Abstract

FREE event

Join us with Thora Van Male to discover her new book “French Idioms… and their English equivalents”

Thora van Male is a native English speaker (Canada) who has adopted France and the French language. Like all language learners, she is sensitive to what seem to be the “quirks” of her second language. In her latest book, Quand les cochons sauront voler … les poules auront des dents: Les expressions françaises and their English equivalents, she presents some 200 French idiomatic expressions with their equivalents in English, explaining and commenting both. In the talk at the Alliance française, she will present a brief “making of” the book, pointing out not only the challenge of finding illustrations for each English/French pair, but more importantly on the diverging ways English and French put their thoughts into images. How is it that the English “forever and a day” is 107 ans in French? What are tenterhooks, and how do they connect to red-hot coals (charbons ardents). How does a Frenchman get a cat in his throat (un chat dans la gorge) when a Briton has a frog?

Booking required at info.alliance.cam@gmail.com

http://alliance-cam.co.uk/talk-in-english-by-thora-van-male-the-author-of-french-idioms-and-their-english-equivalents/