lovinmybaguettes

[lovinmybaguettes]

HI for your email question, you can say something like this :

“Ms. X will be hosting a webinar [here you can add additional info like date and time]. I’ve cc’d Dr. Y on this email, who will be working in collaboration with her on this project. ”

Generally, you don’t need to directly greet someone who is cc’d on an email, but you can definitely point them out for visibility! Emails are hard, I totally get your struggle 😅

Hiiii thank you so much for your answer I love you!! It's because my professor asked me to greet him too but I was wondering whether that was really necessary since conventions aren't the same in French and English 😅 ikr I've been writing emails nonstop since I started that internship I'm sick of it 😭

[lovinmybaguettes]

How do I greet someone I CC'ed on an email

I'm v sorry that I'm not using this blog for its initial purpose (now it's me asking language questions instead of answering them 😭)

ANYWAY

I have to write a professional email to two students in Japan to tell them about a webinar we're organizing with their university and I have to CC their professor (who I've never interacted with). The email has to go like this: "Ms. X is planning to organize a webinar in collaboration with Dr. Y (their prof)".

I wanna greet him immediately after mentioning his name (or if there's a better way I'm all ears). How do I do that in a professional way?

(my internship has been a journey of learning how to write professional emails lmao it's such a bother)

#english #writing emails #email #email question #english language #langblr #HELP ME #I'M SCARED OF NOT BEING POLITE ENOUGH #YES I TAGGED EMAIL QUESTION #English help #English email #writing an email #I'M DESPERATE OK #email cc

[lovinmybaguettes]

I helped a friend move and when I came into her new apartment I saw a sticker saying the same thing on her desk 😭 and apparently it's from a kind of winter sports festival in Annecy (a town in the east of France next to the border with Switzerland that's most famous for its beautiful lake)!!

At the train station and I see a guy walking in front of me with a backpack that says "in tartiflette we trust". It doesn't get more French that that 😆

(for the record tartiflette is considered one of the most classic French dishes but I hate melted cheese, so the mere thought of tartiflette gives me nausea... Needless to say my French peers instantly lose respect for me when they learn I don't like that or raclette lmao)

#french #france #french culture #french food #tartiflette #langblr #getting those tags for the algorithm im so sorry its so annoying guys

[lovinmybaguettes]

At the train station and I see a guy walking in front of me with a backpack that says "in tartiflette we trust". It doesn't get more French that that 😆

(for the record tartiflette is considered one of the most classic French dishes but I hate melted cheese, so the mere thought of tartiflette gives me nausea... Needless to say my French peers instantly lose respect for me when they learn I don't like that or raclette lmao)

#french #france #french culture #french food #tartiflette #langblr

[lovinmybaguettes]

Question for you English native speakers:

When you say something like "a couple of years" "a couple of people" etc, do you usually literally mean "2" or just "a few" (or are both equally common)? I've always used it to say "a few" but I've had multiple instances where English professors (not native speakers) would translate it as "deux" in French when I interpreted it as just "a few" 😭 I'm having an English language crisis guys

#English #English language #languages #learning English #polyglot #all those tags to get visibilityyyy #help have i been using the word incorrectly all these years

[lovinmybaguettes]

I'm devastated

French presidential elections 2022

Hi fellow language learners. Today's the first round of the French presidential elections! I just came back from voting. Happy I did what I consider to be right.

Anyway, I saw a few tweets about those elections by foreigners, and there's a few things people don't seem to understand.

First, we do not work with a two-party system. There are older and more prominent political parties, yes, but we can choose between a dozen different parties.

Second, I saw statistics saying that for all ages, around 50% of people would vote for Emmanuel Macron (the current president) and the other 50% for Marine Le Pen. Fortunately, that is NOT true. First, because as I just said, we literally have 12 candidates to choose from. Second, I don't know where these statistics came from (could have been a survey where people were asked to choose only between the 2 of them), but the real estimates are around 25-30% for both of them, with Macron being a little more popular.

So those two are still the most "popular" but for example, there's a third candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (who's the only left-wing politician who has his chances tbh). You also have candidates like Valérie Pécresse and another one whose name I won't mention because he's even worse than Le Pen.

Anyway, I just felt like posting something about the elections in case anyone's interested. The first results will start to come in at 8PM Paris Time, when the last polling stations close. I AM WORRIED

PS: I just saw a story poll on a popular American political Instagram account (the adjective order completely flew out the window here lmao sorry) asking "who would you vote for?" and the results are RIDICULOUS. 85% of answers were in favor of right-wing and far-right candidates. I know most respondents don't know anything about French politics and just vote for fun judging by the candidates' faces but it still HURTS 😭 Some of these candidates are dangerous. To think that in the top 5 we got two openly racist, islamophobic and LGBT-phobic people... Inconceivable. ANYWAY THIS WAS JUST AN EXCUSE TO RANT HONESTLY HAVE A NICE DAY

Oh and btw if you don't agree with my opinions you're free to either not interact or leave haha

[lovinmybaguettes]

French presidential elections 2022

Hi fellow language learners. Today's the first round of the French presidential elections! I just came back from voting. Happy I did what I consider to be right.

Anyway, I saw a few tweets about those elections by foreigners, and there's a few things people don't seem to understand.

First, we do not work with a two-party system. There are older and more prominent political parties, yes, but we can choose between a dozen different parties.

Second, I saw statistics saying that for all ages, around 50% of people would vote for Emmanuel Macron (the current president) and the other 50% for Marine Le Pen. Fortunately, that is NOT true. First, because as I just said, we literally have 12 candidates to choose from. Second, I don't know where these statistics came from (could have been a survey where people were asked to choose only between the 2 of them), but the real estimates are around 25-30% for both of them, with Macron being a little more popular.

So those two are still the most "popular" but for example, there's a third candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (who's the only left-wing politician who has his chances tbh). You also have candidates like Valérie Pécresse and another one whose name I won't mention because he's even worse than Le Pen.

Anyway, I just felt like posting something about the elections in case anyone's interested. The first results will start to come in at 8PM Paris Time, when the last polling stations close. I AM WORRIED

PS: I just saw a story poll on a popular American political Instagram account (the adjective order completely flew out the window here lmao sorry) asking "who would you vote for?" and the results are RIDICULOUS. 85% of answers were in favor of right-wing and far-right candidates. I know most respondents don't know anything about French politics and just vote for fun judging by the candidates' faces but it still HURTS 😭 Some of these candidates are dangerous. To think that in the top 5 we got two openly racist, islamophobic and LGBT-phobic people... Inconceivable. ANYWAY THIS WAS JUST AN EXCUSE TO RANT HONESTLY HAVE A NICE DAY

Oh and btw if you don't agree with my opinions you're free to either not interact or leave haha

#france #presidential elections #elections #présidentielle 2022 #élection 2022 #élection présidentielle #get the racists OUT i am begging #je vais caner #french culture #french politics #politics #frenchblr

[lovinmybaguettes]

What to do during lockdown

(and work on your French):

Work on your pronunciation

Read some classics

Read some fanfiction

Listen to podcasts

Listen to TED Talks

Listen to music

Listen to the radio

Watch french movies (detailed, by period and type)

Watch dubbed/subtitled movies: The Simpson, Cesar and Cleopatra, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Red Shoes, La Vérité

Watch cartoons

Watch youtubers

Watch let’s plays: 1 2 3 4 5

Work on some MOOCs

Learn about black holes, Pompei, giant animals, gladiators, the Dreyfus affair, Charles Manson, ants, Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, smelly cheeses, Mozart, the Bermuda triangle, meditation…

Follow french subreddits

Search our social media

Visit the Louvre online

Check my practice tag

And make sure your priorities are in order!

#french #français #learn french #frenchblr #france #langblr #languages

[lovinmybaguettes]

Ways to say Annoy

Neutral:

Ennuyer

Énerver

Enquiquiner (kids)

Embêter (kids)

Agacer

Casser les pieds

Faire suer (retro)

Barber (retro)

 Rude:

Emmerder

Faire chier (making one shit)

Casser les couilles (breaking one’s balls)

Péter les couilles (busting one’s balls)

Chier dans les bottes (shitting in one’s boots)

#french #frenchblr #learn french #langblr #français #languages #french vocab #french vocabulary

[lovinmybaguettes]

I just left my friend who came to Paris for only two days and now I'm sad and lonely so here are some pictures of the Eiffel Tower sparkling - better than therapy ❤️ I'm still in front of it right now because I don't want to go home and get all depressed in my apartment 😢

#paris #eiffel tower #tour eiffel #france #yes i am supposed to be a langblr and am utterly failing at it #sorry for getting a little personal here but i mean... it's still related to french culture and PATRIMOINE innit 👀👀 #u get pretty pictures and i get tumblr therapy

[lovinmybaguettes]

I am still mindblown at the fact that Stephen is pronounced like Steven. WHY?? In French, when we see this name - like for Stephen King - we just pronounce it like an f. Another instance of English being super confusing! (Not that I, a French person, have a right to talk 😔)

#english #is FREAKING weird sometimes #languages

[lovinmybaguettes]

Resources masterpost

Being exposed to French:

Websites, social media

IG accounts with lots of stories

Online courses about French

Online courses in French

French subreddits

Fanfictions

Buzzfeed

Improving your:

Pronunciation

Speaking

Stutter

Things to listen:

Music

Podcasts

Radio stations

TED talks

Things to read:

Graphic novels/comics

News

Ebooks + quizzes (by me)

Short stories

Vikidia - kids Wikipedia

Things to watch:

Cartoons

Kids shows

The Simpsons the movie

True crime

TV programs - sci-fi shows, travelling, etc.

Youtubers

Extra:

Antidote 10 + BonPatron - Grammarly equivalents

Conjugation by le Nouvel Obs

Deepl - very good at translating sentences/expressions

Forbo - natives pronouncing things

Lexicity - about Ancien/Moyen Français

Lingolden - Chrome extension that teaches vocabulary

Linguo.tv (french videos + subtitles)

Reverso - very good alternative to Google translation

#french #frenchblr #french resources #langblr #learn french #français #france #resources

[lovinmybaguettes]

Oh my god I'm so glad you said that, I wanted to mention it too but didn't want to make the post too long haha.

YES, having a Master's degree doesn't even guarantee you'll have a job afterwards. There are SO many issues with this whole selection process and with higher education in general! I wish I could write a whole freaking essay about it.

Students in France have basically been abandoned by the government and it's gotten even worse with the pandemic. It would be an interesting topic to address in another post but I do fear it's gonna become a full-on article and no one will want to read it haha. Maybe in the meantime you can check for articles or stories from people on Twitter!

What’s been happening in France? #Education

(please tell me if you like these long-ass posts or would prefer shorter ones with maybe links to articles, so the ones who are really interested can learn more)

A kind of movement has been going on for weeks here on social media: #EtudiantsSansMaster (#StudentsWithoutAMasters). It’s about students who just got their bachelor’s degree but will be unable to continue their studies next year, all because of the French system.

What’s the issue?

The number of students that go to college after high school has been steadily increasing over the past few years, but schools haven’t adapted by opening more spots, thus leading to a shortage of spots in universities. Long story short, the number of spots available in schools is FAR from enough, compared to the number of students who want to get into a Master’s program - it’s the same problem for kids that just graduated high school.

This results in a tough selection process. (Initially, this selection occurred between the first and second years of your Master’s degree. But I’m not delving into that either because I just spent 15 minutes trying to explain it concisely and I FAILED.)

How does it work?

The criteria are decided by each university, but they generally include: your motivation, previous studies (whether your previous major fits the program you apply for), grades, career goals, and sometimes your work/internship experience. The first phase of admission is submitting things like résumé, cover letter, and college grades certificates. Then they study your application and if their decision is favorable, you may have to go through an interview before they really decide to admit you or not (a variety of other processes exists too).

All this means that you’ve got to have a very good record for many programs: good grades, interesting and fitting experiences, and clear career goals (knowing what field you want to work in, what jobs interest you and what kind of missions these consist in). And more often than not, these standards are way too much! Not everyone is an excellent academic achiever, not everyone has had the same opportunities to get work experience or to travel abroad… But that’s another subject.

I’ll take my own example: I applied to about 10 programs. In my field, most of them had at most 30 spots. I graduated with honours, but had little work experience (one summer job and zero internships). A few months back, I decided I wanted to volunteer for a college association and I really think I would have been rejected from a lot more programs if this hadn’t been in my resume.

And many of my friends were rejected from the Master’s program of our OWN university, with the SAME major, because their level was “insufficient” or their studies “didn’t fit the program” (what could fit your program better than the bachelor’s degree that’s supposed to lead to it??). I was accepted into my very first choice only because I was able to show how huge my motivation was and I had done so much research. But many of my classmates are hard workers or had student jobs on the side, which meant they couldn’t dedicate all their time to college - does that mean they don’t deserve to get into a good program of their choice? Certainly not. This selection process is an open door to division by inequality.

Of course, if you’re applying to the most famous universities in the country, you’re expected to have an excellent record. But those students who haven’t been admitted anywhere are certainly not people who applied to La Sorbonne only, some of them applied to dozens of programs around the whole country and still received only negative answers. If you just look at the hashtag on Twitter, you’ll see how big a problem it is.

And the thing is, yeah, you can always try next year, but interrupting your studies for a year is clearly not ideal to a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. And if you really can’t get into any program any year, what the fuck are you gonna do with a bachelor’s degree? It’s generally admitted that for majors like mine, you gotta have a Master’s degree to even hope getting a good job since the bachelor’s degree is so theoretical and not nearly specialised enough.

I wish I could have made this shorter, but it’s a very important issue and I wanted to explain in a more simple manner than all the French articles you could find. Sorry for the length, as always haha!

[lovinmybaguettes]

What’s been happening in France? #Education

(please tell me if you like these long-ass posts or would prefer shorter ones with maybe links to articles, so the ones who are really interested can learn more)

A kind of movement has been going on for weeks here on social media: #EtudiantsSansMaster (#StudentsWithoutAMasters). It’s about students who just got their bachelor’s degree but will be unable to continue their studies next year, all because of the French system.

What’s the issue?

The number of students that go to college after high school has been steadily increasing over the past few years, but schools haven’t adapted by opening more spots, thus leading to a shortage of spots in universities. Long story short, the number of spots available in schools is FAR from enough, compared to the number of students who want to get into a Master’s program - it’s the same problem for kids that just graduated high school.

This results in a tough selection process. (Initially, this selection occurred between the first and second years of your Master’s degree. But I’m not delving into that either because I just spent 15 minutes trying to explain it concisely and I FAILED.)

How does it work?

The criteria are decided by each university, but they generally include: your motivation, previous studies (whether your previous major fits the program you apply for), grades, career goals, and sometimes your work/internship experience. The first phase of admission is submitting things like résumé, cover letter, and college grades certificates. Then they study your application and if their decision is favorable, you may have to go through an interview before they really decide to admit you or not (a variety of other processes exists too).

All this means that you’ve got to have a very good record for many programs: good grades, interesting and fitting experiences, and clear career goals (knowing what field you want to work in, what jobs interest you and what kind of missions these consist in). And more often than not, these standards are way too much! Not everyone is an excellent academic achiever, not everyone has had the same opportunities to get work experience or to travel abroad… But that’s another subject.

I’ll take my own example: I applied to about 10 programs. In my field, most of them had at most 30 spots. I graduated with honours, but had little work experience (one summer job and zero internships). A few months back, I decided I wanted to volunteer for a college association and I really think I would have been rejected from a lot more programs if this hadn’t been in my resume.

And many of my friends were rejected from the Master’s program of our OWN university, with the SAME major, because their level was “insufficient” or their studies “didn’t fit the program” (what could fit your program better than the bachelor’s degree that’s supposed to lead to it??). I was accepted into my very first choice only because I was able to show how huge my motivation was and I had done so much research. But many of my classmates are hard workers or had student jobs on the side, which meant they couldn’t dedicate all their time to college - does that mean they don’t deserve to get into a good program of their choice? Certainly not. This selection process is an open door to division by inequality.

Of course, if you’re applying to the most famous universities in the country, you’re expected to have an excellent record. But those students who haven’t been admitted anywhere are certainly not people who applied to La Sorbonne only, some of them applied to dozens of programs around the whole country and still received only negative answers. If you just look at the hashtag on Twitter, you’ll see how big a problem it is.

And the thing is, yeah, you can always try next year, but interrupting your studies for a year is clearly not ideal to a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. And if you really can’t get into any program any year, what the fuck are you gonna do with a bachelor’s degree? It’s generally admitted that for majors like mine, you gotta have a Master’s degree to even hope getting a good job since the bachelor’s degree is so theoretical and not nearly specialised enough.

I wish I could have made this shorter, but it’s a very important issue and I wanted to explain in a more simple manner than all the French articles you could find. Sorry for the length, as always haha!

#france #french #french culture #french news #frenchblr #culture #news

[lovinmybaguettes]

Fun fact about the fun fact: my dad had long hair for years when I was younger (like metal-singer-long hair), but he was asked to cut it short for a job as a butcher in a supermarket. Since he didn't have much of a choice he did it, and the whole family was sad lmao. But he started growing it again 1-2 years ago, and he hasn't gotten heat for it yet lol

All that to say that even today, that can be detrimental! Fortunately it's not the same as it was decades ago, you won't get dirty looks for having long hair in the streets, but some companies still don't like it (I'd like to hear their reasoning, but whatever).

Fun (?) fact: long hair on men in the 1960s

(im back lol)

In the 1960s, men having long hair was seen as a symbol of rebellion, especially with the hippie movement spreading around. It was the same in France, and the rate of approval for men with long hair seemed… low. I found this very interesting news report from 1966 here (couldn’t find the video on the official website). It’s all in French, sorry lads - at least there’s subtitles! If you’d like me to translate more in detail, I’d be glad to oblige.

Not only was it considered ugly and dirty, it even caused some of these men to be arrested for no other reason than looking “suspicious” because of their hair! A lot of people also thought it made them less of men, or even associated it with being gay: we love the mix of misogyny and homophobia, yay! Fortunately, some people - young or old - showed support to these young men who represented freedom and individuality, who weren’t afraid to go against the conventions to express themselves.

I just find it extremely funny - albeit sad - to see women with long hair criticizing these men. There’s also a dude in the report who basically says having long hair is a sign of conformism; and this dude looks EXACTLY like the typical bourgeois Sciences Po student with rich parents, so this made me laugh quite a bit!

The Twitter account I linked is from a public institution that archives and produces audiovisual content, called INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel). You can go on their website or Youtube channel to watch numerous reports on any topic you want; great way to learn more about French society (you’ll be disheartened, I’m warning you).

À bientôt pour un nouveau fun fact les copains !

#france #french #frenchblr #french culture #french news #french archives

[lovinmybaguettes]

Fun (?) fact: long hair on men in the 1960s

(im back lol)

In the 1960s, men having long hair was seen as a symbol of rebellion, especially with the hippie movement spreading around. It was the same in France, and the rate of approval for men with long hair seemed... low. I found this very interesting news report from 1966 here (couldn't find the video on the official website). It's all in French, sorry lads - at least there's subtitles! If you'd like me to translate more in detail, I'd be glad to oblige.

Not only was it considered ugly and dirty, it even caused some of these men to be arrested for no other reason than looking "suspicious" because of their hair! A lot of people also thought it made them less of men, or even associated it with being gay: we love the mix of misogyny and homophobia, yay! Fortunately, some people - young or old - showed support to these young men who represented freedom and individuality, who weren't afraid to go against the conventions to express themselves.

I just find it extremely funny - albeit sad - to see women with long hair criticizing these men. There's also a dude in the report who basically says having long hair is a sign of conformism; and this dude looks EXACTLY like the typical bourgeois Sciences Po student with rich parents, so this made me laugh quite a bit!

The Twitter account I linked is from a public institution that archives and produces audiovisual content, called INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel). You can go on their website or Youtube channel to watch numerous reports on any topic you want; great way to learn more about French society (you'll be disheartened, I'm warning you).

À bientôt pour un nouveau fun fact les copains !

#france #french #frenchblr #french culture #french news #french archives

[lovinmybaguettes]

The hyphen

An hyphen (”un trait d’union” in french) is placed :

I. Between a verb and a subject pronoun (je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles) used at the interrogative form :

Comment a-t-il su? Comment partirons-nous? Qui a-t-elle appelé?

N.B. : the t euphonique (a-t-il) is there so two vowels won’t touch.

II. And a direct pronoun at the imperative mode :

Prends-en. Crois-le. Donne-m’en. Allez-vous-en.

III. In words containing “ci” or “là” :

Celui-ci, par-là, ci-gît (here lies), là-haut, ci-joint…

IV. Between a personal pronoun and “même” :

Moi-même (myself), nous-mêmes, elles-mêmes…

V. In compound numbers under zero and juxtaposed :

Mille cent vingt-six (1026), soixante-dix-neuf (79), cent cinquante-deux (152)…

VI. In compound nouns, after :

Demi/semi (half, ex : un demi-litre), ex (mon ex-mari), non (before a noun, ex : un non-sens), pro (before a vowel, ex : un site pro-anorexie).

#frenchblr #langblr #french #learn french #français #polyglot