Category: French

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Try out a French-only dictionary!

Transitioning from English-French dictionaries to French-only dictionaries is a big step towards fluency but it can be intimidating. Luckily, online resources exist to help make French dictionaries more accessible.

For intermediate to advanced French learners seeking to take their vocabulary and understanding to the next level, The Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales (CNRTL) is an invaluable online resource. It is a searchable compendium of French language dictionaries, most notably Le Trésor de la langue française informatisé and the 9th edition of the official Dictionnaire de l’Académie française. For those interested in French outside l’Hexagone, CNRTL also has a searchable “Francophone” dictionary.

As a pedagogical tool, CNRTL, particularly when set to the TLFi (Le Trésor), does an excellent job of breaking definitions down into more digestible parts while also clearly differentiating between different uses of the words (metaphoric, literal, etc). Rather than struggling through an entire entry, the website quickly draws your attention to short portions of the text that are most essential.

By clicking “options d’affichage” you can toggle the color-coding settings to highlight what you’re looking for. The default settings use yellow for definitions, green for the word as it is used in a phrase, and orange to specify a certain technical domain or context in which the word may be used. Most un-colored text consists of examples of the word used in a sentence.

Beyond dictionaries, the portal also offers additional tabs such as etymology, synonyms, and antonyms, for those interested in the relations between words. The synonym tab is particularly useful when it comes to spicing up your writing (for example, when you’ve used “aussi” far too many times in one paper). It can also be helpful when it comes to making connections between the literal and metaphorical senses of words.

Here we can see, for instance, that while “esprit” has many definitions and connotations, the most often invoked synonym in English is “intelligence”. Esprit can be difficult to parse in French, since it can mean both mind and spirit, whereas in English we tend to clearly differentiate between the two. The analysis of synonyms here suggests that, outside of religious contexts, it is far more common for esprit to signify ‘mind’.

The website is full of other resources worth exploring, including several collections of works in French, and a database of “ghost” words lost to time.

You can access the dictionaries and pages pictured here at https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/

Bonne exploration!

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Film Recommendation: La Jetée

La Jetée (1962) is a 28-minute “photo-roman” (photo-novel) by French New-Wave director Chris Marker. It is composed entirely of still photographs which are arranged into a montage and, as a result, come to acquire a special movement of their own.

The film is set in a post-apocalyptic Paris where all surviving humans live together in tunnels underneath the city. Scientists are researching time travel in the hopes that they can send for help from the past or future.

After many failed attempts at sending test subjects into the past, an unnamed prisoner with vivid childhood recollections is selected and succeeds. After painful conditioning and several deep dives into his own memories, he is eventually sent to the future where he encounters a new kind of human race.

Pushing against genre conventions, La Jetée is science fiction stripped down to its bare essentials- the result is a beautiful interrogation of time, memory, and the power of the image.

This is a great, and short, film for beginner or intermediate learners to practice comprehension; the audio is very clear because it is a stream of overlaid narration, and the nature of the still frames makes the subtitles more accessible.

For those interested in learning more about French film history, La Jetée is a great example of pioneering techniques in montage used by directors of La Nouvelle Vague to disrupt traditional cinematic forms.

La Jetée is available to stream on Kanopy by using your Reed login https://www.kanopy.com/product/la-jetee

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Media Suggestion: La Cinémathèque française

 

The website of the Cinémathèque française, a large film institute and museum in Paris, contains a number of valuable resources for students wanting to learn more about French and French culture. The museum provides a large selection of online resources, including videos, articles, and image archives of both French and international films. Check out the “Découvrir” tab to access interviews with French directors, photo archives of past exhibits, articles on French films and actors, and excerpts from films and film festivals. The resources are easily searchable and have simple categorisation. Recommended for anyone interested in French cinema, improving listening ability, or doing research on film.

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French exercise practice: ELFE and Trésor

ELFE

Elementary French Exercises (or, ELFE) are French language drills to practice grammar and vocabulary. They are organized by subject, so you can easily focus in on your areas of difficulty.ELFE homepage and list of exercises under Topic 1The interface is sensitive so make sure to add accents and punctuation exactly as needed. Although it’s a bit old-school, the exercises are well-designed. They give corrections immediately. And it’s all free!ELFE is accessible through Moodle.

 

Trésor

Trésor is a detailed online French language resource with several important applications. First, search your desired word, then toggle between tabs to see:

Morphologie – all morphologies of your word, including conjugations.
Lexicographie – traces your word to its root word and definitions, as well as common cultural usage and example sentences.

Etymologie – etymology and history of your word.
Synonymie – synonyms.
Antonymie – antonyms
Proxemie – installs an extension for your web browser.
Concordance – finds examples of your word in common books or texts

This is an extremely powerful resource, and if you install their toolbar or extension, you won’t need to navigate to the site each time.

Trésor is tout en français.

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French Movie Recommendation: Ma vie de courgette (2016)

Ma vie de courgette is a Swiss-French stop-motion film that won critical acclaim. The film was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

It is a dramatic comedy that follows a nine year-old boy named Courgette who moves to an orphanage.

This movie is available on streaming sites like Netflix under its English name, My life as a zucchini. Audio can be set to French or English.

 

P.S. If voice actors are your jam, you may be interested to know that the audio cast is star-studded. This film employs the talents of Nick Offerman, Ellen Page, Will Forte, and more. Enjoy!

 

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Têtes à claques, French Youtube channel

Têtes à claques
https://www.youtube.com/user/salamboproductions/featured

This is a channel (and a website) of humorous short videos in French that has been producing animated videos since forever. Some of them are easier to understand than others, but most have an option for English subtitles just in case. The sense of humor may not be to everyone’s taste, but there are a lot of real gems! Some recommendations from your Langlabbies include:

the Will Waller 2006: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJgQCbRsq-I and

Le Body Toner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdKjpvnrhkU

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Easy Videos for French vocab + speech

Get ready to learn some French vocab the fun and easy way!
ladybug imageEasy French Vocab and Phrases 5min: https://youtu.be/fq_4V-Ia1z0.
This video is in French with French and English subtitles. The video covers basic French nouns and phrases, describing them by walking around the town and pointing to objects. Also helpful for pronunciation.
Days of the Week Song 2min: https://youtu.be/Lpwf5N0rfVE.
This video uses a mnemonic device to help you learn the days of the week in French. The song is catchy and easy to remember.
Months of the Year Song 2min: https://youtu.be/KxTsMctlfTY.
This video uses a song as a mnemonic device to help learn the months of the year in French.
Weather and Seasons in French 12min: https://youtu.be/Kq4Luegns8c.
This is a detailed video in English, introducing basic weather expressions, how to describe the weather, and the names of the seasons.
What Not to Pronounce in French 6min: https://youtu.be/NTU-2zvJ92U.
This video is in English and some basic French, and helps with the pronunciation of final syllables in French, including dropping the -d, -p, -t, -s, and -e at the ends of words. 
How to Pronounce the French “R” 2min: https://youtu.be/YCw_lEb1qXk.
This is a slightly silly pronunciation guide given in English on when and how to pronounce the “r” in French. Cognates like ‘horrible’ and ‘métro’ are compared in both languages, demonstrating the throat constriction present in French.
Uses of “Faire” 2min: https://youtu.be/kjni-2B9d4w.
This video introduces the verb ‘faire’ and different phrases in which it is used. A number of French speakers pronounce a variety of phrases in French with English subtitles.
Uses of “Avoir” 2min: https://youtu.be/SaIxCyfowrA.
This video introduces the verb ‘avoir’ and a variety of phrases in which it appears. French and English subtitles are included.

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2 Easy French movies for beginners

Les Choristes (2004) – A musical film about a choir teacher hired to teach boys at a French private school. This comedic gem is a classic for French language learners.

Kirikou et la sorcière (1998) – Animated version of a west African folktale. You can stream it on Youtube here.

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Phone apps for beginning language learners: Duolingo vs. Memrise

Duolingo: Duolingo’s app is very intuitive, is free, and has short exercises for both grammar and vocabulary for 100-level French. Structured exactly like the website, Duolingo features a ladder-like structure of learning; each lesson introduces new material based on past information. One nice feature to the app is the possibility of “testing out” of lessons, which is helpful if you find yourself bored by the current material.

Memrise: Almost identical to Duolingo’s mini-lesson/game-based platform, Memrise uses incrementally more difficult lessons with easy responses, presenting words or phrases and then asking for repetition. Some minor variations are present, however: Memrise uses short videos of native French speakers to help with listening comprehension. There is also a texting-based portion, where you can practice composing short messages by stringing together suggested words or letters. Memrise is less polished than Duolingo, and each lesson seems to introduce less material overall, with more repetition. This may be useful for learners who have a more difficult time learning new words or phrases. Memrise is free, but has frequent prompts to purchase a subscription. These can be ignored by simply tapping anywhere on the screen (other than the “purchase” button).

Visual of the Memrise user interface

Image credit: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/duolingo-ios-app-new-bot/
https://www.pcmag.com/review/356293/memrise