To our circle of French Story Listeners,
What a lovely third gathering of Le Cercle de Bruno on Monday!
We dove into chapter 2, right at the moment Bruno and Mia see each other again after weeks apart.
And Barry, once again, slipped in some wonderfully colorful French idioms for us to unpack together.
🎥 Session 3 replay is now available
Catch it here: https://www.aliceayel.com/resources/book-club-le-cercle-de-bruno-session-3/
A couple of fun expressions from this chapter
“Parler français comme une vache espagnole”, literally, “to speak French like a Spanish cow”, means to speak a language very badly.
Most linguists believe “vache” (cow) is actually a corruption of “basque“, as in, from the Basque Country.
Basque speakers, straddling the French-Spanish border, had such a distinctive accent in French that people began mocking it as “vache espagnole” over time, the words simply drifted and stuck.
So it likely has nothing to do with cows at all, just a funny linguistic accident that became part of everyday French!
“Chanter comme une casserole”, literally, “to sing like a saucepan”, means to sing badly, off-key.
This one’s a bit more straightforward: imagine the clattering, discordant clang of pots and pans banging against each other.
That’s the sound this expression evokes. No melody, just noise!
It’s a wonderfully visual way to describe a rough singing voice, and it’s exactly how Bruno describes himself in this chapter.
Missed the session, or want to revisit any of our replays?
All of our Cercle de Bruno sessions are available anytime.
You can find them by going to Watch > Infant Watch at the top of the page, or simply type “cercle de bruno” into the search box in the top right-hand corner.
📅 Save the date: next session Friday, October 2nd
🕓 4pm UK / 5pm France / 11am EDT / 8am PDT
Zoom details to follow soon — mark your calendars!
With warmth,
Alice & Ben 💕
P.S. A gentle reminder about our weekend in Pau this November — a rare chance to have an authentic, unique French experience with me, in real life, not just on screen. Only 4 spots are available. 👉 https://www.aliceayel.com/live-a-weekend-entirely-in-french/