Experience Language: Experience Life!
Newsletter - May 2007

Bonjour and welcome to our May newsletter. Bonne lecture!

In this issue:

• Bank Holidays and Language Schools
• Expressions avec 'Pont''
• The End of the 'Amnistie Présidentielle'
• A Circumflex for an 's'

Bank Holidays and Language Schools

When I was younger and lived in France, I used to love the month of May: great weather and lots of bank holidays, ie. days off. Quelle paresseuse!

Unfortunately bank holidays are not so great when it comes to language courses. Why pay for five days of lessons when you only get four days? Well, while most language schools do not refund nor reschedule missed lessons (except for private lessons), it is worth knowing that some do. Eh oui!

• Aix en Provence - Missed lessons are rescheduled to another day in the week.
• Montpellier - Missed lessons are usually rescheduled to another day in the week.
• Paris - Missed lessons are refunded.

Here are the 2007 French Bank Holidays.

NB: While the 28th May is no longer an official Bank Holiday in France, most language schools will be closed on that day.

Expressions avec 'Pont'

In France, if a bank holiday is on a Saturday or a Sunday then that's just bad luck: no day off. Yet if a bank holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, it is the perfect opportunity to 'faire le pont': to take the Monday or Friday off as well to get a nice long weekend.

Other expressions with 'pont' include:

• Couper (brûler) les ponts - 'to cut all ties'
• Se porter comme le Pont Neuf - 'to be in good health'
• Etre sur le pont - 'to be busy'
• Beaucoup d'eau a passé sous les ponts - 'a long time has passed'

The End of the 'Amnistie Présidentielle'?

The 'amnistie' is a law voted by the parliament after each presidential election. It grants amnesty for some petty crimes such as speeding and parking tickets. Over the years, this law has been increasingly criticised. It is believed that people end up committing more traffic offences in the months preceding the election, mainly because they know they can get away with it.

During his whole campaign, Nicolas Sarkosy, France's new President has said that he was against the 'amnistie'. Could 2007 see the end of the 'amnistie présidentielle' introduced by Charles de Gaulle in 1958?

More on the amnistie presidentielle.

A Circumflex for an 's'

Take the French word 'forêt', drop the circumflex accent and add an 's', what do you get? Forest. Ok, let's now do the same with 'hôpital' and we get hospital. Is this a coincidence?

Pas vraiment. In the 18th Century, the 's' in some French words was dropped and replaced by a circumflex accent. As many French words entered the English language in the 11th Century, the words had not yet dropped their 's', hence forest and forêt. Below are a few more examples:

• isle - île
• ospital - hôpital
• ostel - hôtel
• castel - château
• coste - côte
• conqueste - conquête

More on the origins of the French language

.

We wish you a lovely month of May!

The Experience Language Team

Experience Language is not responsible for the content of any external Internet links from this newsletter.

Previous

Next