So you've moved to France, you've found a place to live, powered through the bureaucracy and now it's time to make some French friends - which is the easy bit, right? Actually maybe not, as British Normandy resident Natasha Alexander explains.
Witty repartee, intellectual conversation and even basic empathy are among the things that British mum-of-three Natasha Alexander has been forced to jettison when speaking French to her Normandy neighbours.
More and more French adverts use English words or phrases in a blending of languages that might strike an English-speaker as strange or odd. In reality, this is part of a wider - sometimes polarising - phenomenon that has been going on for decades.
In many situations in France foreigners can get away with knowing only the very basic “Bonjour”, “s’il vous plait” and “merci” and can even rely on English if needs be. But there are some places where speaking French is absolutely crucial, writes Katie Warren.
From doors to sex aids, coffee styles to fried potatoes - when speaking English many things are described as 'French' - but what do the French themselves call French kissing, French doors, French toast and French letters (to name but a few)?
They're the sort of phrases that provoke tuts from older relatives and despairing newspaper columns from language experts - but as a French learner they could be just what you need to make you sound a little more local and less like you're in the classroom.
From the French for portmanteau, to cute words for dogs and a confusing word, another you assume you know and another still that’s pretty obvious, here's a roundup of some of our favourite French words and expressions of the day.
If you're tuning into the Eurovision Song Contest or the Olympic Games you'll quickly notice that announcements are always made in two languages - English and French. So how did French come to be an official language for so many international organisations?
Live in France for long enough and you will have to send an email in French. But which greetings should you choose and how formal do you need to be? French language expert Camille Chevalier-Karfis explains the options.
Declaring and paying taxes in France can be a complicated affair, especially for first-timers, and the intricate French vocabulary does not exactly simplify the process. This language guide might help.
French may be beautiful sounding language - but some of those Gallic words can be a real ordeal for us foreigners to pronounce. Our readers have picked out their most unpronounceable French words. How many can you (confidently) say?
It's one of the defining sounds of the French language, but can be a tricky one for foreigners. French language expert Camille Chevalier-Karfis explains how to master the French R.
Learning French can be a long process and it also brings you into a world of bewildering acronyms - here's what these language levels means in terms of your everyday French conversation, with quizzes so you can test your level.
The French language, famously, has some complicated ways of saying numbers (four twenties ten eight, anyone?) - but even once you have learned your numbers there are some weird numeric quirks of the language to be aware of.
Getting to grips with the language is one of the most important - and difficult - things anyone planning to move to France can do. So, we asked readers what they wish they’d known before they came here.
These French professions might look a bit confusing to English-speaking eyes, and their true definitions might be entirely different from what you would expect.
French is littered with pesky "false friends" that cause endless confusion and embarrassment for language-learners. Here are some of the most notorious.
Many people struggle with learning French, a language with plenty of complex grammar rules and tricky gendered nouns. The Local asked French language expert Camille Chevalier-Karfis her top three tips to help you learn French more efficiently.
Peruvian Nobel-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa was set to join the fabled Academie Francaise in Paris on Thursday, the first member never to have written a book in French.
A commission that seeks to act as a guardian of the French language has published a string of recommendations for translations of shopping and style terms, to replace widely-used English ones.
