As the whole of Europe is gripped within the anxiety of a potential nuclear war on their continent, Swiss people have been talking a lot about bunkers lately. Yes, bunkers! I am as surprised as you – although I was raised in Switzerland, I had completely forgotten about them. Since the 1960’s, each Swiss citizen […]
In your studies, you may have noticed how many English words tare used in Japanese and in French. French often uses English words for business/marketing and internet related terms. For example, we use the English words “brainstorming,” “data,” “startup,” “follower,” “like,” in French. This phenomenon has been reinforced over the last decade via the social media […]
If you have traveled to Japan, you may have noticed the attention to details in this country: everything is done meticulously, with care. I would say precision is in our genes. When I was working in Japan as a sales and PR manager for the Italian shoe brand Giuseppe Zanotti, the Italian team was always […]
🇺🇸 Today, I’d like to post two excerpts of French classic authors of the 18th and 19th centuries, denouncing the horror and the absurdity of war. 📚« Tant que le caprice de quelques hommes fera loyalement égorger des milliers de nos frères, la partie du genre humain consacrée à l’héroïsme sera ce qu’il y a de […]
« Qu’il est si reposant d’être noués tous deux comme deux arbres de ses forêts. D’être remués par les mêmes grands vents. De recevoir ensemble le soleil et la lune et les oiseaux du soir. Pour toute la vie. » Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry Mémoires de la rose 🇺🇸 Excerpt from the memoir of the last wife of […]
Today, I’d like to talk about a political interview that recently went viral in France. Gérald Darmanin, the current French Minister of the Interior (equivalent to the Secretary of Homeland Security in the US) was interviewed by journalist Apolline de Malherbe, which became heated when a sexist comment was made. First, it is important to […]
« Mais les élans, mais les regrets, mais les tendres souffrances, ce sont encore des richesses. (…) Le chagrin est lié aux frémissements de la vie. » Saint-Exupéry Terre des hommes (1939)📚 🇫🇷 Bel exemple de la figure de style anaphore (répétition en début de phrase), utilisée ici par Saint-Exupéry, qui nous conseille d’accepter les souffrances de […]
(Content Warning // suicidal thoughts) Stromae, a Belgian singer-songwriter who sings in French, released his latest song “L’enfer” (= hell). It contains deeply moving lyrics where he speaks very honestly about his struggles with mental health. After big hits such as “Alors on danse” ( = So we dance), Stromae took a break and came […]
« Comme les matelots en détresse, elle promenait sur la solitude de sa vie des yeux désespérés, cherchant au loin quelque voile blanche dans les brumes de l’horizon. » Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary (1856)📚 🇫🇷 Très bel extrait de « Madame Bovary », illustrant tout le talent de Flaubert qui parvient à nous dresser en une seule phrase tout […]
« Une histoire à dormir debout »💤 🇺🇸 It means a “ridiculous nonsense story,” and literally “a story to sleep standing.” Originally, this expression was used to describe stories which were so boring that they made people sleep, even when standing. It then shifted to a story hard to believe by its nonsense. « Mais c’est quoi […]