Paris designerly souvenirs

I look at a lot of blogs and I have seen many many cool/cute/whimsical/charming/nice things but two of the coolest things I've seen recently (relating to Paris) are:



Knitted Eiffel Tower (from Alpaca wool no less!) from Oeuf NYC




Paris papercut map by Famille Summerbelle

I want them both so badly :D

Bilingual English-French pop songs

Over the past few weeks I've been listening to a lot of French pop songs. Some of my favourites are the bi-lingual ones though, such as:

Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds (an oldie but a goodie!)



The mother tongue Youssou is singing in is Wolof. It's the language spoken in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania.

Yousou N'Dour singing in his mother tongue:

Boul ma sene, boul ma guiss madi re nga fokni mane
Khamouma li neka thi sama souf ak thi guinaw
Beugouma kouma khol oaldine yaw li neka si yaw
mo ne si man, li ne si mane moye dilene diapale

Neneh Cherry taking over here:

Roughneck and rudeness,
We should be using, on the ones who practice wicked charms
For the sword and the stone
Bad to the bone
Battle is not over
Even when it's won
And when a child is born into this world
It has no concept
Of the tone the skin is living in
It's not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting
It's not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting X3

Youssou N'Dour again, singing in French (translated in english)

-j'assume les raisons qui nous poussent de changer tout,
I assume the reasons that lead us to change everything,

-J'aimerais qu'on oublie leur couleur pour qu'ils esperent
I wish we could forget their color so they can hope

-Beaucoup de sentiments de races qui font qu'ils desesperent
lots of feelings for races which make them lose hope (despair)

-Je veux les deux mains ouvertes,
I want the two hands opened,

-Des amis pour parler de leur peine, de leur joie
(and) friends to talk about their life penalty, about their joy


-Pour qu'ils leur filent des infos qui ne divisent pas
so they can give'em infos that do not divide(scatter)

-Changer
change

Neneh Cherry as lead vocals henceforth;

7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting
It's not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting X3
And when a child is born into this world
It has no concept
Of the tone the skin is living in
And there's a million voices
And there's a million voices
To tell you what she should be thinking
So you better sober up for just a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting
It's not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting
It's not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I'll be waiting

---

IMA (French Canadian female singer) - aUm



I've got something to tell you
About my heart
That you hold... aUm

Quelque chose d'invisible
Vibre en moi
C'est pour toi
Le ressens-tu... aUm

Le décrire, impossible
Mais c'est là
Fort en moi
Est-ce que tu trouveras... aUm...

Je m'y retrouve
Mais ne t'y vois pas

You know what I want to say
After this love
After the rain
Au-delà des vents...

Rien n'est plus haut
Et rien n'est plus beau
Qu'au-delà de l'âme

Bien à l'abri
Très près de moi
Trop loin pour toi
Oh, ressens-tu la lumière...

What do you think about me?
What do you think about me?

Cette chose invisible
Qui est là
Tout en moi
Mais que tu n'vois pas... aUm

Won't walk out
I want to stay

Pour l'amour céleste
Est-ce que tu restes?

After this love
After the rain
Au-delà des vents...

Rien n'est plus haut
Et rien n'est plus beau
Qu'au-delà de l'âme

Bien à l'abri
Tout près de moi
Trop loin pour toi

After this love
After this crying
Au-delà des vents

Rien n'est plus haut
Rien n'est plus beau
Viens me rejoindre
Au-delà de l'amour
J'y suis déjà
Viens avec moi

I've got something to tell you about LOVE
Oh, je t'en prie, viens me rejoindre... aUm... aUm...

---

Jesse McCartney - De toi à moi (From you to me)



I shouldn't love you
but I want to,
I just can turn away
I shouldn't see you
but I can't move
can't look away

And I don't know
How to be fine, when I'm not
Cause I don't know
How to make this feeling stop

CHORUS
De toi à moi
Il y a des choses qui n's'expliquent pas
Tant elles se confondent
Tant elles sont profondes, légères à la fois
De toi à moi
Il y a je crois des mots qui n'osent pas
Des mots qui n'osent plus
Et si nos amours déçus semblaient savoir
De toi à moi

It's getting hard to, be around you
There's so much I can't say
and do you want me to have feelings
and look the other way

And I don't know
how to be fine, when I'm not
Cause I don't know
How to make this feeling stop

CHORUS
De toi à moi
Il y a des choses qui n's'expliquent pas
Tant elles se confondent
Tant elles sont profondes, légères à la fois
De toi à moi
Il y a je crois des mots qui n'osent pas
Des mots qui n'osent plus
Et si nos amours déçus semblaient savoir
De toi à moi

This emptiness is killing me
and I'm wondering why I waited so long
Looking back I relized,
it was always there to stand spoken
and I'm waiting here
been waiting here

mmmm.....

CHORUS
De toi à moi
Il y a des choses qui n's'expliquent pas
Tant elles se confondent
Tant elles sont profondes, légères à la fois
De toi à moi
Il y a je crois des mots qui n'osent pas
Des mots qui n'osent plus
Et si nos amours déçus semblaient savoir
De toi à moi

---

Moby & Mylène Farmer - Slipping Away (Crier La Vie)



All that we needed, was right
All that we needed was right
Les ombres ce soir nous menacent

Open to everything happy and sad
Seeing the good, meme si tout va si mal
Femmes au soleil quand la nuit nous accable
Oh, pour un jour croire aux dieux croire aux fables

Focus on everything better today
Crier la vie quand tout autour se tais
Hold on to people they're slipping away
Hold on to this while it's slipping away

All that we needed tonight
Are people who love us and life
Je sais les douleurs et les doutes
Oh, partir et ce qu'on redoute
Oh siiiii

Open to everything happy and sad
Seeing the good, meme si tout va si mal
Femmes au soleil quand la nuit nous accable
Oh, pour un jour croire au dieux croire aux fables

Focus on everything better today
Crier la vie quand tout autour se tai
Hold on to people they're slipping away
Hold on to this while it's slipping away

So long
Mais l'ombre

Open to everything happy and sad
Seeing the good, meme si tout va si mal
Femmes au soleil quand la nuit nous accable
Oh, pour un jour croire au dieu croire aux fables

Focus on everything better today
Crier la vie quand tout autour se tai
Hold on to people they're slipping away
Hold on to this while it's slipping away

9 weeks of learning French

Where has the time gone?

It's been just over 2 months since I started learning French. I haven't done a lot this past week because I've been so busy in my personal, work and social life!

So far I have:

• Done up to the end of Pimsleur French - Level II Lesson 17 (of 90 lessons)


• Done up to the end of Coffee Break French - Lesson 21 (of 64 lessons)


• Done up to the end of Assimil - Lesson 22 (of 113 lessons)


• Done up to the end of French in Action - Lesson 7 (of 52 lessons)

English, French or German at Burger King?

Just saw this on frenchforawhile.blogspot.com. The father is trying to order at Burger King in Germany but only knows English and French, not German!! Pretty funny...