This photo was taken years ago, at our vineyard, but it could be our new place here in La Ciotat. We have the same chairs (from my belle-mère), same bougainvillea, same gravel, same dog. Familiarity is comforting, isn't it? If you have read this letter for years, you are getting to know our family. If you are a new reader, Bienvenue! So nice to meet you (hear our message below). New or longtime reader, it would be a pleasure to hear from you in the comments. Tell us which city you live in, your age, and your reason for studying French. Merci beaucoup.
Enchanté de vous rencontrer
: nice to meet you
Audio File: listen to Jean-Marc and me read the following French words:
Enchanté. Nous sommes enchantés de vous connaître.
Delighted. We are delighted to know you.
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE
The adjective enchanté is just the word in which to kick off a new year for this French word journal. May we all be so enchanted in 2018–happy to meet new people and new challenges, and delighted by the serendipities we are bound to encounter. And when things go wrong in the coming year (for can things always go right?), may we find inspiration from today's word…and "en" "chant" or inwardly sing until things are back on track again.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to inwardly sing when you are hurting. Believe me I know! But during a week of hard knocks, I happened on a missing note–a kind of bridge between despair and hope. It is advice from my 370-year-old French friend, Fénelon, whose paper-thin book "Let Go" is a fixture on my table de nuit. Here's Fen's advice:
Rest in a teachable spirit.
The suggestion can be interpreted as deeply as you'd like (Allez-y!), or it can simply be taken "surface level". Either way, let's learn, learn, learn! in the new year–beginning with the sunny French word enchanté, and continuing on with whatever leçons de vie are thrown our way. (And there will be plenty if you are in any kind of relationship with mankind, n'est-ce pas?)
* * *
French Vocabulary
enchanté = pleased to meet you, delighted, enchanted
la table de nuit = night stand
allez-y = go on! go for it!
leçons de vie = life lessons
n'est-ce pas? = isn't that right
Easy French Step-by-Step – master grammar fast!
Embryolisse – an affordable and popular face cream from France
A swimwear shop in La Ciotat…and a new friend for Smokey?
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Mille mercis!
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Hi Kristin
Have followed your blog for years we have a apartment in Beaulieu sur mer, and house in England and spent equal time in both, when we retire will live permanently in France , your words have been a great assistance in learning French thank you Helen J
The glimpses of France nourish us. I particularly love the pictures; so on a grey cold London January day I am served with a generous helping of bougainvillea and sunshine. And a bonus dog. The flowers encourage as do your words. Plus the global network of fellow learners and lovers linked by your generous offering. Merci !
Bonjour! J’ai soixante ans! J’ai etudie francais depuis longtemps- en universite et plus recemmement avec une classe d’Alliance Francaise, avec que je continue encore. J’adore la France et toutes les choses francaises et voyage la quand je peux. Bonne annee a tous et toutes!
Margaret
Small town outside of Montréal,French Canadian,bilingual ,64.
Take care!
J’ai le meme age que toi je pense, Kristi! I also spent my junior year in France years ago, had a french boyfriend, whom i DIDN”T marry:) Do you read Fénélon in french or english? I’m in Charlottesville VA and have loved getting to know you and your family over the years.
I have been following French Word A Day since the very beginning. As a retired former teacher of French and English as well as a career computer geek it has been such a joy to be part of your family and see your children grow into such beautiful (in all ways) adults and to watch you develop into such a wonderful writer. I am rooting for that novel.
I have traveled to France several times and was tres enchante’ on my last trip in 2012 when my brother and I were able to meet you and Jean Marc at Domaine Rouge-Bleu just before you moved south. I have all of your books and even won a copy once. We will never forget that you tube video of you showing us how to open a bottle of wine with a book and a shoe. That is the book that I am proudest to own.
I live in Lexington, Kentucky and once drove all the way to Alexandria, Virginia to purchase a case of Mas des Brun rose’ because Jean Marc does make the very best rose’. I will be enchante’ to see what adventures the new year brings.
Joan Jacobson……Overland Park, Kansas, 71. Love to hear that others have the sensation of being French in a former lifetime! My mom and the French wallpaper in the kitchen where I lived as a child inspired my love of French. Taught French for ten years…..5th grade through high school before becoming a high school counselor. Your blog, filled with life, love, joy and sorrow, help me keep my treasured connection to this beautiful language (also a large dose of Charles Aznavour discs!). Thank you for your always beautiful, heart-felt, authentic words on this oh so complex subject of life!
Susan, I have been thinking of doing this for a long time! Can U B more specific about what U have in mind?
Like Eileen in VA, I am a woman of a certain age, and I believe Eileen could be a decade younger than I! My screen name reveals my location … for now. I first discovered your blog after reading your first book. I first studied French as a young teen with Olympic dreams; French is the language of the equestrian. But, use it or lose it they say. So I took a year of French again in college and again at the Alliance Francaise de Chicago. Alas, I still do not speak the beautiful, enchanting language. Fascinating tidbit is my Italian grandmother spoke French to my mother in a dream, and my mother (who did not speak French) spoke French once to me in her last months.
I was born in San Francisco in 1960, and grew up in California and Ohio, with vacations in Virginia at my grandparents’ farm in the Shenandoah Valley. I have lived in NYC 38 years.I began studying French before school when I was 7. My teacher was young, tall, handsome. That may be how I got hooked—a first crush! I had a yellow book with pictures of common things and their French names. I still have that book. It opened up a magic world to me. Since then, I studied throughout my school years, including speed-conjugating irregular verbs with a wonderfully creative teacher from Germany who wrote all over the chalk board with crazy enthousiasm. The language really took hold when I went traveling through France at 22. My muscles developed, I was not afraid to sound like a fool, and the French took the time to correct my mistakes in their beautiful language, which others might not have appreciated. I just thought I was getting tutored for free!
I go back once a year now during the grape harvest, to help at a vineyard in Burgundy, in Cheilly-les-Maranges, near Beaune. I cook for the grape-pickers there. Otherwise, I work as a freelance catering chef.
59 from Powhatan, Va (just outside Richmond).
I took my first trip to France at age 15 with my HS French class. I got my BA in French in 1980 and spent my Junior Year (’78-’79) studying in Paris with Sweet Briar’s Junior Year in France Program. I visit France several times a year and take a French class with a retired HS French teacher – we meet every other week.
Almost 73, in Ontario Canada. Grew up speaking English, and learning academic French in school. Despite attending French summer camp and living for a year in French Switzerland, I never became fluent (too lazy!). Can read French fairly well, though, and do enjoy it. Raised two kids solo after early loss of my spouse, discovering strengths unsuspected. Attracted by your blog in 2000, even before I retired (was a prof of English language and literature). Visited your French-Word-A-Day for the words, lingered for the true family stories so well-told, resonated with your authenticity and seeking spirit, and now love you all to bits! Enjoying my quiet, simple life as a rather hermitty-retiree. Am myself spiritually-oriented, an HSP, a 12-Stepper, and a human being who’s endlessly, caringly curious about Everything and Everyone. Happy as can be to be here, savouring the moments we so miraculously are given and can share!
Salut ma chère amie Kristi,
My wife, Sharron, and I have just celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary! We have both followed your adventures for many years.
Hopefully the bad stuff for 2018 is out of your way and you can make way for lots of GOOD stuff!
Your blog, with the sprinkling of French, has always been helpful. I’m now reading the daily world news in French from several internet sources. I’m also finding videos from a number of French teachers helpful with the spoken French.
Being 87 years old makes it harder, but I am determined to be able to communicate in French
Bonne Année.
Hi Gail,
I remember the meet-up also….What fun that was!
Herm
I follow you from San Jose, Costa Rica. I’m 45 and like your stories. I learned French 20 years ago because I want to visit France, but I’ve never been able to. This summer, however, it seems that my dream of going to France will finally happen!
j’avais boucoup d’amis dans le sud de France. i even tried to visit Rouge Blue when there in 2009, but your family was gone to , i believe it was Romania, on vaction and i couldnt say ‘Allo” Mike 62 ans, St Joseph, Mo., E.U.
Hi! Kristin from your old friend in hospital still! !! It is so good to have contact with the out side world.
Hi, Kristin,
I am in my 70s and living in Eugene Oregon. I love the challenge of learning a language. Every week several friends I meet for two hours of fractured French conversation. The effort keeps us alert and the topics keep us updated on what is happening in France. Your newsletter is a welcome resource for better understanding the culture.
By the way, last week I spotted bottles of Mas des Brun wine on the shelf of my local wine shop. The owner was amazed that I knew of JeanMarc and his recent visit to Oregon. The wine was delicious and I will be returning to buy more this weekend….if there is any left!
Hello Kristin
I just turned 62 and first learnt French through the Alliance Francaise du Cap soon after we were married 34 years ago. Over the years I have had an on/off relationship with French but I have not lost the love I have for the language, even with my futile attempts. Our lady teacher bounced into the class on that 1st day, and a new world opened up in front of our eyes, I remember her telling us to write our grocery list in French!! Sucre, sel, pommes de terre sound so terribly sexy! I have stopped working fulltime but I have never stopped learning, so love the interaction with your followers – many of us much older than you! Incidentally, last year I made so many new friends, all of them over 60 years of age! Travelling via Paris to Berlin in April for our son’s wedding !
After getting my DNA results from Ancestry, I discovered that I am from an extensive network of French Huguenot descendants. Connecting with my French cousins and joining their Facebook page has enriched my life. I’ve managed to get as far back as the early 1600’s and hope to keep discovering even more from the old documents I uncover…which are of course in French. I am 70-years-old and live in a rural town NE of San Diego which has vineyards popping up all over the place. My first cousin and I have it on our ‘bucket list’ to travel to France together someday soon!
Charmarie, what a great little town you live in! I’m from Camden but now live in South Carolina.
I majored in French at the University of Houston, and in 1978-79, I had the privilege of living in Tours, France, on a Rotary scholarship. I still keep in touch with friends I made there, but my French is getting rusty. Love your blog, because it helps me keep up! Thanks, and happy 2018 to all your family.
I would love to join you and like Faye would love to hear more about what you have in mind… renting an apartment in Paris for a few weeks, traveling through France, the South.. or a whirlwind museum bonanza in Paris for a week, etc. Maybe Kristi can connect us. I’m older but young at heart and looking for traveling companions who also like to maybe do their own thing at times, but come back to regroup and spend time and energy together!
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog for years.. I’m 48 live in London but have a small apartment in the 4th in Paris. We are total Francophiles and intend to move to southern France in the future – hence hearing the stories of French life is so captivating. I’ve been learning French for years but am clearly not a competent linguist and struggle… your posts motivate me though to keep at it !! We spend a weekend in Paris each month and adore it…
I started studying French in High School, even though I had enough language credits in Spanish. (Why?) I continued in college, and could speak ‘textbook French’ when I graduated. Who knew that, 10 years later, my husband would be transferred to Paris? I finished my formal study at Alliance Francaise in Paris, where they incorporate Culture with Language Learning, and I fell permanently in love with the language. Since I moved back to the US in 2007, French Word-a-Day has kept me connected to France, and now I feel I have a family in France: Kristi, Jean-Marc, Max, Jackie and Smokey.
La France called me a long time ago, and I still find myself thinking, ‘Now, how would I say that in French?’
Thank you Kristi!! for your blog that has enriched my life so much.