Cultivate your French - Slow French

Cultivate your French - Slow French

Do you want to improve your listening skills and comprehension of the French as it is spoken in France? With Cultivate Your French podcast, things go smoothly. This is slow French podcast. But it’s also a podcast in which you hear about everyday life in France, in which you hear stories and meet French people.

Episodes

March 20, 2024 7 mins

When we visited the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts last month, I came across an edition of Émile Zola's Carnets d'enquêtes. The famous novelist took copious notes before writing his novels. His notes were sometimes bits of sentences, words or even complete and precise descriptions. The book was only there for consultation, but I was lucky enough to find a second-hand copy at the Gibert bookshop. Th...

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Last weekend, I was in Nice for the French traditional kung fu championships. Nice is one of the sunniest towns in France, but not last weekend. It rained a lot. My friend Anthony and I travelled by train. Lomine came by plane. The three of us had put a lot of work into preparing for this competition with our teacher Xie Han. The competitions are also an opportunity to meet other participants. I met Célia who was competing in the ...

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There are new objects in my life at the moment. Their presence and the changes in habits they imply make my life slightly different, and that 'slightly' feels good.  There's the chest of drawers in our bedroom, a large oak chest of drawers. There's also the handbag I recently bought from Nat&Nin on boulevard Beaumarchais. A choice that Micaela and Lisa, who were with me that day, the day we went to the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, '...

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Last week, Micaela, Lisa and I spent a day in Paris. We started by shopping at the Forum des Halles, before heading to the Bastille district for lunch and a visit to an exhibition. The exhibition was at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, a beautiful nineteenth-century building now dedicated to urban design in Paris.  It's this exhibition that I'm going to tell you about.  In the notes that come with the transcript, there will be a sente...

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My daughter Lisa, fourteen years old, dreamt of having her ears pierced. Around here, there's one name that comes up all the time for ear piercing, and that's Nico. It's not the same atmosphere as at the jeweller's, but the technique is much gentler and very professional. In fact, Nico is a star - people come from far and wide to have them pierced by him. Today, I'm going to tell you what it was like for Lisa. 

In the notes that co...

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The other day, when Lisa left for school after lunch, I heard a dog barking. I thought this was strange because there are no dogs on our floor. On the first floor, there's a quiet little dog called Lana. And there are also two dogs living with a family.  But there are other dogs in our building. I'm going to introduce them to you in this episode.  And we're going to find out who the dog on our floor was, thanks to Lisa.  In the...

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A few days ago, my friend Alice proposed a sort of challenge: to go and buy a lipstick at the Chanel store on rue Cambon, the brand's historic store, where Gabrielle Chanel had her apartments and haute couture workshops.  I knew the store very well, always had, but only from the outside. What happens once you open the door?  This is the mystery I propose to unravel today. 

In the notes that come with the transcript, we're going ...

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Last week, Micaela had a week's holiday after her exams. She asked me if we could go away somewhere. I suggested we visit my friend Sylvie who lives in Bordeaux. Neither of us knew the city.  The city changed a lot in the 90s thanks to its mayor at the time, Alain Juppé. Under his mandate, the city acquired four tram lines, many areas were made pedestrian-friendly, the city was literally cleaned up (the city was known for its pol...

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My daughter Micaela has a friend, Sanam, who can make macarons as good as in a pâtisserie. Macarons are so good, and at the same time they seem so fragile, so complicated to make, so mysterious. So I was thrilled when Sanam invited me to make some macarons in her kitchen.  Sanam was right, it’s not that complicated, in fact it’s quite simple, but there is a tricky moment. This is when you incorporate the dry ingredients into the ...

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January 17, 2024 5 mins

Last week, I went to Paris to do some errands. I had to collect orders I had made at the Pharmacie du four and at Gibert, the bookshop. I love to place orders at these shops because  I know that it means going to my favorite places in Paris : Saint-Michel, Saint-Germain, etc. 

In the notes that come with the transcript, I will give you the reason why I love each place that I mention in this episode. Maybe you already  love them to...

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Très bonne et heureuse année à vous, chers auditeurs du podcast !

On new year’s eve we were at home. We had invited our friends Isabelle and Thierry to have dinner  with us. Isabelle had offered to bring some cheese because she had been staying in Savoie and she also offered to bring the dessert. Lisa asked if she could make her delicious tarte au citron.  How many and what were the cheese that Isabelle had brought? What was the ...

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Christmas is coming ! It’s time to wrap presents. Don’t tell anyone, the Christmas presents that I bought are in a big box under my bed.  To wrap my presents, I use some wrapping paper, but I also use some papers that are recycled. 

In the notes that come with the transcript, we will stop on these verbs that are conjugated at other tenses than present. Each time, there is a specific reason that is nice to be aware of. 

So to Cult...

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As you may have noticed, the December calendar is about Montparnasse, the famous neighbourhood of Montparnasse where so many artists gathered at the beginning of the 20th century : Apollinaire, Modigliani, Soutine, Picasso, Brancusi, Blaise Cendrars, so many famous names. 

Do you remember, two weeks ago when Anne-Laure and I recorded ourselves under the rain, again? And that we thought that Rachilde or André Breton could have been...

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Last week, when Anne-Laure and I were recording ourselves under the rain, we were in Montparnasse. Do you know this famous Parisian neighbourghood were lived Picasso, Modigliani, Soutine, Brancuse, Hemingway, Marie Vassilief, Man Ray and many others? 

I’m sure you have already heard about La Coupole, the famous café that opened in the 1920ies ? Well, the place Anne-Laure and I are going to tell you about opened in 1912, rue Campag...

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Last week, Anne-Laure and I had spent our day out in the rain. We also met this week to record some episodes in the same neighbourhood, the weather forecast were clear : no rain !  Well, it was only a forecast, unfortunately. But we may have found the reason why we kept on being under the rain. Maybe someone was unhappy about what we had said about her or him? 

In the notes that come with the transcript, I will highlight for you ...

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Last Thursday was a very rainy day in Paris. My friend Anne-Laure and I spent the day under the rain to record some episodes to come on the podcast. Our feet were wet, we were tired and cold when we started the queue at the museum. I won’t tell you which one not to reveal the subject of the coming episodes. The exhibit that we had planned to visit was supposed to be the best moment of our day, but an incident happened in the queue...

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We were in the Jura during the Toussaint holidays, during one week. We love that region that is on the road to the Alps. Its foothills and woods are very nice when you like walking. And there are also lakes and waterfalls. 

There is a crêperie in Pont-de-Poitte where we love to have an early dinner or lunch : it’s a warm place and the owner Laurence has a wonderful voice. There is something special about that place. We were having...

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Since September, Micaela, my eldest daughter, takes the train every day to go to Paris. She has classes either near Cité Universitaire or near Luxembourg. Both stations are on the  line of the RER B.  One morning, I took the train with her and ask her about her journey and what was going to be her day. 

In the notes that come with the transcript, you will find some info about the text, but also 2 very natural French expressions t...

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This episode comes from the past : it was written  and recorded  in April 2012 for One Thing In A French Day poscast, Cultivate Your French’s big brother.  My grils were little girls at that time. That day, we had invited a friend  of ours to have lunch  with us at a crêperie. She was a nice woman, always keen on joking with the grils as you will see. 

In the notes that come with the transcript of this episode, I will give you th...

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After spending the afternoon at the hammam, my friend Geraldine and I did not feel like taking the metro back to Saint-Lazare. The weather was nice so we decided to walk instead. It was a nice walk because Paris is a city that changes a lot, and as you walk, you can really feel the change from one neighborhood to another.  We stopped to eat a little something in a boulangerie. 

In the notes that come with  the transcript, we will...

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