If you’re looking for a beautiful, small city in France with regional flavor and a depth of culture that can keep you excited for a couple of weeks…if you’re a person who prefers a more leisurely vacation experience…if you've been learning French for a while (we used the free Duolingo and Gamesforlanguage courses) - THEN my wife and I have discovered the town for you!
Choosing a French City
Dijon (see picture above) is on the mainline of the TGV, France’s answer to the problem of fast, comfortable, worry-free travel, and can be reached easily from Paris. We chose it after a bit of casual research and previous visits to France that never amounted to more than two or three days in Paris for the Louvre.
This time around, we wanted to get to know France better. A few months after starting our online French courses, we focused on Burgundy and chose Dijon as our base of operations for launching our experiment in becoming basic, functional French speakers. (While Part 1 describes our experience of "discovering" Dijon, Part 2 focuses on the realities of becoming fluent during a one-month stay.)
There we expected to avoid the hectic pace of Paris (and the expense!) while enjoying life in a thoroughly and uniquely French place. We haven’t been disappointed.
Exploring Dijon
Our first two weeks in the city were full of constant discoveries launched from our base, a comfortable second-floor apartment in the very quiet Rue Proudhon. We had only a short stroll to the magnificent Ducal Palace (see picture right) to be in the heart of historic Dijon, with streets (for pedestrians only) lined with a potpourri of styles, beautiful 18th century palaces, fine 17th century townhouses, and half-timbered medieval buildings.
The broad streets and plazas teem with people of all ages. We were most impressed at the beginning by the affection between parents and children and by the helpful friendliness of the natives when we asked advice or help. Giving us a simple answer often wasn’t enough and people would walk with us to make certain we reached our goal.
It made us wonder why some of our friends back home had so often complained that the French are rude or unfriendly! What part of France had they visited? Certainly not Burgundy!
If you like to eat, you’ll love les Halles (see picture left), a huge, l9th century steel and glass structure that covers a vast market full of vendors touting everything from cheese to horse meat.
On market days (Tuesday and Friday, though there are some vendors open for business on Thursday as well) the pedestrian areas within a couple of blocks of les Halles are crowded with booths of vendors selling everything from books to clothing, and the crowds pulse with excitement.
More discoveries
The pedestrian sections of the old town are the focal center and heart of the place, both beautiful and full of elegant shops, good cafes, and plenty of opportunity for people-watching.
The broad avenues emanate out from the gorgeous Ducal Palace and the 12th century church, Notre Dame, with its unique, Burgundian version of Gothic and the relief carving of the owl that small crowds of tourist always seem to be rubbing (for good luck).
There are surprises galore in town that challenge and stimulate the patient tourist. Take the Musee de beaux Arts whose collections are divided into epochs (Middle Ages, Renaissance, etc) that are each displayed in a wing of the ducal palace built at that particular time.
Wander across the magnificent half-moon plaza in front of the ducal palace and take the second left down what looks to be an alley – and discover the delightful Magnin Museum, an eclectic jumble of art crowded on the walls on rooms of period furniture left as they were in the family palais by the last two members of the Magnin family.
A National Campaign?
There are so many pleasant encounters in town with locals from Dijon and I must report this one. The battery in my watch ran out and we went to the jewelers to get a replacement. A young lady asked what our nationality was (my accent?) and I said American. She said, "Oh, we love Americans!" This happens to us all the time.
It is so odd, because over the last forty years during our stays in and travels through Europe, the last thing I've encountered is people liking me BECAUSE I'm American - rather in spite of it, if at all. This has been our experience again and again in Germany; in England pleasant condescension if anything. Back many years ago in Paris: rudeness.
I'm beginning to wonder, if the French have had a national campaign to teach them to become more friendly and hospitable? If they have, it has certainly worked and it seems to be genuine, so warm, even kind. It goes far beyond just being polite or even reasonably considerate. But it is certainly a delight to be on the receiving end.
T.H.P. is a retired Professor of German, who has taught at several US universities. He speaks German fluently, reads French and is working on improving his French speaking skills.
Learning from mistakes is a well-known teaching tool. And succeeding (winning!) in games is powerful motivation for us to try again and again until we have mastered them. Both aspects of learning play an important role in our Games For Language courses and Quick Games.
Gender of “the tower” in Spanish
This morning I was replaying one of our Spanish 1 Scenes. In the Writing Game, I was asked to write “the tower” in Spanish. Now, I have seen and said the correct translation quite a few times before and I knew the word “torre.” However, I did not recall a rule for nouns ending with “e.”
Because in my native language (German), “the tower” is masculine (“der Turm”), I was uncertain for a moment and started out with “e” for “el,” to be reminded immediately by the error warning that I was wrong. While I was annoyed that I got it wrong, I am quite confident that I will know it the next time.
Why? Because now I'll likely remember not only that in Spanish “tower” is feminine (“la torre”), but also that I should have recalled that it's the same word in Italian (“la torre”) and feminine as well in French (“la tour”).
Basic Spanish Gender Rules
Quite early on in Spanish, we learn a few basic rules: Words ending with “o” are often masculine, those ending in “a”, often feminine, etc. This Spanish language chart, which I discovered on the web some time ago, quite nicely summarizes the important Spanish gender rules.
There are other, very concise Spanish grammar charts that we have sent to our users. If you'd like to receive the whole set of 6 Spanish Grammar charts, just contact us. We also welcome any information in regard to its author and origin for proper attribution.
Games for Language Learning and Associations...
In the case of “the tower,” my association will be that the Spanish (or Italian and French) word has a different gender from the German one. I realize that English speakers will have other associations for memorizing genders in foreign languages that don't follow the basic rules. It may be the type or shape of the first letter ( “t” for the “l” in “la”), the sound of the word, etc. , or whatever “mnemonic” works to connect to the correct gender of a word.
Just for fun, I entered “la torre” in the online Mnemonic Generator and one of the suggestions was “Lame Thor”, just in case this helps you remember the gender and Spanish word for "tower''...
“Winning” Games
I don't like to lose games. When I make a mistake and see at the end of a game, e.g. in “Writing Clowns” or “Word Invaders” that I only got 26 of 30 possible points, I'll repeat the game again until I get 30.
This is the same motivation which drives Duolingo learners to repeat a lesson: If you make more than 3 mistakes, you lose your hearts, e.g. you are “out” and have to repeat the lesson before you can go on.
Postscript: Since we wrote this post, we've noticed that Duolingo changes its format from time to time.
Making Mistakes
Yes, we sometimes make mistakes, just by clicking on the wrong item accidentally or not taking enough time to read all options. But replaying a lesson or a Scene has benefits beyond just “winning”: With words or phrases you already know, you can focus on pronouncing (ideally aloud) before clicking through; and those you missed, you now will be able to correct and remember better next time.
In our “Word Hero” game, you have to pick the correct English translation for foreign words that cascade down. You need to concentrate and for me, once I make a mistake, it's hard to recover.
While this game requires you to focus and decide quickly, it also allows you to say the correct foreign word as it comes down, giving you the satisfaction not only of getting the word/phrase right, but also of letting you check immediately whether your pronunciation is close to that of the native speaker.
In the “Word Invaders” or Shootout” games, you have to pick the correct foreign words for the translation of an English sentence. By clicking on the wrong word, gender, or conjugation, you lose points. If you want to win 100% of those games, you'll have to correct all the mistakes you made in the first go-around.
Correcting and remembering mistakes is one of the key reasons Games are so effective for language learning.
The ultimate prize: Speaking the Language
Making mistakes and learning from them, as well as devising strategies to avoid traps, gain strength, and acquire assets, etc. are all part of the the ubiquitous video game universe that keep millions of people engaged today.
While language learning has come a long way from boring drills and verb conjugations, we still need to progress further to create a “Language Minecraft” type of game that has speaking the language as the ultimate prize!
Once you have mastered more than the basics of any language, listening to radio or watching movies is a great way to expand your vocabulary, and - maybe as important – keeping you interested in learning.
(Not to overlook: READING is for many learners the earlier, easier step for building vocabulary. It will be the topic of another post.)
Increasingly, we are finding the use of iPad apps to be quite convenient. (All the apps mentioned below are also available on the Play Store for Android devices, and, I assume, with very similar or even identical features.)
Yes, you can connect to many sites on your PC and watch your movies there or connect your laptop to your television, especially if you have newer models with HDMI ports.
We've only recently started to use our iPad/HDMI connector and hooked up our iPad to our large flat screen TV. The experience of watching a movie on a large screen with a much better sound is certainly worth it. But whether you're watching a clip or movie on the iPad or on a bigger screen, here are our current app choices:
German iPad Apps
tagesschau – (also: www.tagesschau.de), a free app, the German “tagesschau” is a 15-minute news magazine, which airs daily at 8 PM German time. It also has a 10:15 PM edition called “tagesthemen” as well as a “nachtmagazin,” which airs just past midnight.
Note that the shows' titles these days are NOT capitalized, as they should be according to German spelling rules. Maybe this is a nod to being trendy and “cool.”
I remember the “Tagesschau” (which could be translated as “Daily View”) from the early days of German television, when the ARD was the only public channel. (”ARD” stands for “Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” - definitely a mouthful. Anybody interested in the legal structure of this “public-law” institution can consult this wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARD_(broadcaster)#Name.)
As I am wrting this, I can see on the “tagesschau” that the “Rosetta-Mission” landing of a mini-laboratory on a comet has been successful; “Live stream,” “Aktuelle Videos,” and “Tagesschau in 100 Sekunden,” and “Das Wetter” complete the Homepage.
For those interested in German Fußball (soccer), a disappointment: Some legal issues apparently does not allow the “tagesschau” to show any clips of German soccer. Nevertheless, by clicking on the many links, you can find a variety of clips and videos on many national and international topics.
ZDF – (also: www.zdf.de ) a free app of the 2nd German channel (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), which is a German “public-law” institution as well. There is also a news magazine “Heute” which airs in Germany at 7 PM German time.
The extensive Menu on the left side takes some time to get used to. For example, under “Rubriken,” and “Film,” you can find “Der Fernsehfilm der Woche” (TV movie of the week), “Ganze Filme im ZDF” (Entire films in ZDF); or under “Krimis” (crime movies), you'll find many popular German series, such as “Kommissarin Heller,” “Der Krimminalist,” etc. If you want to listen to Bavarian dialect, “Die Rosenheim Cops” is a fun show to watch.
DW– (also: www.dw.de ) Deutsche Welle,a free app, is another great resource. You can actually modify several settings on the menu icon, top right: Refresh the content; choose among 6 languages: Arabic, English, German, Persian, Russian, and Spanish; and select the channel to be displayed on the main screen: Germany, Europe, Arabia, America, Latinoamérica.
In addition to a number of video clips, there are also many articles to read about the topics of the day. And, if you have trouble reading an article in German, you can get the English version just by switching the language.
TV–Spielfilm – (also www.tvspielfilm.de) a free app, lets you choose on the Menu button, top left: “Highlights des Tages” (highlights of the day), “TV-Program,” “Tagestipps,” and “Social Ranking.” We found “Mediathek” to be the most useful, with “Spielfilme, Serien, Reportagen, Unterhaltung, and Kinder” (videos for kids).
While the “Play arrow” in the middle of the video lets us play many of these, there are some that either give you the message “Der Vorgang konnte nicht abgeschlossen werden” (the event couldn't be completed).
Or after seeing “Möchten Sie die Seite in Safari öffnen? (Would you like to open the page in Safari?) and pressing “Ja,” we get the message in Safari: “Inhalte technisch nicht verfügbar” (content not available technically) - all of which have caused us some frustration.
French iPad Apps
ARTE.tv - (also: www.arte.tv )is a free app and actually a Franco-German TV network that promotes programming in the areas of culture and the arts and a perfect transition to the French apps.
Clicking on the top left menu, you'll open a number of program choices as well as a “setting” wheel at the bottom that lets choose you the language (German or French) plus a number of other settings, including reminders for certain live shows, email alerts, synchronizing with iCloud, etc.
Back to the Homepage, you see the “Accueil” (welcome) and you can scroll down to see the ARTE +7 choices: “Les plus vues,” “Les plus recentes,” and those soon to be deleted “Dernière chance.” Selecting "Programmes" you'll see the program of the day. Those marked in red +7 can then be either watched, either in a short clip or later, with a note (e.g."Plus que 6 jours") indicating how long it will be available.
Back to the Menu, you'll see a number of other options, all of which will certainly lead you to topics and videos that interest you.
France TV Pro is a free iPad app that lets you watch live TV on many of the French TV channels. It also uses advertisements but has the unusual feature that lets you earn ad viewing points.
After accumulating enough points, you can watch programs ad-free for some time. With each viewing you accumulate 500 points and when you reach 20,000 points (40 views!) you, supposedly, can upgrade to the "Pro" version and now watch for free. (We are not there yet, so I don't know whether this works!)
The Homepage opens up many options: You can watch soaps, news, sports, etc. right there, or click on the Menu button, top left, which gives you many more choices, which include TV VOD, KIDs, Music, Movies, as well as Live Channels, Youtube and more VOD choices.
Clicking on "Movies" you'll find 11 more categories, including, "Top", "New", "Comedy", "Drama", etc. One caution: You may not be able to watch all movies listed due to some access restrictions in the country you are watching.
For example, clicking on "Freelancers" resulted in: "This video is not available in your country". Also, you'll see some English movies dubbed in French. Because we mostly watch French movies, I have not explored many of these possibilities. (Of note: there is an on-screen Volume control button, on the bottom left.)
20 minutes – (also: www.20minutes.fr) I have enjoyed this app for some time now. (There is another, very similar Swiss app: 20 Minuten (also: www.20min.ch), which is the electronic version of the free “20 Minuten” newspaper that you find everywhere in Switzerland in German, French and Italian language.)
Different from the free German apps, this one uses advertisements, (which you can delete right away by clicking on the x on top).
The Homepage gives you a choice of six(6) categories: “Videos, Live, En images, Sport, Actualité, Entertainment, Météo/Horoscope, PDF/Jeux, and Guide TV.”
While the other sections also make good reading – and you're sure to find something that interests you – I have used mostly the Videos. At the bottom of that section you'll find 12 subheadings with videoclips, starting with “General” and “Le Rewind” and ending with “Entertainment” and “Actus 20minutes.”
I enjoy “Le Rewind” a lot. The young man who presents and comments on sometimes funny, sometimes bizarre events is hilarious. He also speaks rapid French, so may have to practice a bit before you get all his jokes, but you'll certainly have fun with many of the video clips. Regrettably, I just learned that “le Rewind” will only run until the end of the year.
All the apps mentioned below are also available on the Play Store for Android devices, and, I assume, with very similar or even identical features. And, please let us know YOUR favorite apps to watch French and German movies and videos.
These past days we've been reminded that the fall of the Berlin Wall (the picture shows the Wall with the infamous "Todesstreifen" ["death strip"]) occurred 25 years ago, with the official celebration on November 9, 2014.
For many Germans the Berlin Wall also involves personal memories either directly or through relatives or friends.
When the Wall was built in 1961, it further divided a city which, since 1945, had been living with the division into four sectors: US, UK, French, and Soviet.
The “brain” drain through the open border in Berlin caused the East German government (obviously with Russian concurrence and some say, encouragement) to opt for a wall: Too many East Germans (estimated at about 3.5 million) were voting with their feet and sought refuge and freedom in the west sectors before being flown out to West-German.
“Ich bin ein Berliner”
The building of the Wall was also seen by many observers at the time as a test of the new American President, John F. Kennedy. Historians seem to be divided over whether and how much the President and the intelligence community knew about the plans for a wall, or if there was even a tacit American acquiescence for its construction.
President Kennedy visited Berlin in 1963 and his speech - with its now famous words “Ich bin ein Berliner” - was credited for giving West Berliners a very needed moral boost. I remember this speech very well as a teenager, and while we may have chuckled a bit (see also our blog post Quick German: “Ich bin ein Berliner”), we certainly understood the significance of the speech.
Memories of Frightened Teenager
West-Berliners were not allowed to visit East Berlin initially. These restrictions were later eased for holidays and other "hardship" circumstances. (And East Germans could only travel to West-Berlin and West-Germany with special authorizations and under tight control in later years).
On the other hand, West Germans could usually visit East Germany and East Berlin after obtaining a visa. A trip to Berlin had become a tradition for many senior classes in West-German High Schools and so, in 1965, I found myself on a bus to East Berlin going through the Wall at Check Point Charlie.
While I do not recall being checked as we entered East Berlin, I certainly remember being stopped on the way out. We all had to get out of the bus and present our passports to an East German border guard.
He looked at my passport, then asked me to step into an adjacent room. A grim-looking officer waved the passport in front of my face and said that it was not valid. By that time (and while our teacher and my class mates looked on helplessly through a windowed door) all I could think of saying was “But this is a new passport, I just got it before the trip.” The officer looked me up and down, looked at the picture again and then, reluctantly satisfied and after what seemed like an eternity, finally said: “Then you'd better sign it.”
I still remember now that my legs were shaking when I joined my class again. What seemed like an insignificant and easily corrected oversight was a serious issue in 1965 in East-Berlin (and, with heightened security concerns, maybe it is now again everywhere).
Many attempts to escape from East-Berlin were made, through tunnels, through sewers, in cars, by swimming, etc. Over 100 people were killed during such attempts, when the East German Police received shoot-to-kill orders shortly after the Wall was built.
And while I, as a West-German, should have had nothing to fear, the climate of intimidation, cold-war press reports, etc. had affected me as well and frightened me.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
After President Reagan had made another famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, it took a little more than 2 years for the Eastern Block to disintegrate. Historians and politicians may still debate whether President Reagan's or Bush's policies were more responsible for the fall of the Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the countries it controlled or whether such policies just accelerated an inevitable system failure.
Hungary and Czechoslovakia had already started to allow East Germans to leave through their countries in mid1989; protests in East Germany culminated in a demonstration of over half a million people on the Alexanderplatz in Berlin on November 4, 1989.
And then events further accelerated. By November 9, the new East-German government saw the handwriting on the wall (no pun intended) and amidst confusion of directives and orders to the border guards by government officials the borders opened up.
(This 1961 picture actually shows the iconic photo of Conrad Schumann, an East German soldier of the People's Army escaping, just as the Wall was being built. As described in this 2009 Wordpress post, his story had a tragic ending.)
The official dismantling of the much-hated Wall only began in mid 1990. On October 3, 1990 the East German state was dissolved and joined the West German state in becoming the reunited Germany.
Today, Berlin is again the capital of Germany and, with a population of about 3.5 million, its largest city. It has also regained its status as, arguably, one of the world's top cities for science, culture, media, and politics.
For a few months now we have been baffled why certain search dictionary terms are on top of our site's Search traffic.
For several weeks now, 1957 in Spanish (mil novecientos cincuenta y siete) has been on top and we can't figure out why. Obviously, one reason is the fact that our Spanish dictionary entry for "in 1957" has a top position in a Google Search.
However, it does not explain WHY people are looking for this term in a Spanish translation. It's a puzzle!
La Torre de Madrid
In Gamesforlanguage's Spanish 1 course, our traveler David learns that the Torre de Madrid (Picture by Carlos Delgaso; CC-BY-SA) was completed in 1957.
Even now it's still one of the tallest buildings in Madrid. At the time, it actually was the largest concrete building in the world. According to this Wiki entry, the tower also appeared in numerous Spanish movies released in the 1960s, as well as in the 1984 movie The Hit.
As we can't imagine that OUR users are the ones searching for the translation, we can only speculate that people are looking for other events that happened in 1957. A quick Google search for “events in Spanish speaking countries in 1957” surfaces these possibilities:
Seve Ballesteros and Gloria Estefan
Disregarding the first two entries - the 1957 movie “The Pride and the Passion” and the Wiki event listing of 1957 - here are the ones that follow:
Both the late Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros and Gloria Estefan, a well-known singer of the band Miami Sound Machine, were born in 1957. A possible, but not very probable explanation for why people are searching for 1957 in Spanish.
Diego Rivera and The Treaty of Rome
Maybe the life of the famous Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) who appears as the next Google entry, has art students look up the year for a term paper. Or, political science students are researching the Treaty of Rome, which gave birth to the European Union and was signed in 1957. In either case, it seems more likely that the translation of the year is required for a speech or an oral report, and students are checking on the pronunciation.
Asian Flu
Britannica.com reports that “the 1957 Asian flu was the second major influenza pandemic to occur in the 20th century; it followed the influenza pandemic of 1918-19 (also know as the Spanish flu) and preceded the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968."
Maybe the recent Ebola scare has people looking up such events, as they need to talk about them in training and explanations. That would explain why the Search Traffic for the Spanish translation and pronunciation of 1957 has been increasing since the beginning of October.
Other Reasons?
Many other events happened in 1957 - including the launch of the Russian Sputnik - and one or more of them are causing people to look up the Spanish translation for 1957.
What do you think? We are inviting you readers to share your thoughts: Just maybe, one of you has searched or is searching for 1957 in Spanish. We'd love to have you help solve this puzzle!
Write us your suggestions at Contact or enter your comments below.
If you’re looking for a beautiful, small city in France with regional flavor and a depth of culture that can keep you excited for a couple of weeks…if you’re a person who prefers a more leisurely vacation experience…if you've been learning French for a while (we used the free Duolingo and Gamesforlanguage courses) - THEN my wife and I have discovered the town for you!
a comfortable second-floor apartment in the very quiet Rue Proudhon. We had only a short stroll to the magnificent Ducal Palace (see picture right) to be in the heart of historic Dijon, with streets (for pedestrians only) lined with a potpourri of styles, beautiful 18th century palaces, fine 17th century townhouses, and half-timbered medieval buildings.
If you like to eat, you’ll love les Halles (see picture left), a huge, l9th century steel and glass structure that covers a vast market full of vendors touting everything from cheese to horse meat. 
