~Let's Get FRENCH~

Taste the sweetness of this romantic language together.

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My Experience in Editorial and Article Writing Class

“Tough, strict, and stressful” were the three words that I thought the class JM310 Editorial and Article Writing would be. The reason I thought that was because, whenever I thought about news writing especially when it comes to article writing, I would expect a lengthy chunk of text full of bureaucratic words that I cannot make sense of.

“It will not be a piece of cake, for sure,” I said to myself when I saw this course as one of the mandatory courses I have to take in my third year of BJM programme. Anyway, I still believed that there would be some good things I can get from this course.

Monday, 8th of August was the first day of this frightening class. The night before the class, all the things that the seniors said, and complained, about their experience in this course resonated in my head.

“I had no time to do anything. Not even time to sleep due to the assignment by Ajarn Bruce,” said one of the seniors I know. She referred to Mr. Bruce Avasadanond, or Ajarn Bruce, the instructor of this course. I have heard of this name since I was in the second year as lots of stories about him have passed through my ears.

“You have to be present at the class at least thirty minutes before the appointed time, which is 9.00,” said Nicha Bowornwatthanawanit, a senior student that I know and refer to as my sister. She sent this message via Line application when we had a chat the night of 7th of August to remind me that I have to go to class early.

In the morning of Monday the 8th August, I rushed from my dorm to the class. I arrived there at 8.30, exactly thirty minutes before the class started. I survived the first stage of this game.

When the clock in the classroom pointed at 9 sharp, Ajarn Bruce told a student who sat next to the door to lock the door so that those who came late had to wait outside the class. At first I thought it was quite harsh because mostly other teachers would let students come to the class anytime they want. On the other hand, I thought that one of the most important characteristics a person should have is punctuality. No matter you are a student or an adult, coming on time is a universal manner. Thus, even though this measurement seems too strict, it is reasonable in itself.

At the class, Ajarn Bruce assigned seats for all the students according to the group they were in. Then, he assigned us to discuss in group about the issues happening in the society at that time. He gave us 10 minutes to discuss and then another 5 minutes per group to present the discussion to the class.

At first I was quite nervous about speaking in front of the class; it has been my Achilles' heel since I was in high school. However, trying to overcome this drawback, I volunteered to speak on behalf of the group this time. I came up to the front of the class to talk about how Thai people bullied others on social media and how that affected the society.

After I finished the presentation, I expected that Ajarn Bruce would commented on how I unprepared I was as I did not have much time to prepare for my presentation. Unexpectedly, what he did was smile to me with a kind comment, not on how I spoke, but on how he thought about the issue I discussed. He said he agreed that online bullying is a problem undermining Thai society. I felt delighted that my first class passed with flying colours.

In almost every class, Ajarn Bruce assigned us to present in front of the class about how we did on each assignment, what obstacles we faced in each work, and also what we have learnt through the working process. In each time of presentation, I would volunteer as a speaker if there was no one who would want to do it as I like to improve my presentation skill.

What I have gained from doing the presentation is not only confidence when speaking to the class, but also how to organise my idea and, most importantly, how to make it succinct to fit the limited time I have.

In one of my presentations when I had only 5 minutes to speak, I greeted the class with a classic, and cliché, phrase “good morning class.” Ajarn Bruce then replied to me, “no need to say good morning, just skip to the content.” Now I know that sometimes I do not need to follow the same pattern of how to open up a presentation like how others do. Making it short but clear is the most important thing. When compared with the first time I did the presentation, I have gained more skills and gotten rid much of the anxiety when speaking in front of the class.

Apart from the presentation skill, what I have learnt from the class is to be professional. By saying professional, it does not cover only the professionalism in working as a journalist, but also to be punctual and responsible for the assignments I have. I have always come to class on time since day one because of the rule that Ajarn Bruce gave to the class. Now I feel comfortable waking up early in the morning to get to the class on time.

Panjavich Khodthong 5707640438

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James Bond / Bond’s Girls / Gender Stereotypes

Sean Connery as the first James Bond

          From Dr.No in 1962 to Spectre in 2015, all the 24 James Bond movies never cease to capture the attention of people all around the world. Not only does James Bond has a great influence on the film industry as it has risen in the film industry for more than 50 years, but it has also played a great role in creating sexual stereotypes to our society since the time when female empowerment just started rising until nowadays that it becomes more and more of an issue to talk about.

         As Bond has been fighting with the villains for over 50 years, the world has also been fighting to make change in gender inequality to the world. First of all before we analyse the film’s role in gender inequality, let’s get to know what gender inequality is and how it plays a role in assigning roles to females and males.

         Media tends to present the image of masculinity as strong, active, independent, thus the role of leader is usually assigned to males in the media. A number of the main characters we see in movies are males. On the other hand, femininity is presented as passive and submissive, hence the role of supporting characters in movies. Females are also sexualised by males as most film producers and directors are dominantly males. So, they present the movies through the ‘male gaze’ – seeing females from the males’ view and pleasing the male audiences by letting them see females sexually objectified.

         Now let’s come to the film. The character of James Bond is an upper-class spy and servant to royalty who is filled with the ideal masculinity from the 1960s. He always looks professional in his sophisticated suit even when he is fighting with the villains. He has a taste that every gentleman at that time had to have to be accepted; drinking wine, gambling in a luxurious casino, and the most obvious; picking up on girls in every film he appears. There is no cross-reference of past lovers from film to film as he always makes love with new girls in every new film.

         This quintessential James Bond stereotype puts pressure on males in reality because they think that if they fail to be like Bond in the movie, they would be seen as lack the certain qualities to make them “men.”

         Apart from the Bond himself, another element of the series that contributes greatly to its success is the Bond’s girls. With the clever but horrible sexual innuendo names given to the Bond’s girls such as Holly Goodhead,  Pussy Galore, Xenia Onatopp, Agent XXX and Octopussy, the audience would not be surprised how much they would be sexualized on the screen. (Watch Austin Powers makes a parody on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i90eE9Ff3fI )

An obvious sexual innuendo 

      Throughout more than 50 years that James Bond has been on the silver screen, women in the series are sexualized and objectified by males in the movies. An obvious example in almost every Bond film, apart from the classic gun barrel where Bond shoots at the camera, is the film opening sequence graphic that shows silhouettes of women with her shapes highlighted sexually or posing in seducing postures. Let’s take the opening of the latest 007 series as an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0q0ilju3tU

         All Bond girls are stylish, sophisticated, and flirtatious and play roles as Bond’s love interest. However, their roles are only supporting character who are presented through male gaze and sexualized by dressing sexily, showing their skin.

          Halle Berry in Die Another Day, an example of sexualisation in the film

         Women in the film are expected to be susceptible and dependent on Bond’s support. For example, in the latest film Spectre, the main female character Dr. Madeleine Swann, starred by a French actress Léa Seydoux, was also presented as dependent on men. In the scene where Bond and Madeleine were chased by a villain on a train, Bond tried to give her a gun in order that she could protect herself. She refused to take it, saying she hated guns. Bond insisted her to take it and taught her how to use the gun as he presupposed women are innocent to guns. Then she took the gun from Bond, unloading the clip and unlocking it.

          Léa Seydoux in Spectre dressing in a tight dress showing her shape

          As the release of the first film Dr.No in 1962, it coincided with the women’s liberation movement which occurred in the 1960s and continued throughout the 1970s. During the time where women were fighting for their equal rights and to liberate from the limited roles they were given in the society, feminists expressed their dissent to the representation of the Bond’s girls that is full of hypersexuality.

         Although we have seen female empowerment for many years, it seems that there is not much change in gender equality done to the Bond series.        However, one thing that could be said was a result of the female liberation is the character M, the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service who gives Bond orders. Before 1995, this character was portrayed by males. The character has been shifted to be female for the first time in Goldeneye when Judi Dench, an English actress, accepted the role. She is portrayed as a professional and authoritative female whom Bond respects as she gives him orders and has a right to send him to die in his duty. She also criticized the patriarchal society as she mentioned Bond in one of the series as “a sexist and misogynist dinosaur.” This female character is a proof of a change in workplace equality because in the past, females were given the inferior and less important working positions. Having a female M in the film shows that the society has come quite far in fighting for gender equality.

Judi Dench as the female M

         Nevertheless, there was a good sign from James Bond that it does not totally neglect the importance of making a change in gender inequality. Daniel Craig, the latest James Bond who has starred until now in 4 Bond films, appeared on a video raising awareness of gender inequality for the 2011’s International Women's Day. The video’s name is “EQUALS”. In the video, with a voiceover by Judi Dench, Craig first dressed up like Bond that we always see in the movie with his suit.

         "We're equals, aren't we 007?" asks Dench as M. "Yet it is 2011 and a man is still likely to earn more money than a woman, even one doing the same job."

         At one point of the video, Craig turned up to be wearing a wig and a female dress and high-heels.

        "So are we equals? Until the answer is yes we must never stop asking," concludes Dench, raising this question to people about the issue.

         This two-minute film was produced by Barbara Broccoli, the first and only one female producer of the film that has Bond as the character. It is one of the social changes on the media that we see from the media recently as it emphasizes that women can be a film producer too.

    Watch EQUALS at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkp4t5NYzVM

         The issue of gender equality has been in the society for a long time, it will be improved or not depends on everyone’s awareness. For me as a fan of James Bond film, I hope to see women getting more important roles and not objectified in the film as we are moving forward to the world that everyone and every gender is equal.

  References: 

https://bondcyou.wordpress.com/gender-roles/

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/film/james-bond-sex-and-masculinity

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/07/james-bond-video-womens-day

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YANIS MARSHALL: Gay Pop Icon Who Rocks the World of Dance

Sashaying on a crowded street filled with glamorous shops in Paris with a banana decoration on his head and his lip painted with yellow and black is Yanis Marshall. Together with four of his friends who dress more or less the same as him, he is dancing to Beyoncé’s Deja Vu and rocking the street where everyone is captivated by his zealous and mature movement. Despite wearing high-heeled shoes of a height like the Eiffel Tower, he never seems to totter while dancing to such an energetic song.

Yanis Marshall, the 25-year-old YouTube sensation, has created a new page of history of pop culture dance as he is always filled with energy and passion in dancing. What’s more is his conspicuous appearance as a guy with beard slightly seen, which tremendously contrasts to his facile but fashionable clothes and his prominent high-heeled shoes.

He has started to rock the Internet since 2013 as a French skillful gay dancer and choreographer when he released videos of him dancing in a studio. He is accepted and famous not only in France, but throughout the world.

“It’s not just about the shoe. It’s also about what it represents. Men aren’t supposed to wear them, and I love that. I’m a rebel. You say ‘no,’ I say ‘yes.’ I’ve always been like that with everyone, even my mom. I’ll ask, ‘Why not?’ and if, for me, your answer is not clear enough, then I will do it,” said Marshall to the website Out.com when asked about his inspiration to wear high-heels on the dance floor.

(An article about him written by Out.com at: http://www.out.com/entertainment/2015/7/09/globe-strutter-choreographer-yanis-marshall-heels-and-demand)

Not only is he an Internet sensation for cover dancing on YouTube, he is also considered a pop icon for France and the world. Because of his unique style of dressing plus his confidence in expressing himself through dancing, the world keeps eyes on him. He has his world tour to many countries including Italy, Greece, Brazil and Mexico.

There are a number of teenagers who are interested in dancing and want to find a place for them to express themselves joining his dance classes. As his unique style of dance in which high-heels are considered part of it that he cannot dance without it, these teenagers of every gender; gay, lesbian or bisexual, take this style as the epitome and are happy to wear high-heels to dance like what Marshall does. The popularity for dancing on high-heels does not stop only in his school; it has been a trend that many other schools take as a result of his fame on mass media.

“In the last year of me touring, all I can see are these dance studios that have added a new class to their schedule — a heels class,” says Marshall to an interview article by Out.com. “They didn’t have that two years ago. It’s really becoming the new thing. I’m not the first, but I will say I definitely made it popular. I made heels for men — for anyone — popular.”

As he is roaring in the world of postmodern media where media is a mixture of the available and popular stuffs, Marshall’s work on cover dance reflects this idea obviously. All of his dances are mixed pieces of songs by pop singers that are idolized by people all around the world. For example, there are many of his videos that refer to all-time-hit songs of Britney Spears such as “Baby One More Time” and “Born to Make You Happy.”

His “Spice Girls” cover is a good example showing how postmodern aesthetics play a colourful role in his work. This video is the most-watched, with more than 10 million views on YouTube. It is a video of him and his two friends; Arnaud Boursain and Mehdi Mamine, who become his best partners, dancing while strutting through well-known attractions in Paris like the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre Museum. In this video, the three dance to “Wannabe” and “Stop,” the famous songs of Spice Girls. Spice Girls is an iconic girl group from the 90s who influences not only the taste of songs, but also the fashion style of girls and gays in that age. So, this dance cover of Marshall is an intertextuality to the fame of Spice Girls and also a bricolage of their two famous songs with new created meaning that gay dancers like Marshall and his friends can be superstars that have the same potential as other people. (Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfKrE3YDtoc)

If you like Yanis Marshall and want to keep updated on his work, here are ways you can track him: http://www.yanismarshall.com/ https://www.facebook.com/YanisMarshallOfficial https://www.youtube.com/user/MrMarshallYanis

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Édith Piaf: her influence in pop culture

When thinking about French singers, the name "Édith Piaf" would be the first one to come up in mind. Her familiar smooth, charming and unique voice still resounds in our memory though her songs are more than 5 decades ago. No matter do people of her age love her songs, but also the new generation treasure her songs as classic pieces of the world. As a result, her character and her songs are still be seen in present pop culture as referrences to her past success, parody, and also a biographical story of her. We will discover how Édith became famous and how she is portrayed in today's pop culture.

Édith Piaf rose to stardom in 1930s for her songs that express romantic love story that helped releive people's struggle from the second world war. The song "La Vie en Rose" has been her classic anthem since it was released in 1947. The song says about how the girl is loved by the man as it sings "when he holds me in his arms .... I feel the rosy life." The song has been translated into English and popularised by Louis Armstrong, an African American singer who was one of the icons of 1940s. La Vie en Rose  has been featured as a name of a film that portrays her childhood  life  too. The film, in 2007, won Academy Award for Best Actress. The movie X-Men: First Class,in 2011, uses this song as an intertexuality in the scene when young Erik, starred Bill Milner, is in an office of a concentration camp during the world war II.

The song La Vie en Rose is still used when referring to anything related to French and the country. For example, many movies choose to use this song in the scene that the characters are in France.

Another song of her "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" is also famous and referred to in many pieces of pop culture. The song, meaning 'No, I regret nothing,' says about forgetting the dark past and refusing to regret anything as she has met this man.

One of the most well known intertexuality to Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien is in the film Inception (2010) where Hans Zimmer, a German music composer for the film, chose this song as one of the film's scores. Zimmer says through many media such as LA Times that he would use this song as a part of the film. Only a small section of the song has been adapted and sampled to generate a new, unique mood in the film. The song is used in the film to signify audience when the story is shifting from one level of dreams to another.

"You realise that the elements that we've extrscted from the Piaf's song are the way you get from one dream level to the next. When the movie starts, some action has already happened," said Zimmer about how he applied the song to the film.

For the first time that audience have heard this song in Inception, it gives a feeling of intensity, mystery and confusion, which go along well with the film that revolves around complicated idea of dream travelling.

Another animated film from DreamWorks "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" also refers to the song in a scene when Captain Chantel DuBois, the main antagonist of the film, sings the song to her henchmen, making them recover from injury. Piaf dedicated this song to the French Foreign Legion (FFL). So, the scene suggests that DuBois and the henchmen serve in the FFL.

There is a parody to the song too. Bec Hill, an Australian-born comedian who garners a cult following in Australia and the UK, translates the song and assumes it into what she hears in a funny way. For example, in the part of the song that sings "non, rien de rien" meaning 'no, nothing at all' Hill translates it exactly as what she presumes she hears from the song as "nom, rear the rear" replying the word 'rear' to the rear part of the body, butt, as she portrays in the drawing.

Another example of intertexuality to Piaf herself is the character of Mona Vanderwaal from the TV series "Pretty Little Liars". In the series, Vanderwaal is a Francophile who loves to listen to Piaf's song on many occasions.

Not only are Piaf and her songs used as intertexuality in many types of media, but also they are for many times stereotyped ss what the French listen to every day. For example, when a film or a series show the audience that the story takes place in Paris, the song La Vie en Rose is often used to signify Frenchness and that all French people would listen to this song. Or some kight stereotype it as every French girl resembles Piaf in one way or another, for example, having a similar style of makeup as Piaf and singing Piaf's songs.

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French Stereotypes: Are the French Really Like What We Think?

Mass media do have a great effect in influencing what people perceive something, even though what the media tell us to believe is really true or not. Stereotyping is one thing media play a great role in as every type of media; music, films, magazines, all present a picture of a specific thing in specific ways. France and the French have been stereotyped by the media in so many ways that when we talk about them, we would have the same ideas towards them. The first picture that comes to mind of people about French guys would definitely be like this guy and this girl.

 French people have been stereotyped as always wearing a striped shirt, a beret, and a dorky neck tie. A man would have long curly beard.

However, in reality, I don’t see that all the French all look like that although some might be. Nowadays, the French are more exposed to American media and culture through movies, music, and fashion (though French fashion is still largely appreciated by the world). So, the French would dress normally like what people in other countries would dress instead of the stereotyped striped shirts and berets. Here are some examples of how the French nowadays dress like.

 hipsta-soul.blogspot.com

Although the not usually dress like the stereotyped pattern we hold, one thing that many French people, though not all, do is carrying a baguette with them. Baguette, a long thin loaf of French bread, is one of the French’s staple food. They would visit a boulangerie, or a bakery, every day to get a loaf of baguette with them to bring home the dinner. Therefore, when you are in France, you would still see people holding the bread with them on the street.

www.gettyimages.com

 When talking about their personality, people would think that the French are rude and arrogant. It might be true, at least in the past, that the French could not, or were not willing to, speak English. So, foreign tourists who go to France may experience French rudeness. For example, when they ask for help from the local French, they do not get a willing help because the French do not speak English and give cold shoulders to the tourists. This type of stuff may be because the French are proud of their language and because England and France used to be enemies against each other in the past. Therefore, many old French people would not be so open-minded to accept English as a language they would learn to speak. Another reason might be because the French expect that everyone who comes to their country would be able to speak French, so they do not speak much English to the tourists. However, the French, especially the younger generation, nowadays are more open-minded to speak English as the history of their enmity has been greatly faded away from their minds. Also, French people do consume a lot of media from the United States and England, so they can adapt themselves to English quite fast. I have a French friend whom I met on an online-talking website. He is a proof to me that the French are moving to a more open-minded attitude and he does speak very good English. He said that the French are now more eager to learn English as they see its importance and they want to be friendlier with foreigners. Therefore, this stereotype does not convince me as all the French that I have met are so friendly and accept other people.

lamourdeparis.com

 Not only the people but also the city like Paris, the capital of France, is stereotyped as well. Paris is stereotyped as a romantic city filled with a long line of trees covering the avenue of Champs-Élysées where classic and beautiful buildings are expected to be seen along the street. There would be couples kissing on the street and love would be everywhere. Everything in Paris seems to be filled with beauty and romance. Nevertheless, that would be just some parts of it. In some parts of the city, the heady odor of urine and baked goods are expected. Also, not only you can see people having their romantic time, but you can also see destitute people living in subway stations or along the street full of luxurious branded shops begging for money from people passing by. Some of the classic beautiful buildings are left in decay and filled with graffiti.

As a result, tourists who visit Paris in hope for experience a romantic vibe of the city may be shocked with what they actually see and disappointed. Hence comes “Paris Syndrome,” an extreme case of culture shock experienced by Japanese tourists when they found that the real Paris was not what they expected to see. The official website of SBS, an Australian broadcast company, describes the syndrome as “causing symptoms such as an acute delusional state, hallucinations, anxiety, dizziness, and sweating.”

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/30/paris-syndrome-culture-shock-sickness-sends-japanese-tourists-packing

Stereotypes can be found anywhere and can be for anyone. Whether the stereotypes are true or not, positive or negative, they depend on individuals to use their consciousness to judge.

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What Do We Learn from Social Media Posting on Paris Attacks

[”Praque prays for Paris” a photo by a Flickr user Bianca Dagheti https://www.flickr.com/photos/bianca96/22413905284]

Last November Paris has seen a sorrowful attack where bombings and shootings killed a number of people in many places in the city. However, the reaction that people from all around the world gave on social media seemed not less distressed than the attacks as a ton of misinformation and passive and vicarious involvements of people spilled the Internet over the year. How did they affect the society and what did we learn from them?

                Social media itself can be a useful technology that helps spread out information to people boundlessly and keep people on the track of what they need to know. Nevertheless, if people use it without thinking thoroughly and verification, it would cause bad effects to the society. This fact would be applied to this situation as well when people, intentionally or carelessly, spread out misinformation about the plight to the Internet that caused people, who did not think thoroughly as well when receiving information online, to mistake what was wrong as things they needed to share to their online friends.

               A controversial video posted on Facebook entitled “Muslims Around The World Celebrate The Islamic Victory In Paris France” claimed to be a video showing a large group of Pakistani Muslim cheering for the victory of the Muslim over Paris was posted and shared all over the social media after the Paris Attack. However, it was later revealed that the video in fact showed British Pakistanis celebrating the victory in a cricket game in 2009.

               Another false information shared by people online was selfie of a purportedly Muslim man holding a Quran, a religious text of Islam, with what seemed like a suicide bomb attached on his body. Later it turned out that the photo was photoshopped as the Quran he was holding was actually an iPad and the suicide bomb was superimposed on his body.

               This kind of false information were spread out throughout out the Internet, causing rancour among people against the Muslim and scapegoating all Muslim as terrorists, while in fact these pieces of information were distorted to make people misunderstand and hate others. People who did not know or check for the fact would take the Muslim wrong and put the blame on them. Also, it has created an undeletable misunderstanding of people on the Muslim as a result of posting and sharing things without thinking and checking for the fact.

               Besides misinformation, what we did see from the Internet was the slacktivism and vicarious participation of the people.

               After people knew about the attack, either from their friends who share statuses on social media or by watching the news, they hastily posted things expressing condolence to Paris and use the hashtags such as #PrayforParis. A picture of a peace sign with the Eiffel Tower in the middle was shared by people on social media without giving credit to, or even knowing who the creator of this picture was. People used a filter of tricolore, the three colours on the French national flag, on their profile pictures on Facebook to show solitary Paris. Even though these activities could show that people do care about the incident, they did not really help the people injured, physically and mentally, by the incident or make any change to the society. In addition, the reasons why people post things according to the incident are more about social proof, wanting to show others that they go with the trend, rather than really wishing to help.

               What we did learn from social media on the Paris attack was not only that we should verify the information or check if what we are going to post have any repercussion on us, but also we have learned that everything we post and share does matter to the society. Therefore, it is essential we take a step back before posting anything to think about its outcome so as to make the technology really helpful to the society as it should be.

               For more information about how social media reacted to the attack, you can check on these websites:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12007644/Paris-terror-attacks-Why-social-media-is-turning-us-into-idiots.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-why-the-rapid-sharing-of-anything-vaguely-inspirational-after-a-tragedy-is-so-a6735891.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/18/europe/paris-terror-attack-myths/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/paris-attacks-video-showing-london-muslims-celebrating-terror-attacks-is-fake-a6737296.html

Y��rA~n7

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Souvenir de Suisse (final episode): Snow for the First Time in My Life

           Salut! Welcome back to my trip in Suisse. Last time we have travelled in Paris and we have seen lots of things such as la Tour Eiffel and La Seine. This week’s post is the last page of my trip in France and Switzerland and the most memorable moment of me and my family. Let’s see what we have got today.

           From France, we took a coach for more than 4 hours (if my memory serves) to a beautiful city of Lucerne in Switzerland. Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland and is located in a German-speaking region of Switzerland. So, everywhere we went in this city, we could hear people speaking in German all the time, unlike in Paris.

           Instead of going directly into the centre of Lucerne, we decided to go to visit the most famous and visited snow mountain, Mount Titlis, first. Along the way to the mountain, we enjoyed with a beautiful picture of petite lovely houses made of wood with small garden in front of the houses. We saw herds of livestock freely roaming in a vast green field with the background of the snowy mountain standing gracefully in a distance. Although the time we went to Switzerland was not its winter and there was not snow falling down, we could feel that the weather was very satisfying, especially for Thais like us who are quite fed up with the heat in Thailand. We took lots of pictures even though we were still on the coach that was bringing us to the mountain because we all loved the way people here live peacefully with a pleasant clean air and naturally beautiful atmosphere. It must be more than a dream to wake up in the morning and see a lush green field with lovely animals and the enormous beautiful white mountain.

           Before we went to Mount Titlis, we went in to a little town beside the mountain to have our lunch and take some photos with the town. We went to a little cute restaurant in the town which gave us not only perfect lunch for the day, but also an impressive scenary of the little town that has the white but colourful mountain as its background. After finishing our meal and strolling inside the town, we walked to the base of Mount Titlis in which we bought a ticket for a cable car that would take us up to the pinnacle of this Mount Titlis. As the cable car was escalating, a breathtaking view of the town with a turquoise lake was appearing in front of us. We were more than impressed by the view this wonderful city gave us.

Along the way up to the mountain, we talked with each other all the time and took lots of pictures. From the green field we had seen on the ground, now we began to see white snow appearing gradually as we were climbing this mountain. We stopped at a cable car station. There, we get out of the cable car and took another special cable car which gave us a 360 degree view as it was climbing up the mountain. This car is called “Rotair Titlis”. As we can see in the picture I borrowed from https://roamingcanadian.files.wordpress.com, the car could contain more than 20 people and could rotate itself so that we could see the snowy mountain in a new perspective.

           Now we arrived at Klein Titlis, a spot near the top of the mountain where we visited an ice glacier cave. We entered this glittery ice glacier to see how beautiful it was inside. We had to walk with care because the ice floor was very slippery. I was almost slip over it but luckily I could grab a handrail before falling down. The atmosphere inside the cave was warm. We took some photos inside the cave.

           After we visited the ice glacier cave, we walked up the the top of Mount Titlis. It was like a dream for me because, as a Thais, we do not see this kind of snowy mountain like what we saw in TV before. I felt that the fun and happiness was in front of me. Although I felt a little bit dizzy because of the height from the ocean level and the air pressure, I still enjoyed playing with snow and taking photos with my family.

           We had a great time all along the trip today. After spending pur time on Mount Titlis, we went to the centre of Lucerne to see other must-not-miss attractions. We saw the Lion Monument, a relief of a lion injured and sorrowing because of the pain. The monument commemorates the death of Swiss Guards who were killed during the French Revolution in 1792. We also went to the Chapel Bridge or Kapellbrücke in German. This bridge is considered the oldest wooden bridge in Europe. The bridge stretches its arm across the Reuss River in the centre of Lucerne. On the bridge, there was a collection of old painting covering all along the bridge. We spent all of our evening on that bridge and around the city of Lucerne, where we will never forget.

Photo of Rotair Titlis from

https://roamingcanadian.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mount-titlis-switzerland.jpg

[letsgetfrench-blog]

Souvenir de Paris (episode 2) : Kiss Goodbye Paris and Salut Suisse

Salut Let’sGetFRENCHers !

Last week we have passed a sad moment for Parisiens and for everyone as there was a tragic incident happened in Paris. The hashtag #prayforParis has been used by people from all around the world to represent condolence to those who suffered from the incident and to peace. I was also shocked when I first got hold of the news from a post from my friend’s Facebook that another tragedy has occurred in Paris this year. I hope that those people who live in Paris and France will be recovered from the pain and that serenity and happiness of the people would be restored.

Anyway, this week in Let’sGetFRENCH, I am going to take you back on the trip in Paris that I went on when I was young (I went there in 2009. I was about 12, I guess). This time we will visit some other places in Paris that those who visit Paris must not miss, and also we are going to visit France’s beloved neighbour where people also speak French as one of their mother tongues, la Suisse (Switzerland). This was the trip that I had a chance to see and play with snow for the first time with my family. Let’s get on to the trip and discover France and Suisse together!

Last time after my family and I went to la Tour Eiffel to see Paris from a viewpoint that I had never seen before, we went back to a hotel

in the centre of this never-sleeping city. After checking in the hotel

and taking a rest for a while, we did not let our trip for that day end yet. We decided to take a walk around Paris in the night to see how this city goes on when le soleil (the sun) goes to take his rest.

The night in Paris is so glowing and impressive. The light that shone on the classic buildings made this city look like gold. Although it was quite late in the night, the Parisiens did still enjoy their time with friends and family. They still walked and chatted with other people like they never needed to sleep in this colourful and young night. We also went on the Bateaux-Mouches, a popular boat that take people to travel around Paris on the river that is the life of this city; the Seine. The boat took us to visit la Tour Eiffel again. But this time, it was different than what we had seen in the afternoon. This time, la Tour Eiffel was glittery with a set of glowing light like a young and beautiful girl in a gleaming dress flutteringly dancing in the night to impress people who passed by to look at her.

In the next morning before we kissed goodbye Paris, we took a chance to visit Notre-Dame de Paris, a historical Catholic cathedral that is considered to be one of the finest epitomes of French Gothic architecture of all time. Here, I have seen the beauty of the Rose Window that is adorned prominently in the front of the cathedral.

Also, I have touch le Point Zero des Rout de France (the Point Zero) which is a spot where distance begins to be measured. People have a belief that if you stand on this point and make a wish, the wish will come true. I did wish that one day I would come back to France again. Hope the wish will come true as what people believe.

It’s time to say goodbye to Paris and France after making a wish (or a promise, maybe) to come back to this beloved city again, we headed to la Suisse on a coach we took at Dijon, another city outside Paris where we took le TGV, a high-speed train from Paris, to.

When we arrived at Suisse, the first picture we saw was a beautiful vast mountains at the end of our eyes on a rush green field. Along the way were cute tiny houses made of wood. This picture reminded me of the movie “The Sound of Music” that the characters sang together on a huge mountain happily. On the way to one of the most famous snow mountains in Suisse, I was very excited to see snow for the first time in my life.

[letsgetfrench-blog]

#PriezPourParis #PrayForParis Paris is still a beautiful city. Hope peace and happiness will be restored to Paris soon.

picture from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_over_the_base_of_the_Eiffel,_Paris_2007.jpg

[letsgetfrench-blog]

Dancing While the Whole Paris Is Sleeping

In the night of Paris while the whole city is sleeping, a prominently shining red mill in the centre of Montmarte is still singing loudly and its arms are dancing to entice people from all walks of life to come join this rouge colourful night. Ladies are dressing in their most garish dress that they proudly present to the guests. The phrase is said to seduce men to this never-sleeping heaven.

“Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir?”

This week in Let’sGetFRENCH we will discover one of the icons of Paris that is recognized as the most lively, colourful, and elegant cabaret show in Paris. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!

If you are a fan of Christina Aguilera or at least listen to some of her well-known songs, you may recognize and remember this phrase from the song “Lady Mamalade”. Oui! This catchy seductive verse of the song was used as a soundtrack of one of the most remembered Hollywood films “Moulin Rouge”. This movie portrays the Moulin Rouge, the most famous cabaret show in Paris that has been with Paris for more than 120 years.

Situated in Montmarte arrondissement in Paris, Moulin Rouge was born in 1889 with the ‘joie de vivre’ during the Belle Époque, the era of liveliness, peace and optimism marked by advance in industrial revolution and cultural flourishing, along with la Tour Eiffel; the iron lady who was an epitome of French industrial progress in the 1889 World Expo. Thanks to the collapsed barriers between the rich, the middle classes and the blue collars, it came an idea of a place where people of every walk of life can enjoy the night. The creators of Moulin Rouge, Joseph Oller, and his Manager Charles Zidler were magnates in the entertainment industry as they know what people’s taste were. They aim that this first palace of women would entice people of the society to enjoy its champagne that was served every night and its dancing performance that was famous throughout the world by word of mouth.

One of its famous dance shows that is still talked about by people nowadays is the cancan. Cancan is a famous French dancing performance where women dance vigorously with their legs in a seductive way. The movement is exciting as the dancers manipulate their skirts while moving their legs up and down along with fun and lively music. Cancan was first introduced in 1830 and has been the iconic show of Moulin Rouge since it was adopted at the place. Some of the famous cancan dancers of that age were Jane Avril also known as Jeanne la Folle (crazy Jane), La Môme Fromage, Grille d’Egoût (gutter grate) and Yvette Guilbert. In the Guide to Paris nightlife, edition 1898, the woman cancan dancers were described as “an army of young girls in Paris who dance this divine hullabaloo the way its fame demands it… with such an elasticity when they launch their legs upwards that we are allowed to presume that they are at least as flexible with morals…”

An attraction of Moulin Rouge is the gigantic wooden elephant in which Oller and Zidler purchased from the Exhibition Universelle (World’s Fair) of 1900. It attracted lots of people to enjoy the sensual belly dance show performed in the elephant’s stomach. This elephant was also in the film “Moulin Rouge” where Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor played their romantic scene together.

The show “The Dream of Egypt,” written and performed by Colette and her girlfriend, Mathilde de Morny was a show about a male archeologist who finds a girl mummy and unwraps her. The show reached its finale by the ending scene where the man and the mummy perform an amorous kiss. This show was so controversial that the audience was outraged and forced the performers to lock themselves in an office and wait until the police officers come.

If you are to visit Paris, do not forget to visit the Museum of Montmartre, in which you will see some original posters of Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec. If you want to visit Moulin Rouge, you can check the information here at its official website http://www.moulinrouge.fr/?lang=en

PRACTICAL INFORMATION: Moulin Rouge Tél: [phone] Place Blanche 82, boulevard de Clichy, Paris 18th Métro: Line 2, Blanche

Thank you for being with Let’sGetFRENCH and hope to see you next week. Salut!

[letsgetfrench-blog]

Souvenir de Paris (Episode 1)

Paris is always the city of my dream and will always be. Today while I was reading a book about travelling in Paris, I was reminded about the trip to Paris and other countries nearby that I went on when I was just a 12-year-old child. I rushed to my beige wooden shelf to find a CD of a photo album of my trip in Paris. Yes, it is still there. I am so glad that the memory about my dream city is still with me. I played the disc with my computer and went on the trip again. Certainly, I do not forget to share this to everyone who has been reading Let’s Get FRENCH. So, let’s go to Paris with the young me.

Well, I visited Paris in October, so it was during l’automne (autumn). I was not surprised why the weather was quite friendly and impressive. In this trip, I did spend two days in Paris before going to other cities in other countries. However, I really enjoyed these two days in Paris because I had a chance to visit a number of places and try various kinds of food there.

On the first day after arriving at Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport), I went straight to le Château de Versailles (The Palace of Versailles).  Situated in in the Île-de-France region, Versailles used to be a royal palace of Louis XIV when he moved out from the centre of Paris with his family. The palace is grandiose and is outstanding with its meticulous Baroque architecture. There are a number of rooms to visit in which we cannot finish all of them in just one day.

One of the most famous halls that visitors to the Versailles must not miss to see is la Galerie des Glaces (The Hall of Mirrors). This long hall is embellished with a long line of glasses which lets the sunlight from outside to touch the collection of golden statues that lie along the hall, creating a very beautiful image of the classic French. The crystal chandeliers hanged from the ceiling together magnificently beautify the hall.

It reminded me of the history about a Siamese ambassador Kosa Pan under the reign of King Narai in Ayutthaya period who was rapturously welcomed by the French at the Galerie des Glaces when he went with his envoy to pay respect to Louis XIV. It was like travelling back time to see that picture.

Another attraction in the Versailles is le Cour de Marble (The Marble Court) which is surrounded by the blocks of the palace and le Court Royale (The Royal Court). Le Cour Marble apparently shows how wealthy and luxurious the king was because it is all made by luxurious marble.

In the evening, I went back from the classic palace to the centre of Paris again. I had a great time with my parents at La Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower), the unique icon of Paris in which, if you miss it, you miss Paris. The tower was more enormous than I expected. I was stunned by how big it is when I was standing under it. Situated on Champs de Mars in Paris, the tower was originally made as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair held in Paris. At first, it had received a lot of criticisms from les Parisiens because they found it disgusting and as a waste for their eyes. Nevertheless, as time went by, you can see how people get to love it as it has become the only one thing that can best represent Paris and France to the world. Nowadays, it is utilised not only as a welcoming place for visitors to Paris, but also as a broadcast aerial.

We went on the second floor of the tower. (The tower has totally three floors.) We were all amazed with the view the tower gave to us. I imagined myself as a bird that was seeing my city of dream from the sky. We could see the whole Paris from this tower. Moreover, with the welcoming chilling weather on this tower, we spent the whole evening enjoying with the view and the beauty of Paris without being less interested. My trip is not ended. Next week, we will discover more in Paris and other interesting cities that I am glad to share with all my beloved readers. Thank you for reading.

"Siamese envoys at Versailles" by Unknown - From M. Smithies, "Siam and the Vatican in the Seventeenth Century," River, Bangkok, 2001, p.67, via prior upload at en:File:Siamese envoys at Versailles.jpg. Original credited to National Archives of Thailand, Bangkok.. Licensed under Public Domain

via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siamese_envoys_at_Versailles.jpg#/media/File:Siamese_envoys_at_Versailles.jpg

[letsgetfrench-blog]

A Night on the Bateaux Mouches on the Romantic Seine

“We walked and talked by the river Seine.

Then we drew our hearts and carved our names.

I loved you then and you loved me. Think back Mademoiselle my used to be.”

This verse of the song “Mademoiselle” by Hank Locklin illustrates best the romantic picture on La Seine (the river Seine) under a beautiful glittering night in this city of light, Paris.  

Bien sur! Of course! This week we are going to visit one of the most talked about attractions of the capital of France. The river Seine. Travelling along the river on a Bateau Mouche cruise will for sure make you impressed with the beauty of the classical architecture along the two sides of the river while enjoying with your glasses of wine with your loved ones. Make sure that you do not miss the must-see attractions on the river such as le Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris and la Tour Eiffel.  Grab your tickets for the cruise and let’s go.

The river Seine is a 776-kilometre long river which traverses along Paris. It has long been famous among the tourists who come to the city as there are a number of beautiful and classy attractions all along the two sides of the river. The best way to explore this river is by going on a cruise, or what is known by les Parisiens (the Parisian) as les Bateaux Mouches.

Bateaux Mouches are open excursion cruises that provide both les Parisiens and les tourists (the tourists) with a magnificent view along the river. There are many types of Bateaux Mouches provided for you with various levels of service form taxi-boats to private dining experiences, where you can order fine dinner and wine to enjoy with while absorbing yourselves with a colourful vibe of the night along the river Seine. As the top of the cruises are open, tourists love to go on the top and take pictures with the attractions they find along the river trail.

Here are the attractions Bateaux Mouches promises you will be seeing on the river Seine.

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris is a church built in the French Gothic architecture situated on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris. This cathedral is among the largest and most famous churches in the world. It is well known for its enormous rose window that can be seen explicitly from both the inside and the outside of the cathedral. Notre Dame de Paris has appeared in many films and literatures such as the film “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”.  

Visit the official website of the cathedral: http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/

Hôtel de Ville

Hôtel de Ville has been a building that houses the city's local administration since 1357.  It was built in the renaissance style. Since the French Revolution, Hôtel de Ville has seen a number of historical events, from the proclamation of the French Third Republic in 1870 and the famous speech by Charles de Gaulle, a former president of France, where he greeted the crowd from a front window of the building.

Bateaux Mouches give you more than you would expect. If you are interested in going on one of the cruises, you can check the time and plan your trip here.

High season

From April to September

10•15am – 11•00am – 11•30am – 12•15pm

1•00pm – 1•45pm – 2•30pm – 3•00pm

3•30pm – 4•00pm – 4•30pm – 5•00pm

5•30pm – 6•00pm – 6•30pm – 7•00pm

From 01/04 to 30/09

Every 20 mins (about) from 7pm to 10•30pm

Low season

From October to March

11•00am* – 12•00 – 1•00pm – 1•45pm

2•30pm* – 3•15pm – 4•00pm – 4•45pm – 5•30pm*

6•15pm – 7•00pm – 7•45pm – 8•30pm* – 9•20pm

Extra departures at weekends from 10:15am

Du 01/10 au 31/03

A minimum of 50 passengers is required for the boat to leave the quay

* : Guaranteed departures

The cruise takes about 1 hour 10 minutes

Cruise trips

Adults            €13,5

Children (under 12 years of age)           €6

Children (under 4 years of age) Free of charge for individuals

Groups (more than 20 people)  consult us

School children       prices from €4,20

Boat route

For more information, please go to the official website. http://www.bateaux-mouches.fr

Wish you have a nice week and see you next time. Au revoir!

Thank you for pictures from these sources.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bateaux_Mouches_on_the_Seine,_Paris_July_2013.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bateaux_Mouches_July_27,_2008.jpg

http://www.routard.com/photos/paris/29815-notre_dame_winter_s_night.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel_de_Ville,_Paris

http://www.bateaux-mouches.fr

[letsgetfrench-blog]

Love/Luck/Risk: La Fille sur le Pont

“It’s never good for me. Things go from bad to worse. I never pick the lucky number.”

- Adele

Bonjour à tous. Welcome back to Let’s Get FRENCH. This week we are going to get to know a French movie (un film français) which is one of the classic films you should see once in your life. Do you believe that love brings luck to the two? Well, this film will let you discover how luck comes together with love and risk. Let’s see this week’s film. La Fille sur le Pont (official English name: The Girl on the Bridge).

The film is directed by Patrice Leconte; written (in French, with English subtitles).  The film has Daniel Auteuil (Gabor), Vanessa Paradis (Adele) as its main characters. It is rated R. The film is released in 1999 and is in black and white because of its artistic purpose. It is shot in many cities which are Paris, Monte Carlo, San Remo, Athens and Istanbul.

The film starts by a seven-minute long dialogue of the girl main character, Adele. She tells the audience how unlucky and abandoned she is. She used to go with so many boys who, at the end, left her alone. No one really loves her. She says she “never picks the lucky number” and “everything she touches turns sour.”

She feels herself so unlucky that she does not want to live. She then rushes to a bridge (un pont) over the Seine river (La Seine) in Paris. She is about to jump off the bridge while Gabor, a knife-throwing performer who is searching for a knife target, approaches her and convinces her to go with him. “With your body and my skill, we can go far,” said Gabor while talking Adele into being his knife target. Adele jumps off the bridge into the icy river and Gabor jump after to get her. The two are rescued by an ambulance. Gabor says “I can’t remember who rescue whom.”

Gabor and Adele go on many performances in many places and nightclubs around the Mediterranean. Their platonic relationship (amour platonique) is increasingly developing throughout the story. A movie magic that the director uses in this movie is telepathy (une télépathie) between the two characters. It is first developed in a scene that Gabor and Adele are travelling on a train where Adele meets another guy and they go to have sex in a toilet. Although Gabor does not see where they are going to, he magically knows where they are and follows them to stop Adele from having sex with the guy.

With this telepathy, they go together with luck. In a casino, Gabor sends Adele in to gamble while Gabor is waiting outside. The two use their telepathy to communicate with each other, dominantly by Gabor who is controlling how Adele plays and moves her chips. They win the gambling and go with luck.

The director of this film uses knife throwing as a sexual innuendo of the platonic love between the two. In the scene that Gabor is throwing knifes to Adele while she is leaning on a wooden wall, groaning and trembling, the director rotates the camera 45 degree, making Adele look like lying on a bed while being made love with Gabor.

They go on along their way and Adele finds a lighter (un briquet) lying in a grass field. She gives it to Gabor as her representative and a lucky charm. Then, they go on a cruise ship on the Mediterranean (la Méditerranée) where Adele finds a groom she has an eye contact with.

Together they are with luck, apart they are hapless. After Adele decides to leave Gabor with the groom, she is abandoned by the groom when they are ashore and Gabor fails his knife throwing and strays in Egypt. Their telepathy plays an important role again when the two talks with each other how they miss each other when they are apart. They cannot live without each other.

Finally, Adele comes back to Gabor while he is in the same position as when Adele is in the beginning of the story, on a bridge deciding to jump off it. Gabor lighter’s fire has not been died out. The one who needs comes back to him again.

It is one of the French films that you are suggested to see.

Watch a memorable knife throwing scene from the movie here.

[letsgetfrench-blog]

Top Tips for French Learners

Bonjour! Welcome back again to Let’s Get FRENCH. As we have get to know quite a few things about France and its culture including famous places to visit when going to France or a well-known French singer. There is another thing which is very crucial to everyone who wants to absorb the Frenchness effectively. It is the language, French. Being able to understand and communicate in French is important in terms of learning its culture and origin. So, let’s get started with learning how to learn French effectively in this list of “Top Tips for French Learners”

1. First of all before we start learning French, or any language we are interested in, we need to know why we need to learn it. That is we need to know how the language we are going to learn is important to us or the goal of learning it. For example, I learn French because I am looking forward to being an exchange student in Paris or I want to work in a French organization. This part is essential for it is a great inspiration for us when learning the language if we know why we have to learnt it. Also, if our goal is once set, it will be a booster for us to keep improving our skills in that language, especially when we feel that learning it sometimes is tiring. So, set your goal right and know what the importance in learning it for ourselves is.

2. As French and English share the same language root from Latin, these two languages are kind of like children of the same mother who look so alike each other. Many words in French are so similar to their English counterparts that, even sometimes we see that word for the first time; we can guess its meaning, more or less precisely. This fact helps French learners tremendously because it makes memorizing vocabulary a lot easier compared to those studying other languages, for example, Chinese learners, who have to remember a lot of Chinese writing and vocabularies. Some examples of words that are quite similar, or some are written the same but are pronounced differently, are restaurant, organization, centre (written the same) and carte postale (postcard), theater (theatre), appartement (apartment).

However, we must be careful because some words that look similar to each other may have different meanings. So, always consult your dictionary even those words convince us to be sure in the guessed meanings.

3. Listening to real les Français speaking French is way better than just reading by ourselves because speaking French and written French are immensely different because of its conjugation, liaison, and pronunciation which is different from English. Therefore, apart from learning grammar from reading, we should listen to audio as much as we can to get the idea of how words are pronounced and how sounds are linked.

4. Sometimes studying just by ourselves is not enough. We need to be exposed to the real life where people use French. We can either take French courses with native teachers or find some friends who can help us improve French skills by speaking with us. It is beneficial for us not only in terms of improving our listening and speaking skills, but also in terms of culture as they can provide us with chances to exchange our cultures with them. We can find some French friends from the Internet, for example, from a friend-finding website such as http://www.interpals.net/ or search for French courses at http://www.alliancefr.org/

5. Learning with enjoyment is the fastest and most effective way of learning things. For French, it is exactly the same. If we learn it while enjoying it, we will see that we surprisingly improve our French skills without knowing. We can do it by putting your pencil and grammar books away sometimes and go to YouTube, for instance, to find some French movies, songs, or television programmes to entertain us while we can get something useful from them. Here are some YouTube channels I would like to suggest everyone to check out.

Comme Une Francaise: https://www.youtube.com/user/CommeUneFrancaiseTV

Easy Languages: https://www.youtube.com/user/magauchsein

Shy’M, a famous French singer: https://www.youtube.com/user/shymTV

These are my tips to learning French. What are yours? Please feel free to share how you learn French or any other languages as it is always fun to learn new things together. And, the most important, thank you for being with us for a month now! See you, Have a good day.

[letsgetfrench-blog]

See Me in Paris: Louvre is for Art Lovers

Bonjour. Comment ça va?  Welcome back to our journey in Paris again.

Is anyone here an art lover? If you are one, then I am sure you are going to love our trip of this week as we are going to visit the most elegant and famous art museum in France which has long been an icon of France. Oui, we are going to le Musée du Louvre (musée = museum). Let’s book our tickets and go to see it together. Allons-nous-en! Let’s go then!

The glass pyramid entrance of the museum

Le Musée du Louvre, or the Louvre Museum in English, is one of the museums in the world that people first think about when talking about arts. Thanks to its grandiose architecture and a number of beauteous and immeasurable collections of art pieces, the museum is visited by more than 9 million people from around the world each year. It is said that if you take just  a 60 minute glance at every piece of art displayed in the museum for 8 hours a day steadily, it would take you 75 days to see them all. Comme il est grand! How big it is! (grand = big, grand, comme + sentence = an interjection showing how … thing is)

The Louvre by day and by night

The Louvre Museum has been appeared in a number of movies, for example, The Da Vinci Code – a movie by Ron Howard adapted from an eminent novel of Dan Brown about clues behind the paintings of Da Vinci. Located in the 1st arrondissement on the River Bank of La Seine (the River of Seine), the museum is easily spotted by people who travel along the river and attracts lots of people to touch its beauty every day.

Before it has become a museum that everyone falls in love with, it used to be a une forteresse (fortress) in le Palais du Louvre (palais = palcae)under the reign of Philippe Auguste. The remnants of the fortress can still be seen nowadays in the basement of the museum. After Louis XIV chose le Château de Versailles (château = big house, castle) as his new palace in 1682, the Louvre was a place for exhibiting the royal art collection including those from ancient Greek and Roman cultures. The Louvre has been decreed as a museum for displaying the nation’s masterpieces by the national Assembly during the period of the Révolution française (French Revolution).

The remnants of the fortress

For those of you who have seen the Louvre Museum from movies or books, you would surely remember a big building in the middle of the place in which its modern architecture seems to contradict with the old style of the main building. Yes, I am talking about La Pyramide Inversée. The pyramid is one of the Grands Projets (big projects) of a former French President François Mitterrand to renovate the building. Built by a Chinese-born American architect I.M. Pei, the clear-cut glass pyramid was built as a new entrance to the museum in the main court namely Cour Napoléon (cour = court, field). The inversed pyramid was also portrayed in the movie The Da Vinci Code as a main set of the story. The protagonist, Robert Langdon, concludes that the tiny stone pyramid that points its apex to the inversed big glass pyramid actually is a bigger pyramid with the rest of it embedded under the floor. Furthermore, the embedded part of the pyramid is said, in the movie, to be a mysterious chamber in which the sarcophagus with the remains of Mary Magdalene is kept safely and esoterically.

The museum through the pyramid glass

The museum is comprised of eight different collections of arts in which more than 350,000 works of art are kept divided as following: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings. Here are the pieces that you must not miss when visiting the Louvre.

La Joconde

La Joconde, known by everyone as the Mona Lisa, is a half-portrait of a woman whose smile gains a great attention of people who want to solve the secret behind it painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. This renowned painting is displayed in the painting collection of the museum. The painting was said by The Independent, a famous UK newspaper, as “the most visited, most written about, most sung about, most parodied work of art in the world.” We can see how attractive this woman to the visitors is.

The Independent talks about the Mona Lisa. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-moving-of-the-mona-lisa-6149165.html

A crowd of people who want to see the Mona Lias

La Victoire de Samothrace

La Victoire de Samothrace, or The Winged Victory of Samothrace (also called the Nike of Samothrace) is a marble sculpture of the Greek goddess of Victory, Nike, by Pythokritos of Lindos. Not only the sculpture was created to honour the goddess Nike, it is also to honour a sea battle. It is portrayed as if the goddess was descending to the ship and giving the morale to the brave soldiers. Although the upper part of the sculpture cannot be found, it is still graceful to the eyes of the visiotrs.

Well, we now get to know this beautiful and iconic museum that attracts millions of people every year in Paris. So, if you want to plan your visit to the museum. This is what you should know.

Opening hours

Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Friday: from 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.

Closed on Tuesdays

Rooms begin closing 30 minutes before museum closing time.

Notice: On November 11, 2015, the museum will close at 6 p.m.

Admission on Sunday

From October to March: access to the permanent collections is free for all visitors on the first Sunday of each month.

From April to September: no free admission on the first Sunday of each month.

Entrances to the museum

- Pyramid and Galerie du Carrousel entrances: open every day (except Tuesday) from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays; and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

- Passage Richelieu entrance: open every day (except Tuesday) from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays)

- Porte des Lions entrance: this entrance may be closed for technical reasons. Please contact us the day before your visit at [phone].

For more information, please kindly visit the official site of the museum.

http://www.louvre.fr/en

You can book online tickets here.

TicketWeb (permanent collections); Canada and US     addresses only

FNAC (permanent collections and temporary exhibitions,     auditorium events, lectures and symposia, workshops)

Ticketnet (tickets for the permanent collections and     temporary exhibitions)

More information about tickets http://www.louvre.fr/en/advance-tickets

You can visit this museum and indulge yourselves in the charm and beauty of arts with your family, friends, or loved ones. Let’s call it a day for now and see you in the next week’s post. Let’s see where this road will take us to. Salut!

[letsgetfrench-blog]

The Hottest Singer for the Hottest Days: Kendji Girac

In this hot summer, there is nothing better than playing on some dance Latin pop songs and partying with friends. In this week’s post of Let’s Get French, I am going to introduce you to the hottest chanteur français (French singer) who will rock every girl’s heart with his enticing beats and rhythms. Voilà! Let’s meet… Kendji Girac!

Kendji Girac, a 19-year-old boy is well known by les Français (the French) from being the winner of the third season of a worldwide famous singing competition show, The Voice: la plus belle voix.

Born and raised in Saint-Astier, France, in 1996, he speaks le catalan (Catalan) as his langue maternelle (mother tongue) and le français (French) as his second language. As a child, he was taught to jouer de la guitare (play guitar) and chanter (sing) by his grandfather. At 13, he quitted school and followed his family’s business as an arborist.

Growing up with passion in music, he joined the renowned The Voice: la plus belle voix, or The Voice of France. He auditioned with the song "Bella" from Maître Gims. Mika, among the other three juges (judges): Florent Pagny, Jenifer and Garou, was the only one who turned his chair to Kendji and accepted Kindji as a member of his team. Kendji received 51 % of public vote and became the winner of the third season of the show.

With his unique style of mixing Spanish and French in his song blending with the colourful sound of Latin pop, dance, and contemporary flamenco, all his songs become big successes and climb to the top of many charts. His first official Spanish-French song “Color Gitano” was released in June 2014 and quickly became a hit in France and Belgium.

His success was proven by his first full-length self-titled album “Kendji” released by Mercury Records. The album also includes his two prior hits: Color Gitano and Bella. Not only does the album receive enormous feedback in France by being a number one hit of SNEP, Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (The National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing), but it is also a hit in la Belge (Belgium) and la Suisse (Switzerland). This album sold more than 600,000 copies and, as a result, became the highest selling Francophone album of last year following the album “Racine Carrée” by Stromae.

In December 2014, he won two prizes from NRJ Music Award, an award presented by the French radio station NRJ honouring French songs of each year, with his song “Color Gitano” won the prize for Francophone Song of the Year, and his album “Kendji” as Francophone Breakthrough of the Year.

On February 2015, Kendji got on a stage in the Honeymoon Tour 2015 in Zenith Paris. In this concert tour, he performed together with Ariana Grande, an American music sensation who won a number of awards including MTV Video Music Award, in the song “Attendes-moi” – the French lyric version of Ariana’s big hit “One Last Time” that was released in France and Belgium.

Kendji sings along with Ariana in the song “Attends-Moi” or “One Last Time”.

As Kendji has become one of France’s most célèbre (celebrated) singers, his fans also hope to see him in a bigger competition like “Eurovision 2016”, after another renowned girl singer, Indila, declined to represent L’Hexagone (France) in such competition.

It cannot be denied that Kendji has become very booming not only because of his char, but also because of his unrivalled smooth voice and his deep passion in music. Moreover, for us, he is more than just a singer and entertainer, but he is also our good French teacher. Let’s get to know a song of him and learn some French vocabularies from the song.

The song I choose for this week is “Color Gitano” – a song mixed of French and Spanish.

C'est une façon de voir la vie                                                

Un peu plus grand qu'un pays                                    

Un destin, un regard                                                  

C'est de la musique, des cris                                      

Un pour tous, et tous réunis

Un chemin, une histoire

It's a way to see life A little bit bigger than a country, A destiny, a glance. It's music, it's screams One for all, and everyone reunited One way, one history

…

C'est des guitares, des nuits sans fin

Les mots chaleureux et anciens

Le respect, et les liens

C'est ton regard croisant le mien

Nous deux au milieu du chemin

Et soudain tu deveins

It's guitars, nights without end The warm and old words The respect and the ties, It's your glance which is crossing mine Us two in the middle of the way And suddenly you become

Thanks for the lyrics from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/color-gitano-gypsy-color.html

Vocabularies for today:

chanteur = singer

français = French (adjective)

les Français = the French, French people

le français = French (language)

langue maternelle = mother tongue

jouer de la + instrument de musique = to play a musical instrument

guitare = guitar

chanter = to sing

la plus = the most

belle = beautiful

voix = voice

juges = judge

la Belge = Belgium

la Suisse = Switzerland

Racine Carrée = square root (In this article, it is the name of the album by Stromae.)

Attendes-moi = wait for me (The title of the French version song of “One Last Time”)

célèbre = celebrated, famous

L’Hexagone = the hexagon (refers to France from its hexagonal shape)

façon = means, way

vie = life (like the song “La Vie En Rose”)

grand = big (Ariana’s last name, Grande, is a feminine form of this word.)

pays = country

destin = destiny

chemin = means, way

histoire = history

nuit = night

chaleureux = warm, temperate

ancien = old, ancient

lien = link, tie

le mien = mine (indicates what belongs to ourselves)

au milieu de = in the middle of

soudain = sudden

Follow Kendji Girac on…

his official site: http://kendji.fr/index.html#

Facebook: Kendji Officiel

Instagram: @kendjiofficiel

Twitter: @girackendji

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kendjiofficiel

See you next week. À plus tard! Bonne chance!

[letsgetfrench-blog]

“Cool” - a song by the hottest French singer of the moment, Kendji Girac. ;)