Liberation, a French national newspaper, has this video about rare languages. If you speak French, it is fascinating. The comment of one of the linguists is very humbling for most westerners. He says “most people I work with speak 3 or 4 languages”. The reason being: “there’s no choice”.
Month: November 2010
Snow (2)
Thank you to Roger Durand for the video.
Snow
The plan was for me to go to Ikea in Brest with my parents to get a table. It was snowing a little and we left anyway as we thought it might be better on the way there. It didn’t, so we turned around after about 25 km. It was probably clear a bit further, but we can go another time. Thanks to Roger Durand for the Pictures.
French Secularism – Laicite
The BBc has an interesting page on the concept of laicity, that is our own brand of secularism:Â BBC – h2g2 – French Secularism – Laicite. It underlines the importance of history to understand the French mindset. One of the key sentences is:
However, because of past precedent it is very easy for the French to interpret any strong religious views as a direct threat to their freedom and way of life, even when this is not the intention.
Les évangéliques, c’est quoi ? : Sébastien FATH
Maxime speaks French!!!!
It’s the kind of thing that you should expect, but you are always surprised and pleased when it happens. A week ago, when we were speaking on Skype with Emmanuel’s dad, he suddenly said “Je veux voir le chat” (I want to see the cat). And today at lunch he started speaking French to our visitor. We were the only ones to understand of course, but it was proper French. Now his Grandparents have arrived, and he babbles happily, going from one language to the other.