néanmoins je l'ai écouté; story of my life

J'étais pressée ; néanmoins je l'ai écouté pendant une heure // I was in a hurry; nevertheless I listened to him for one hour.

And once again, Transparent Language word of the day holds the stage.

What a strange word "nevertheless" is, don't you think? French "néanmoins" is no better, same sort of combination of complete negation and an adverb "moins" (less), making it what? Less than nothing?

Come to think about it, Russian "тем не менее" is not exactly logical either.

In other news, this is the last leaf of my sketchbook which I started  back in November.

Cave à vin

Mon ami qui habite à Bordeaux a une impressionnante cave à vin. //
My friend who lives in Bordeaux has an impressive wine cellar.

Today’s phrase is from the same source, Transparent Language, with a slight change. I was perplexed by the lack of spatial preposition à (as in à Bordeaux) in the original phrase (Mon père qui habite Bordeaux a une cave à vin impressionnante).

Google translate also thinks that à is required, so let’s have it. I am still at such a basic level of French that I can’t be sure if both variants are correct (or one of them, or none). So... let’s just concentrate on cave à vin (wine cellar), shall we?

Pictures related to cats, bottles and wine @ Shutterstock.

Il a un problème (he has a problem)

Son vin chaud n'est pas assez épicé // His mulled wine is not spicy enough

Today's phrase is from Transparent Language again.

The cat claims his drink is not spicy enough, but I'd say it is. Judging by the look of him.

joli bébé potelé

Oh quel joli bébé potelé! // Oh what a cute chubby baby!

Today's phrase comes from Transparent Language email.

I am not sure who is the kitten (chaton) on the photo. Considering how smug cats usually are, I tend to think it's the cat himself.

Le chat est libre

Le chat est libre // The cat is free!

Our French course is over. I passed, not with flying colors, but pass I did.
As usual, the end of something is accompanied by a mixture of feelings. One is definitely that of profound relief (Master has given a sock! Dobby is free!). And another is of sadness, of course. It was fun and difficult at the same time.

Sometime in November I realized that I made a mistake by enrolling in two language courses at once. Two not-yet-internalized languages - French and Spanish  - started to fight over the all-important "who comes out first" question, occasionally leaving me speechless in both Spanish and French classes. Considering that I am now in the last year of Spanish and want to finish it on a high note, I decided to make a pause with intensive French course till next academic year. 

I won't stop practicing completely, of course, so the pictures will continue.

The steaming brown something in the background are churros.
French wikipedia tells us : 
Les churros sont des pâtisseries espagnoles. Ils se présentent sous la forme d'une pâte frite en forme de « gros spaghetti »
(Churros are Spanish pastries. They come in the form of a dough shaped as "fat spaghetti" and fried).
I would argue that spaghetti are never ridged and churros always are, to make hot-chocolate dunking easier.

We went for chocolate con churros (chocolat avec des churros) to mark the end of course.

Now all the objects in the picture are well and truly explained, I feel.

 

Shanti

Le chat a trouvé Shanti // The cat has found inner peace

It’s the last week on my French course and we have exams (lotsa them). It is important to find inner peace at these trying times, and the cat has found it.

“Shanti est un mot sanskrit qui signifie paix, calme, sérénité” (Shanti is a Sanskrit word meaning peace, calm, serenity).

Good for him, shame that I can’t find it.

I have till Thursday though.

The little pic is done in Harmony (quite appropriately, I think)

More photos related to Yin and Yang @ Shutterstock.

"Almost" doesn't count

Le canapé entre presque dans la voiture // The sofa almost fits into the car

Today, another delightful phrase from Duolingo.

Everybody who ever moved house knows how frustrating it is when things almost, but not quite, fit into other things.

Here is the cat, helping his friend (on the right) to move house (déménager). His friend feels rather sorry she has asked for this small favour.

Judging by the general fit and by one ear sticking out, the pictured vehicle must be Fiat 500 with a sunroof.

PS: Je joins une photo que j'ai prise du balcon de l'hôtel

PS: Je joins une photo que j'ai prise du balcon de l'hôtel. Ce sont mes chaussettes préférées // PS: I attach a photo I took from the hotel's balcony. They are my favourite socks

Today i discovered that there were at least two homeworks of which existence I was not aware. There are very few lessons left, so I decided I'd better hurry. One of them was to write an email to a friend in France, supposedly for a hotel in Nice, describing what you did so far and what your plans were.
Last line of the task was to "attach a photo from your travel and describe what's on it".  Somehow I immediately thought of a pair of socks hanging from a balcony railing.

I am not going to describe that in my homework, no.

In case you are wondering : I do possess a pair of very similar over-the-knee socks.

Three wise cats

Le texte évangélique ne mentionne ni leur nombre ni les noms de ces «sages» //
The evangelical text mentions neither number nor names of these “sages”

Today is El Día de Los Reyes Magos, i.e. “the Three Kings’ Day”. Everything is closed and we run out of fast internet till Monday (I hope).

So, here is a pic with a feline version of these guys. Since neither number nor names were originally mentioned, I took a further liberty — one of the guys is, in fact, a gal.

Pictures related to cats and Los Reyes Magos @ Shutterstock.

Il avait traduit un dictionnaire

Il avait traduit un dictionnaire // He had translated a dictionary

Today, another delightfully silly phrase from Duolingo: Il avait traduit un dictionnaire // He had translated a dictionary (I ask you!).

I mean, ok, you can just about imagine why would anybody want to translate a dictionary, and the cat clearly had done it. And here he is, at a book signing (séance de dédicace) and everything. Well done, that cat.