The internet is filled with whack ways of learning a language. In my quest to build me a French vocabulary, I\’ve gone all out- from human meetups to intense conversations with the furniture in my house, to having a heart to heart with my French cat. They\’ve all heard me patiently. And have been rather polite about my progress. But the best way I learnt, to my utter bamboozlement, was by making random, graphic stories in my head. Yes, it is time consuming and sometimes quite annoying. But it works! All. The. Time.
I\’ve stumbled upon some really insane words and then again I\’ve gone Sherlocking Holmes for many mad ones. I\’ve made lists and flash cards and it\’s been an utterly fun way of memorizing. However, introducing it on my blog in this way happened entirely by chance – thanks to this wonderfully entertaining blogger –Ishita of Italophilia– look her up here for a dose of dreamy Italy and Italian words!
Back to the French Challenge:
For my first challenge I got my darling husband to pick some words for me. I made an outrageous little text – in Frenglish-in less than 15 minutes. and finally, got pictures that would help me associate the words.
This I realized helped me learn French faster, and crack up at the same time. Here are the French-words in the list:
- borgne
- chuchoter
- coccinelle
- flâner
- hurluberlu
- ronronner
- saperlipopette
- yaourter
1…2…3 wooosh
Oh wonderful Paris- to know you better, I flâner down your lovely streets and yaourter songs that praise your beauty,
I witness the ronronner of a happy cat, and hear the chuchoter of lovers, as I sit by the Seine – flowing in all its gaiety
\”Saperlipopette\”.. I say as I slap my head..
Is that a borgne coccinelle buzzing away? Or is that me going completely Hurluberlu?
That, my friends only time can tell you.
Lol! I hope you don\’t think I\’m crazy. I\’m only trying to have a little lexi-corny-fun and rhyme it while I can. SOO! Can you guess what those French words mean?
- FLÂNER: (pronunciation: Flaa-ney)
A crude way of putting it would be to \”loiter around\” and pretty much go where the wind drifts you. What better way to see Paris than to wander along aimlessly. Let your heart show you the way and your feet follow it\’s beat.
- YAOURTER: (pronunciation:YAOU-tey)
Yaourt is yogurt. So Yaourter, the verb form, is literally \”to yogurt\”. It basically means to mumble and jumble and make up words as you speak or sing in a foreign language. Here\’s a DIY Experiment: Try speaking with a mouthful of yogurt, would you understand what you are saying? how do you think your listener would react? LOL, I thought as much. This is exactly how the French look at you when you speak in their language with your (native) accent!
- RONRONNER: (pronunciation: hRÕRO-ney)
Equivalent of purring. If you said it like the French, you\’ll hear yourself purr. But even the French can\’t do it as well as the felines of the world.Ooh the cuddly little love machines.
- CHUCHOTER (pronunciation: shu-SHO-tey)
Doesn\’t it sound like \”shh shhh\”. You guessed it.. this word means to whisper.
- SAPERLIPOPETTE: (pronunciation: sa-per-lee-POH-pett)
This is the name of a restaurant close to where I live. I love the way it sounds.. sounds almost like a magic spell, no?. All you need is a wand and …Saperlipopette… Oh my god! Yup, that is what it means- OH.MY.GOD! or as the Aussies would say \”Oh crikey\”. Minions are my favourite prompts!
- BORGNE: (pronunciation: BORN-ye)
This word confuses the living lights out of me. Except when I think of Stuart – the one eyed minion. Why, you ask? Because Borgne means \”having one eye\”. Why the need for this word?? Ummmmmm, some things are better left unanswered. Especially when one doesn\’t have the answer.
- COCCINELLE: (pronunciation: kok-SEE-nell)
Such a pretty, Frenchie-French word. Coccinelle is a ladybug. And guess what, the car \’Volkswagen Beetle\’ was actually called \’Volkswagen Coccinelle\’ in France! So zzzweet.
- HURLUBERLU: (pronunciation: uhrlu-behr-lu)
Don\’t ask any more why\’s, please. This word truly exists and means anything from a scatterbrain, to flibbertigibbet to a downright weird crackpot.
And if you can\’t remember a way to remember this word, just think of this evil minion\’s whacked head. Easy peasy.
Your turn now to tell me about the mad French words you\’ve come across or better still write me a Frenglish poem 😉
xox