Clé France

Don't forget your phone Charger... and adaptor!

It is so easy to get to France we do not see it as "international travel" anymore, but it is! there are a few things that you absolutely need to remember when you faites vos valises (pack your bags). In our electrically charged modern life, making sure you have all the right converters for your appareils électroniques (electronic devices) is one of the most important things to remember.

La puissance électronique et la tension (wattage and voltage) can change from country to country [although UK to France is the same or just about 220/240], and even if you have the right puissance électronique, la prise (the outlet) might also be different and need un autre adaptateur (another adapter)!

 Tired from all the travel, I went to look for le chargeur (the charger) when mon ordinateur (my computer) displayed the low battery message:

"Votre batterie est faible. Branchez votre PC sur secteur."

Your battery is low. Plug in your computer to an outlet.

Then I realised I forgot le chargeur en Angleterre !

I left to buy a new one, but a lot of the technical vocabulary for les câbles et les adaptateurs was unkown to me, and I wasn’t even sure if they would have the right chargeur for mon ordinateur!

I looked up the important words and went out (after checking to see which stores were open). Une fois au magasin d’informatique (once I was at the computer store), finding the right chargeur was easy. De plus (what’s more) it worked perfectly with both mon ordinateur et la prise without any issues!

Un vocabulaire électrique :

L’appareil électronique (m) – electronic device 

L’adapteur (m) – (electric) converter 

Le transformateur – (electric) converter 

Le convertisseur – (money/measurements) converter 

La puissance électrique – wattage 

La tension – voltage 

La prise – electrical outlet 

L’ordinateur (m) – computer 

La batterie – battery (for computers, cell phones, etc) 

La pile – battery (AA, AAA, and other non-rechargable batteries) 

Le chargeur – charger 

Le câble – cable 

Le fil (électrique) – wire

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.