A Bon Speak Easy is a good Speak Easy

A Bon Speak Easy Why make a bon Speak Easy? One of the most used words in French must be bon. It is used is wish everyone a good day, week, weekend, trip, courage, luck and more. It also has a negative meaning at times. This puzzle includes as many bon phrases as we could find while not repeating the ones we all know from the get go such as bonjour, bon anniversaire, bonbon. I once heard a server in a restaurant wish someone a bon début de fin de soirée. And just yesterday was reminded of another good "bon" phrase when an exasperated mother said "bon sang!" to her kids. Post your translation of bon sang in the comments below this article. The best translation will win a copy of Volume 3 (from which this puzzle is extracted) of the Speak Easy Puzzles book (contest ends 31/12/2021). Bon Speak Easy! This puzzle is included in the new Speak Easy book. Volume 3 is now available with fifty new puzzles to challenge your French and English. Copies may be purchased at the FUSAC …
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  • 23 novembre 2021
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The Prix Goncourt, France’s prestigious literary prize

The Prix Goncourt, France's prestigious literary prize The Prix Goncourt is a French literary prize given each year to an outstanding work in prose. Usually, novels are preferred. It is the most prestigious literary award in France and in literary circles it is considered the French equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize and it was awarded on November 3rd this year.  The prize is named after the Goncourt brothers, Edmond and Jules, known as art critics and writers of novels and diaries in the 19th century. Their relationship was quite unique, they not only never spent a day apart in their life, called themselves Juldemond and claimed to be twins (although they were born eight years apart) but they also wrote together all of their novels and non-fiction and even their journal, which they wrote using the « dual dictation » technique, where one brother dictated to the other. Their style of writing was so similar that it was impossible to tell which brother wrote a particular passage. T…
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  • 11 novembre 2021
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Why is it called? Part 2: French place names

Why is it called… Part 2: French place names or toponyms Have you ever asked yourself why something is called by a particular name? Place names are also called toponyms. We've learned Paris was named for the Celtic tribe the Parisii who lived in the area (why the Parisii were called that is still up for discussion), that the Seine was named for the nymph Séquana. Here are some other topoynms from the Paris area. Feel free to add your town in the comments. Versailles: The most likely origin of the name Versailles, first mentioned in 1038 as land belonging to a person named Hughes, comes from the Latin word versare which means to turn over (verser, reverser in French) and probably referred to Hughes’s agricultural efforts of clearing and preparing his land for planting. “Un versailles” or “versail” in old French refers to cleared land. Stains: The name of the town of Stains, a town north of Paris, rings strangely in anglophone ears because we hear a noun that means "a mar…
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  • 7 novembre 2021
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Discover 90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French

90+ Ways You Know You're Becoming French This cute little book that fits in your hand was inspired from the original article 20 Ways You Know You're Becoming French The article got such good response from our readers that author Shari Leslie Segall had the great idea to make it into a book. We teamed up with an artist  for watercolor illustrations and thought up more than 90+ points that are ways you know you are becoming French. Such as: would never conceive of a holiday menu without foie gras, oysters and glazed chestnuts ask everyone you know about their recent/upcoming vacances know who Marianne is Judith, an American in Paris since the 1990s, had this to say after reading the book 90+ Ways You Know You're Becoming French:

"This is really funny--I actually improved my quality of life from "Becoming French". The one about saying bonjour to the bus driver and not your neighbor? I realized I didn't often greet the bus driver so …

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  • 3 novembre 2021
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Bicycle visibility

Darkness is coming: Visibility for biking and jogging When daylight savings time ends and you have daylight from only 8 am to 4 pm there's a lot of bike riding that is done in the dark. How can you put the odds of being seen on your side? Bicycle visibility = Shine! Some things are pretty obvious: florescent shirt or jacket, reflective vest, headlights and tail lights. That's the minimum. But you can do more and with more panache too! I ride with multiple forms of light and reflectors and for that matter I use all of my visibility techniques during broad daylight too. The way I see it you can never be too visible. The next FUB 'Cyclists, Shine!' ‘Cyclistes, brillez !’ Campaign will be held from November 1-7, 2021. The FUB (FÉDÉRATION FRANÇAISE DES USAGERS DE LA BICYCLETTE) invites its associations, partners and all defenders of active modes to mobilize and make cyclists aware of the importance of good lighting: in fact, in autumn and winter, cyclists without lighting o…
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  • 1 novembre 2021
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Music in France: Three American rising stars

Three of the rising American stars of music in France are female. They offer three different styles all inspiring and uplifting. They are all performing in the Paris area this November.

Karina Canellakis

Born in 1981 in New York City in a family of musicians, Karina Canellakis studied at the Julliard School and made a name for herself as a violinist. While at the Berlin Philharmonic Academy, Simon Rattle noticed her interest in conducting and encouraged her to continue in this direction. She worked with the Chicago Orchestra, then won the 2016 Georg Solti Prize while an assistant with the Dallas Orchestra. She was subsequently invited to conduct many prestigious orchestras in North America, Europe and Australia. Her performances and positions are frequently "first female" accomplishments in the world of conducting dominated by men. In November she is in Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées, Karina Canellakis where she will be conducting the Orchestre N…

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  • 28 octobre 2021
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Magic at the Gallery of Compared Anatomy

Magic at the Gallery of Compared Anatomy For the writer Paul Claudel, The Gallery of Compared Anatomy was "rien de moins que [le] plus beau musée de Paris […]. À chacun de mes passages en France, je reviens visiter cette galerie sublime avec un sentiment de vénération religieuse, qui chaque fois, me donne envie d’enlever non seulement mon chapeau mais aussi mes chaussures."  One of the most unusual museums you’ll see in Paris, the Gallery of Compared Anatomy and Paleontology, part of the Muséum first opened in 1898. They have an exceptional collection of skeletons (as well as organs) of all the terrestrial and marine creatures known to man, displayed as if they were marching all together towards the end of the earth. It is impressive all these bones in one place and it allows the comparison of sizes, forms and means of locomotion of these creatures. Look at a giraffe next to a horse, next to a cat and understand what they share and what makes them different. Upstairs is the p…
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  • 12 octobre 2021
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