Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lower Intermediate S2 #4
Writing a French Letter To Your Pen
Pal
CONTENTS
2 French
2 English
3 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
5 Grammar
14 Cultural Insight
# 4
COPYRIGHT © 2013 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
FRENCH
ENGLISH
2. Thank you for your letter from last month. You were describing to me the melting pot in
New York and asking me how France was.
4. There had been a lot of immigration after the war--Portuguese, Italian and Spanish.
5. Moreover, France used to have several colonies, such as in North Africa and Asia; that's
why we have a lot of Vietnamese people and Maghrebis.
6. France still has overseas territories all over the world, even nowadays.
7. It's true to say that it's a multicultural country! I hope that you'll come to discover that
soon.
CONT'D OVER
VOCABULARY
Maghrebis, north
maghrébin African adjective NA
district, department
département (company) noun masculine
SAMPLE SENTENCES
Les t er r it oir es d’out r e-mer fr ançais Non, le chômage n'a r ien à voir avec
n’exist ent plus et sont devenus des l'immigr at ion.
collect ivit és.
"No, unemployment has nothing to
"French overseas territories don't do with immigration."
exist anymore and became
overseas collectives."
Pendant la pér iode d’apr ès-guer r e, Les four mis vivent en colonie.
Char les de Gaulle ét ait le chef du
gouver nement fr ançais.
"Ants live in colonies."
J e t r availle beaucoup, c’est pour quoi Les dépar t ement s sont des divisions
jesuis t oujour s fat igué. administ r at ives et t er r it or iales de la
Fr ance.
"I'm working a lot, that's why I'm
always tired." "Departments are territorial and
administrative divisions of France."
Immigration
Immigration is an important word to know if you're interested in French politics. France has
been a multicultural country for centuries since it's at an important crossing in Europe,
mixing Arabic, Latin, and Northern cultures. This word is made up of two words: in plus
migration. The one who immigrates is called immigré. The opposite is émigration
("emigration"), and those people are called émigrés ("emigrate"). Immigration tends to be a
bit pejorative, so be careful using this word.
Après-guerre
As a noun:
As an adjective:
1. Il est né après-guerre.
"He was born during the post-war years."
Maghrébin
This is a politically correct way to describe Arab people in French. It's from the word Maghreb,
which is the North African area. Arabe ("Arab") is really pejorative and considered racist, so
it's better to use maghrébin. The feminine form is maghrébine.
GRAMMAR
T he focus of t his lesson is adject ives and nouns r elat ed t o count r ies.
Il y a eu beaucoup d'immigration après-guerre, portugaise, italienne et espagnole.
"T her e had been a lot of immigr at ion aft er t he war --Por t uguese, It alian and
Spanish."
Here is an extensive list of countries and regions of the world in French. Following the name
of each country or region is the French adjective describing the people or culture of that
country.
Regions of t he Wor ld
Amérique - Américains
Antilles - Antillais
Caraïbes - Caribéens
Extrême-Orient - Orientaux
Europe - Européens
Scandinavie - Scandinaves
Laponie - Lapons
Afrique - Africains
Océanie - Océaniens
Count r ies
Belgique - Belge
Biélorussie - Biélorusse
Bulgarie - Bulgare
Croatie - Croate
Guatemala - Guatémaltèque
Haute-Volta - Voltaïque
Kirghizstan - Kirghize
Lesotho - Sotho
Madagascar - Malgache
Malawi - Malawite
Monaco - Monégasque
Russie - Russe
Serbie - Serbe
Slovénie - Slovène
Turkménistan - Turkmène
Yémen - Yéménite
CULTURAL INSIGHT
Using slang to talk about nationalities is really pejorative and insulting. It's hardly even used
amongst friends in France, but you can find these words in novels, some satirical
newspapers, movies, or TV shows.
Here are some common words and the nationalities they refer to:
Amerloque: American
Ricain: American
Boche: German
Chleu: German
Rital: Italian
Portos: Portuguese
Polak: Polish
Rosbif: English
Russkoff: Russian
Espingouins: Spanish
Other common examples of the use of these words can be found in famous movies such as
"Taxi" (chleu, boche), Les Visiteurs (romanos), or old movies like Les Tontons Flingueurs.