Clé France

Just updating the Cle France Office calendar and thought this was useful information for those booking and planning property viewings in France.

If you are planning a viewing trip to view some of the super property we have for sale in France then these dates could help you plan, even if they give you the days to avoid as offices and shops will be closed.

Remember - most Estate agents don't work Sundays and depending on the region of France Saturdays get booked up very quickly so you will need to give us more notice than you would for a weekday, which will be easier to plan for at shorter notice.

So here are the Bank Holiday dates / jour fériés in France...

Jan 1 Thursday is New Year's Day is a National holiday

Mar 20 Friday is March equinox Season

Mar 29 Sunday is when Daylight Saving Time starts

Apr 3 Friday is Good Friday is only a Local holiday

Apr 5 Sunday is Easter Day - Observance

Apr 6 Monday is Easter Monday is a National holiday

May  1 Friday is Labor Day / May Day is a National holiday

May 8 Friday is WWII Victory Day is a National holiday

May 14 Thursday is Ascension Day is a National holiday

May 24 Sunday is Whit Sunday - Observance

May 25 Monday is Whit Monday is a National holiday

May 31 Sunday is Mother's Day - Observance

Jun 21 Sunday is June Solstice

Jun 21 Sunday is Father's Day - Observance

Jul 14 Tuesday is Bastille Day is a National holiday

Aug 15 Saturday is Assumption of Mary is a National holiday

Sep 23 Wednesday is September equinox

Oct 25 Sunday is when Daylight Saving Time ends

Nov 1 Sunday is All Saints' Day is a National holiday

Nov 11 Wednesday is Armistice Day is a National holiday

Dec 22 Tuesday is December Solstice

Dec 24 Thursday is Christmas Eve - Observance

Dec 25 Friday is Christmas Day is a National holiday

Dec 26 Saturday is St Stephen's Day is a Local holiday

Dec 31 Thursday is New Year's Eve - Observance

Please note: A lot of business and shops, Post offices etc will be closed in France on these days.

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

I hesitate to use the word “untranslatable” here because, frankly, there is no perfect translation between languages. Words and concepts have different shades of meanings in different languages based on particular linguistic cultures and histories. But non-native speakers can have an idea of a particular word, even if they don’t know all shades of its meanings.

“Le Spleen de Paris” by Marisa Ficorella

Here is a list of ten French words that have no English equivalent. Some of these words have been adopted into the English language, even though their meanings have changed slightly in translation:

Flâneur (nm) – This word has been adopted into the English language, particularly in literary studies. Literally a “stroller” or a “lounger”, in the 19th century this word came to mean a literary man of a certain social class, who would spend his time exploring Parisian streets. Of course, the leisure to stroll around Paris habitually meant that flâneurs did not have any money problems! The poet Charles Baudelaire often used this figure in his poetry.

Dépaysement (nm) — This interesting word can mean anything from disorientation to culture shock. The word is formed from the word pays or “country” and would literally mean something like “to be uncountried”. Dépaysement is the feeling one gets of not being in one’s own country, of being a foreigner.

Retrouvailles (nf plural) — I love this word. Literally meaning something like “refindings”, this word refers to the reunion you would have with someone you care deeply for but whom you have not seen in a long time. The English word “reunion” just doesn’t do this word justice.

Terroir (nm) — I’ve written a blog post on this word before. Terroir is a notoriously tricky word to translate, although it is often used in the international wine and cheese industries. Terroir describes the combination of climate, labor, geology, and geography of a certain place that contributes to its distinct agricultural products, including wine and cheese.

Bricoleur (nm) — A bricoleur is a handyman who makes use of whatever materials are available to him to create a construction (or bricolage). Perhaps the closest equivalent in English would be something like a DIYer, although this doesn’t quite convey the meaning of using a variety of  available materials to create one unified thing, like taking the old wood in your shed to create a nice bookshelf.

Savoir-Faire (nm) — This word is, of course, ubiquitous in English. In French, it is similar to “know-how”, or how to solve certain practical problems. Once adopted into the English language, however, this French word took on a different meaning: knowing how to act appropriately in social situations.

Spleen (nm) — Ah, spleen. Another 19th century, Baudelairian word. In French, spleen means melancholy, profound boredom and dissatisfaction. In fact, its synonymous with another French word that the English language has adopted: ennui. In English, spleen (not the anatomical definition) is bad temper or spite.

Si (conj) — Si can mean multiple things in French (like “if”), but it is also a cool way to answer in the affirmative to a negative question. So, for example, someone asks you, referring to a film perhaps, tu ne l’as pas vu, n’est pas? (You didn’t see it, right?), you would say si (and not oui) in order to respond, si, je l’ai vu la semaine dernière (yes, I saw it last week).

Chez (prep) – This is another classic French word that you probably are familiar with. But it’s such a useful and versatile word. Not only can chez mean that you are at a particular location (chez moi) but it can also indicate the particular state of mind of a person or group of people (chez les français — “among the French”) or to speak about an artist’s body of work (chez Molière). 

Épater (v) — Not to bring up Baudelaire again, but among the French decadent poets of the 19th century, they used the following rallying cry: épater la bourgeoisie! This literally means, “shock the middle class”. But épater also means to wow, to stun, to amaze, and to impress — it packs quite a bit of punch!

Can you think of any other “untranslatable” words in French?

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

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

Le printemps (spring) has officially sprung —  La nature et vos allergies sont revenues à la vie (Nature and your allergies have come back to life). Flowers are blooming, bees are hard at work, and all that was brown has become green.

Le vert (green) is often associated l’argent et les finances (money and finances), l’avidité (greed), la jalousie (jealousy), l’ambition (ambition), la stabilité (stability), and la renaissance (rebirth).

Along with their many associations, colors play an important role in language. When you’re sad, you’re blue. You can be tickled pink. You can be in the red with the bank. If you’re scared, you’re yellow bellied.

To celebrate the return of Spring, we’re going to focus on the use of vert in French. En plus, c’est ma couleur préférée (plus, it’s my favorite color).

Image courtesy of Crafthubs

Noun

Let’s start with the word as a noun. Le vert means green, green light (in traffic), vegetation, and the countryside.

As a proper noun, les Verts is referring to The Greens, a green-ecologist political group that dissolved in 2010.

Have you ever had a penny that had a green spot on it? This is called le vert-de-gris, and it’s just a green tinge that forms on copper. The same thing can be found on The Statue of Liberty in New York.

Verb

“Vert” by itself isn’t a verb, but it’s used in some verbs.

Être au vert has 2 meanings. The first refers to being out in the country. The other is when you’re watching your diet. Both are referring to la verdure (the greenery) – either outside or on your plate.

Se mettre au vert also has 2 meanings. The first is to go out into the countryside for a relaxing rest. The other meaning is less literal: it means to go on the run (from the police, for example).

Mettre au vert without the reflexive pronoun is often presented in the past tense: mis au vert and means put out to pasture. The idea comes from the idea that once a horse is finished with a racing career, he’s put out to pasture (retired). This can be used for humans, though.

Couper en vert means to harvest a plant before it’s ready.

En voir des vertes et des pas mures is an expression that means someone has said something pretty spicy things to someone.

Être vert(e) de rage is used when you’re very, very mad. You can also simply just use vert. (Elle est verte!) Think of The Incredible Hulk, we say purple with rage in English.

Être vert(e) de peur means you are very scared. I think this is interesting because this idea is associated with yellow in English.

Être au temps de sa verte jesunesse and être encore vert(e) both refer to being in the bloom of your youth.

Donner le feu vert à quelque chose/quelqu’un means the same as it does in English: to give someone the green light to do something (to give permission)

Prendre quelqu’un sans vert means to catch somebody unaware.

Adjective

Le numéro vert is a toll-free number. These are nice because in France if you need to call your internet provider, for example, you are charged by the minute.

Thé vert is the same in English: green tea.

Un haricot vert is a green bean, un légume vert refers to a green vegetable in general,    i is a green pepper, and un citron vert is a lime. Are you a successful gardener who can plant all these fruits and vegetables by yourself? You have  i (a green thumb). In France, you have the green hand, but in Canada, you have le pouce vert.

50 Shades of Green

Despite the post’s title, I’m not going to give you 50 shades of green, but here are 19 different shades of green. Below the image, I’ve included the translations.

vert pré/vert gazon – grass green

vert citron – lime green

vert pistache – pistachio

vert bouteille – refers to the color of a standard green bottle

vert mousse – moss green

vert céladon – celadon green

vert methe – mint green

vert émeraude – emerald

vert pâle – pale green

vert sapin – pine green

vert trèfle – shamrock green

vert jade – jade

vert malachite – malachite green

vert printemps – spring green

vert sauge – sage green

vert chartreuse – chartreuse

vert d’eau – sea green

vert olive – olive green

vert caca d’oie – this isn’t in the graphic because nobody wants to see this. It literally means “goose poop green,” and is used to describe a color between yellow and green.

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

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

Thanks Sharon,

Very prompt service, excellent customer service!

Kind regards, Mike.

Short and sweet but thanks Mike for your comments we do like to respond quicker than anyone else.

Dear David,

Just want to say thank you for selling my cottage in Cotes d’Armor.

Choosing the option for the Gold Level Marketing Package was definitely the right way to go, my house sold very quickly compared to other houses for sale that I had seen on the market with other agents and many of them are still for sale!  

Great friendly, professional communications, definitely the way to go!

Christine Alger.

It should come as no surprise that Cle France help as many people to sell their house in France as we help people buy a property in France. We sold Christine's house in Brittany recently with help from our enhanced marketing so not only do we have a happy vendor, we also have a happy buyer, see Colin's comments here, he is the guy that bought the beautiful Breton Cottage to use as a holiday home.