LET'S SPEAK FRENCH

🧑‍🎨 Today marks the first day of the Paris Women’s Fashion Week (https://youtu.be/xPh78cdpTT4). A great opportunity to talk a bit about the famous Basque beret, that hat worn by every stereotyped French person. How did a woolen hat made by and for Béarn shepherds in the Pyrenees become Basque? Then a French symbol? And how did it eventually evolve as far as Argentina and the Far East? The answer is simple: amazing versatility. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 ManuFrance: https://www.manufrance.fr/actualite/lhistoire-du-beret-entre-tradition-et-symbole-francais 📕 Courrier international n° 1497 (11-17 juillet 2019): La fantastique histoire du béret basque 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

📜 Here is the story of a person who spent every single minute of his time reading books, learning languages and trying to solve the mystery of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Through endless dedication, effort and perseverance, Jean-François Champollion achieved his life's goal: to decipher the ancient writing system, in September 1822. Ne jamais perdre espoir. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Champollion en Égypte: https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/papier/2017/edition-de-mai-2017-n028/champollion-en-egypte-le-voyage-dune-vie-80117.php 🎬 Watch "Dans le Secret des hiéroglyphes" on Arte (Fr): https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/104380-000-A/dans-le-secret-des-hieroglyphes/ 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

🥐 How could such a small thing have so much history and generate so much love? Simply by being irresistible. From the medieval bakeries of Vienna, to a small patisserie in Paris, to the White House (RIP Roland Mesnier: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/27/roland-mesnier-pastry-chef-white-house-dead/), the croissant made it to my personal breakfast routine. And I wouldn’t change it for all the Fruit Loops in the world. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Comprehensive history of the croissant (Fr): https://www.news.uliege.be/cms/c_9704828/en/les-grands-mythes-de-la-gastronomie-l-histoire-du-croissant 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

🎷 If we had to decide which is the suavest musical instrument, the saxophone would certainly be in the top 5. With its warm sound resemblant the human voice, it conquered the hearts of people all around the world, in almost all musical genres. Little did we know, though, that it was invented almost two centuries ago in the little Belgian town of Dinant, by the man who gave it his name: Adolphe Sax. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 "La petite histoire du saxophone", Diapason Magazine: https://www.diapasonmag.fr/histoire/la-petite-histoire-du-saxophone-13188.html 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

🎩 When the cinematic worlds of Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle) and Sylvain Chomet (Les Triplettes de Belleville: https://youtu.be/6q1E_zwXlUM) meet, there is something special that happens. Both are sparing with dialogues, both believe that fewer word can go a long way. In this film, “L’Illusionniste”, Sylvain Chomet directs a story that the late Jacques Tati wrote but never made. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🎬 Watch "L'Illusionniste" on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0T60ARF3OZ75XJQ14O7KWRA47D/ 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

✍️ A few days ago, we lost one of France’s most talented and adored caricaturists. Jean-Jacques Sempé, author of “Le petit Nicolas” as well as more than a hundred covers for the New Yorker, died only six days before his 90th birthday. Having tackled so many aspects of French life with great humor and kindness, his drawings made it to the bookshelves of many people who will remember him forever with wistful nostalgia. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 📕 "Les Musiciens", Jean-Jacques Sempé, on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/musiciens-Semp%C3%A9/dp/2207245012/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1660556104&sr=8-1 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

⏳ Fasten your seatbelts, this week we go back thousands of years in time. Meet the Celts, Romans, Gauls, Franks,… some of the ancient civilizations that lived in France. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 📕 "La Gaule retrouvée", Pierre Pinon, Découvertes Gallimard, 1991 🔗 https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/thematiques/antiquite/vercingetorix-contre-clovis-les-gaulois-face-au-passe-national-82786.php 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

🥘 If you have been in Lyon, you have certainly come across the “bouchon lyonnais”, that traditional restaurant serving only local dishes made of local ingredients. It acquired a worldwide reputation thanks to the original chefs like Mère Brazier and her renowned student Paul Bocuse. If you tried one of them, let us know what your experience was like, it had to be memorable. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 More about the “bouchons lyonnais”: http://lesbouchonslyonnais.org/ 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

🚴‍♀️ For about 120 years, the Tour de France has been exclusively for men. There have been a couple of attempts to organize a women's Tour in 1955 and 1984, but both were unsuccessful. Until today: following the success of "La Course by Le Tour de France", a miniature version organized since 2014 that has brought a lot of public attention, "Le Tour de France Femmes" is reborn! (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Site officiel - Le Tour Femmes: https://www.letourfemmes.fr/fr 🔗 A brief history of the Tour de France Femmes (en): https://www.velonews.com/events/tour-de-france-femmes/a-brief-history-of-the-womens-tour-de-france/ 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

🇺🇸 The 18th and 19th centuries saw multiple revolutions worldwide. All of which have drastically modernized our society and planted the seeds for social revolutions to come. Undeniably, the US Declaration of Independence of 1776 was an inspiration to many, including the French Revolution, only thirteen years later. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/thematiques/epoque-moderne/vers-la-revolution-comment-la-france-a-bascule-70129.php 📕 https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/papier/2021/edition-de-fevrier-n069/hc69-vers-la-revolution-pourquoi-la-france-a-bascule-70625.php 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

☕️ The word "coffee" comes from Africa, the coffee vocabulary is Italian, the beans are from South America, Africa and Asia, the best machines come from all over the world, and—as it turns out—the first espresso machine was invented in France exactly 200 years ago. Interesting enough material to discuss for hours! (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 https://baristas-choice.com/who-invented-the-espresso-machine/ 📕 Jean Pruvost's "La Story de la langue française", pp. 184 & 228 🎵 Soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com

💒 17th century, Benedetta Carlini becomes a nun in the Convent of the Mother of God in Pescia, Italy. She distinguishes herself for her intense mysticism that will propel her higher and higher in the Church’s hierarchy. The question is: is it really faith that motivates her? Director Paul Verhoeven chose that true story for his latest and second movie shot in French. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🎬 Watch Paul Verhoeven's BENEDETTA (2021) on Hulu (US): https://www.hulu.com/start?cmp=12949 🎵 Video soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i4JjGSsId4CCCVkJuwLHa?si=K0d8KhxkSqqAPq8_kw5XqQ ☝️ If you enjoyed this episode, please consider: - supporting on https://www.patreon.com/frenchconversationgroup or https://anchor.fm/frenchconversationgroup - subscribe and share 🇫🇷 French Conversation Group meets weekly in Los Angeles, New York or online. It's meant for non native speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced) to practice their French and have fun. You're more than welcome to join! Check out this link for more info: https://www.frenchconversationgroup.com