Archive for August, 2006
Thursday, August 31st, 2006
Never heard of Elvis.
If you had asked me to name a French celebrity before I moved to France, then Gérard Depardieu or Vanessa Paradis are perhaps the only two, excluding politicians, I could have named.
Certainly not Johnny Hallyday - because I’d never heard of him.
This is the man who is billed as the French equivalent of Elvis - [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
Subtitles for the slow of learning
There are many ways to improve your French, and one favoured by many is to switch on the subtitles while you’re watching TV. Not only will this give you a better idea of what’s going on, it should also help understand the phonetics of the language a little better (provided you have the volume [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
Trust me - I speak Engleesh
We took our nipper to see the doctor today - for one of those harrowing hyperdermic appointments.
The doctor in question came highly recommended by way of an American acquaintance of ours.
Of course this recommendation was not based upon his abilty to diagnose symptoms; his charming bedside manner; nor his dexterity with a stethoscope. No. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Monday, August 28th, 2006
En congé
Today I was able to pick up a copy of the free local rag ‘Metro’ for the first time in about six weeks.
No stikes, or local supply problems have been to blame for this of course - because Metro hasn’t actually been published for the past six weeks! The French news industry, like all [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Sunday, August 27th, 2006
More complaining
It seems my French is destined to improve.
The complaint method was again swung into action last night when I was forced to call “La Police” to express my displeasure at being woken by a bunch of Chavs partying outside my window - at 3am.
Of course the brief conversation I had with the frankly tired-sounding [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Saturday, August 26th, 2006
Je suis gourmand
The French would describe someone who loves their food as a “Gourmand”; but literally translated into English this actually means “who ate all the pies - you greedy fat bastard”.
Only in France could such a personal affront be taken as a compliment!
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Friday, August 25th, 2006
France = Personal Space
News that the population of the UK has finally topped 60 million prompted me to do a quick bit of maths:
The published figures show that the population density of the UK as a whole, which has a surface area of 247,000 square km is around 240 (people per km sq).
Compare this with France, which has [...]
