Why do I need to know la langue de Molière?
Because it's used in lots of contexts that having nothing to do with theatre or history.
What does it mean?
It means 'the language of Molière', but really it means French and it's a very frequently used synonym for the French language.
Molière (real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) is France's most famous and revered playwright. His plays, written in the 1650s, 60s and 70s and can be a touch inaccessible for French learners but his themes - hypocrisy, corruption and power - have certainly stood the test of time.
And his reputation in France is such that la langue de Molière has come to simply mean the French language and is used in a wide variety of contexts.
In 2023, France marked 350 years since the playwright's death.
Use it like this
The formal designation of the French language is la langue française or simply française, but French also has some poetic descriptions for other languages.
La langue de Shakespeare - English (anglais)
La lange de Goethe - German (allemand)
La langue de Cervantès - Spanish (espagnol)
La langue de Dante - Italian (italien)
Comments