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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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When I visited France in 2010, I had this indescribable feeling of familiarity, as though I had lived there in some former life and was returning home. I was thrilled to finally use the French that I had studied throughout high school and college, and I was amazed that they actually understood me (and complimented my accent). My husband couldn’t believe the words that spilled out of my mouth – he had never heard me speak French like that. My family is Swiss, France’s next door neighbor, so it is entirely possible (and very exciting to believe) that there is French blood in my veins. C’est magnifique et possible, n’est-ce pas?
I became French 40 years ago when I first drive through deep Provence and saw the spectacular fields of lavender and the glorious olive trees, and hear the roar of the cicadas. Instant transformation!
I know I’m becoming (more) French because my husband and I continually turn to each other and say, “Ça va?”
I remodled my kitchen with a French theme, wear a necklace with the Eiffle tower all the time &feel like I’m home the minute I arrive in Paris,
One way I know I’m becoming more French is that I answer the phone in French – without even thinking!
Before our French conversation group started, our leader was explaining a grammar concept to another student in English. I was hanging onto every word as she gave several examples. She then went on to the topic of the day. After following along for several minutes, I wondered when she had switched from English to French. I was so concentrated on the lesson, I didn’t realize she had switched languages—and I didn’t miss a word!
I know I’m becoming French when I ask the dog, ” Voulez vous faire un promenade?” and she runs for the door!
I became more French when I learned that two great grandparents were French and one Basque French. I know I am becoming more French for all the French cookbooks I have, I go to the French Bakery twice a week for baguettes. I listen to French music, make my grocery list in French and count in French. I also have many special items that are French collected over the years:wooden shoe inserts, a Majolica pitcher in the shape of a pig with jambon tied to him, a wire and wooden bread basket and many other wonderful items. There has always been a part of me that was French starting with my name and all the first songs I remember as a child were French. Then it just continued through the years. And now at 70 I still want to become more French.
I know you’re becoming French when…
you see a Citroen 2cv and you can tell what the model year is. And, you can do the same for the Citroen DS.
Because j”adore provencal blue, sunflowers, lavender, baguettes and le petite dejeuner. And the courtesy of the people of the midi. Loved your post today, hope I win the book!
I know I’m becoming more French because my emails don’t rely on Google Translator anymore. In fact, I have come to the point where I can easily correct its translations. Previously, I depended on it heavily.
Je sais que je me tourne vers le français, lorsqu’on ma demandé quelque chose a l’anglais ou a l’espagnol et je réponds o je pense en francais. (Mon langue maternelle cést l’espagnol) trop fou!!
Salut!! 🙂
On the way home from French conversation class, I talk to myself in French!
My inner French comes out when I am embarrassed by American consumerism at Christmas time, when I tell people that one of my favorite things in France is breakfast, when I close my eyes and squeeze a lavender sachet and then smell it because it smells like Provence, and when I correct other Scholastic Bowl coaches in matches where they mispronounce so many French names and terms. The family and the dogs both respond to “On y va?” and “On dine…”
Many years ago I stopped going to the boulangeries and épiceries in France around noon and being surprised to find them closing. Not only that, I also “got” why/how they do that! Alors, that’s when I first felt French.
You know you’re becoming French when you end every statement with an “eh voilà!”
I know I am becoming French as am redesinging our back jardin into a French space albeit on the less cluttered style
I can’t stop reading books about France, Paris, where to eat, live, tour, walk, how to dress, etc in Paris. I finish a book and tell myself I’m going to read something else and go right back to reading something French. I’m obsessed.
I know I am becoming a little French when I greet shop clerks upon entering and thank them upon leaving.
I painted (an artwork) the Periodic Chart of the Elements as the Periodic Chart of Flavorful Fromages, all 118 symboles with appropriate cheeses, and almost all are french cheeses. Yippee… I’m finally finished, and it looks…..delicious.
I know I am becoming more French when I tell wait staff in restaurants that I am not quite finished, so my dining partner will not feel rushed.
I ‘stroll’ down Paris streets using ‘satellite view’ on internet maps.
I wear scarf almost everyday – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I do buy baguettes, which I do not eat because i am trying to not eat white flour products, i treat myself once a month to a choco croissant, i find unexplained French words in my vocabulary, and I long to go to France at anytime of year. Even now in the winter. I have totally romanticized France. Congratulations on your new writing venues. Evolving!
I know I am becoming more French because when I am near the Mediterranean Sea, I just take off my clothes and go for a long swim!
Je sais quand je dis “merde” que je devien francaise. or is it deviens? Merde!
I know I’m becoming more French when I get excited to run a medic call on Air France so I can practice what I have learned. Or better yet so no one has to be sick, I see the huge aircraft and I wish I was on it flying the Paris that evening .
Ps. When the guys at the firehouse ask me to cook my chicken francaise
… Now I “pose” questions instead of asking them !
I know I am becoming French because……I am teaching an English Communication class of 33 international students at an American high school and we are reading The Little Prince! When we have shared customs for holidays and other traditions, the first ones I think of to share are French, rather than American. In fact, I may know more of the background for French holidays than American ones!
When I crave cheese at the end of every meal!
I know I’m becoming French when I walked 6 miles from the Disney resort to a wine shop so I could have French wine during our vacation! (Cab ride back to the hotel, bien sur!)
I will know when I learn how to say leap year in French!
Je deviens française quand je me parle en français pendant que je travaille dans ma maison. Je suis content que la belle langue française entre ma tête avec spontanéité et existe dans ma voix sans effort. Je suis heureuse!
I know I am becoming more French when I look for French movies on the TV.
There’s no way I’ll ever be French but I’ll keep trying to learn “la belle langue” and about the people and culture. J’aime tout ce que c’est français.
Dear Kristi,
Your explanation of “bis” following a house number got me Google-searching to answer the question: How can “bis” = A? My German background told me bis means “until” in German, but that was no help.
Google translate told me “bis” means “bis” in English! Great, that’s not very helpful, either. As it turns out, bis actually is a little-used English word, from the Latin bis (Used in musical notation to indicate a section to be repeated. It can also be a substitute for the exclamation “encore!” as in “play again!”) In all three languages it means “twice” (more often expressed as deux fois in French, according to Google Translate).
It must be this meaning of ”for a second time” that the house number usage comes into play. So, there is house number 65 and house number 65 bis (number 65 “for a second time”). Not to put too fine a point on it, in America, the equivalents for 65 and 65 bis would more likely be 65A and 65B, or perhaps 65 and 65 ½, rather than 65 and 65A. However, as you suggest (and to my amazement), Google Translate translates the French 65 bis to the English 65a! This leaves me wondering how to say 65B in French. 65 ter? (ter being the Latin for thrice or trois fois)
Kent Benson
I am becoming more French because I go to market everyday to get fresh produce and at least one bottle of wine(preferably rose).
I feel like I am becoming a bit French when my friends in Les Arcs and area ask me “Karen , when are you coming home?” I feel like I am becoming French when I receive more French birthday cards than American cards. I feel like I am becoming French when I drive up my lane each day and there is the tri color flying from the flag pole in my year abet just under old glory. I feel like I am becoming French when I check my French bank account statement each month and stomp my foot because the SFR rates keep going up for my internet in Les Arcs! I’ll always be American but my soul is definitely French! Karen Mitcham-Stoeckley
I can see I’ve become more French when people point out to me that I use French gestures and facial expressions when speaking French and sometimes even when speaking English. Or when I realize I only know the French word for something and can’t find an adequate English equivalent.
Having been born in France (of American parents), I have been French, in a sense, all my life. Because of that, I always wanted to learn the language, and eventually majored in French in college. I, too, dream in French, speak it fluently without thinking, strive to improve it (reading books, magazines, and everything from FWAD to French text for products I buy, such as warranties or instructions for cookware.) I have written poetry in French. I appreciate so much about the French lifestyle. In particular, I believe that NOT RUSHING, especially when eating, is a French trait we can all cultivate.
Hi Kristi – I knew I was becoming French when Parisians asked me for directions in French! After hearing me respond in French, I was often asked if I was “Canadienne” because of my accent. – Julia in South Pasadena, CA
I know I’m becoming more French because when we’re on vacation à notre résidence sécondaire near Carpentras I look forward to taking the yard trimmings to the déchèterie!
I know I’m becoming more French when a croissant and pain au chocolat become a morning meal, petit dejeuner, bien entendu!
Your are becoming French when you have to go to at least two Farmers’ Markets a week to buy the best meat, produce, and flowers. Well, I live in Marin County, CA so it’s pretty easy. Oh, but to be in Provence.
I could repeat so many of these same wonderful comments for myself! Let me count them (starting with my thumb)! I don’t think I realized until after reading all these great comments that I too was becoming French – and have been doing so for several glorious years! I’ve always loved the French language and so many little details about French life and just France, itself, I think it’s snuck up on how much it’s affected me! All good, well, except fluency!😁 Maintenant, je vais me coucher, peut-etre a rever en francais! Bonne nuit, Kristin, et tous mes amis!
I’ve studied so much in preparation for my trip this August that I wake up in the morning and think of French words and phrases the first thing.
I know I’m becoming french because I close the shutters if our family is eating fried eggs for breakfast!…ug. Also, it is absolutely obligatory that the children eat a ‘goute’ after school. ha We are still working on ‘what’ the goute should be…Also, our ‘grande creme’ is huge, compared to all those ‘cafes’ around us…
I know I’m becoming French because scarves are playing an increasingly important role in my wardrobe.
You no longer drink american watered down instant hot chocolate! It now must be so thick and rich just a little bit goes a long way!
Nice to see I’m not the only one throwing around French words and phrases. It’s too hard to resist when you love the language as we do. I worry about sounding like Miss Piggy. Moi?? In The Jane Austen Book Club, one of the group has this foible. Someone comments that she wishes her friend would stop speaking French, or at least move to France where it would be less noticeable. I’d love to do just that! I know this doesn’t make me French (hélas, nothing will) but it makes me feel like I am becoming French when I can only think of the French word for something. (Hmm, how do we say that in English?)