misleading because the words are out of context or the context is only described in broad terms. . . . → Read More: Technical dictionaries? Among the hundreds of languages available, French is still one of the most popular choices among foreign language learners. The origin of this popularity comes in great part from the fact that until very recently, French was the lingua franca of the elites. As recently as 150 years ago, most French citizens spoke a regional . . . → Read More: Why is French still such a popular language to learn? “Nous partîmes cinq cents; mais par un prompt renfort Nous nous vîmes trois mille en arrivant au port,” “Ô rage ! ô désespoir ! ô vieillesse ennemie ! N’ai-je donc tant vécu que pour cette infamie ?” “Rodrigue, as-tu du coeur?” “À vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire.” “Le combat cessa faute de combattants.” Those are all quotes . . . → Read More: Eternal French texts: “Le Cid” Nobody really knows why most French natives use soixante-dix (sixty-ten) to describe 70, quatre-vingts for 80 and quatre-vingt-dix for 90. Even though we take today the base ten counting as obvious, it was not always the case: Lincoln’s Gettisburg address first words are a perfect reminder of that (“Four score and seven years…”). Those numbers . . . → Read More: Soixante-dix or Septante? |
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