Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year - Bonne année

Bonne année et bonne santé is the classic French saying to wish one a Happy New Year. Literally, it is "good year and good health".

New Year's Eve is the celebration of la Saint-Sylvestre, the 33rd pope who is credited with converting the Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity. The feast is called le Réveillon de Saint-Sylvestre and includes champagne and foie gras. The celebratory party ranges from an intimate dinner to a grand ball, une soirée dansante.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Joyeux Noël

Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas, of course.





La nuit avant Noël s'appelé La Veillée de Noel. La veillée est avant la messe de minuit. La famille se réunit autour de la bûche de Noël que brûle dans la cheminée. C'est l’occasion pour la familie ensemble de chanter, rire, et partager un petit repas de fête.

 The image of earth is from NASA images and is copyright free.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Bien entendu


Les Américains ne comprennent pas toujours les Français, et vice-versa, n'est-ce pas? Mais, bien sûr, nous devons rester amis. C'est bien entendu.


Bien entendu a polite way to say "of course," when that is the obvious response to a question. Literally, it translates as "well understood" or, in context, "I heard you well".

A less formal phrase, and more used, is, bien sûr.

Vous comprendez, bien sûr. Ce n'est pas une question, mais une déclaration.

Bien entendu can also mean "understood".

Voilà, c'est (bien) entendu? That's understood? Agreed? D'accord! Okay!


Un pas de plus, One step further, très bien s'entendre, "very well it's understood".

Lastly, let's throw n'est-ce pas into the mix. N'est-ce pas, literally translates as, "Isn't it so?" Here the speaker is looking for an affirmation. Similar, meanings but perhaps a little less self assured.

Friday, November 16, 2012

L'heure avait sonné

L'heure avait sonné

L'heure avait sonné - littéralement, l'heure a sonné. Mais, ce qu'on entend, c'est que "le moment est arrivé". Le sens vient de la méditation de John Donne 17, Pour qui sonne le glas.

PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him. And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
Read more, ...

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

laissez-moi réfléchir

Laissez-moi réfléchir, laisse-moi réfléchir

Let me think about it

Getting through conversational French, or any language for that matter, requires a grab bag of  phrases that allows the speaker to pause and collect his thoughts. Laissez-moi réfléchir, is a useful one. The distinction between laissez and laisse, both imperative commands, depends on who is being addressed. Laissez is addressed to the formal vous, and laisse to the more informal tu.

Un exemple,

"Laissez-moi réfléchir à la réponse à cette question." Qu'est-ce qu'un politicien dire, avant qu'il ne répond pas à la question.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Mise en place

Mise en place, literally,  "put in place", pronounced "miz en plaz". Mise comes from the French root verb mettre, to put or place. Mise is the participe passé or past participle of the verb. The phrase translates in English to mean, "everything in place". Ready to go.

In the culinary world, the phrase is used to describe the setting up of the kitchen. An organized cook has all the pots and pans ready, the bowls all in a row, the spices pre-measured and the ingredients cut and chopped. This makes it so much simpler to cook.

But cooks don't own the phrase. It is used often in other contexts to suggest that everything is in place and ready to go. The theatrical world uses a similar phrase mise en scene to mean that the stage is set and the show is ready to go. But, it seems every organizer of complex tasks adopts the phrase.

Here, for example, is a message from Overblog, the French blogger, about their new features.
Comme indiqué dans la newsletter précédente, nous souhaitons que votre arrivée soit parfaite, dans un vrai cocon, et attendons donc la mise en place des fonctionnalités que vous connaissez et appréciez sur OverBlog ..., ou encore la personnalisation/mise en forme de vos textes, le tout en conservant l’intégralité de votre contenu, jusqu’à votre design si vous le souhaitez.
Interestingly, Google Translator uses "implementation" as a synonym for la mise en place. Not bad, but it misses a point. Gentil lecteur, let this be a reminder that nuance is more than a mere word.

Nuance est plus d'un simple mot.

Friday, November 9, 2012

On ne change pas

 «On ne change pas», littéralement «we don't change".

Les Américains  voudraient dire, "nothing changes". Ou, un peu différente est l'expression paradoxale, «plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose», "the more things change, the more they stay the same." L'implique de le idée est que notre destin est hors de notre contrôle. Je suis qui je suis. Je ne peux pas changer. Le fatalisme.

Céline Dion a fait une chanson en utilisant la phrase, On ne change pas, ce qui avait pour but de résumer 25 ans de sa carrière.

Les mots en Francais:

On ne change pas
On met juste les costumes d'autres sur soi
On ne change pas
Une veste ne cache qu'un peu de ce qu'on voit
On ne grandit pas
On pousse un peu, tout juste le temps d'un rêve, d'un songe
Et les toucher du doigt
Mais on n'oublie pas
L'enfant qui reste, presque nu les instants d'innocence
Quand on ne savait pas
On ne change pas
On attrape des airs et des poses de combat
On ne change pas
On se donne le change, on croit que l'on fait des choix ...

En Anglais
We do not change
We simply put on the costumes of another self
We do not change
A jacket simply hides a little of what we see
We do not grow
But push a little, just enough time to dream, for a song
A touch of the finger
But one can't forget
The child that remains, almost naked in their moments of innocence
When one did not know
We do not change
We take on the airs and poses of combat
We do not change
One gives oneself to change, believing that we make choices...

Thursday, November 8, 2012

l'esprit de l'escalier

l'esprit de l'escalier

Literally “the spirit of the staircase,” which describes the experience of thinking too late of the perfect thing to have said. Hindsight.


French writer Denis Diderot coined it in the 18th Century. He was editor and contributor to the Encyclopédie, so we know that he like to think a lot in hindsight. Diderot explained that the perfect rejoinder (repartee) always occurred on the stairway out, a reference to the fact that political discussions in France took place on the second floor. And to confuse you even more, in France the second floor is referred to as the first floor. Go figure.

I like to say in English, "A day late and a dollar short."Friends often say, 20/20 hindsight, the idea that one can see clearly from afar.

La philosophe Denis Diderot l'a inventé au 18ème siècle. Il étais rédacteur et collaborateur de l'Encyclopédie, nous savons donc qu'il plais à penser beaucoup de recul. Diderot expliqué que la réplique parfaite (répartie) se produit toujours sur l'escalier sur, une référence au fait que les discussions politiques en France a eu lieu au deuxième étage. Et pour vous embrouiller encore plus, en France, le deuxième étage est considéré y comme le premier étage. Comprendrez.

Je tiens à dire en anglais, "Un jour tard et un dollar court." Amis disent souvent, 20/20 Avec le recul, l'idée que l'on peut voir clairement de loin.


Sunday, November 4, 2012

tête-à-tête

Tête-à-tête - From Wikitionary: A face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head. Suppose that you are not getting along with someone at the office. Then, you might ask for a tête-à-tête to work out your differences.

tête-à-tête


I like this one because it suggests a private get together between two people to confer, conspire, or just work out a private agreement. There is also the implication that the conversation is held in confidence. Literally, the words are head to head. In Germany they say unter vier Augen, or under four eyes. The meaning is the same. The Spanish phrase mano a mano, literally, hand-to-hand, has a completely different meaning, suggesting a hand-to-hand, one-on-one fight to the finish.

Friday, October 26, 2012

ça ne fait rien

The phrase ça ne fait rien literally translates as "that doesn't matter." Other French synonyms include,  ce n'est pas grave, peu importe, qu'importe, tant pis, and ça m'est égal; but none of these conveys the depth of despair and resignation intended by the original words. Ne fait meaning "doesn't make for", and Rien meaning "nothing". The words are an expression of a resigned, even cynical, acceptance of a sad state of affairs.

The phrase was adopted by the British Tommies in World War I and morphed into the British expression san fairy ann.

The British soldiers who went off to fight in France during the Great War (World War I) popularized the phrase.  They soon discovered that despite the popular frenzy, there was nothing great about war. Britain lost almost a million men, and the term Lost Generation refers to the generation of young men who along with their ideals were consumed in the mechanized slaughter. The contrast between idealism and the cold brutal reality of war undoubtedly inspired the phrase san fairy ann among the young soldiers. Many of Britain's best and brightest died, as a civilian population at home eventually learned of brutal trench warfare, gas attacks, senseless mass attacks, and poor generalship.

In 1976, Paul McCartney reprised the phrase, altering the spelling and the meaning, in his song San Ferry Anne. You can also listen to a romantic interpretation of the phrase in French by Alain Chamfort in his song Ca Ne Fait Rien.

Matthew Stewart in his blog Rogue Strands gives a good modern day explanation of the phrase and a poem to boot.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Ça m'est égal

Ça m'est égal 

Ça m'est égal - I love this one. If you are new to French like me say, Je l'aime.

In English we would probably translate it literally as "It's all the same to me." But if you were a cynic, and here it matters not whether you are French or English, it might come out as "I don't give a shit." To which I would politely add, "Pardon my French," an American idiom meaning excuse my swear words. Meanings depend on context and nuance, and nuances are often subtle.

I love this one both for its attitude of sans souci, and also for the way the words come out. I have a dog named Sammy, and it almost sounds like I am starting the phrase with a call to, "Sammy". Phonetically, I guess it comes out as, "Sa may ta gal", and the emphasis is on the second syllable. But don't take my word for it, ask a Frenchman or better yet cherchez la femme.