LET'S SPEAK FRENCH

🥼 Clothes, hats, jewelry, perfumes,… Coco Chanel created an empire, starting with nothing but her desire to revolutionize women's fashion. Doing so, she became a symbol of French elegance and defined "modern chic" for generations. Watch this week's episode (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar) and let us know what modern chic means to you. 🎬 Watch Anne Fontaine's COCO AVANT CHANEL (2009) on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0U43X4J1EEV3PNEW8WCFON4NPT/ref=atv_dl_rdr?tag=justus1ktp-20 🔗 Learn more about Gabrielle Chanel: https://www.chanel.com/fr/about-chanel/gabrielle-chanel/ ☝️ 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

🍎 Ever wondered why French people don't suffer much from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes while their diet is made of charcuterie, bread, cheese and wine? Nothing to do with genetics, the results are accessible to anyone willing to relax, exercise and adjust their diet. More sun, better food and chillax, that's my 2022 resolution (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Read more about the French paradox in the International Journal of Epidemiology: https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/40/6/1486/801211 ☝️ 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

🖼 Well known for his lifestyle and his rebellious behavior (both in life and in art), Paul Gauguin sailed away from Europe, leaving five children behind, to start a new life in Tahiti. Did it make his art more interesting? Could he have been the painter we still recognize to this day if we could separate the man from the art? Find out more about this controversial figure in this week’s episode (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 📖 Read "Gauguin: loin de la route" about his final moments in Tahiti: https://www.amazon.com/Gauguin-Loin-de-la-route/dp/2803632012 🔗 More about him: https://www.beauxarts.com/grand-format/paul-gauguin-en-3-minutes/ and https://www.beauxarts.com/grand-format/paul-gauguin-a-la-decouverte-de-tahiti/ 🔗 More about "D’où venons-nous ? Que sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ?": https://www.beauxarts.com/vu/dou-venons-nous-que-sommes-nous-ou-allons-nous-de-gauguin-lenigme-de-la-vie-a-tahiti/ ☝️ 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

🧭 What best to start the year than a topic covering so many themes? Bougainville was an explorer from the 18th century. Aboard his ship, he became the first Frenchman to sail around the world and discover Tahiti. To this day, we know his name mostly thanks to a flower he brought back to France: the bougainvillea. But a flower wasn’t the only thing he brought back: knowledge, science, discoveries and social controversies accompanied him along (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 "Bougainville trouve l’éden au bout du monde" in Histoire & Civilisations: https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/thematiques/epoque-moderne/bougainville-trouve-leden-au-bout-du-monde-78898.php 🎬 Documentary on Arte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMMJimXGslg ☝️ 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

✍️ Should a language increase in complexity or be simplified? In this case, certainly both ways can be supported with strong arguments. On one hand, the French language has already tons of subtleties, but on the other hand, genders are very polarized which doesn’t reflect our society. Learn more about « iel » in this week's episode (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Source: https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2021/11/26/de-l-ecriture-inclusive-a-la-transidentite-iel-dans-le-monde_6103681_4500055.html ☝️ 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

🗺On top of Metropolitan France, in 2021, there are still a dozen French territories around the world. Martinique, Guadeloupe, La Réunion,… are amongst them. And so is New Caledonia, which made the news recently for their third independence referendum (fifth including 1958 and 1987). Let's dive a bit into the history and political status of the overseas territories, the DROM-COM (formerly DOM-TOM) (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Find out more about overseas France: https://www.vie-publique.fr/fiches/les-collectivites-doutre-mer ☝️ 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

🍴 This isn’t an attempt to sell Ikea’s latest model of forks, it’s only an attempt to bring back eating food with hands. Indeed, forks haven’t been around that long after all. In France, they only arrived from Italy in the 16th century. So, eating pizza, with or without a fork? #forkgate (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 "L'étonnante Histoire de la fourchette", by Pierre Leclercq: https://www.news.uliege.be/cms/c_10474051/fr/l-etonnante-histoire-de-la-fourchette ☝️ 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

📺 An “auberge espagnole” means a potluck, where everyone brings something to the table. This French movie from 2002 talks about a group of international students sharing a flat in Barcelona, who each bring their culture and learn about the other’s. What best to illustrate the current political climate in France tackling legal immigration and freedom of circulation in Europe. (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🎬 Find "L'Auberge espagnole" in your country: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-spanish-apartment 🎬 Find "Les Poupées russes" in your country: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/russian-dolls 🎬 Find "Casse-tête chinois" in your country: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/chinese-puzzle ☝️ 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

👶 Born in Brussels in 1929, Tintin has conquered the hearts of young people around the world, from 7 to 77 years old. Almost a century later, there are a number of adaptations of the reporter's adventures, including a blockbuster movie by Steven Spielberg and a radio show by France Culture. But all of that didn't come without its fair share of controversy… (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🗣 Listen to the adventures of Tintin by France Culture, la Comédie française, and l'Orchestre National de France: https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/fictions-le-feuilleton/les-aventures-de-tintin-le-lotus-bleu-15-tintin-chez-le-maharadjah-de-rawhajpoutalah ☝️ 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

🎹 French pianist Colette Maze released an album this year at age 107, making her the oldest French pianist to release an album this year. Probably. This information hasn’t been verified. So just in case there was another 107-year-old (or more) French pianist who released an album this year, I'll add to the wonder that this was her sixth album, amongst which five were released after her 100th birthday. Music by Claude Debussy. (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Purchase Colette Maze's latest album: https://www.uvmdistribution.com/piano/7528-un-siecle-avec-debussy-colette-maze-label-continuo-classics-ean-3770000059885-annee-edition-2021-genre-classique-format-3-cd-cod-3770000059885.html 🎵 Listen to Colette Maze on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/48cfBr9GWw4qCShd5Et7AR ☝️ 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

☀️ Probably amongst the top 3 tourist destinations in France, la Côte d’Azur has always attracted the rich and famous jet setters from around the world. But behind the sun, the beaches and the gorgeous landscapes, the Riviera also has an incredible artistic history and heritage that is worth the trip by itself. (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). 🔗 Crazy stories behind famous villas on the French Riviera: https://www.iconicriviera.com/most-famous-villas-french-riviera/ ☝️ 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

🏳 Beyond being a good way to learn about colors and shapes in French, flags give a great insight into a region/country/…'s history and politics. This week's episode provides a basic idea of what flags are and where they come from, but I can't wait to hear everyone's description of their own! (subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar). ☝️ 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