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Meantime, Kristi says: I know I'm becoming French because….
I'm writing for two French magazines! France Today and, now, French Provincial–Australia's #1 magazine for French style and culture!
Thrilled to be joining the editorial team at French Provincial. This magazine, once only found in stores in Australie, is now available to all of us via digital subscription! You can buy any issue. (To see my back page column, select the issue pictured here :-)
TODAY'S WORD
éternuer (ay-tehr-noo-ay)
: to sneeze, or expirer bruyamment (breathe out loudly)
AUDIO FILE
One way you know you're becoming French is when you answer "à vos souhaits" after somebody sneezes. (Listen to Jean-Marc read the example sentence): Download MP3 or Wav file
Eternuer. Atchoum! Quand on éternue en France, on dit: "A vos souhaits" ou "à tes souhaits."
To sneeze. Achoo! When someone sneezes in France, we say: "Bless you."
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE… by Kristin Espinasse
After telling you to complete the sentence, "You know you are becoming French when (fill in blank)," I began to worry that some of you might not know how to answer.
"But I've never been to France," you might say. "How can I be sure I'm becoming French when I've not been exposed to all the French culture that I'm dying to be exposed to!!
Never Fear! Pas de souci! I've been digging through my photo archives to come up with pictures to jog your mind. Do any of today's photos sing to you?
Here are those pictures, along with possible ways you may be becoming French and not even know it!
1) (Observe photo at opening of this edition: You know you're becoming French when you buy baguettes (even frozen ones) at every chance.
You know you are becoming French when…
2) The sight of French penmanship makes your heart do backflips: flip, flip, flip, flippity-dip!
3) You're an olive eater. Sure, the Greeks are olive eaters too, but you are a French olive eater! (Think little niçoise olives…)
4) You love bleu things, bis things, and boot things (or sabots like that yellow one, with the flowers in it).
To sidetrack a bit, and because you are hungry to learn all things French–I just know you are wondering about significance of "bis" when you see the little word written beside a house number. Well, let me tell you, after 21 years in France I learned this most significant detail last week…. when trying to find Beth and Guillermo's house.
"By the way," Beth had said in a second email, "I live at 9 rue (bla bla bla)."
But when Jean-Marc and I turned up at number 9, and a grand-mère opened the door in her little apron or tablier–a whoosh of pot-au-feu vapors streaming out beside her, I knew we were not chez Beth and Guillermo (who'd promised to make TAGINE!).
"Are you sure your friends aren't at 9 bis?" Grand-mère said….
Turns out they were! And the first thing I said to Beth after kissing her on both cheeks is: YOU ARE at 9 A! Not "9". NINE A!
So, dear readers, let's remember this one together, once and for all:
Bis = "A" when referring to a house number. The photo above, therefore, reads "65 A"
5) You know you are becoming French when you are territorial….
The sign at the bus stop reads: "Chaise à laisser sur place. SVP. Merci" (Don't touch this chair, please. It belongs here. Thanks!")
2007. Cooking for our first harvesters, back at Domaine Rouge-Bleu….
6) You know you are becoming French when your kitchen has little French touches here and there and everywhere
COMMENTS HERE
YOUR TURN! Tell us one way in which you know you're becoming French. Click here and enter to win the book just below.
Thanks go out to these sponsors:
Provence Dreamin'? Maison des Pelerins, Sablet. A Vacation Rental Dream in the heart of the Côte du Rhone.
Provence & French Alps Tours – Two regions of France in one affordable tour. Majestic mountains, Provence colors. Wine tastings, Michelin Star cuisine.
One more way you are becoming French: you love ferronnerie d'art or ironwork of art. Here, in our shopping section, is a cozy kissing bench for the garden. It is also a wonderful conversation piece. I'm looking for one of these in France, meantime, for US readers, you can get one at Amazon!
WINNER UPDATE
Félicitations to Cynthia Lewis who has won the copy of this charming book.
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quand je rêve en français.
I know I am becoming french as I never leave the house without a scarf – regardless of the season.
Your kitchen cabinet tops are lined with empty French wine bottles from Bordeaux, Burgogne, Alsace, etc.
I love FWAD! Plus yes, I Love French Script
and I Love ironwork….especially Iron garden
gates:) And then too just recently i discovered one possible meaning for my name is
etoile ~ star!
I know I’m becoming french because I’m always telling my husband to stop leaving unnecessary lights on.
I know I am becoming French when I can pronounce each word correctly on FWAD daily lesson w a little help from Smokey.
I know I am becoming French when I call my children and now my granddaughter, Mon petit chou! a phrase I learned in France 40 years ago!!!
I know I am becoming more French because I now creally appreciate partaking in a spot of chabrol.
I knew I was becoming French when I held my granddaughter 45 minutes after her birth, and promised to take her to Paris! I fulfilled my promise to her at age 10, and now she has Eiffel Towers all over her room.
I know I’m becoming French when I’m in Paris I always start to cry because I feel like Paris is my real home and the U.S. is merely where I happened to be born.
Most of my facebook posts are about France and my friends think of me when they think of Paris!
I know I’m becoming French when I think of my adopted father Maurice Le Blanc who never spoke French because my mother didn’t understand the language. He had a certain je ne sais quoi. I have French for dummies app on my I phone, my daughter name is Michelle Renée. Like many of the other comments I love the beauty of what being French is. Thank you for allowing me to see France through your eyes. Merci beaucoup!
I am becoming French because I do my best to speak to my best friend in French when I am talking to her on the phone and don’t want anyone else to hear what I am saying.
…………now that I can swear at the “chauffards! with fluent insults !!
Thank you for solving the bis mystery. I had concluded it meant the house or apartment “behind.”
In addition to listening to streaming music with French announcements and taking several classes in French, I have now set my proofing language in Word to French to aid in the French that I type in. My French is not up to posting this message in French, but soon, I hope…
I have learned to make macarons!
I walk into a shop and cheerily say, “Hello!” and when I leave say, “Thank you!” Just like I do when I am in France.
I know I love the French culture and am becoming French because after
Reading a the comments above,I now feel the need to go to a cafe and have a cafe au lait avec un croissant and furthermore this afternoon it will
Be du Brie avec un Bon verre de vin . Merci tout le monde!!
I knew I was becoming French when I traveled to the small commune in SW France to find the birthplace of my great great grandfather and my French roots. I came home with a copy of his birth record to frame. And I like to use the 2 or 3 French phrases I know whenever possible!
here in new york’s hudson valley, my television is programmed to turn onto channel FRANCE 24.
I know I’m becoming more French because iI speak French to my two Siamese almost exclusively. (And they never criticize my accent!)
Bizet et Tosca sont trés Francais.
More and more of my house decor is French themed..including a large decal of the Eiffel Tower on my boudoir wall ! Nearly all my blogs are french themed…and when I go to Paris I know my way around Montmartre very well…
I know I’m becoming French because I’m adding French words in my conversations, I walk to the grocery, carry cloth bags and can’t go with out your blog posts…I feel very French after visiting your Blog. Merci- Darlene
I have studied french and traveled to France,but I became french when I located my father’s family in Paris. That part of the family were french citizens when my father went to USA as a boy of 12, alone. My Uncles and Aunts were sent to the camps by the Nazi invaders where they died. My cousins were relocated and survived to become famous enough to be in the french wikipedia. Several of these cousins wrote books that were published and still are available on Amazon. In one book, there is reference to a visit my father made to France. I have always been interested in France, but when I read my father’s name in a french book written by my cousin , in french, I became french.
I respond to my co-workers in French and they are starting to understand! I begin by saying “Bonjour” when I walk into the shop and they all smile and say it back.
I know I am becoming French when I talk to people in French and then realize they don’t speak French and are talking to me in English.
I know I am becoming French when I want to walk everywhere to I can take in the fresh air and scenery.
I know I am becoming French when I want to drive a small car.
I know I am becoming French when I realize everything in my house and my wardrobe has turned French.
I realize I ama becoming French when I know that if I were left on a desert island and could chose only one food, it would be a French
bguette!
I know I am becoming french, when I eat in french restaurants. If the waiter gives me a menu in english, I can’t understand it at all, as I am more familiar with all the food and menu words in french.
Several ways: I know a good baguette from a poor one. We eat dinner much later than most Americans and we have salad last instead of at the beginning of the meal.
I know I am becoming more French when I can’t pass up a lavender plant.
Oh I am so NOT French- I’m an American, born and raised. However – I deeply admire French culture (food, humor, music, fine arts, true friendship, intelligence and wit, style, élan) and I speak French well enough for French people to almost always ask if I am French. I realized years ago that no matter how much I love the country, study the language, take courses with Le Clezio, read literature, memorize songs, live in Paris, visit Nice, attend classes in Pau…the reality is that I will never actually BE French with that historical perspective, childhood memories, favorite foods, beloved nursery rhymes, etc. My French friends seem to appreciate this.
Je sais que je deviens francaise parce que je reve en francais et mon mari me dit que de temps en temps je parle en francais pendant que je dors.
une raison que me fait français: J’aime mieux les chansons en français même si je dois m,en servir de la dictionnaire pour les traductions!
When I cook my crepes on an commercial crepe machine.
I know that I am becoming French because of the ache I felt in my heart after the massacre in Paris, after the deaths in the Jewish deli.
Because of the terrible pain I felt for my French friends, especially those of Jewish descent. Because I felt compelled to email my friends in Paris and because of the heartfelt responses of appreciation I received in return. Because I feel their solidérité, And because I love and respect them so much for it.
When I’ve read every book on Paris, Parisians and French culture in the public library.