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Writer's pictureVirginie Paradis

Is July 14th really Bastille Day? Maybe not!

Today is July 14th : our French National Day! Happy Bastille Day everyone!

Ten days ago, the US was celebrating the 4th of July, and on the 4th of July, Americans know what they’re celebrating. But what about the French? Do we know? Of course we do!?

Mmm en fait non, on ne sait pas. Pas exactement. Vraiment?!!? Mais non Virginie, tu es folle! Tout le monde sait bien que le 14 juillet on célèbre la prise de la Bastille = the storming of the Bastille!

Peut-être. Peut-être pas. The truth is, personne ne sait vraiment!

That’s because during the French Revolution, the now worldly famous July 14th was celebrated twice, deux années différentes, pour deux raisons différentes :

1- D’abord en 1789 : la prise de la Bastille

La Bastille was a State Prison, which in people’s eyes, represented the tyranny of the monarchy because being sent there was completely arbitrary and did not require any kind of proof or trial. Also, no one knew what went on inside and so it left room for people’s worst fantasies. Funny anecdote : when les parisiens took la Bastille to free the prisoners, they only found 7 people inside this énorme bâtiment!

Ensuite en 1790 : la Fête de la Fédération

Un an plus tard, this day saw the celebration of the short lived Constitutional Monarchy.

This could have been the end of the Revolution as everyone seemed happy with the new prospect of a more liberal and enlightened monarchy. But as we all know the Revolution did not stop then and everything went from bad to worse for the Royal Family and the rest of the country…

So? July 14th? Bastille in 1789 or Fédération in 1790? 

It’s only a century later, in 1880 at the beginning of the French third republic, que le 14 juillet est devenu France’s National Day. At the time, nobody wanted to say whether they thought more highly of the Revolution or of the Constitutional Monarchy. Political regimes had radically changed so often during the 19th century (in chronological order : république, consulat, empire, restauration, empire, monarchie absolue, monarchie constitutionnelle, république, empire, république… rather messy, n’est-ce pas?) that it wasn’t safe to be too opinionated! The Law is therefore purposely remaining vague :

“La République adopte la date du 14 juillet comme jour de la fête nationale annuelle”

Et c’est tout! Alors, 1789 ou 1790? Les valeurs de la république ou les valeurs de la monarchie constitutionnelle? On ne sait pas et on ne saura jamais… le mystère demeure.

Le 14 juillet à Chartres

Je vivrai ce soir mon premier 14 juillet à Chartres, j’espère pouvoir prendre de belles photos à partager avec vous!

L’annonce radicale du Président Macron about the vaccine!


Watch the above video en français avec les sous titres en français so you can easily follow Macron’s speech about the vaccine becoming obligatoire starting this month. On July 12th, the day of this announcement (only 2 days ago) twenty thousand French people booked their first dose… every minute! Twenty thousand people per minute, can you imagine?! Efficace.

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Learn French online with Virginie

Join French Truly’s online immersion course and online school, either by buying the French online course(s) of your choice or by becoming a monthly member. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page.

Each French online course is packed with video & audio files along with written material, to make it as fun, easy, and user friendly as possible for you! Come and learn French online with me!

French online immersion course

Come to France again!

Intermediate level students

2021 September 20 – 26 : SOLD OUT 2022 April 04 – 10 : SOLD OUT 2022 April 20 – 26 : 2 SPOTS LEFT

Beginner level students

If you’re unsure which level you are, contact me to schedule a free Skype call

Benefits

  1. Improve your French conversational skills in a completely safe & friendly environment with me and my amazing French guests who I am selecting because they represent true Chartres landmarks : art historians, chefs, entrepreneurs, artisans, pâtissiers, etc. all passionate experts in their own fields.

  2. Practice speaking & listening to French while learning about the French culture. This will ensure a rich discussion as well as expand your French vocabulary.

  3. Learn French grammar & conjugation in a natural way thanks to a practical context.

  4. Relax knowing that I’m here to manage our time together and make sure everyone gets a fair opportunity to participate.

  5. Discover Chartres, my new gorgeous city, with me! I very recently moved to this little piece of heaven and I am beyond excited to explore and share all I can with you!

  6. Bask in French traditions & history in medieval Chartres, an endless source of fascinating stories.So, if you’re feeling a strong “OUI” for this, just click on the appropriate sign up button right below!


French online book clubs

In progress but join the WAITING LIST for the next two clubs (one for beginner and one for intermediate level students) coming up soon!

Benefits

  1. Improve your French comprehension skills in a completely safe & friendly environment avec moi.

  2. Practice reading, speaking, and listening to French while bursting out laughing at every page. This will ensure a rich discussion as well as expand your French vocabulary and sentence structure.

  3. Learn French grammar & conjugation in a natural way thanks to a practical context.

  4. Relax knowing that I’m here to manage our time together and make sure everyone gets a fair opportunity to participate.


In this course, you will find 15 videos (+ 10 bonus ones) to help & accompany you every step of the way through the course + for each word, each sentence, each expression, each conjugated verb, I have created an audio file of my voice, slow and slightly faster speed. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

Did you know…

You can converse (speak + understand) in French with only 600 WORDS?

The average French person only uses between 300 & 3,000 WORDS?

This means that if you can master a relatively short list of words, you’ll be able to express yourself like the average French person! Plus you’re much more likely to understand the French when they talk back to you!

This course will teach you…

1- How to speak French

2- How to pronounce French

3- How to make French sentences

4- How to conjugate all the most common French verbs

5- How to polish your results

6- How to self evaluate your French

More info HERE

  1. It should take you about 30 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 10 lessons

  2. This course is designed for a beginner / intermediate level. If you are intermediate but feel like you could really reinforce your foundations, you will love it.

  3. You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page


In this course you will find 11 videos + 150 audio files + 92 pages PDF format to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. In some parts of the videos, my face will appear close up and profile so you can easily see how I make these sounds with my mouth. The 150 audio files are composed of the 100 most popular French words and the 50 most common French phrases. They are recordings of my voice, speaking slowly enough so you can easily grasp every syllable. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

NB: if you are the proud owner of my previous French online course 600 WORDS, don’t worry, this is not a repeat as we are now exploring 1 letter words and up, whereas in 600 WORDS we began at 4 letter words and up.

Combine knowledge with confidence…

For you to be able to have a pleasant and efficient conversation with a French person, one thing is key… can you guess what it is? Confidence! How well do you think you will communicate in French if you don’t feel confident about your accent? If you are scared that people won’t understand you? Or even worse if you think someone might make fun of you? Without a minimum of confidence there is no room for communication. Yet if you feel confident, you can afford to make a few mistakes here and there because people will still understand you. What prevents a conversation from happening isn’t just a lack of knowledge, it’s also a lack of confidence. You need to have both to make it work, not to mention, to make it fun!

This course will teach you…

1- How to pronounce every letter of the alphabet

2- How to pronounce every digraph & trigraph

3- How to make every French sentence flow

4- How to pronounce the 100 most popular French words

5- How to pronounce the 50 most popular French phrases

6- How to avoid the pronunciation mistakes everyone makes

More info HERE

  1. It should take you about 20 to 2 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 11 lessons

  2. This course is designed for a beginner level. If you are intermediate but lack confidence when it comes to talking and feel like you could really benefit from focusing on pronunciation, you will love it.

  3. You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership below 

In the FRENCH DICTÉES online course you will find 20 videos + 10 audio files to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. Why 20 videos? Because there are 10 dictées in total, each focusing on one particular topic, and for each dictée I have prepared 2 videos. Let’s say the video focuses on both French past tenses called imparfait & passé composé. The first video will go though the grammar, the conjugation, and all the tips on these two past tenses to help you understand and remember how and when to use them. The second video will be the actual dictée, a short story written by me, describing everyday life situations conveniently packed with imparfait and passé composé verbs! Boom! Efficient! The dictée will also be read by me, slowly first and then a little faster, with a close up on my face so you can more easily recognize the words and copy the shapes I make to improve your own pronunciation.

Become a French language expert

How do you become an expert at anything? By focusing on one thing at a time.

I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic per dictée, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.

Here’s what you’re going to learn

What grammar & conjugation points will each dictée focus on?

Dictée # 1: Present tense

Dictée # 2: Past tenses – imparfait & passé composé

Dictée # 3: Future tenses – futur proche & futur simple

Dictée # 4: Conditional, imparfait, asking questions

Dictée # 5: Imperative form

Dictée # 6: First group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 7: Second group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 8: Third group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 9: Numbers

Dictée # 10: Prepositions

Each dictée is a short story written by me about practical everyday life situations. This means that not only do you get to work on conjugation & grammar drills, but you also improve your conversational skills at the same time: a magic combination for your next trip to France!

Grow your confidence talking about practical everyday topics

The dictées will refer to common topics that you are very likely to hear or very likely to use to express yourself such as:

-Traveling to France

-Socializing

-Childhood memories

-Family dynamics

-Everyday life routines

-How to express your ideas, opinions, and dreams

Two videos per dictée

First video: key grammar and conjugation reminders explained very clearly so you feel prepared and confident entering each dictée.

Second video: the actual dictée. I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.

And for you challenge lovers over-achievers?

Yes I have prepared something just for you! I have also made 10 audio files, 1 per dictée, so that if you wish to, if you want it extra difficult, if you want to test yourself more deeply, you can solely rely on sound. Indeed there are many occasions in life where we hear a language but we don’t see it: speaking to someone on the phone or listening to the radio for instance.

20 videos? 10 audio files? What else?

This new FRENCH DICTÉES online course also comes with written files with both the French text along with the English translation, so that you can evaluate yourself when you’re done taking notes.

To summarize, you’ll be able to use video, audio, and written material.

Dictées worked for me, they’ll work for you!

Let me tell you, I LOVE dictées because THEY WORK. And clearly you realize this too and that is smart of you. So now let’s see how something as simple as a dictée can truly help you become a little bit French! Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

Become a monthly member!

My goal is to transform your French language learning experience. This is why I’ve decided to offer you a new way to learn French online and gain access to the French Truly Online School! Actually, more than 1 new way, you’ll have 3 plans to choose from so come and learn French online with me!

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