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Forks, Portland, Lyon - France, Paris - France, Portland and ending up in Bellingham.... the adventures of my life!

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Friday, September 30, 2011

Language Help: Common Things in French

During my mom's visit I realized there were quite a few things I got used to living without, that she hadn't.  Or even moreso things I realized I figured out but had no idea what the word was when I first moved to France.  Sorry for the lack of proper accents on my French words in this post, I'm using one of my American computers and searching for the accents exhausts me.

I'd like to take a post to revisit some of those typical things and give the French equivalent, once again:




Around the House

Bleach - Eau de Javel
fabric softener - appsouplissant
detergent - lessive lave-linge
sensitive skin - peau sensible
dishwasher detergent - lessive pour lave-vaisselle
hand soap - savon
stain remover - detachant
stain - tache
a rag - un chiffon
dish towel (in EVERY French home) - un torchon
a sponge - une eponge

In the Kitchen  
(I'll only do the most basic, I recommend this site for more information)
wine opener - tire bouchon
bottle of wine - une bouteille du vin
wine glass - un verre du vin
ice cubes - des glacons
cookbook - un livre de cuisine
recipe - une recette
cold drink - une boisson fraiche
water - de l'eau

Spices or Food Stuffs
(Same as above, not too much detail since it is a lot of words, instead try THIS SITE!)
peanut oil - huile de cacahuete
organic - bio
snack - gouter (often they say, "l'heure de gouter" which is a small snack around 4pm)
cut in slices (can order this at the boulangerie) - faire en tranches, ou couper en tranches
bacon - lardon ou poitrine fume/sale


Business Outside of Apartment
the bank - la banque
the apartment managers office - la regie
university - le fac
university cafeteria - CafeT
savings  - epargne
pay check - un bulletin de paie
grocery store - super marche


That's about what I can come up with on the top of my head... but here are some more resources to understand and learn specific French words:

Lyon Eats Food Resource
French Linguistics Word Reference Site

And of course, if ever any questions simply shoot me a mail!

Tomorrow is October 1st, and I still can't believe how quickly September went.  Yikes.  Look forward to more posts coming up, I have got to try and stay on top of it.. but with a Masters program and 18 hours a week of work.. well life's barely life.

Tant pis!

a+

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this useful blog!
    I arrived to Lyon 2 weeks ago and planning to stay here for a year or so..

    ReplyDelete

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