Cultivate Your French

A few days ago, my friend Alice proposed a sort of challenge: to go and buy a lipstick at the Chanel store on rue Cambon, the brand's historic store, where Gabrielle Chanel had her apartments and haute couture workshops.  I knew the store very well, always had, but only from the outside. What happens once you open the door?  This is the mystery I propose to unravel today.  In the notes that come with the transcript, we're going to focus on three expressions that sound simple, but are typical of the French language. You'll also see the typical forms of spoken French in the text.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is released, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.

Last week, Micaela had a week's holiday after her exams. She asked me if we could go away somewhere. I suggested we visit my friend Sylvie who lives in Bordeaux. Neither of us knew the city.  The city changed a lot in the 90s thanks to its mayor at the time, Alain Juppé. Under his mandate, the city acquired four tram lines, many areas were made pedestrian-friendly, the city was literally cleaned up (the city was known for its pollution-black walls), and the water mirror became the city's emblem.  In today's episode, I tell you about part of our guided tour with Bruno Beurrier, the guide from the Tourist Office with whom we took our tour. What a character! You'll also hear me buying cannelés. Cannelés are small cakes typical of Bordeaux.  In the notes accompanying the transcript, you'll find all the photos from our trip. We'll also take a look at a complex sentence to understand how it was composed.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is released, and enjoy all the p

My daughter Micaela has a friend, Sanam, who can make macarons as good as in a pâtisserie. Macarons are so good, and at the same time they seem so fragile, so complicated to make, so mysterious. So I was thrilled when Sanam invited me to make some macarons in her kitchen.  Sanam was right, it’s not that complicated, in fact it’s quite simple, but there is a tricky moment. This is when you incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites. You have to be slow, but not too much and make a large movement with the spoon.  So today, you are going to hear Sanam talking about the end of the recipe.  In the notes that come with the transcript, you will get all the photos taken during the recipe and I will highlight for you in the text all the typical oral sentences that you can hear today. You know spoken French and written French can be very différent.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is released, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the

Last week, I went to Paris to do some errands. I had to collect orders I had made at the Pharmacie du four and at Gibert, the bookshop. I love to place orders at these shops because  I know that it means going to my favorite places in Paris : Saint-Michel, Saint-Germain, etc.  In the notes that come with the transcript, I will give you the reason why I love each place that I mention in this episode. Maybe you already  love them too, maybe you would love them too. But also, you will get a template of sentences that you could you use to tell your friends about the places that you love.   So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is released, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.

Très bonne et heureuse année à vous, chers auditeurs du podcast ! On new year’s eve we were at home. We had invited our friends Isabelle and Thierry to have dinner  with us. Isabelle had offered to bring some cheese because she had been staying in Savoie and she also offered to bring the dessert. Lisa asked if she could make her delicious tarte au citron.  How many and what were the cheese that Isabelle had brought? What was the wine that we drunk?  All these mysteries will be revealed in today’s episode. In the notes that come with the transcript, we will stop on these sentences that start with « c’est » to see how they work and how they are built. C’est le programme !  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is released, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.    

Christmas is coming ! It’s time to wrap presents. Don’t tell anyone, the Christmas presents that I bought are in a big box under my bed.  To wrap my presents, I use some wrapping paper, but I also use some papers that are recycled.  In the notes that come with the transcript, we will stop on these verbs that are conjugated at other tenses than present. Each time, there is a specific reason that is nice to be aware of.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is released, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.  I mentioned the December Calendar about Montparnasse. To receive it, please enter your email address on the home page of my website www.onethinginafrenchday.com It’s free and it’s in French !   

As you may have noticed, the December calendar is about Montparnasse, the famous neighbourhood of Montparnasse where so many artists gathered at the beginning of the 20th century : Apollinaire, Modigliani, Soutine, Picasso, Brancusi, Blaise Cendrars, so many famous names.  Do you remember, two weeks ago when Anne-Laure and I recorded ourselves under the rain, again? And that we thought that Rachilde or André Breton could have been responsible for this? Well today, you are going to hear this specific recording. We were at the Villa Vassilief, a nice passage near Montparnasse station. This lovely Parisian passage used to have many artists’studio that are now used differently. This is where Marie Vassilief, a painter who came from Russia in 1910 had her studio and her famous cantine for artists during World War One. She made a small painting about a specific meal to celabrate George Braque’s return from war. The painting can be seen in Paris until April 14th, at the very nice exhibition at Le Petit Palais, Le P

Last week, when Anne-Laure and I were recording ourselves under the rain, we were in Montparnasse. Do you know this famous Parisian neighbourghood were lived Picasso, Modigliani, Soutine, Brancuse, Hemingway, Marie Vassilief, Man Ray and many others?  I’m sure you have already heard about La Coupole, the famous café that opened in the 1920ies ? Well, the place Anne-Laure and I are going to tell you about opened in 1912, rue Campagne Première. It’s less known than La Coupole and it a smaller place, but Modigliani enjoyed to go there.  I found a picture showing Rosalie in her restaurant. In the notes that come with the transcript, I will give you short and easy sentences that describe this picture. Describing the picture in French is an interesting exercice, but it also has the magic effect of almost transporting you into the picture.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is release, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could sub

Last week, Anne-Laure and I had spent our day out in the rain. We also met this week to record some episodes in the same neighbourhood, the weather forecast were clear : no rain !  Well, it was only a forecast, unfortunately. But we may have found the reason why we kept on being under the rain. Maybe someone was unhappy about what we had said about her or him?  In the notes that come with the transcript, I will highlight for you some expressions that express the fact that you are unhappy with a situation.  And I’m afraid, you will also learn your first « gros mot », your first swear word if you had not learnt any before this episode.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is release, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.  Oh, before I forget, on Friday starts the new Dec

Last Thursday was a very rainy day in Paris. My friend Anne-Laure and I spent the day under the rain to record some episodes to come on the podcast. Our feet were wet, we were tired and cold when we started the queue at the museum. I won’t tell you which one not to reveal the subject of the coming episodes. The exhibit that we had planned to visit was supposed to be the best moment of our day, but an incident happened in the queue. This is what this episode is about.  In the notes that come with the transcript, I will highlight for you some little expressions that come naturally in French, we will also stop on a specific sentence to repeat aloud, I will tell you why this one, and you will have to guess the infinitive of a verb.  So to Cultivate Your French, receive the text by email each time an episode is release, and enjoy all the positive effects of having the exact text of the episode, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new

We were in the Jura during the Toussaint holidays, during one week. We love that region that is on the road to the Alps. Its foothills and woods are very nice when you like walking. And there are also lakes and waterfalls.  There is a crêperie in Pont-de-Poitte where we love to have an early dinner or lunch : it’s a warm place and the owner Laurence has a wonderful voice. There is something special about that place. We were having lunch there when we met another family : the grands-parents, their daughter, her husband and their little boy. They were from the region and suggested that we go to La Frasnée where there is a wonderful waterfall.  This episode is about us going there.  Do you know that the transcript is a very powerful tool to improve your comprehension?  And also to see things that are not obvious when you only listen to the text. Things like :  — how the verbs are conjugated : it’s easier then to identify a tense, notice an agreement, etc, — you can see how the words are written and get used to

Since September, Micaela, my eldest daughter, takes the train every day to go to Paris. She has classes either near Cité Universitaire or near Luxembourg. Both stations are on the  line of the RER B.  One morning, I took the train with her and ask her about her journey and what was going to be her day.  In the notes that come with the transcript, you will find some info about the text, but also 2 very natural French expressions that are very interesting to focus on. I will also give you a list of useful sentences to use when you take the train.  So, to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript. The transcript is a very useful tool to enjoy many ways of working with the text and this way improve your listening skills.  The subscription is available at cultivateyourfrench.com, it costs 4 euros a moth. The transcript is sent by email each time an episode is released. Last but not least, each new subscriber receives the transcript of the 10 latest episodes. www.cultivateyourfrench.com  

This episode comes from the past : it was written  and recorded  in April 2012 for One Thing In A French Day poscast, Cultivate Your French’s big brother.  My grils were little girls at that time. That day, we had invited a friend  of ours to have lunch  with us at a crêperie. She was a nice woman, always keen on joking with the grils as you will see.  In the notes that come with the transcript of this episode, I will give you the crêpes recipe and also show you a very commun word that we don’t write the same way nowadays than when I was a teenager.  So to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript and receive the transcript  by email each time an episode  is released. The subscription  costs 4 euros a month and when you subscribe, you receive  the 10 latest transcript.  To discover why the transcript is as good as a French lesson, please  have a look at the website www.cultivateyoufrench.com  

After spending the afternoon at the hammam, my friend Geraldine and I did not feel like taking the metro back to Saint-Lazare. The weather was nice so we decided to walk instead. It was a nice walk because Paris is a city that changes a lot, and as you walk, you can really feel the change from one neighborhood to another.  We stopped to eat a little something in a boulangerie.  In the notes that come with  the transcript, we will study how to talk about a place, un endroit in French.  So to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript, enjoy the written text, read it in your mind or aloud and discover what I wished to higltit for you. . The subscription costs four euros a month. When you subscribe, you receive the transcript of the 10 latest  episodes.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com  

On Friday evenings, after the kung fu class, we often stay longer together just talking, the kung fu team.  Of course, we talk about kung fu, but not always. There are different ages in our group, sometimes it leads to funny conversations. For example, we had a talk about famous movie soundtracks.  In the notes that come with the transcript, we will take a close look at specific verbs, how they are used and conjugated, though they are very frequently used verbs.  So, to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to  the transcript. The subscription is available at cultivateyourfrench.com, it costs 4 euros a moth. The transcript is sent by email each time an episode is released. Last but not least, each new subscriber receives the transcript of the 10 latest episodes. www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Every week-end, on Sunday morning, I join a group of nordic walkers.  The walk takes place in Rueil Malmaison’s wood : le bois de Saint-Cucufa, supervised by our coach Philippe.  Last Sunday, at the end of our walk, Philippe decided to challenge  us a little bit. He wanted us to climb a slope in different stages. It means going down each time you reach a stage. After this intense effort, we stayed a moment down the slope. And we met someone. You are going to discover who in this episode.  In the notes that come with the transcript, this week I will highlight for you 3 sentences that you could add to your  collection of fRench sentences. I will aslo give you some examples of how you can play with them.  So, to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to  the transcript. The subscription is available at cultivateyourfrench.com, it costs 4 euros a moth. The transcript is sent by email each time an episode is released. Last but not least, each new subscriber receives the transcript of the 10 latest episodes. 

Micaela is going to have a penfriend from an American University. It’s part of her English course at University.  To present herself she had to publish a short text, on an online board, startiting with this sentence : Si j’étais une œuvre d’art, je serais.  The answer is in today’s episode, of course. But, have you noticed in this sentence the use of the conditionnel?   In the notes that come with the transcript, I share with you a short study of how we use the conditionnel in everyday life. Because, we don’t only use it in sentences starting with « Si ». There are different uses that can be very helpful to sound French.  So, to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript. The transcript is a very useful tool to enjoy many ways of working with the text and this way improve your listening skills.  The subscription is available at cultivateyourfrench.com, it costs 4 euros a moth. The transcript is sent by email each time an episode is released. Last but not least, each new subscriber receives

Do you know that London is only two hours from Paris by train? My friend Sylvie and I went to London for a day, two weeks ago. The temperatures were very high that day. But it was nice to enjoy London under the sun. We had planned our day : a lunch at Pophams, a bakery that is also a restaurant (I was very curious about it), then a visit to the Bank of England museum’s and then, the inevitable Foyles.  But we were a little bit early for lunch, so we decided to enter the little church of Saint James  that was very close to the bakery.  And we had an adventure there as would say Eleanor Lavish in A room with a view. This is what this episode is about.  In the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are vey natural in French. Those expressions might not seem noticeable, but there are part of the way we speak French. It’s those expressions that make a sentence sounds French.  The transcript is also a very useful tool to work on French, with the text you can do so many things : you can read what I

The big question these days that young people ask each other is : when do you go back to school?  Going back to school after summer holidays is what we call in French  la rentrée !  La rentrée is when you discover your new classmates, new teachers, or new school. This is what this episode is about regarding my daughters Micaela and Felicia.  As usual, in the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are natural in French with some examples, so you too could use them in your own French conversations,  The transcript is a very useful tool to work on your French. Here are a few examples of what you can do : you can read what I say, obviously, you can see how the sentences are built, how the verbs are conjugated and you can also use it to repeat the text on your own.  So, to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com The subscription costs 4 euros a month. The transcript is sent by email each time an episode is released and each new subscriber receive

Summer holidays are over for us and I’m happy to be back with you dear listeners. I hope those of you who are subscribers have enjoyed the special episodes during the holidays about being at a French café. Now, before going back to France, let me share with you a few words about our Summer trip to Italy. We were staying in Puglia, in the deep South of Italy were my husband Pietro has family.  During the Ferragosto period, around the 15th of August, beaches were crouded with people a 8 in the morning, so we stopped going to the sea and decided to visit Bari, Puglia’s capital. This is what this episode is about.  As usual, in the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are natural in French with some examples, so you too could use them in your own French conversations, and, of course, I will share some photos.  The transcript is a very useful tool to work on your French. Here are a few examples of what you can do : you can read what I say, obviously, you can see how the sentences are built, an