What The French?

OK, so I haven't posted here during the last couple of months in Paris, but hey, there's always my instagram feed (see ) for Paris street photography. I hear it's a hidden gem (from that voice of positivity put in my head by a ruthlessly optimistic mother). And Andrew (who is less blatantly self-promotional) has an amazing feed (more gem, far less hidden) of his daily web comics that you should definitely follow.

New breed of tourist spotted at Louvre: the selfiecorn.

You can expect more frequent posts from Paris this May and June. Also, beginning this summer...a short but sweet series of $1 books.

17 Baby Names That Have Been Forbidden In France Nutella and Mini Cooper are just a couple of the names French courts have rejected.

Here's a thought: if you can't spell "Merci" you don't get to do graffiti.

Writing a French paper? Don't use these words:
1. gens (instead, specify who, exactly you mean)
2. chose (what "thing"? does it have a name?)
3. il y a (no....how about using an active verb instead?)
4. ça (use cela for anything even marginally formal)
boom! your paper is instantly better. (and yes, I really did make that vertiginous circle on a student's paper with a giant Nooooooo heading toward "gens:)

Does anyone want to show us some love and review What The French?! on the iTunes/iBook store? Pretty please. Somebody rated us 3 stars because they didn't know how to turn on scrolling view. Don't make us release the mimes.

Here's how to view our book in portrait view (thanks a lot Apple for making this counterintuitive): when viewing a page click the A and enable scrolling view.

Whether you're a beginner or an advanced learner of French (and maybe even if you're a teacher!) you might have wondered just what the rules of *la liaison* are, but were either too afraid to ask, or did ask and got an incomprehensible answer.

This post explains the ins and outs of why a 'z' gets pronounced between *les* and *amies* or *ces* and *hommes*, but not between *des* and *haricots*, and much, much more. Give it a read now! Save it for use right before your next oral quiz! Passive-aggressively send it to someone who's doing it wrong! Get on the highway to the liaison zone.

http://whatthefrench.com/highway-to-the-liaison-zone/

Highway to the Liaison Zone | What The French?! “I would really like to understand when to use liaisons and when not to. When is it obligatory, when is it optional, and when is it forbidden?”

oh the irony! our "what's new in this version" update description about fixing typos has typos. We totally meant that. Yeah, that's right, it was on purpose.

You know that "portrait mode" problem? It turns out it's just a setting in iBooks. When you have the book open on a page, tap once and look for the "Aa" in the bar at the top. Tap on "Aa" and enable "scrolling view."