Category: French (français)

The combed giraffe sings like a saucepan

By Simon

I came across a number of interesting French idioms today in this article in The Guardian, including peigner la giraffe (combing the giraffe), which means to waste time on a pointless task, and chanter comme une casserole (to sing like a saucepan) or to sing terribly. It also mentions a Dutch idiom, broodje aap verhaal (monkey sandwich story), which refers to persistent rumours or urban legends.

English equivalents of peigner la giraffe include idling, dossing (about), doing nothing (much), killing time, and so on. Do you have any others?

How about English or other language equivalents of chanter comme une casserole or broodje aap verhaal?

Breton

By Simon

This week I reached the half-way point in my Breton Assimil course (lesson 50) and have entered the ‘active phase’. So for every new lesson I also go back to an earlier lessons and translate the French versions of the dialogues and exercises into Breton. I also translate them into Welsh, just for fun. So far I’m finding the translations easy, but have to check some of the spellings.

My impression of the Assimil course so far is that it is a good way to learn a new language. Each lesson provides some new words and grammar, but doesn’t overwhelm you with new stuff. In Colloquial Breton the lessons cover far more material, which can be a bit intimidating at first. For example, when a new verb is introduced in Colloquial Breton all forms for a particular tense are given, while in the Assimil course the different forms are usually introduced over several lessons. I think I prefer the gentle, gradual approach of Assimil, but will go back to the Colloquial course once I’ve finished the Assimil one. If I need to know all the different forms of a verb or other conjugated word, I can look in the grammar section at the back of Assimil, or in my Breton grammar book,

As well as studying a bit every day, I listen to Breton radio regularly, and am beginning to get the gist of some of the things I hear, or at least can recognise some of the words. I haven’t heard any Breton songs that I really want to learn yet, but I hope there’ll be a few. I have also bought a Breton version of the first Harry Potter book and plan to read it soon, perhaps in parallel with the Welsh and/or English versions.

Have you used Assimil courses to learn any languages? What are you impressions of them?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– la caisse (enregistreuse), le tiroir caisse = till / cash register = cofrestr arian = kefierez
– la caisse automatique = self-service till / self checkout = cofrestr arian awtomatig = kefierez emgefre
– casissier = checkout assistant = gweithiwr cofrestr arian
– vendeur (-euse) = shop assistant = gweithiwr siop = gwerzher
– l’hydromel (m) = mead = medd = chouchenn, dour-mel
– affolé = panic-stricken = llawn braw, rhuslyd, gwyllt
– affolant = disturbing = cynhyrfus, annifyr, cythryblus = da bennfollañ, braouac’hus
– affoler = to terrify = dychryn, brawychu, arswydo
– s’affoler = to (get into a) panic = cynhurfu, rhusio, dychryn = pennfollañ
– ne t’affole pas! = don’t panic = paid â chynhyrfu!

The person on the till

By Simon

Last night at the French conversation group one of the things we talked about was shopping, particularly in supermarkets, and one of the words we weren’t sure of was till / cash register. I now know this is la caisse (enregistreuse) or le tiroir caisse and that someone who works on a till is possibly un caissier or une caissière.

This got me thinking what you call such a person in English. You might call them a shop assistant or maybe a cashier, but neither of these seems to fit the job very well.

What would you call such a person? Would the term you use depend on the kind of shop?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– apprenti(e) = apprentice = prentis = deskard
– apprentissage = apprenticeship = prentisiaeth = deskardelezh
– le porte-clefs/porte-clés = key ring / chain / fob = torch allwedd = doug alc’hwezoù
– l’anneaux porte-clefs = key ring = torch allwedd = (?)
– une clé/clef de rechange / une autre (clef) = spare key = allwedd sbâr = alc’hwez da drok (?)
– un roue de rechange/de secours = spare wheel = olwyn sbâr = rod-eskemm
– l’ouïe (f) = hearing = clyw = kleved / klev
– être dur(e) d’oreille = to be hard of hearing = bod yn drwm dy glyw = bezañ fall e gleved, bezañ teñvalglev
– la brasserie = brewery = bracty, bragdy = bierezh, breserezh
– (nez) camus = pug nose = trwyn smwt = fri-togn

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– l’appareil auditif/acoustique (m) = hearing aid = teclyn clywed = adskouarn / klevosod
– la piste = track, tracks, trail; lead, course = llwbyr, ôl, trywydd = hent, roudenn
– la piste cyclable = cycle track = llwybr beic = roudenn belo (?)
– bégayer = to stammer = siarad ag atal = gagiñ
– l’accompagnement (m) la garniture = trimmings = trimins = ambroug, gwarnitur
– les nouvelles = news = newyddion = news
– le bulletin d’informations = news broadcast/bulletin = bwletin/darllediad newyddion = lizher kelaouiñ
– la conférence de presse = press/news conference = cynhadledd newyddion = emvod kelaouiñ
– la marine = navy = llynges = marin, mordeadurezh
– une fin heureuse = a happy ending = diwedd hapus = echuiñ eürus (?)
– la noces = wedding = priodas = dimez
– le voyage de noces (voyage), la lune de miel (période) = honeymoon = mis mêl = miz mel

Selective attention

By Simon

The other day an English guy who has lived in Wales for many years and who doesn’t speak Welsh told me that when he listens to people speaking Welsh, he hears lots of English words, words derived from English, and words from French or Latin, so he believes that Welsh is made up mainly of such words.

I suggested that such words just seemed to be prominent and ubiquitous because they are the only ones he understands, and that the majority of Welsh words are completely different, though they share the same ultimate roots as words in most other European languages.

He wasn’t convinced, and when asked for examples, could only think of a few: parcio (parking) and ffenestr (window) and pont (bridge).

I can understand why he’s convinced that there are lots of words of English, French and Latin origin in Welsh – selective attention. It’s like if someone says that you don’t see many yellow cars around, you will start to notice ever yellow car and might become convinced that they are more common than they really are.

Have you any mistaken impressions of languages you don’t know?

When I first heard spoken Irish I thought it was mainly made up of the occasional English word, plus lots of agus (and), and mumbling in an Irish accent. Now I know better.

Fy filodfa gerddorol

By Simon

Mae’r nifer o offerynnau yn fy filodfa gerddorol wedi cynyddu eleni, ac mae gen i 30 o offerynnau bellach. Yr offeryn mwyaf newydd ydy piano, sy wedi cyrraedd Dydd Gwener diwetha. Piano ail law ydy o, a dw i wedi ei brynnu o eBay o ddyn yn Salford.

Ar hyn bryd mae gen i piano, iwcalili, mandolin, bouzouki, bodhrán, xaphoon, clarinét, casŵ, ffliwt, dau gitâr, dau harmonica, a cryn dipyn o recorderau, chwibanau ac ocarinas.

Fy filodfa gerddorol / My musical menagerie

My musical menagerie has grown quite a bit this year and now includes 30 instruments. The newest addition was a piano, which arrived last Friday. It’s a second hand piano that I bought on eBay from a bloke in Salford.

The menagerie currently consists of: a piano, a ukulele, a mandolin, a bouzouki, a bodhrán, a xaphoon, a clarinet, a kazoo, a flute, two guitars, two harmonicas, and quite a few recorders, whistles and ocarinas.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– être/rester coincé/bloqué = to be stuck = bod yn sownd = stankañ
– se coincer/bloquer = to get stuck
– être enlisé = to be stuck (in mud/sand) = bod yn sownd (yn llaca/tywod) = sac’hellañ
– s’enlisé = to get stuck (in mud/sand)
– à mi-chemin = half-way (in distance) = hanner ffordd = hanter hent
– à la moitié de = half-way (activity/time) = hanner ffordd = hanter
– surveiller = to supervise = arolygu, goruchwylio = evezhiañ
– la laverie automatique = laundrette = laundrette, siop golchi dillad = kanndi, kannerezh
– la mamelle, le pis = udder = cadair, pwrs, piw = bronn
– le pis-aller = stopgap = perth dros dro = defot gwell
– le chargement = load = llwyth = kargañ
– la bûche = log = boncyff = kef
– le bûcheron = logger, lumberjack = coetmon = keuneuder, koadour
– les paroles = lyrics = telynegion = gerioù