The Story of French

2008-01-08 Language Arts & Disciplines

Author : Jean-Benoît Nadeau
Release : 2008-01-08
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 406/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Story of French by : Jean-Benoît Nadeau

Download or read book The Story of French written by Jean-Benoît Nadeau. This book was released on 2008-01-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why does everything sound better if it's said in French? That fascination is at the heart of The Story of French, the first history of one of the most beautiful languages in the world that was, at one time, the pre-eminent language of literature, science and diplomacy. In a captivating narrative that spans the ages, from Charlemagne to Cirque du Soleil, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of a language that has maintained its global influence despite the rise of English. As in any good story, The Story of French has spectacular failures, unexpected successes and bears traces of some of history's greatest figures: the tenacity of William the Conqueror, the staunchness of Cardinal Richelieu, and the endurance of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Through this colorful history, Nadeau and Barlow illustrate how French acquired its own peculiar culture, revealing how the culture of the language spread among francophones the world over and yet remains curiously centered in Paris. In fact, French is not only thriving—it still has a surprisingly strong influence on other languages. As lively as it is fascinating, The Story of French challenges long held assumptions about French and shows why it is still the world's other global language.

The Story of French

2006 Foreign Language Study

Author : Jean-Benoit Nadeau
Release : 2006
Genre : Foreign Language Study
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 848/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Story of French by : Jean-Benoit Nadeau

Download or read book The Story of French written by Jean-Benoit Nadeau. This book was released on 2006. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the French language.

The Story of French

2010-05-28 Language Arts & Disciplines

Author : Jean-Benoit Nadeau
Release : 2010-05-28
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 496/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Story of French by : Jean-Benoit Nadeau

Download or read book The Story of French written by Jean-Benoit Nadeau. This book was released on 2010-05-28. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating exploration of the historical and cultural development of the French language from the bestselling authors of Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong. Imagine a language that is watched over by a group of forty “Immortals,” a language with rules so complex that few people ever completely master it, whose status as the world’s lingua franca has been declining for two centuries, whose use in global institutions is waning and whose speakers are so insecure they pass laws banning the use of other languages and spend millions of tax-payers’ dollars to make sure it gets used in literature, music and film. Now imagine a language that is second only to English for the number of countries where it is spoken officially, surpassing both Spanish or Arabic, a language that is the official tongue of two G-7 countries and three European nations, that is employed alongside English in most international institutions and that is the number-two choice of language students across the planet – a language with two million teachers and 100 million students worldwide, and whose number of speakers has tripled in the last fifty years. This paradox is the backdrop for The Story of French, in which bilingual Canadian authors Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of a language that has maintained its global influence in spite of the ascendancy of English. Mixing historical analysis with journalistic observation, and drawing on their experiences living in and travelling to French-speaking countries, they explore how the French language developed over the centuries, how it came to be spoken in the Americas, Africa and Asia, and how it has maintained its global appeal.

The Story of French New Orleans

2016-02-04 History

Author : Dianne Guenin-Lelle
Release : 2016-02-04
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 872/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Story of French New Orleans by : Dianne Guenin-Lelle

Download or read book The Story of French New Orleans written by Dianne Guenin-Lelle. This book was released on 2016-02-04. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is it about the city of New Orleans? History, location, and culture continue to link it to France while distancing it culturally and symbolically from the United States. This book explores the traces of French language, history, and artistic expression that have been present there over the last three hundred years. This volume focuses on the French, Spanish, and American colonial periods to understand the imprint that French socio-cultural dynamic left on the Crescent City. The migration of Acadians to New Orleans at the time the city became a Spanish dominion and the arrival of Haitian refugees when the city became an American territory oddly reinforced its Francophone identity. However, in the process of establishing itself as an urban space in the Antebellum South, the culture of New Orleans became a liability for New Orleans elite after the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans and the Caribbean share numerous historical, cultural, and linguistic connections. The book analyzes these connections and the shared process of creolization occurring in New Orleans and throughout the Caribbean Basin. It suggests “French” New Orleans might be understood as a trope for unscripted “original” Creole social and cultural elements. Since being Creole came to connote African descent, the study suggests that an association with France in the minds of whites allowed for a less racially-bound and contested social order within the United States.

I Want My Dinner!

2014-07-30 Juvenile Fiction

Author : Tony Ross
Release : 2014-07-30
Genre : Juvenile Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 486/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis I Want My Dinner! by : Tony Ross

Download or read book I Want My Dinner! written by Tony Ross. This book was released on 2014-07-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Little Princess needs to learn some manners but, several tantrums later, once she’s mastered ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, she finds that not everyone else is so polite! She’s certainly not going to give the Beastie back his dinner until he asks nicely! 'Hilarious and a godsend to parents.' Guardian

Popular eBooks

The Story of French

The Story of French

The Story of French

The Story of French New Orleans

I Want My Dinner!

You may also like...