How French cinema can help improve your language skills
Tuesday, 18th May 2010
One of Cactus' London-based French teachers, Irina, explains how watching French films can be educational as well as enjoyable.
Most people outside of France associate French cinema with romantic relationships, an elegant lifestyle and gorgeous landscapes. Besides providing us with visual enjoyment and spectacular scenes though, it is actually also an important tool in language learning process. It helps students practise their listening skills, get closer to everyday language, enrich vocabulary and get to know cultural references better in an easy-going, relaxed and enjoyable way.
Those of us interested in France are definitely familiar with the elegant and charming beauty of the young actress Audrey Tautou. She is truly an ambassador of French culture abroad making French style accessible to everyone. We all remember her playing in the mysterious thriller Da Vinci Code set in Paris, somewhat surreal and profoundly romantic Amelie (Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain), the glamourous French Riviera/Cote d’Azur love story of Priceless (Hors de prix).
Coco Before Chanel (Coco avant Channel) follows the rise to fame of one of the brightest stars of French fashion known all over the world, Coco Chanel. Audrey Tautou will teach you how to add a rebellious touch to your already advanced French introducing you to new idioms, synonyms, quotations (“Un jour ils se batteront pour dîner à notre table!”) . You will learn more about social conventions in France during the Belle Epoque, as well as the dramatic relationship between France and England. No other learning tool will be more useful than cinema as for familiarising with the visual side of French culture such as architecture, furniture, movements of fashion, fancy haircuts, dancing. Social accents and niche vocabulary can be learned through certain scenes related to horse riding, cabaret or fashion boutique life. It will help you observe the specific features of non-verbal communication like specifically French mimic and gestures and therefore understand the French better. As you can see, cinema means work and entertainment at the same time!
Then, listen.The visual backround will make it clear what the scene is about. As films are usually based on dialogues, you have easy access to samples of every day colloquial speech in French. Enjoy. This entertaining exercise is likely to help you improve your phonetics at the same time. Engrossed in the plot development, you will have no other option but follow the characters’ conversation and understand the intrigue. Additional benefit can be gained from songs that are easy to learn by heart since the DVD player allows you to listen to them as many times as you need. You’ll also gain an insight into French humour - somewhat different from the understatement-based humour in English. They say your language skills are advanced enough if you understand jokes and irony in the target language. Test yours!
Coco Avant Chanel is a quintessentially French film à costumes depicting humble beginnings of an outstanding, rebellious woman ahead of her time. It is an invitation au voyage to a certain moment of French history and a gold mine for those keen on discovery. Everything’s à la portee de tous, just click the play button and away you go!
Cactus offers part-time French courses around the UK and the US and and intensive French courses in France, Guadeloupe and Canada. Tailor-made training options are also available - submit an enquiry online to find out more.
Tags: language learning, history, language, cactus, france, learning, culture, french
Posted by Laura Lippert 2010-05 under Movies,
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