Is England the "pays du shake-hand"?

British prime minister Gordon Brown finally acted this week in an attempt to disspell the French myth that England is the so-called pays du shake-hand.

New French Language forum

The French Linguistics site now has a new-look French Language forum. Come and be among the first to post new questions or have a discussion about anything French. The new forum is at:

http://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/

The new forum offers better features, such as formatted text in entries. If you don't find the category you're looking for, let me know!

Note that the old forum will shortly be retired. A few recent posts will be migrated to the new forum.

Look forward to seeing you there!

GCSE French: Hints and Tips

If you're about to take your GCSEs (or just learning for next year), you might be interested in the following resources available on the French Linguistics web site.

• Firstly, some hints and tips for the French GCSE speaking test: we look at some very common words/phrases that will crop up, strategies for when you don't know a word, and how to avoid one or two grammatical difficulties (notably avoiding complications with asking questions) when speaking French;
• You sould also check out the page of essential GCSE vocab: this isn't all the vocab you need to get good marks at GCSE, but it's some of the vocab that comes up time and time again. Once you've got to grips with this vocab, if you have time, then try and learn some of the vocab from the basic French words and phrases section of the web site;
• Use the on-line French wordsearch and crossword games to reinforce your vocabulary;
• Consider printing some French flashcards (using the site's free flashcard tool) to help you learn.

Dictionary update

Today's update to the dictionary contains improvements to various English-French entries.