Cultivate your French : Slow French, at the right pace.

Just before the start of the new school year, I received a text message from my friend Géraldine. She asked me to come with her for a day to Normandy, to see two exhibitions, one of which was on the painter Augustin Rouart, as part of the Normandie Impressioniste festival, which takes place every four years. The name Rouart sounded familiar, but I wasn't really sure why. I said ‘yes’ to her proposal and we decided on a date.  In this episode, you'll find out why the name Rouart rang a bell and also what day we leave for Normandy.  In the notes accompanying the transcript, we'll look at three expressions that are natural in French. There will also be some interesting links on the painter Augustin Rouart, suggestions of grammar points to review (these are only suggestions) and also an episode of the One Thing In A French Day archives to listen to!  So if you want to learn French the ‘slow’ way, I invite you to subscribe.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com  

Last week, I dropped by the station in the early evening to drop off a book at the book box. I noticed that a florist had set up a stall there. The station is the focal point of the neighbourhood. It's on the border between Courbevoie, Asnières and Bois-Colombes. The railway line divides the Bécon district into two areas, the one on the Courbevoie side being the most commercial. But with the arrival of a new bakery and a new pastry chef, the area on the Asnières side is coming back to life. The florist was also on the Asnières side.  In the notes that come with the transcript, we'll focus on practical phrases for talking about prices in shops and three typical expressions of natural French and also three expressions that are interesting to notice.  So if you want to cultivate your French and benefit from all the positive effects of having the exact text of the transcript, you could subscribe to the Cultivate Your French transcript at www.cultivateyoufrench.com. The subscription costs 4 euros a month and each new subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.  

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 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 last week, it’s about Montparnasse. To receive it, please enter your email address on the home page of my website onethinginafrenchday.com . It’s free and it’s in French ! 

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 subscriber receives the 10 latest episodes.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com  

Bonjour à tous,This is Laetitia and you are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast, the slow version of One Thing In A French Day podcast.All the informations about the newsletter and the transcripts are available in English at www.cultivatyourfrench.com Et maintenant, parlons français!Cette semaine, j’ai choisi l’épisode de One Thing In A French Day, intitulé LA FETE DE LA VIOLE DE GAMBE.Je vous le lis une première fois lentement.Et maintenant à vitesse normale.

Bonjour à tous,This is Laetitia and you are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast, the slow version of One Thing In A French Day podcast.All the informations about the newsletter and the transcripts are available in English at www.cultivatyourfrench.com Et maintenant, parlons français!Cette semaine, j’ai choisi l’épisode de One Thing In A French Day, intitulé CHENONCEAU.Je vous le lis une première fois lentement.Et maintenant à vitesse normale.

Bonjour à tous,This is Laetitia and you are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast, the slow version of One Thing In A French Day podcast.All the informations about the newsletter and the transcripts are available in English at www.cultivatyourfrench.com Et maintenant, parlons français!Cette semaine, j’ai choisi l’épisode de One Thing In A French Day, intitulé LA RUE DE MAUBEUGE A L'ALLER ET AU RETOUR.Je vous le lis une première fois lentement.Et maintenant à vitesse normale.

Bonjour à tous,This is Laetitia and you are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast, the slow version of One Thing In A French Day podcast.All the informations about the newsletter and the transcripts are available in English at www.cultivatyourfrench.comEt maintenant, parlons français!Cette semaine, j’ai choisi l’épisode de One Thing In A French Day, intitulé MICAELA DANS PARIS.Je vous le lis une première fois lentement.Et maintenant à vitesse normale.

Pendant nos vacances en Italie, dans la région des Marches, il y a eu de violents orages. Un après-midi, profitant d’une accalmie, nous sommes sortis faire des courses en voiture.  Au retour, Pietro a garé la voiture en faisant une manœuvre. Il a dû laisser le passage à la camionnette du voisin et c’est là que la voiture a glissé dans le fossé parce que le sol était boueux.  Cet épisode vous raconte le sauvetage de notre voiture alias Bouton d’or, la plus belle des Kangoo jaunes.  Dans les notes qui accompagnent le transcript, nous nous arrêterons sur le vocabulaire de la voiture : celui que l’on trouve dans l’épisode et celui qui pourrait être utile. À chaque fois, le vocabulaire sera accompagné de phrases en français naturel. Un vocabulaire et des phrases qui peuvent rendre des services bien réels ou tout simplement pour le plaisir de « prendre le volant » et de savoir que c’est ainsi que l’on dit !  www.cultivateyourfrench.com  

Nous avons passé nos vacances d’été en Italie, dans Les Marches. L’Italie, c’est très dépaysant pour nous. Le lendemain de notre arrivée, nous avons assisté à un concert de musique baroque au festival de musique ancienne d’Urbino. Le concert avait lieu dans le magnifique palais ducal.  Quand nous nous sommes installés, Felicia a remarqué un instrument qui ressemblait à un viole de gambe.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com (pour le sondage!)

Notre Jean-François du jour est une star internationale de l'histoire ! Même si sa découverte date d'il y a 200 ans, on parle toujours de lui. Même sur les ondes de Cultivate Your French !  www.cultivateyourfrench.com

On retrouve un Jean-François que nous connaissons déjà dans cet épisode, mais cet épisode me plaît beaucoup, car il raconte comment Felicia a découvert la viole de gambe en 2018.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Mon voisin Jacques m'avait proposé de l'accompagner salle Gaveau. C'était en février 2013. La salle Gaveau est une salle de concert parisienne. Le spectacle que nous allions voir était une leçon de Jean-François Zygel. Ce pianiste est très connu en France pour ces leçons de musique dans lesquelles il donne des explication sur les œuvres qu'il interprète.  C'est notre Jean-François numéro 2.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com

La série des Jean-François est une série culturelle à partir du prénom Jean-François. L'occasion pour vous de découvrir d'anciens épisodes du podcast dans lequel ce prénom apparaît. Vous verrez, c'est un type très sympa. www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Tania de Montaigne is a writer and journalist who lives in Montmartre, the Montmartre of today. La butte is her neighbourhood. In this episode, she tells us about her favourite time of day: the morning, when she sits down to write. It's often between eight thirty and nine o'clock in the morning. In the notes accompanying the transcript, there are some cutlural notes, and we'll be looking at three expressions used by Tania de Montaigne and other examples of their use in natural French. So if you want to cultivate your French, in Montmartre or elsewhere, the slow way, I invite you to subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

150 years ago, in 1875, work began on the Sacré-Cœur church on the Butte Montmartre. Today, this church is part of the Parisian landscape and is loved by Parisians and visitors alike, but this was not always the case.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Montmartre is a district of Paris where the adventure began for many artists, poets and songwriters whose names still resonate on this planet. Here are just a few of the names that make you dream: Suzanne Valadon, Van Gogh, Pissaro, Degas, Renoir, Picasso, Modigliani, Severini, Alphonse Allais, Emile Goudeau and the Hydropathes, Aristide Bruant, and so on. Places too: Le Chat Noir, Le Lapin Agile, Le Cirque Medrano, Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette. And there's one place where all this atmosphere is particularly palpable, and that's the Musée de Montmartre. It's housed in two buildings where artists used to work, as we'll hear today. It's a green, cool setting overlooking Paris. In today's episode, we meet up with Anne-Laure, with whom I went to the Musée de Montmartre on a beautiful summer's morning. In the notes that accompany this podcast, you'll find cultural references, as well as photos to complete the trip. So, to keep your Montmartre French up to date, the slow way, I invite you to subscribe to the podcast at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

In this episode, I dive deep into French literature with Aurélie, a high school French teacher, as we analyze "L'éphémère" by 19th-century poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. You'll discover how French students approach poetry analysis, learn advanced vocabulary for literary discussion, and explore themes of life, death, and motherhood through this beautiful poem.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Last Tuesday, I went with Micaela to an acrobatics class at a Chinese circus school in Montreuil. She was keen to try out the class with a view to improving her kung fu. Montreuil is a large, popular town to the east of Paris. Artists love it because you can still find unusual buildings to set up your studio. It's a very lively town, a ‘ Ville-monde ’ as Gilles Soufi would have said, even if it is in the process of becoming gentrified. In the notes that accompany the text of this episode, we'll look at three natural turns of phrase in French. We'll also look at one sentence in particular, which is an application of a grammar lesson.  www.cultivateyourfrench.com #FrenchListening #LearnFrenchPodcast #FrenchCulture #ParisSurroundings #FrenchConversation #AdvancedFrench #FrenchImmersion #FrenchStory #RealFrenchLife #FrenchLanguageLearning

Last week, I walked through the doors of the Sorbonne, the famous university, the oldest in France, which has been in existence since the 13th century. I was there to meet linguist Gilles Siouffi, who has just written a book on the linguistic history of Paris. His book is called ‘Paris Babel’. I loved this book, which reads like a novel and allows us to take a closer look at the history of French as it has never been told before. The seventeenth century is a very important century in the history of French. People fight over who has the best French. That's what Gilles Siouffi will be explaining in today's episode. He'll also talk about pronunciation patterns. The interview with Gilles Siouffi will be available in full on One Thing In A French Day, so be sure to tune in. In the notes that accompany the podcast, we'll look at three natural turns of phrase in French. We'll also develop a strategy for learning a verb quoted in the text, which is very useful in everyday French. So, to cultivate your ‘bon’ French, I invite you to subscribe to the podcast notes. www.cultivateyourfrench.com #frenchcourtlanguage #versaillesfrench #17thcenturyfrench #frenchpronunciationhistory #sociallanguagetrendsfrance #frenchclassdistinctions #parisvsversailles #frenchlanguagefashions #historicalfrenchspeech #frenchlinguisticsorbonne