Have you ever heard rumor of the French being rude, or unfriendly? It's a common misconception on many Americans' part. The French culture is not the same as American.

       When we meet someone new, a complete stranger, usually the first thing we do is smile. We smile to show our openness to meeting this new person, and because this is what's considered friendly and polite. We also often tend to smile at strangers even when they've offended us, when we don't quite understand what they're trying to say, or other reasons that don't really warrant a friendly expression.

       The French are nearly the opposite. They don't smile at random people when they walk down the street, they don't smile in a conversation unless they really think that something is funny, or exciting. If an American were to go to France and grin at every new person they met, like we usually do here, the people would probably think you were a bit odd, and not return your smile. It's not considered in any way rude or unusual, it's just a part of the French culture that happens to be different from us.

       I find it interesting that something as small as a difference in facial expression between two countries can give the people in each such an odd conception of each other!

We had a big french test today and one of the questions had us write a paragraph about an aunt or an uncle. There were eight different things we had to include. I'll put the literal translations in parentheses.

-Name: My aunt's name is Lois.        

             Elle s'appelle Lois. (She calls herself Lois)

-Age: She is 50 years old.

          Elle a cinquante ans. (She has 50 years)

-Nationality: She is American.

                     Elle est américaine. (She is American)

-Profession: She is a doctor.

                    Elle est medicin. (She is doctor)

-Married/Not Married: She is married

                                    Elle est mariée. (She is married)

-2 Physical Traits: She is short and brunette.
                              Elle est petite et brune. (She is short and brunette)

-2 Good Traits: She is nice and fair
                          Elle et sympa et juste. (She is nice and fair)

-1 Bad Trait: She is boring.
                      Elle est ennuyeuse. (She is boring)


**P.S. I don't actually think my aunt is boring.

French Sayings vs. English Sayings

Remember the popular phrase, "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks"? The French say something quite similar: "On n'apprend pas aux vieux singes à faire des grimaces.", which translates to, "You cannot teach old monkeys to make faces. :D

Here are a few more:

"Ah, la vache!" The french use this as we would use Oh my goodness. The literal translation though, is "Oh, the cow!"

When we lose our patience, we say "That's the last straw!!", then go punch something. The french say, "C'est la fin des haricots". It means that's the end of the beans...


LOL! 

Hilarious French Movie!!

     Last year in French One, we watched this wonderful french movie, called Le Petit Nicolas. It's about a young boy whose life was simple and lovely until one day he overheard his parents talking about how his mother was pregnant, and that they were going to get rid of Nicolas. Nicolas immediately told his friends, who all decide that they would have to work together to get rid of the new baby.

    This movie is seriously hilarious! I may not be fluent in french, but you know, subtitles! So just go watch it sometime if you're at all interested. It's a good one to see with the family!

 French Culture   

     Have you ever wondered where the world's oldest movie theater is located? Well probably not, but incase you have, guess what; It's French!
     This theater, called the Eden Theatre, was founded in the French city La Ciotat, in the early 1800s. The founders were two brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière, who created the first moving picture of a train pulling into a station. The Eden has been closed for renovation since 1995, and only just reopened this past September. The project cost 6 million euros ($8.1 million).

Source:

France 24. "World's oldest cinema to reopen in France's La Ciotat - FRENCH CINEMA - FRANCE 24." International breaking news and headlines - FRANCE 24. France 24, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. http://www.france24.com/en/20131009-worlds-oldest-cinema-eden-theatre-reopen-ciotat-train-france-lumiere.

Source:

The Telegraph. "World's oldest cinema to open again - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. The Telegraph, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10364074/Worlds-oldest-cinema-to-open-again.html>.

 

     So this beautiful building, located in Paris France is not a giant library, or a palace, or anything regal like that, but a train station! It's called the Gare du Nord, or North Station.

     Compare that to our American train stations...

Yeah, it's big, but not nearly as pretty!

Stuff I bet you didn't know!!

In France, the showers and sinks are kept separate from the toilets (like, in two totally different rooms!), because of their idea that you should have one room for being unclean (the toilets), and one room for de-germifying yourself!

 

Nice French dinners consist of multiple courses of food, one of which is literally just for cheese, and probably some bread to eat it with!

 

It's against the law to name your pig Napolean in France!

 

The submarine was invented by the French!

 

Originally, the Eiffel Tower was meant to be built, then taken down again and sold for scrap metal... (Who would do that??)!

Speaking French

     We had a true French woman come in to our class last Friday. She's a very sweet woman who comes from Paris, the site of the Eiffel Tower. I was so jealous that I've never even visited and she gets to live there! Her accent when speaking English was just beautiful. If you've never heard a French person speaking English, look it up, it's gorgeous!
     I can't imagine how we must sound to them. I heard once that the French think we sound nasally, although I don't know how much truth there actually is in that statement... I don't know how else to speak to sound clearer! It's not like we talk through our nose... What does nasally even sound like??
    
     Anyway, we learned from this lovely French woman how to pronounce certain French sounds. The "ou" part of any given word must be pronounced ooh. The sound you must make when pronouncing words such as "tu", sounds like you're saying an English "ee" with your mouth in the shape of an "o". Finally, the "eux" sound, as in the word "peux" (can), sounds like "ouh". Sorry if that's unclear... It's sort of a mix between ooh and uh.
     So yeah, the Madame pronounced each of these three for us because although they are similar, they distinguish very different words from each other.

      I love my French class and learning the French language, and if you know of anyone who is considering taking classes, talk them into it!
    

In Class

     So this week we've been doing a ton of review from last year (french one), and have worked a bit with possessive adjectives. These in english would be my, your, his, hers, etc. Except that, in french everything is 20 times more confusing! There are three different types of the word "my". If you're using it in front of a singular, feminine noun, you use "ma". In front of a singular, masculine noun, it's "mon" (pronounced mohn), but if it's in front of a plural noun, you've got to use "mes" (pronounced may) whether the following noun is feminine OR masculine!

     

     If you've never taken any french, you're probably wondering what in the world I mean by masculine and feminine nouns. Basically, every noun in french must be coupled with an article (a/an, the, etc.), or a possessive adjective, which will tell you whether that particular noun is masculine or feminine. You can think of these as the Mr. or Mrs. of a noun... I really have no idea why the French do this, but that's the way it is! For example, the french word table, "table" (pronounced tob-luh) is a feminine noun. Therefore, when you are talking about the table, you would say la table. However, if you wanted to say the tables, the "la" would then change to "les" (lay), because the noun is plural. Les tables.

     

     Here are some more examples:

             My table = Ma table.

             My tables = Mes tables.

             My pen (This is a masculine noun) = Mon stylo.

Super Cute!

We watched this adorable video in French class last year...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=381bv0_Gpo8

Firstly...

     I'd like to mention right away that this blog is a school assignment, so it won't be the very best, I'm sure. : )  My posts will loosely relate to French in general and what my French II class has been up to, what's going on in french club, maybe some random facts.... You know, the usual. :D