French is the second most widespread language worldwide after English, as only these two languages are spoken on all five continents.
French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form "la francophonie", the community of French-speaking countries.French is spoken as a first language in France, southern Belgium, western Switzerland, Monaco, and the province of Quebec. It is also an official language in the province ofNew Brunswick, and spoken in other communities in Canada.
French is also spoken in communities in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as among educated classes in North Africa, Haiti, French Polynesia and in various communities elsewhere. [Wikipedia]
While particular end-of-year traditions exist in most of these countries, we'll just focus here on France.
France
In France, huge municipal firework displays were not the customary way to usher in the New Year. This has changed however in recent years, and the Eiffel Tower fireworks and light shows in Paris have become quite spectacular.
Nevertheless, French people tend to take things more quietly and celebrate with friends at home or in a restaurant. These New Year's Eve celebrations - le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre - traditionally are a feast that includes plenty of champagne and foie gras or oysters, symbols of prosperity and good fortune.
As in many other countries, the last day of the year in France is named after the fourth-century Catholic pope and saint. This was after the reform of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, when the last day of the year became December 31, the day of Saint Sylvestre's death in 335. [You say "la" Saint-Sylvestre because it's short for "la fête de Saint-Sylvestre."]
Paris
In Paris, the city of lights, New Year's Eve becomes a visual feast: from many vantage points in the city you can see the iconic, illuminated Eiffel Tower.
And, you'll find the biggest New Year's party on the Avenue de Champs Elysées, where hundreds of thousands of people gather to celebrate, wish each other "Bonne année" (Good year), and exchange "bises" (kisses on the cheeks) at the stroke of midnight.
And, you'll find the biggest New Year's party on the Avenue de Champs Elysées, where hundreds of thousands of people gather to celebrate, wish each other "Bonne année" (Good year), and exchange "bises" (kisses on the cheeks) at the stroke of midnight.
In 2014, Paris added a first-time spectacle before the final countdown: a 20-minute video show projected on the Arc de Triomphe, highlighting the Parisian "art of living". ThisRTL clip lets you practice your French listening skills and you'll learn that not everybody was happy with the show.
If you click on the image on the left you can watch a YouTube clip of the 2014 light show and fireworks.
Due to the recent terror attacks, there is some question about the extent of the official New Year's celebrations in Paris this year. A Less Joyous New Year Tradition...
"The infamous custom can be traced to the northeastern city of Strasbourg that straddles France’s border with Germany. Strasbourg, which hosts thousands of tourists who flock to the city for its renowned Christmas market, first began to be blighted by holiday season vehicle arson in the late 1980s. But the phenomenon exploded to alarming levels during the 1990s."
Le Réveillon du Nouvel An
Nevertheless, in spite of such statistics and recent events, I'd be very surprised if the French were not on the streets and celebrating le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre.
Update: This France24 article of December 28, 2015 confirms that the celebrations will indeed take place in Paris, although under heightened security. The Arc de triomphe light show will be reduced to 10 minutes.
On New Year's Day, it's the tradition to have a large family dinner and to give presents to the children as a way to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
The King's Cake
The New Year holiday season comes to an official end on January 5th, Epiphany, the day when it is believed that three wise men presented their gifts to the baby Jesus.
The French celebrate by making a unique kind of cake, the "Galette des rois." In many regions the "galette des rois" is a flat layer of puff pastry filled with almond cream, in other communities, e.g. in the south of France, the "gâteau des rois" is a round brioche with candied fruits and sugar, shaped like a crown.
Common to all versions of the King's Cake, is a small trinket, a plastic or porcelain figurine of the baby Jesus hidden in the cake. The one who finds it (watch out to not swallow or bite on it!) is the king for the the day (and can wear the paper crown, often sold with the cakes).
Young kids obviously love this tradition and families use various rules to ensure a fair distribution of the cake to all.
(Image by Andrea Jacobs) Remember what your mom would say, actions speak louder than words, she was right. From eye contact to posture, nonverbal details reveal who we are and impact how others see you.
Is non-verbal communication important in a conversation? Absolutely, words are important, but it turns out, we communicate most of the meaning of our conversation via body language and gestures.
The way you move, the way you stand and the way you listen tells others whether or not you care about what they are saying. When your words match your body language, they increase trust, clarity and rapport.When they don’t, they trigger tension, distrust and confusion.
Unfortunately, many people send negative and confusing nonverbal signals without even knowing it when speaking with someone from another country. When this happens, both clarity and rapport may be irreversibly damaged.
To become a better communicator, it’s important to become sensitive not only to the nonverbal cues of others, but also to the nonverbal cues you may be sending.
As you can imagine, communicating with someone from your own culture can be challenging but when speaking with a foreigner it can perplexing. Nonverbal communication gestures do not translate across cultures easily and can lead to serious misunderstanding.
While translation systems are available for verbal communication, translators for nonverbal communication do not exist.
Nonverbal communication is composed of facial expressions, body movements, posture, gestures, eye contact, touch, space and voice. We must appreciate and identify that in one country a respectable gesture may mean something completely different in another country. In this article we will focus on 5 different hand gestures that are commonly exchanged:
Understanding the different meaning these signs may have in other cultures, will not only enhance your conversation but may keep you out of trouble while talking to someone from another part of the world.
OK Signs
In the US, we use it to convey agreement, it assures people things are fine or when everything is perfect.
In Brazil, Greece and Spain it conveys a different meaning! This sign is used to call someone an a**hole. While visiting Brazil in the 1950’s, Richard Nixon flashed the OK sign to the crowed and they responded with boos!
In Turkey and Venezuela the sign is used as an insult toward gay people.
In France and Australia it means zero or worthless.
Lastly, in Japan this gesture means money.
Thumbs Up
We use this gesture a lot in the US it means it is all great.
But I recommend you do not use it among Middle Easterners and people from West Africa.
People from Bangladesh, Australian and South Americans also find this gesture hideously offensive. It is assumed to mean that you want the receiver to stick it where the sun don’t shine, up yours or sit on it.
Finger Snap
Where I am from in Latin America, snapping your finger meant to hurry up.
In the US and Great Britain, it usually is used when someone remembers something or gets an idea.
some cultures it used to get someone’s attention but in many cultures it is just rude.
So, to keep it safe, snap your fingers for the same reason the Ancient Greeks did -- to keep the rhythm set by musicians and dancers
Beckoning Sign (come here)
In the Philippians the beckoning sign is impolite and can be a cause for being arrested.
In the USA it is used often to call someone over here.
Careful by using this gesture in Japan. It is very rude and only fit for a dog and or other animal.
In Singapore, beckoning is an indication of death.
The Corona
This gesture has been adopted by rockers and it is a sign of approval “rock on” for most Americans. Except in Texas, where football fans use it as a sign representing the horns of a bull.
In other cultures, this is not the horn of a bull but instead of the devil and representing evil. In Buddhist and Hindi culture, it means the Karana Mudra which is used to dispel the evil.
Watch out making this gesture in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Spain, Portugal and Italy since it is known as the 'Cuckold' and is used to tell a man that other men are enjoying his wife.
In 1985, following the news that Texas Longhorns football team won the football game, five Americans were arrested in Rome for using this gesture outside the Vatican.
We might not have translators for nonverbal communication but we have our phone or computers at our hands to learn and understand the meaning of the gestures we use. So remember before jumping to conclusions about the meaning of a gestures, consider the person’s cultural background. Embarrassing moments can happen as a result of ignorance and by misinterpreting a gesture.
It is always ok to ask people from different countries and cultures about the meaning of rituals, mannerisms and gestures. It is a great topic to discuss with a friend from another country over a cup of coffee and a yummy pastry. There are no wrong and right gestures, only cultural differences.
Bio: Kendal Knetemann is the founder of LingoHut where free language lessons, activities and articles are making language learning uncomplicated. Communication is our thing! Like us on our Facebook page.
In Translating words from one language to another can be a very tricky thing and translation errors are common across the world. Even if you are proficient in a foreign language, specialized or technical language will often require professional translations.
In some cases,it is obvious what those making errors were trying to say (even if JFK had told the German people he was a plump and juicy jelly doughnut - see picture - as a persistent myth suggests, it would have been very obvious as to what he really meant) whilst others simply boggle the mind (such as a sign above a restaurant in Thailand declaring that their “food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy”).
The fact that saying you are a Berliner (or a Frankfurter or Hamburger for that matter) may mean very different things depending on the context, highlights just how troublesome a minefield translation can be.
Whilst such lingual faux pas are amusing in certain contexts, many of the culprits no doubt wish they had visited translation experts such as thebigword rather than relying on free online tools.
Fortunately for all of us, some of the more extreme translation gaffes are simply hilarious and, rather than landing people in serious trouble, have simply given us something to brighten our days.
Translate Server Error
It is probably not uncommon for individuals to find the words ‘Translate Server Error’ staring back at them when online translations go wrong, although few would think that this is the direct translation of the words they fed in.
Yet this is exactly what one Chinese restaurant owner assumed, creating a huge sign to hang above his restaurant entrance declaring that ‘Translate Server Error’ was the name of his business.
If translating the name into English was a plan to attract more interest, we would say the restaurant very much succeeded.
What’s that smell?
One of the most common areas for a translation to fail is on a menu, some of them are simple spelling mistakes or written out of context, but few are quite so off-putting as the one which declared that a restaurant’s rice smelled of wee.
We are not quite sure what they meant to say, but we are hoping that ‘Hele soup smell of urine’ wasn’t the exact translation they were going for. If it was, they get top marks for honesty at least.
Sweet Dreams
Not all confusing translations are outright hilarious. Some are also kind of sweet. In one Chinese town, a sign asking individuals to keep off the grass had its meaning lost in translation in a very wonderful way: “Do not disturb. Tiny grass is dreaming.”
The baffling demand is most likely the result of back translating from English to Chinese to English since the Chinese translation above also makes no sense. However, who needs sense when you have something so whimsically delicious to enjoy?
Boots of Ascension
It isn’t just those in the East who have trouble translating words. Even right here in Europe where English is a much more common tongue, and our culture is not so alien, the same language issues can raise their funny little heads.
In one Austrian hotel, skiers were asked “not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension”. Whilst it starts off well, if unnecessarily grandiose, it is unlikely that many people in a ski resort will have a special wardrobe of shoes to ascend to a prominent position. Nor is it likely that Jesus will be popping in to say hi.
Getting what you asked for
Either the following translation lost its true meaning en route, or there is a hotel manager in Athens who is very much a masochist.
The sign declaring that “visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 am daily” will not be very comforting to new guests and is either a poorly translated phrase or a master class in honesty and resignation.
Obviously though, these are worst case scenarios to translation that can lead to funny if not serious repercussions. This is where professional translation really is a requirement for businesses and individuals alike. In today’s world of instant communication, ever shrinking business borders and online reputation management, professional translations can be the difference between being seen as credible and trustworthy or, the complete opposite.
Author Bio: This article was provided by Gino De Blasio from thebigword. Thebigword is a global, technology-enabled language solution provider that delivers translation and interpreting services.
Disclosure: Gamesforlanguage has no business relationship with thebigword or Gino De Blasio, other than having published Gino's post.
During our recent trip with the Hurtigruten Line along the Norwegian coastline from Bergen to the Northcap (picture left) and Kirkenes, on the Russian border, we had an opportunity to learn much about Norwegian language and history.
Yes, the Vikings were a frequent topic of conversation and the focus of a few excursions. Between the late 8th and the middle of the11th century, Vikings had ruled the North Sea and had even ventured into the Mediterranean Sea.
Also, there's evidence that they had reached Iceland and Greenland. Leif Erikson may well have been the first European to set foot on mainland America. But we also found the more recent history of Norway and especially the role of the Norwegian language quite interesting.
And, if you'd like to learn about the best ways to experience the Northern Lights - which we witnessed several times - click on the link!)
Nordic Languages: Danish - Norwegian - Swedish
Although friends had told us that these Nordic languages are quite similar to German, my one-month Swedish course did not yet make this obvious to me. And sitting at a dinner table with four Swedes every night, I never caught any part of their conversation - except if they switched to German or English for our benefit.
From Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes on the ship we learned that they can generally understand each other's language, but that regional dialects can pose a real problem.
In Norway, the two official forms of written Norwegian are "Bokmål" (book tongue), used by more than 86% of the people, and Nynorsk (new Norwegian), used by 7.5%. But as this Wikipedia link further explain, the language situation is quite complex.
Nynorsk – a newly created language
As we inquired further into Nynorsk, we learned that this language was created by Ivar Aasen in the middle of the 19th century from old Nordic dialects. One would ask: why create a new language? For Norway, language was a way to reinforce a distinct Norwegian identity, as the nation strove for and then acquired, in 1905, its independence from Sweden.
Some Norwegians suggested to us, however, that with Norway's affluence and growing national confidence, the movement for popularizing Nynorsk may be slowing down.
The benefits of a second national language taught in school are being questioned as other languages become ever more important. (I am leaving out of this discussion any local dialects and the distinctly different language of the Sami, the indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula.)
A little more Nordic History
After the end of the Viking era (around 1050), Norwegian tribes and communities were ruled for centuries by Danish and then by Swedish kings. Nation states as such only developed in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, often after considerable strife.
It was therefore surprising to some, when in 1905, Sweden accepted the plebiscite of the Norwegians, and agreed to release Norway from the joint kingdom of Norway and Sweden.
The story of the peaceful dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden makes interesting reading for history buffs, who also may be intrigued by the people's election (!) of the Danish (!) crown prince as their new king.
Politics, Dialects, and "standard" language
In the past, political leaders have often tried to impose new languages on their people. When the Normans won the battle of Hastings in 1066, French became the language of English nobility.
Although French certainly influenced and modified the language of English peasants and commoners, it did not replace it. (Read more in our blog post: The French Connection) French became the language at many European courts in the 18th and 19th centuries and many French words found their way into the various European languages.
In the region of Catalonia, which includes the second largest city in Spain, Barcelona, the local language is Catalan. Catalan is both a spoken and a written language. As Castilian Spanish is taught in schools, most Catalans are indeed bilingual - although traces of animosity towards Castilian seem to remain, even, surprisingly, with some younger people. (Read more in our blog post: In Barcelona Learning "Spanish" is Not Enough)
Switzerland has a somewhat different situation. Spoken "Swiss German" or "Schwyzerdütsch" is the common language in the German-speaking cantons, although there are noticeable dialect differences among them.
However, "High German" or "Schriftdeutsch" (Written German), as the Swiss call it, is taught in schools. It's the printed language of newspapers and is used by all Swiss Germans to write. With very few exceptions - see picture at right - Swiss German is not used for writing or print. (For a translation of the above sign and the French version see our post: 11 Language Clues from German and Swiss Signs.)
The Norwegian Language and National Identity
Clearly, language plays an important role in a people's identity. In the case of Norway, it will be interesting to watch whether Nynorsk will survive and prosper alongside Norway's presently more dominant language, Bokmål.
Postscript: In March 2019 the Norwegian Academy (a Norwegian language learning site) published a post on the question whether to learn Nynorsk or Bokmål. They conclude: "So it comes to your preferences and your place of living. It might be hard to learn writing Bokmål in an area where everyone uses Nynorsk." And, if you happen to be relocating to Norway, a localization service can be very helpful.
Following up on my previous blog post Everybody speaks English anyways. Really?, and prompted by our visit to the battle field of Hastings (see left), I was wondering about the French Connection.
After all, the English forefathers had to get used to the French tongue for several hundred years – and there are many similarities between both languages.
A Momentous Event
Our visit to the battlefield in Hastings, England, and to the Tower of London refreshed some forgotten school knowledge.
It also reminded us that the Norman invasion and the victory of Duke William II of Normandy over the English army under King Harold II on October 14, 1066, represented a momentous event during the height of the Middle Ages.
The victory of William the Conqueror, how he is now mainly known, not only resulted in the French-speaking Normans' control of England, but also had tremendous influence on the English language. By imposing the French language on his court and administration, William caused many French words to become part of the English language.
While the reign of the Normans may have begun with the victory at Hastings, it took much more for them to control the towns and the country side.
William immediately set out to take charge by introducing a series of laws, and building fortifications and castles. One of them, the Tower of London has a long and interesting history.
The White Tower, on the right, gave the entire castle its name and was begun by William already by the end of 1066. It served as royal residence, armory, treasury, as well as home of the Royal mint and the Crown Jewels.
Its location on the Thames and its fortifications which were expanded over the centuries gave it a commanding position to control London and the Thames river traffic.
While French was the language of the nobility in England for about two centuries, English continued to be spoken by the common people.
After King John lost Normandy in 1204, the use of French started to decline and English again became dominant by the beginning of the 14th century. Further, in 1362 Parliament passed a law requiring all lawsuits to be conducted in English.
True and False Cognates
Laura K. Lawless on about.com estimates that about 10,000 French words were adopted into the English language during the nearly 300 years following the Norman invasion, and that ”English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words.” She also compiled a list of 1,700 words – true cognates – that you can access with the Vrais Amis link.
There are also plenty of “false cognates.” When learning another language it's often quite helpful to also study the false cognates. Not knowing their meaning in the foreign language can lead to embarrassing moments. You can take a look at the Faux Amis, the French-English false cognates .
Learn French Easily
For English speakers who want to learn French, there are many online resources available today. (For obvious reasons we like our own French 1 course.) In one of our next posts we'll discuss various online programs that let you improve your vocabulary and/or learn French (or other languages).
And - just maybe - a reminder of the close connection between English and French will motivate some English speakers to give French another try.
FREE French Language Games and Courses
And, if you want to learn or practice some French, just click on the FREE (no registration required!) French Language Games, see how much you already know, and check back from time to time for new ones and, please, SHARE us with your friends.
And don't forget: You can practice French online for FREE with our 36-Scene travel story "Daniel en France" HERE.
Like Gamesforlanguage, Lingohut is also completely free with over 100 vocabulary lessons!
Other Language Learning Resources
We recently discovered a very effective app for learning French: MosaLingua. There are currently iOS and Android Apps, with a MosaLingua Desktop App for PC, Mac and Linux users just launched. You can also try out the "Lite" version for FREE! We like the apps a lot and are currently using them ourselves. Read Ulrike's Review HERE.
Disclosure: The MosaLingua links above are to a partner's program with revenue sharing, should you subscribe or buy. We would receive a small payment, which helps us to keep our site ad free.
French Speaking Countries
lets you practice your French listening skills and you'll learn that not everybody was happy with the show. 
"Swiss German" or "Schwyzerdütsch" is the common language in the German-speaking cantons, although there are noticeable dialect differences among them. 
