The vocabulary of love The vocabulary of love A mouth full of words of love!
February 14th? Valentine's Day, of course, the Lovers' Day. But a little bird told us that we're not in love only one day per year. Though the language of love is universal, it's essential to learn its (French) language!
"LOVE, LOVE, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH"...
… sings Catherine Deneuve in Jacques Demy's "Donkey Skin".French speakers may all have the same feeling "at heart": "amour" (love) is the favourite word of a majority of them. Could they mistake the "say" for the "do"? Not really, says Pr. Bernard Cerquiglini in its show on TV5 Monde.
In "amour", it's the phonetic the professor is interested in. He seems to have fallen in love with French language. But why do we say "fall" in this expression? "To be in love is easy. Falling in love, that is serious. The destiny of a man almost always breaks its neck in this fall", said Victor Hugo. To understand this subtlety of French language, watch the passionate explanations from Pr.Bernard Cerquiglini.
LOVE ON STAGE: YOU PLAY IT!
In love matters, do you prefer a light-headed banter or a tragedy from Racine in three acts? It's time to jump on the stage: the workshop "Question d’amour" deals with love in the theatre through exercises, memos, gamesand challenges. It's a funny way to improve theatre culture and the vocabulary of love. Who knows? A Don Juanor a Phèdre may live in you.
WHEN LITERATURE TRIFLES WITH LOVE
To improve your "Sentimental education", engage in "Dangerous liaisons". Beware: if you think you're the "Princess of Cleves", you might well end up drowning in " Alcohols". The digital library of the TV5 MondeWebsite allows you to access the masterpieces of French literature. Flaubert, Choderlos de Laclos, Madame de Lafayette, Apollinaire, etc., try the works of major French authors who managed to raise the words at the same heights as the love feeling!