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Reading matters and neuro pathways need work to groove.

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Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound | Maryanne Wolf

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When the reading brain skims texts, we don't have time to grasp complexity, to understand another's feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age writes Maryanne Wolf, author of Reader, Come Home

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vowels

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What if English were phonetically consistent? Find that out in this interesting video

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Everyone loves to change vowels

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The language nerds. 128,887 likes · 133,638 talking about this. Are you a language enthusiast? Do you study language for a living? For curiosity? Or just for the fun of it? Whatever part of your life...

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Bibliothèque nationale de France

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[Plans géométrals minéralogiques et profils de mines d'or et de cuivre en Sibérie] / par Mr. l'abbé Chappe d'Hauteroche,... ; Croisey sc.

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Plans géométrals minéralogiques et profils de mines d'or et de cuivre en Sibérie] / par Mr. l'abbé Chappe d'Hauteroche,... ; Croisey sc. -- 1768 -- cartes

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Xavier RAVIER

THOMAS JEFFERSON ET LA LANGUE D'OC

La lettre adressée d'Aix-en-Provence le 29 mars 1787 par Thomas Jefferson à son secrétaire et confident William Short contient un bien curieux passage, susceptible de captiver tous ceux qu'intéressent l'histoire de la langue occitane en particulier et l'histoire des idées linguistiques en général. Nous tenons à remercier notre eminent ami, le professeur Philippe Wolff, d'avoir attiré notre attention sur ce texte capital et d'accueillir dans les Annales du Midi le commentaire que nous en proposons*.

Mais commençons par prendre connaissance du passage qui nous occupe de cette fameuse lettre, dans lequel celui qui allait devenir le troisième président des Etats-Unis d'Amérique exprime ses jugements, impressions, sentiments à son arrivée en terre provençale après un voyage vers le sud commencé à Paris, poursuivi par Lyon, puis par la déjà méridionale Vienne et Nîmes :

" Another circumstance contrary to my expectation is the change of language. I had thought the Provençale only a dialect of the French ; on the contrary the French may rather be considered as a dialect of the Provençale. That is to say, the Latin is the original. Tuscan and Spanish are degeneracies in the first degree. Piedmontese (as I suppose) in the 2d. Provençale in the 3d and Parisian French in the 4th. But the Provençale stands nearer to the Tuscan than it does to the French, and it is my Italian which enables me to understand the people here, more than my French. This language, in different shades occupies all the country South of the Loire. Formerly it took precedence of the French under the name of la langue Romans. The ballads of it's Troubadours were the delight of the several courts of Europe, and it is from thence that the novels of the English are called Romances. Every letter is pronounced, the articulation is distinct, no nasal sounds disfigure it, and on the whole it stands close to the

* Maître de recherche au C.N.R.S., co-directeur du Laboratoire associé 247 (Etudes méridionales), 56, rue du Taur, Toulouse.

* Philippe Wolff a donné dans les Annales historiques de la Révolution Française, 1976, n" 4, pp. 595-613, une très utile étude intitulée Le voyage de Thomas Jefferson en Provence et Languedoc en 1787 : nos lecteurs voudront bien s'y reporter.

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Thomas Jefferson et la langue d'Oc - Persée

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Xavier RAVIER THOMAS JEFFERSON ET LA LANGUE D'OC La lettre adressée d'Aix-en-Provence le 29 mars 1787 par Thomas Jefferson à son secrétaire et confident William Short contient un bien curieux passage, susceptible de captiver tous ceux qu'intéressent l'histoire de la langue occitane en particulier et l'histoire des idées linguistiques en général.

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I've been in Paris for just over three years now. My French was about a two out of ten when I arrived, now it's about a 7.5.

Here's a look back at 30 things I've noticed about the French language - from learning it in real time with real French people. Let's start with the formalities.

Oh, and If you like what you see here, consider becoming an Earful Tower member 🙂 And a note to regular readers: A few of these I've touched on before.
FORMALITIES 1. You can say "Re-hello"
Well, rebonjour to be exact. That's when you see someone for the second time in the same day. You can even say rebonsoir if the same thing happens in the evening.
2. If someone asks you "How are you?" you can respond "always"
In French class, you learn: Ca va? Très bien, et vous? (How are you? Very well, and you?). But some people respond to "Ca va?" with just toujours (always).
3. ... you can also respond with impec
It's short for impeccable, and it's much more fun than just saying "tres bien".
4. In fact, you don't even really need to respond.
If someone says Ca va?, you can answer oui (yes) or simply et toi? (And you?). It might sound rude (hey, it might even be rude), but people do it all the time.
5. ...you can even just respond by repeating them.
Ca va? means "how are you?", or literally: "It goes." Another translation could be "All good?" That might help to understand that two French people could say:

"Ca va?"... "Ca va. Ca va?" ... "Ca va."

In a rough translation: "All good with you?" "Yeah, all good with me. All good with you?" "Yeah, all good with me too". Sometimes, people even double it up, as in Ca va, ca va. By this logic, I think a conversation could legitimately have six ca vas in a row:

Person one: Ca va? Person two: Ca va, ca va. Ca va? Person one: Ca va, ca va.
WEIRD NOISES 6. If you talk like a monk you sound more French
To fill pauses in conversation, French people make a sound like a monk singing. It sounds like the word fur without the letter F. Eughhhh. If you're ever stuck for a word, throw this noise in and you will sound more French than you'd ever believe. To hear this sound in action, watch point two in my video below. (And subscribe to the YouTube channel, it's brand new!)
7. They also sound like horses
As you can witness in point one below.
8. The French say "Tak tak tak"
Sometimes, when a French person is, say, adding together numbers, or pushing buttons on a machine, they absent-mindedly say "tak tak tak" as they do it. I have no idea how to actually spell it, but it sounds like they say tack tack tack. The best bit is that they often don't even realize they're doing it, and deny it indignantly if you bring it up with them.
9. You can just chuck "bah" anywhere and it's ok
This is another VERY popular filler word, I suppose it's quite slangy. It's pronounced like bah or bar, and just fills any pause with sound. This word featured in the episode we did about the worst words in the French language. Have a listen here.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/theearfultower/c1a3-6d4e-4e66-bd77-3ac008e5c310.m4a
10. The more la's that you add to oh la la, the stronger your reaction
While no one ever says Sacre Bleu, people often do say Oh la la, meaning "Oh my god". The more la's you add, the more you're reacting. Eg: If you see a man fall off a bridge, you might say "Oh la la la la". If he miraculously landed in a passing boat you might even take it a step further and add an extra la or two.

If the Seine River flooded so badly that even the lampposts were getting submerged, you could warrant around four las, I'd say.
THEY SHORTEN WORDS 11. Keep it short
The French are known to say Bon aprem for bon apres midi (good afternoon), comme d'hab for comme d'habitude (as usual) and bon app for bon appetit!
12. T hey also like to shorten place names 13. Kids say mercredi instead of merde
It's not just ordinary words! In Paris, for example, some say Place d'It instead of Place d'Italie, Inva for Invalides, and Montpar for Montparnasse.
14. They also say puree instead of putain
Children who are in the process of saying the swear word "merde" (shit) but are in the company of adults will sometimes change the word halfway through from merde to mercredi (Wednesday). It's a euphemism, kind of like how people say "shoot" instead of "shit" in English.
15. They sometimes say shwee instead of Je suis
It's much more pleasant way to say 'whore'.
THEY LOVE SLANG 16. If somethings really good, it's like a cow
If you're new to France (or French), you may not realize that you don't actually have to pronounce all the letters in "Je suis" (I am). Nope. Loads of French people just say shwee instead and get away with it.
17. They actually use a backwards language 18. They ask where you boss...
The word "vachement" means "really", but literally means "cow-ly". As in, that holiday was vachement bien (cow-ly good). Why do they use this? No idea. But I love it. This word featured in one of the most popular Earful Tower episodes - The 24 best words in the French language. Listen by clicking play below.
19. You can call someone "my big"
http://traffic.libsyn.com/theearfultower/WorldRadioParis_-_Earful_Tower___French_words_special_1.m4a
20. You can say "hello the guys"
It's called Verlan, and we talked about it in the show before. But it's essentially switching syllables in words around. Eg: Merci is Cimer. While this might sound like some kind of kids' language, French people actually use it, provided they are under the age of 40. You may have used it without even knowing - the singer Stromae is Verlan for Maestro, the word Meuf comes from Femme (woman or girlfriend)... and the word Verlan itself... yep, it comes from L'envers (reverse).

Speaking of slang, beware of being asked where you bosse. The first time I heard it I was bamboozled. Does this guy think I'm a boss somewhere? Where do I boss? I'm not a boss. Or am I? Turns out it just means "to work", so "tu bosses ou" means where do you work? Sounds so easy, but it sure caught me off guard.
21. All the guys are "dudes"
One thing I love about French is that you can call a mate "mon grand" (my big) and it's considered a cool thing to say. As I understand, they don't even need to be that tall.
IT MIGHT NOT ALWAYS SEEM LOGICAL 22. Baguette doesn't always mean bread
Sometimes I translate French into English literally in my head, so when someone says "salut les gars" I hear "Hello the guys" and it makes me smile. Why the "the"? Who knows. I actually asked the Mayor of the Marais in Paris why French mayors are called Monsieur Le Maire (Mister The Mayor)... but he didn't really give me a satisfactory answer. Listen to the conversation here.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/theearfultower/WorldRadioParis_-_Earful_Tower___What_its_like_to_be_a_mayor_of_Paris_with_Christophe_Girard.m4a

Every French guy under 40 refers to every other French guy under 40 as "mec" (pronounced meck). It could be translated as "dude" but is not as slangy. If you want to fit in in France, start your conversations with guys with a "salut mec" and voila, you fit in.
23. You can say si instead of oui for yes
I was once ordering sushi to take away and the mec at the desk asked me if I wanted some baguettes with it. I was gobsmacked. No, I said, I don't want baguettes with my sushi. I also wondered where the baguettes were in the tiny sushi shop.
24. You can say "not bad" as an amount
It took a while for me to understand that he meant chopsticks. I then thought he was just using baguettes as slang for chopsticks, as they're both kind of long and pointy, but no, chopsticks are actually called baguettes. Baguette just means stick. In fact, Harry Potter's magic wand is a Baguette magique in France.

While we're on the topic, there are actually at least ten things that the French call "baguette".
BONUS POINTS 26. You need to stock up on your bons
Did you know that you can also use the word si for "yes"? But there's a twist - you can only use it if someone asks you a negatively-toned question. Eg: "You don't speak French, do you?" Then, BAM, you can respond with "si" (that is, if you do speak French).
27. They don't say cheese, they say marmoset
To say "not bad" in French, you say pas mal (kinda pronounced pah mull). But you can also use pas mal to describe when there are a lot of things. For example: What can we do at the beach? Loads! There's pas mal de choses a faire (there are plenty of things to do).

There are many ways of determining how well someone speaks French. There are levels from A1 to C2, university degrees, and Duolingo levels. But for me, we're all in one of two categories. Those who have used the filler phrase du coup - a filler phrase that doesn't mean anything - and those who haven't. As I admitted on the episode with the Australian ambassador, dear readers, that I am in the latter group. For now.
28. Be careful with the word mademoiselle
Everyone knows the French say bonjour (and even rebonjour, apparently). They also say things like bonsoir, bon appetit, and bonne journee. But I had no idea they say so many other bons, which you should really know. Every day of the week can have a bon (bon dimanche = Have a good Sunday). You can say bonne degustation, bonne continuation, bonnes vacances, and bonne chance, of course. The list goes on and on forever. It remains unknown at this point if, when buying candy, the seller says bon bonbon, but they probably do.

When someone's taking a picture of French people, they don't yell out "Say Cheese". No, they don't even yell out "Say fromage ", as you might have suspected. But they do often yell out "Ouistiti".
Related listening: The struggles of being a woman in France
What's a ouistiti? Well, apparently it's a marmoset, which is apparently a small monkey with an outlandish haircut. In fact, that's a marmoset in the picture above. The idea is that the word ouistiti, like the English word cheese, makes your mouth naturally smile 🙂
29. They like to add the pronoun at the end
You learn in school that a person is either a monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle. But many today consider the word mademoiselle to be outdated and even sexist (why should I woman have to reveal if she is married or not?). So, keep this in mind if you plan to use the word Mademoiselle. I should stress, many women have no issue with the word and it's still common.
30. And lastly... Sometimes you get an A+ without even trying For language-based episodes, head over to our language section. Why not start with the 24 best words in the French language?
Bonus trivia: There used to be a word for young man - mondamoiseau - but it died out.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/theearfultower/WorldRadioParis_-_Earful_Tower___What_is_it_like_to_be_a_woman_in_France-.m4a

Imagine saying in English: I'm cold, me. Or: He's funny, him. Well, they do that in French sometimes. Eg: J'ai froid, moi. Il est drole, lui. It's a good way to show you speak good French. You should fake it til you make it, you.

The French love to shorten A plus tard (See you later) to A plus. Then they shorten it again to A+ in text speak (and they do it often). It's pronounced Ah ploose (rhymes with "a moose") and when I first saw it I thought someone was suggesting I had done a really good job with something, like an A plus effort. I hadn't. They were just saying goodbye.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/theearfultower/WorldRadioParis_-_Earful_Tower___French_words_special_1.m4a

Or learn how to improve your French here.

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30 eyebrow-raising things I've learned about the French language in my three years in Paris

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I've been in Paris for just over three years now. My French was about a two out of ten when I arrived, now it's about a 7.5. Here's a look back at 30 things I've noticed about the French language - from learning it in real time with real French people.

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Les particularités linguistiques du français selon les régions

André Thibault travaille sur les particularités linguistiques des régions. Il nous parle de ce qui est particulier au...

Pas de grève à la SAQ pour la fête nationale

Les résultats du vote sur un mandat de grève ne seront connus que lundi.

Enfant retrouvé mort dans une auto: les enquêteurs rencontreront les parents la semaine prochaine

L'hypothèse privilégiée par les policiers est celle de l'oubli par inadvertance.

Mauvais temps et problèmes techniques ne ralentissent pas les ardeurs de la Fête nationale

Pas moins de 1200 spectacles étaient prévus au programme.

David Huggins Daines - Abonné 23 juin 2018 07 h 11

Enfin, des linguistes au Devoir!

C'est très rafraichissant de lire un article sur la langue française au Devoir qui la décrit telle qu'elle est et pas telle qu'on voudrait qu'elle soit. Qui reconnait que la langue est toujours en transformation. Qui ne se plaint pas d'une prétendue dégradation du parler des jeunes mais soutient le fait qu'en réalité il se rapproche de la norme française ou internationale, et ce, depuis des décennies.

Merci,
Un linguiste

Jacques Dupé - Inscrit 23 juin 2018 09 h 03

Le français dans tous ses états...

Il ne faudrait pas oublier l'Afrique ! Par exemple, au Cameroun, on dit d'un homme qui est " galant ", dans le sens " élégant ". Évidemment, notre langue a tendance à se normaliser, c'est dommage !

Mikhael Said - Abonné 23 juin 2018 10 h 53

Merci

Passionnant, merci pour cet article !

Guy O'Bomsawin - Abonné 23 juin 2018 12 h 13

Symptômes de déconstruction ?

Si le bateau était jadis le véhicule des langues méditerranéennes et européennes, leurs nets lissages et glissages se sont évidemment faits par les moyens de communication; le train en premier lieu, graduellement suivi des routes et des médias. Bonnes ou mauvaises, les idées ont pris le même chemin, et trop souvent armés. Dommage qu'on assiste présentement à un bombardement qui nous laisse cois du fait que des centaines de mots sont empruntés par mimétisme sans en connaître la source ou l'esprit: des semblants d'outils de communication qui ne jettent que confusion et conduisent à la déconstruction des langues et la pensée essentielle à la réflexion et au cheminement critique. Criera-t-on enfin " Au secours ! " ou se demandera-t-on quelle expression employer pour être compris de... presque tous ? Les transformations phonétiques sont-elles les signes avant-coureurs de la déconstruction d'une langue ?

Marie Nobert - Abonnée 24 juin 2018 03 h 24

À quoi sert le "J" dans Joliette...

Mauvaise "alène, alêne, allène, haleine"... Jouissif ce mois de "jou-hein" (!) Que dire de "l'oute" prochain!? Pur délice.

JHS Baril

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Comment prononcez-vous "août", "baleine", "crabe" ou "brun"?

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André Thibault travaille sur les particularités linguistiques des régions. Il nous parle de ce qui est particulier au... Les résultats du vote sur un mandat de grève ne seront connus que lundi. L'hypothèse privilégiée par les policiers est celle de l'oubli par inadvertance. Pas moins de 1200 spectacles étaient prévus au programme.

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Bully a plant, a live experiment with two IKEA plants and with thousands of children, to help to raise awareness around Anti-Bullying Day on 4th May in the Middle East.

The live experiment involved IKEA taking two of its very own plants and installing them at the school, where one plant was fed compliments and words of encouragement, while the other was verbally bullied with hateful words. The students were encouraged to record their own voices to share their love with the first plant and give words of criticism to the second, either first hand or via social media interaction. After 30 days, the results spoke for themselves - while the complimented plant continued to thrive, the bullied plant was visibly struggling, and looking dull with droopy brown leaves.

Both plants were treated strictly the same: with the same amount water. Exposed with of sunlight, water and fertiliser. The only difference being, we said words of criticism to one plant, and words of encouragement to the other, for a span of 30 days. By the end of the experiment, the impressive results spoke for themselves.

More info: youtu.be

What would happen if you bullied a plant for 30 days straight?

IKEA decided to test it out to help raise awareness around Anti-Bullying Day on 4th May in the Middle East

They placed two of their plants in a school

Where one plant was fed compliments and words of encouragement

While the other was verbally bullied with hateful words

Both plants were treated strictly the same

They both received the same amount of water, sunlight and fertilizer

The end result speaks for itself

Watch this video to see the experiment in detail:

Here's what people had to say about the project

Anyone can write on artFido. Start writing!

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IKEA Runs Experiment Asking People To Bully a Plant For 30 Days, And The Results Are Eyeopening - artFido's Blog

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Bully a plant, a live experiment with two IKEA plants and with thousands of children, to help to raise awareness around Anti-Bullying Day on 4th May in the Middle East. The live experiment involved IKEA taking two of its very own plants and installing them at the school, where one plant was fed compliments and...

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Formal writing and register
Hidden rules for success.

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Mandatory Report Certificate

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(électroniques et imprimées) incluant un vaste choix d'outils bibliographiques triés sur le volet par des professionnels de la Bibliothèque des sciences de l'éducation de l'UQAM. Vous y trouverez notamment des sites qui vous aideront à améliorer la qualité de votre français.

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A Calligramme is a poem that shows in an image what it is expressing in words.

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You can change your crest as much as you want to.

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You can change your crest as much as you want to.

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René d'Anjou did.

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René of Anjou ( Occitan: Rainièr d'Anjau ; French: René d'Anjou ; 1400-1480), also known as René I of Naples ( Italian: Renato I di Napoli ) and Good King René ( Occitan: Rai Rainièr lo Bòn ; French: Le bon roi René ), was count of Piedmont, Duke of Bar (1430-80), Duke of Lorraine (1431-53), Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence (1434-80), King of Naples (1435-42; titular 1442-80), titular King of Jerusalem (1438-80) and Aragon including Sicily, Majorca and Corsica (1466-70).

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Enjoy the adventure!

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28 Accents of France / 28 accents de France [audio]