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Learning French: how native speakers really talk to each other
Nick Inman explores the intriguing divide between formal and informal French, and how mastering both can enhance your cultural fluency
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Learning French: can you pronounce these 12 challenging words?
From squirrel to kettle, these are words you might use on a daily basis
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Learning French: tohu-bohu and more ways of expressing chaos
You might hear these terms being used to describe France’s ongoing political turmoil
Convivere, coureurs à vélo: New French words for our modern society
Times change and that requires language to evolve too. We look at some recent additions to the French vocabulary.

Whatever your political proclivity, a major feature of this year’s French Presidential election is candidates’ ecological credentials - and with their policy proposals come associated words and phrases.
Given that ‘green’ thinking has evolved hugely – at least, it has since those of us of a certain vintage learned French at school – plus the fact that newly invented jargon and (often meaningless) slogans accompany manifestos, for many of us there is plenty of catching up to do, just to be ‘in the debate’.
Le Figaro once ran a rather sniffy round-up of some of the (albeit dafter) re-imagined expressions being employed.
In Paris and Toulouse, it said, urban “micro-forêts” (micro-forests) are being planted at the foot of buildings, while in Lyon (with a green mayor), they call a park “un espace végétalisé” (a vegetated space); a pavement is “un grand corridor” (a large corridor); and humble cyclistes (cyclists) are now “coureurs à vélo” (bicycle riders).
Inclusivity and the notion of collective living are key tenets: today, to be ecological is not merely about recycling and climate change awareness – it is also to strive to “faire société”, “faire sens”, and “faire lien” (make society, make sense, make a link).
“Convivialisme” (convivialism) encourages “convivere” (living-together) while, Le Figaro reports, we are asked to rethink how we see our fellow man/woman: we no longer live among “citoyens” (citizens) but rather “co-citoyens” (co-citizens) in order to “co-construire” (co-build) a world where every child will be “co-éduqué” (co-educated) by society as a whole.
Related stories:
Tu habites sur Paris? How to use French preposition ‘sur’ correctly
Origin of ‘le doigt d’honneur’, France’s middle finger gesture
Bouillon, soupçon: Two French culinary terms with other meanings