French Pronunciation is a site that helps you improve your French pronunciation.  You can listen to recordings of the sounds you find difficult to pronounce and then practice along with them.

"La nuit porte conseil" is French for "sleep on it".  It means, think about it overnight and don’t make a decision until tomorrow… often good advice! The photo is this saying on the door of a Broom closet in Herald Square (New York). –Mama Lisa

I was sent this email about tipping for services in France at Christmastime… Traditionally, we tip the mailman: he or she brings everyone a calendar which includes a lot of information about the post office, and also about all the towns in the "département" (i.e. county).  There are 95 different types of material given since there...

  French "fruits déguisés" (fancy fruit) is eaten at Christmastime in France.  It’s dried fruit, mainly dates, prunes or figs, stuffed with almond paste or a sweetened crumbled cookie mixture.  The filling is usually made in different pastel colors.  Almond paste is actually sold in different colors in France.  The normal colors you find at...

This French song about a church bell ringer is amusing! I guess it’s because we’ve all been in the situation where someone around us was making noise that we had no control over.  Below you can listen to the mp3 recording of the song, read the original French lyrics along with an English translation… MP3 of...

Here’s a video of the French rhyme and hand play, J’ai deux mains (I Have Two Hands), with the French lyrics and an English translation. J’ai deux mains J’ai deux mains, Elles sont toutes propres, Elles se regardent, Se tournent...

Monique wrote to me about a funeral she recently went to in France and about French Funeral traditions in general.  Here’s her letter: It was awfully hot on the day of the funeral so it was decided that we would drive to the churchyard. If the burial had been in the morning or if the weather...

Recently, we talked about the French good luck charm dolls called Nénette and Rintintin that are made out of yarn.  In a second post we explained how to make the yarn dolls.  Here we present a 2nd way to make them. This version of the Nénette and Rintintin dolls won’t have a tuft of hair at...

Recently, we talked about the French good luck charm dolls called Nénette and Rintintin that are made out of yarn.  Here you can learn how to make them. Supplies Some Yarn (including a piece of red or pink yarn for the mouth)  5 inch...

The French Song, Alphabet des Scouts (Scouts Alphabet) is perfect to help you learn how to pronounce the names of the letters in French.  You can hear it at the link above and read along with the French lyrics.  There are also English and Spanish translations of the song. Enjoy! Mama Lisa

Open Culture has a page of free language learning links covering 40 languages. Here are some of the languages you can find links for… Arabic, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maori, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Swahili,...

Candlemas is a Christian holiday that takes place on February 2nd each year. In France they eat crepes for Candlemas. Monique wrote, "…you have ‘la chandeleur – les crêpes’ for Candlemas.  From mid January till early February in stores they sell "crêpières" (flat, low frying pans to cook crêpes) and all the stuff necessary (or...

A candle apple is called a "pomme d’amour" in French.  That’s literally "apple of love"!  How cool is that?! What’s it called in your language?  Please let us know in the comments below.

Edit’ Dupont is a talented artist as well as a lovely singer!  She has sung over 100 French songs for us.  You can hear them on our French Song Pages. When Edit’ is creating art she likes to work with paint on paper.  She wrote: "Paper expresses strength, fragility, softness, transparency…  It readily transforms itself, welcomes color...

Here’s the French poem Papillons roux (Russet Butterflies) by Louis Codet (1876-1914).  It’s about two little butterflies in Autumn. Below you’ll find the French poem with a recording followed by an English translation. MP3 of Papillons roux Papillons roux  Deux petits papillons roux tourbillonnent, tourbillonnent Deux petits...

The French poem Matin d’Octobre by François Coppée (1842-1908) is about an early October morning.  You’ll find the original French version with an mp3 here and an English translation below it. MP3 Recording of Matin d’Octobre Matin d’Octobre C’est l’heure exquise et matinale Que rougit un soleil soudain. ...

"Le temps a laissé son manteau" is a poem by French poet Charles d’Orléans (1394 – 1465).  The title can be translated to English as "The Season Has Cast Off Its Coat".  It’s about Winter turning into Spring.  Here you can hear the poem, read the original in French and follow along with an English...