La Journée Bissextile

Don't start wondering; imaginations might run wild.

It's Leap Day!  And that's the French translation - bissextile.

So go freak out your friends using this word in whatever way comes to mind.

Joyeuse Journée Bissextile, tous et toutes!

Chante France

A new French radio station from Paris for my iphone and ipad!  To compliment my classical favorite, Radio Classique, I have just added Chante France.  Check out the internet link, and if it's a hit, you can add it as an app through itunes to your iphone, etc. (gratuit - free).

This station plays popular songs in France, old and new.  I've found that many popular radio stations in Paris play as many (or more) songs that are sung in English (like American hits) as in French.  This one is all French!  I discovered it by receiving the station in Paris through the old-fashioned radio on my très basic French cell phone. 

It's great as a running companion, and I can try to mouth the songs as I run, which must be quite a sight.  My French teacher keeps telling us to join a church choir to améliorer our spoken French, but since I don't see me singing at Notre Dame any time soon, this is my next best thing. 

Zut Alors!

You mean I didn't need to leave New York City?

Let me put it another way - when they start selling Parisian baguettes and Poilâne's chaussons au pommes in the subway, too, I might reconsider.

Vous or Tu?

In one more of what will probably become an unplanned series of posts, we find ourselves face to face yet again with another cultural distinction between France and the US that is expressed through language.  

The "tu versus vous" nuance has become very interesting to me, because I realize it slows me down when speaking to someone until it's become clear which is going to be used.  For those who don't speak French, what this is is a way to formalize how one refers to the other person in a conversation.  The use of "vous" is formal (as well as always being the plural form of "you" - for you Texans, it's the "y'all").  The use of "tu" is informal.  So when to use which?  It's so important a distinction, in fact, that once a change from "vous" to "tu" is made, there's no going back.  It means the two people have crossed a barrier of some sort, into the world of an informal relationship, and a more intimate one.  

Well, we Americans want to be informal with everyone.  We have had presidents who want to offer up neck massages in public to German prime ministers, in fact.  That's just who we are.  So, this is really hard to understand.  And without knowing just what word to use in order to not seem too forward or insulting, it's often been shutting me down until I understand how the other person is going to use it.  I'm sure that's not how the French do it, and so I asked.

I was told it's a matter of showing respect.  OK, so a student says "vous" to a teacher, always.  The teacher may or may not do likewise with the student (depends on the age of the student, perhaps - young children get "tu" while adult students get "vous" - I have no idea what happens with high school age students).  In business, you "vous" your way up the ranks, while maybe the higher-ups say "tu" in response?  Again, I have no idea.  And as for first introductions, always a "vous."  And with large age differences, always "vous" when speaking to the older person.  

Perhaps not so hard to grasp, but it doesn't really make sense to me.  For example, at dinner with a family of two generations, in which I know the member of the younger generation very well but have only met the parents (who are my age) a couple of times, the young person always uses "vous" with me, when I'd prefer to be informal with her and would also prefer that she be informal with me (but she won't).  And the parents - well, I'm not sure when the "switch" is to properly occur.  It's exhausting!  

I included the newspaper article above because it shows just how symbolic this distinction is, not simply verbally, but in the entire meaning of how close two people are.  This article appeared right after François Hollande won the Socialist Party primary here recently.  It indicates, in the blown up language in the second photo, that the two rivals (he and France's President Sarkozy) are close in real life, that they are so intimate, in fact, that they use the "tu" form of "you" to addresss each other.  It basically translates to "They "tu" each other in real life."  There are even verbs for this - "tutoyer" and "vouvoyer." 

French, gotta love it!

Radio Classique

I wrote about my favorite French language learning apps and podcasts in the past, and now need to add a new one!  (It's always fun to find something new to mix it up.)  Radio Classique is a French classical radio station.  I've been listening for about a week now, and the music is lovely.  There's a lot of solo piano, symphonic selections, most of which are familiar and many of which are French in origin, and a small bit of opera.  In between are a few, but not too many,  ads in French for classical music concerts and events in Paris.  

And every time you open the app, a deep baritone voice announces "Radio Classique."  How do they do that?  It did surprise me the first few times; I'm a slow learner.

The app is free and can be found in iTunes.

Quotable Coco

On the plane from Beijing to Newark, I got my tiny dose of France and French for the week in the form of the film "Coco Before Chanel," a French film released in 2009 that I somehow missed.

It made for the most pleasant two of the thirteen and a half hours of the flight.  (I watched another movie later in the flight, but by then I had lost too many brain cells to altitude boredom and, for the sake of my educated adult respectability, I shall not repeat the name of the insipid rom-com fluff that at least helped keep me - for another two hours - from looking up every few minutes at that nasty bright blue monitor on the bulkhead telling me how high we were flying, how inhumanly cold it was beyond the confines of our large flying metal tube and how many more hours we'd (hopefully) continue to do the same.  Can you tell that I'm not a big lover of flying?)

So, thank you for in-flight entertainment, Continental Airlines.

More than midway through the film, the wealthy man who has taken Coco into his home remarks off-handedly, upon seeing her shorn of her formerly waist-length raven hair, "A woman who cuts her hair, is about to change her life."  From her look in response, we in the audience know that she knows this to be true, too, but how will that change take shape?  Perhaps she knows, perhaps not.  Either way, it was a moment that made me smile, as a fellow recently "shorn" woman with changes taking shape in her life.

That quote from the film reminded me that Coco Chanel was responsible for some pretty good quips during her life.  Here are a few I particularly like:

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." 

 "In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different." 

"Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. " 

"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone."  

"Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future." 

"To achieve great things, we must first dream."

Ah, to dream, to be classy, to be fabulous (whatever that means!), to be different, to stop beating on walls, to deserve to be elegant, and to decide to be someone.  Such pressure!  Great quotes, but maybe a bit unattainable?  Perhaps I'll just try to live by this much-easier-to-achieve quote by Coco Chanel:

"A woman should wear perfume wherever she wants to be kissed." 

That I can handle.

Sunday in the Park, and the Museum, and the Festival

I didn't just eat and shop all weekend, really.  The walking was incredible - the Highline, Riverside Park South, Williamsburg, Tribeca, Soho, the Village, Chelsea and the all-time great, Central Park.  Sunday it was simply breathtaking - a light breeze, the brightest possible sunlight, the bluest sky, etc., etc.

And after nature and sunshine (and lattes from Joe and carbs from Levain, of course), it was time for culture.  Turns out that we popped out of Central Park right outside the Frick Collection, and it turns out that it was Sunday between 11am-1pm, when it's "pay-what-you-wish" admission (how lucky for us!), and it turns out also that it was Sunday Sketch in the Garden Court after 1pm.  (I so often do better in spontaneous adventures than in the planned ones.)

 

There were only a couple of things spontaneity couldn't cure: 

1.  I can't sketch (but I plan to come back and try).

2.  My favorite Ingres "blue girl" and the Sargents were all somewhere in hiding during the current construction (another reason to come back).

Finally, a walk further down Madison led to our intended destination (before the above divertissements) - the annual Bastille Day Street Festival on 60th Street.  Taking up every inch of three blocks between Fifth and Lex, there were crepes, macarons, pastries, baguettes, and a number of non-food attractions, such as music, books, and apparently thousands of Francophiles.

It's now time to go soak my feet.

New Dog, New Tricks

My Little Paris for iPad from mylittleparis on Vimeo.

(ooh, my first copy/paste of a video into a blog post!)  I love how this old dog is still learning new tricks.  And speaking of which, the reason for the video is my new "toy" - the ipad.   I'm still trying to figure out truly useful things to do with it that I can't already do between my iphone and a laptop.  At home, it's still easier to grab one of those than to fiddle with the ipad.  

However, when traveling, I'm still hoping the ipad is the way to go (but if someone really understands how to blog from an ipad, please let me know; I don't think they've really gotten a good app for that yet).

In the meantime, I believe the ipad is mostly for fun, reading newpapers and magazines online, in a print size we mature folks can read, and writing (with a new app I'm also playing with called iA Writer).  That said, it's imperative to also have a keyboard if you don't want to deal with the onscreen keyboard for big writing projects (or even long emails).  I bought the bluetooth version apple is selling, and so far so good.

I moved all my iphone apps over to the ipad at the start.  Then, using itunes, if I could find an ipad-specific app for that function, I deleted the iphone app (they're smaller, using only iphone-sized partial screen) from the ipad and installed its counterpart ipad app.  

The France Inter radio app (which is the same for iphone and ipad) is still my favorite for both.  I am able to listen to French radio in real time from seven stations, from the same app.  It's incredibly user-friendly.  To me, it's a prime example of how, as one of my sons likes to say, we "live in the future."

And, back to the video above, the app shown (which just came out today) is really as clever, goofy and fun as it looks.  Who wouldn't want to have an ipad, or fly off to Paris, or both, after watching it?

le subjonctif

 

So, I'm just minding my own business, trying like hell to study the French subjunctive "mood"  (not a tense, oh no).  Anyway, I get to this line in the grammar book - 

"On utilise l'indicatif après les verbes "de la tête" (penser, supposer, etc.) et le subjonctif après les verbes "du coeur" (désirer, souhaiter, craindre, etc.)."   

This basically indicates that there's a difference in how one expresses verbs "of the head" and verbs "of the heart."

Can you even imagine an English grammar teacher or book making such a distinction, with a straight face?

I just adore these little cultural differences I learn (which really aren't so little) as I torture myself with French grammar.  Makes it all worthwhile.

(Or maybe I'll just use The Subjunctivator!!  I'll definitely be Bookmarking that link.)

The Wonderful World of the French Language

I was recently asked for a list of my favorite resources for French language learning.   For better or worse, I use electronics now more than textbooks and anything made of paper products.  Gathering together all my stuff, this is what I came up with.  A huge part of the ease of learning this way is due to the iphone/ipod/ipad.  And use of the apps and podcasts is dependent on them.  Of course, this long list does not even come close to being exhaustive of all that is available out there in cyberspace with which to learn French, at every level.  Isn't technology grand?

Apps (all are free except the dictionary):

Larousse French Dictionary (this one isn't free, maybe $5, but fantastic with complete conjugations and detailed definitions, examples and voice pronunciations).
Le Monde.fr (newspaper)
Le Figaro.fr (newspaper)
Le Point.fr (news magazine)
Libération (newspaper)
Marianne2.fr (news magazine)
RFI (live streaming radio)
France 24 (live streaming of TV news)
Verbe2Verbe Verb Trainer Lite (verb conjugation tester)
French Morning New York (little articles in French about stuff in NY)
Elle (magazine)
TV5Monde (also TV clips of all sorts)
7 jours (news clips and comprehension tester, various levels)


Podcasts (subscribe through itunes, all free):

One Thing in a French Day (short stories of daily life in Paris by a sweet-voiced Parisienne; she includes transcripts for reading along)
RFI - Apprendre le francais  (news bits and descriptions in French of meanings of French words)
Coffee Break French (this is the only one that is possibly easy enough for a true beginner, but not really)
Learn French by Podcast (generally more advanced than Coffee Break French, with much use of idioms)
Le Masque et La Plume (criticism of books, movies or theater, weekly radio show on France Inter)

Websites:

http://players.tv-radio.com/radiofrance/playerfranceinter.php ; (French radio - mostly talk, some music)
http://www.ortholud.com/grammaire/adj/possessif/leur_ou_leurs.php ; (grammar games and tester)
http://www.leconjugueur.com/ ; (conjugations tester)
http://www.wordreference.com/fren/point (really good online dictionary - recommended by my French teacher)
http://www.france2.fr/ (French TV)
http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid3351-c-le-petit-journal.html?vid=413750 (French TV comedy show ala "The Daily Show," making light fun of French politicians and celebs)
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap4.html (University of Texas French language teaching website)
http://www.lemonde.fr/ (newspaper; obviously, all the newspapers and magazines available as apps also exist online).

This should be enough to get fully immersed in French without needing a passport!  It's such a great pleasure to even be able to peek through this portal into French culture and perspective on everything from world issues to style through a bit of language understanding.  Of course, now that I've gotten started, I can't stop!