April Fools Day in France
Posted by Adam on 1st Apr 2016 in the blog in the french culture category
Poisson d'Avril
Did you know that April fools day is called "poisson d'Avril" in France? The literal translation is: "fish of April".
What's the tradition?
It is traditional to cut a fish shape out of a piece of paper and stick it on someone's back without them seeing it. Rumours say that the tradition was born in the sixteenth century following the change of the new calendar year when Kings Charles IV of France changed the start of the year from the end of March to the first of January. At that time, people who failed to keep up with this change and so still celebrated New Year at the end of March and beginning of April had jokes played on them.
Check out some of our other blog posts!
La Chandeleur
Posted on by Adam in the video, audio categoryToday is French pancake day! We call it La Chandeleur or sometimes La Fête de la Lumière.
Read moreHOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRONUNCIATION WHEN LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE
Posted on by Nancy in the categoryLearning a new language is wonderful, exciting and everything in between, but it can also be scary sometimes! Especially having to speak when you are unsure of the pronunciation…Take French for example, all those pesky “R” and silent letters, why oh why do they have to be there if it is not to be pronounced?
Read moreHave fun learning French Today
People from all over the world enjoy learning French with Alexa Polidoro’s popular French audio and video lessons.