Lyon City Blog 

Keywords : learn french, french language, french cuisine , lyon

Keywords : ghost writer, john harwood, french translation

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood is a brilliant ghost story (histoire de fantôme) that is homage to the Victorian tradition of the ghost story.
 
Gerard Freeman’s life is going to change as he discovered the secret manuscript of his great grandmother, Viola Hartley, a ghost story writer in the 1890s.
From that moment, his quest to reveal all the mysteries of his family background leads him to the haunted house (maison hantée) of his tormented aunt Ann in London. 

Why should his reading of the ghost stories interfere with his own life and put him in a terrifying danger?

Harwood is a talented writer who constructs his story with mysteries and nightmares.


Here is the French translation of the first chapter of The Ghost Writer (l'écrivain fantôme):

C’était dans la chambre de ma mère, une après-midi chaude de janvier, que je vis la photographie pour la première fois. Elle dormait, d‘après moi, dans la véranda à l'autre bout de la maison. Je me faufilai à l’intérieur de la pièce par l’entrebâillement de la porte: j’éprouvai alors une sensation de plaisir à transgresser ce lieu, je respirai les senteurs des parfums, des poudres, des rouges à lèvres et des autres odeurs d‘adultes, des boules de naphtaline contre les poissons d'argent et de l’insecticide contre les moustiques que nos moustiquaires n’arrivaient jamais vraiment à repousser. Les rideaux étaient tirés, le store à moitié baissé. On ne voyait rien par la fenêtre mis à part le mur de briques nu de la maison d’à côté occupée par la vieille Mrs Noonan.

When you translate an English book, you should always consider the context. As the scene takes place in Australia, we do not translate Mrs Noonan.

How to write a motivation letter in French? 
Your letter of motivation should be clear and unique so that you are sure to answer your future employer's expectations?

Give clear, simple but precise information about you
Write in clear-cut paragraphs with arguments: each paragraph shoud add new information

1. say what you are doing at the moment
2. give the reason why you apply for the job
3. talk about your experience with examples
4. describe your skills and your qualities for the job
5. show that you know the company where you would like to work
6. add your curriculum vitae

 

Keywords : basic french, food, health, shopping, holiday and travels, french vocabulary, french ban on smoking synonyms, french antonyms

Learn how to use basic French (français de base) very easily and talk about food (la nourriture), health (la santé), shopping (les courses), home (la maison), holiday (les vacances) and travels (les voyages)..

Say what you like, you dislike, you need, you don’t need, you want, you don’t want in French

Practice simple sentences and learn basic vocabulary easily about everyday life

Learn with the synonyms and the antonyms so that you get more vocabulary

Basic French Course 1

Listen to the audio file

Keywords : french culinary words, gourmandises, sweet dainties, glutton, glouton

In French when you cannot resist cheeses or when you are fond of sweets, you can use the adjective gourmand: elle est très gourmande means that she is really fond of food.

In restaurants, the word gourmand has other meanings:

Une assiette gourmande means a gastronomic or a gourmet platter  that refers to culinary customs or the art of eating.

In addition, gourmet in French is a connoisseur of food and drink.
glouton in French means somebody voracious (a glutton).
We may also say that somebody is greedy (goulu)

When we talk about sweet dainties, summer fruit delight, gourmet dessert with three chocolates, we always mean gourmandises in French.

When you speak French, you should pay attention to the words used in everyday life and the words used in French cuisine since they have different meanings.

How would you translate menu gourmand and menu gourmet?
gastronomic menu is menu gourmand and gourmet menu is menu gourmet.

Keywords : present perfect, english, french, have, past participle

The present perfect does not exist in French.

The French native speakers do not usually understand the English present perfect because they often confuse it with the French past tense passé composé that looks like  the present perfect construction: have + past participle.

We should say instead: elle vit à Londres depuis… (since or for)

When you see passé composé, imparfait, passé simple or passé antérieur in French, you should use the past in English : simple past, past continuous or plu-perfect.

The present perfect is quite different and particular in English. You can see the past in the past participle and the present in the Have auxiliary. There is no equivalent in French which uses a verb in the present tense with a time expression to express the past:

The differences between the French and the English tenses show the different visions in both languages:

The French speakers do not understand at once that “we have lived here and we are still living in the same place", they must finish reading the sentence. 
On the contrary, the English speaker understands the meaning while he is reading since the present perfect gives him the key to understand.

One of the main differences between both languages is a concrete vision of the world for the English and a more abstract vision for the French.

Therefore, no good translation can be the translation of each word but only the translation of the equivalent in order to respect both visions.

Example:

I've trained very hard in fitness activities and have developed a perfect
body. I've learned to run very fast. I've taken part in national competitions and have won a lot of gold medals. Today, I am the best French athlete.”

The present perfect is used to express one’s experience and show one’s ability in sport. Therefore, training in the past and the present has been necessary to win the competition. This example clearly shows that the past and the present cannot be separated since training in sport is the key to success. 

The French sportive people are also aware of the important role played by training in the past and in the present. 
Yet, a French will use the past to talk about his training before the competition and then connect it to his success with a linking word or a particular expression.

“Je me suis beaucoup entraîné en gymnastique et j’ai développé un corps parfait. J’ai appris à courir vite. J’ai participé à des compétitions nationales et j’ai gagné de nombreuses médailles d’or. C’est pour cela qu’aujourd’hui je suis le meilleur athlète français. »

Keywords : french text, résumé, keywords, France, French tourism, catering industry, Frenhc tourists, Paris , Riviera

When you read a French text, you should try to understand the general meaning. Then, you can write a first résumé that includes all the basic ideas.

Here is a text about France as the most touristic place in the world

Depuis 2007, la France s’inscrit comme le pays le plus touristique au monde avec 82 millions de touristes qui ont séjourné notamment dans le sud et dans la capitale. Malheureusement, la France reste une destination relativement chère et certains touristes préfèrent désormais l’Espagne ou l’Italie.
L’art de vivre français, la culture particulièrement riche et la cuisine française sont les atouts majeurs de la France. Les touristes choisissent Paris pour ses musées, sa cuisine et son chic incomparable tandis que d’autres vont séjourner en Côte d’Azur pour son climat très agréable et la beauté de ses paysages.

Comment ne pas s’étonner alors de la position de la France au 10e rang mondial pour la compétitivité touristique en termes d’infrastructures, de services et de législation sur la santé et l’hygiène ?
Sans parler du fait que les Français sont perçus comme de piètres touristes : ils ne parlent pas de langues étrangères ou si peu et ils s’imaginent que tout leur est dû. 

De plus, les professionnels français de l’hôtellerie et de la restauration sont accusés de ne pas répercuter la baisse de la TVA sur les prix et sur les salaires de leurs employés. Ce secteur a besoin de main d’œuvre mais il peine à embaucher des jeunes peu attirés par des salaires bas et des conditions de travail difficiles.

Face à la crise financière actuelle, le premier pays touristique devrait sans doute faire un effort important afin de s’adapter à un monde en pleine mutation. Dans le cas contraire, la France pourrait bien perdre ses palmes d’or touristiques.

(by Helenely)

Now that you have underlined the keywords, put them into categories to find the main ideas of the text :

1. France
dans le sud et dans la capitale
Côte d’Azur
Paris
2. Tourism
le pays le plus touristique au monde
la position de la France au 10e rang mondial pour la compétitivité touristique
les Français sont perçus comme de piètres touristes
perdre ses palmes d’or touristiques.
une destination relativement chère

In this section called Tourism, you can see that the repeated words are about tourism:
Touristique, compétitivité touristique, piètres touristes, palmes d’or touristiques.

Maybe, you do not understand the adjective « piètres » but if you read the following : « ils ne parlent pas de langues étrangères ou si peu », you can understand that the general impression is bad.
The French are bad tourists.

Compétitivité is a transparent word (it looks like the English word “competition”). So you understand that 10e is not a good point for France in this world competition.
Another negative word is “perdre” meaning lose.
In other words, France is not such a good touristic place and it is also very expensive (chère)
to visit France.

3. Hotels and Catering industry
les professionnels français de l’hôtellerie et de la restauration
ne pas répercuter la baisse de la TVA
des jeunes peu attirés par des salaires bas et des conditions de travail difficiles
professionnels, hôtellerie, la restauration are transparent words that look like professionals, hotels, restaurants and salaires bas, conditions difficiles de travail look like salaries, difficult conditions.
So, the French hospitality and catering industry does not attract many young people.


4. Conclusion
la crise financière actuelle : financial crisis (transparent word)
devrait faire un effort important : important effort (transparent word)

So, France has to make effort to stay the most touristic place in the world, especially when all the countries are suffering from the financial crisis.

Now, you are able to write your résumé:
 

Although France is considered as the best place for tourism, especially Paris and the Riviera, the country is too expensive and a poor competitor in the world industry of tourism.
The young are not interested in working in the hospitality and catering industry since the wages are too low and the working conditions too difficult.
What is more, the French are seen as bad tourists in the world.
So, France should make an effort to attract more tourists by adapting the French industry of tourism to the financial crisis.

learn French, French vocabulary, remember word lists. Most people cannot learn lists of words and expressions, even though vocabulary has been classified into relevant categories such as grammar or topics for example.

You usually need to practice vocabulary by doing some exercises in order to remember words. Many exercises try to associate listening and writing skills with what you can see since memory is a complex system that works differently from one individual to another.
Some people need to write phrases, some prefer to record vocabulary and listen to the word lists in their car while driving and others need drawings or pictures that illustrate the words.

Today, most educational programs include all the different exercises and vocabulary activities. The teachers in French National Education are advised not to make their students learn vocabulary lists by heart as they are considered as irrelevant educational methods.

You may find many school languages, e-learning courses or vocabulary text books to improve your vocabulary, but you often have not got the time or the money to buy them and do all the exercises.

However, you should remember that the only best method to learn vocabulary is to search for the words you need, write them and see them all the time so that you can learn them more easily. 

It is always easier to remember a word when you made the effort to look for it and then write it. But then, how can you see the words all the time, so that you can remember them? 

The vocabulary you need is usually about everyday life. So, how can you learn basic French without spending much money and wasting time?

The solution is everywhere you go and live. You want to know how to say in French “a fridge”, “a wardrobe”, an “orange juice”, “a wall”, “a remote control”, “a computer”… Just write the French word on post-it notes that you can put everywhere at home, in your car….

In other words, turn your home into a basic French sweet home and enjoy learning French vocabulary.

files/velov_photo.mp3

1. What sort of report?
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Keywords : how to, write a letter, French writing, start a letter, finish a letter, letter layout, useful expressions, professional letter, personal letter

Business/professional	administrative	claims	job	Love or personal
Cher(s) collègue(s) Chère(s) collègue (s) Cher associé  Madame, Monsieur, Messieurs	Madame, Monsieur, Messieurs,	Madame, Monsieur, Messieurs,	Madame, Monsieur, Messieurs,	Chère X, Cher Y Chers tous Chers amis

Example of the Letter Layout

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