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Do you want to improve your listening skills and comprehension of the French as it is spoken in France? With Cultivate Your French podcast, things go smoothly. This is slow French podcast, but Slow French doesn’t just mean speaking slowly and it’s not about quick progress. It’s a nice learning approach.
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Last week, Micaela and I were attending a kung-fu week with our team and our teacher in Poitiers. We were staying in a regional sport resort; The place was lovely and had a nice Renaissance castle.
Xie Han our teacher was also taking care of a Taiji group and had a particular eye on Josepha’s training as she is going to participate to the Kung-fu Word Championships in China this summer.
On Thursday, Xie Han asked us to be cautious with ourselves, to not get hurt because we were getting tired. That day we had a running session in the woods at 6 in the morning and a first training at 9h45. I took three naps that day.
This episode starts after lunch on Thursday.
In the notes that come with the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are very useful in French. Also, we are going to notice the use of imparfait and passé composé in this text.
So to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyourfrench.com
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
A few weeks ago, my friend Pauline showed me a book that she got for Christmas, a book about nice table settings, Chez eux. this book gave us the idea to build a podcast episode about setting a table. If we were to set a table, we might as well have a lunch or a brunch on it! We took our agenda and decided about a date. Then we imagined our menu : something simple but nice, with flowers on the table. That day, we first did some shopping. We bought some gariguetes (early strawberries), we bought some renoncules (buttercups in English says the dictionary) and a cherry tree branch. At the bakery, we bought a few croissants because you can’t imagine a brunch without any.
For this episode, Pauline and I are in her kitchen. Everything is almost ready, it’s time to choose what plates to put on the table. Follow me in her cupboard!
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
So there we are : the baccalauréat is over for Micaela. She doesn’t have the result yet, but she took the latest exam last Tuesday. It was « le grand oral » : you must speak for 5 minutes on a subject that you have prepared.
And since the beginning of June, she also knows what she’s going to do next year. But before that she had to choose between the different universities where she was accepted. Suddenly, choosing seems so difficult and you only have 3 days to make your choice. This is what the episode is about.
In the notes that comes with the transcript, I will highlight for you those typical expressions that Micaela uses when she speaks. It’s very interesting because it’s very natural for us, though it may seems wrong when you learn to speak French. Noticing those expressions is also very useful to understand modern French.
So, to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript. The subscription costs 4 euros a month. www.cultivateyourfrench.com
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
My friend Pauline is taking drawing classes and she is starting a new technique : watercolour, aquarelle in French ! Her teacher suggested that she could buy her own watercolour set. She gave her the name of a famous shop in Paris where you can buy art supplies : Sennelier.
Sennelier is located Quai Voltaire, just in front of le Louvre, on the over side of La Seine. The shop was created in 1887 by French colour passionnate and chimist Gustave Sennelier who devoted his life to creating paintings for artists. Cezanne or Gauguin were among his customers.
Guillaume works at Sennelier and greeted us in the shop. He gave some advices to Pauline regarding watercolours, the choice of a sketchbook and finally the choice of paintbrushes.
In today’s episode you will hear Guillaume’s advices regarding a watercolour set.
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Last Friday, I travelled to Strasbourg with my kung-fu team. Sixteen of us were participating to the National Kung-fu open of Schiltigheim. I arrived a little bit earlier than the others to visit the beautiful city of Strasbourg.
The competion was on Saturday the 10th. It was a great moment for all of us and we were so happy to spend this day together. It’s different when you meet for breakfast with your sleepy eyes !
In this episode I will tell you about both my performances and about Micaela’s first competition.
In the notes that come with the transcript, you will get some photos taken in Strasbourg (it was a hot and very sunny day). Of course, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are very natural in French and that you could use in your own French conversations.
Oh, and I will tell you if we had or not some flammekueche, one of the good Alsacian specialities. Suspens !
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Yesterday evening, I went for a walk in my neighbourhood, There is a one hour walk that I particularly enjoy, but last night I took a different direction. I passed Micaela and Felicia’s highschool, the building is under construction. But there was something to notice on the new building that is about to be finished. This what this episode is about.
In the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are very natural in French and that you could use in your own French conversations. I will also give you a list of useful sentences to talk about a book that you have read.
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023
The end of the year is close now for my 3 daughters. In France, students have long days at school, a lot of holidays during the year (2 weeks every 7 weeks) and long summer holidays. My daughters wished they had less holidays and shorter days at school. They often start at 8 in the morning and finish at 5 in the afternoon. On Thurdays, Micaela starts at 8 and finishes school at 6 in the evening. This represents 9 hours of class during the day. Then, at home, they have to do their homework and learn their lessons.
But as I said, the end is close for this year. This is what the episode is about.
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
It was a rainy day, two weeks ago, my friend Pauline and I were having a walk in the center of Paris, near Les halles, la bourse du commerce (now the Parisian exhibition site of François Pinault’s modern art collection) and l’église Saint-Eustache.
Place Margurite de Navarre, there is a modern building : the Novotel Les Halles. In the center of the hotel, there is an unexpected hidden garden : a patio full of plants. There you can have a very nice experience : the Tea time of the cheffe pâtissière Emilie Gerardi. She created a modern and plant and flower-based version of the tea time. I was very lucky to meet her for the podcast. Pauline and I were so happy to discover such a personal and cheering pâtisserie.
In today’s episode you are going to hear Emilie Gerardi talking about the compositon her tea-time.
In the notes that come with the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that Emilie Gerardi uses to describe her cakes. You will also have the photos of the tea-time, this way you will be able to imagine yourself in the patio, tasting wonderful pâtisseries. As Emilie Gerardi says, in such a place you don’t come only to eat a cake, you come to live a precious moment.
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Last week, my friend Caroline invited me to go with her to see a marvelous show at the Opéra Bastille : three chorégraphies by Maurice Béjart. It was a such a moment. The Opera Bastille is the modern opéra of Paris. It was inaugurated in 1989 for the bicentenary of the French Revolution. It’s a very nice place and going to the Opera is really a special moment. I guess that it’s not as charming as in the 19th Century at the Opera Garnier, but something happens when you are there.
The last of the ballets that we saw was Le boléro de Ravel. This is what I share with you in this episode.
In the notes that come with the transcript, I will highlight for you 3 expressions that are very natural in French and show you how to use them in your own French conversations with examples.
I will also give you a list of basic mouvements that we do with our body.
So to cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyourfrench.com
The subscription costs 4 euros a month.
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Wednesday May 10, 2023
My friend Claire works as a librarian, archivist at the Institut National de Jeunes Sourds in Paris. This institute is a school for deaf people created by l’Abbé de l’Epée en the 18th century.
On the podcast, we have known Claire for a few years now. We first met her as an history student at La Sorbonne, then at l’Ecole des Chartes a prestigious Parisian school specialising in historical sciences. She shared with us a promenade in the Quartier Latin in 2020, then last year she told us about the discovery of an incunable (a book printed in Europe before 1501).
In today’s episode, she shares with us the strange request of a researcher that contacted the institute and was looking for a rather big painting of the 19th century specially created for the choir of the Institute’s chapelle by a famous painter.
In the notes that come with the transcript, we will stop together on the different expressions that Claire uses that give so much life to what she tells us. This is also a way to understand and to see that French is largely made of fixed expressions. A better way to speak French is to learn how to use all those expressions. This is what we’ll see today with examples.
To cultivate your French, you could subscribe to the transcript at www.cultivateyourfrench.com
The subscription costs 4 euros a month.