French

How Many in a Couple?

Niall O'Donnell Leave a comment

Two.

Or more.

It depends really.

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Le Grand Chelem

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

Watching Roland Garros this summer, I learned a new French term: Le Grand Chelem. Not that it was very new, as it’s not different from an English term I was already aware of.

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Harvey Weinstein: Doesn’t Sound Right to Me

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

Obviously there’s been a lot of reports of sexual harassment lately, largely because of the initial reports about Harvey Weinstein.

I don’t really have anything to add to everything that’s already been said and written. I am curious about that name Weinstein though.

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H is for Honesty

Niall O'Donnell 20 Comments

While listening to the radio today, the DJ introduced the song “Honesty,” by Billy Joel. Only, being a French speaker, he pronounced the H as we do in words like house and happy. This might seem odd though, because the letter H is always silent in French.

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Does Alcohol Make you Better at Speaking a Second Language?

Niall O'Donnell 19 Comments

Absolutely.

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Literal Translation

Niall O'Donnell 16 Comments

The above photo is of a box I came across recently in a shop in Liège, and is a classic example of how literal translation will usually lead you astray.

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How’s Trix?

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Continuing a vague theme about gender in language, I want to look a little at the few gendered words we have in English.

I mentioned recently that actor/actress is still a distinction we often make. There’s waiter/waitress too. And that’s basically it.

There are some specifically female forms that have relatively recently fallen out of favour. Stewardess and manageress, for example. Generally though, we’ve been content to use gender-neutral terms.

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