le saviez-vous - History - Beginner - French Videos

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Le saviez-vous? - L'utilité des zeppelins français

Difficulty: Beginner

France

Patricia discusses the various ways zeppelins were used in the twentieth century, as well as what led to their downfall.

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Le saviez-vous? - Le zeppelin français et le rêve de voler

Difficulty: Beginner

France

Humanity has always dreamed of flying through the air. That dream was made possible with the arrival of the zeppelin at the end of the nineteenth century.

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Le saviez-vous? - Le dernier duel à l'épée pour l'honneur en France

Difficulty: Beginner

France

In centuries past, when a person's honor was offended, he would challenge the culprit to a duel. The last duel in France took place as recently as 1967, between two respected politicians!

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Le saviez-vous? - Le casino ou la guerre

Difficulty: Beginner

France

Nice's Jetée-Promenade is the site of a former casino by that name. Built on pilings over the sea, the original building was once a thriving casino attracting many tourists, especially British tourists who flocked to the Riviera.

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Le saviez-vous? - Nice et son héritage italien

Difficulty: Beginner

France

In this video on Nice, Patricia explains the history of the city, its Italian heritage, and its typically French atmosphere.

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Le saviez-vous? - La tradition du poisson d'avril

Difficulty: Beginner

France

The first of April is the day of hoaxes, pranks, and jokes. In France, the tradition is to hang paper fish on people's backs and shout, "Poisson d'avril!" (April Fish!).

Le saviez-vous? - L'histoire de la dictée (2 videos)

Patricia explains the importance of dictation exercises for learning French. Now an essential teaching tool in the classroom, dictation was originally a pastime for French nobility. The author Prosper Mérimée created a dictation exercise for Empress Eugénie that stumped even the brightest intellectuals. Think you can beat them? Try it yourself here.

Le saviez-vous? - La tradition de la Chandeleur (2 videos)

Patricia continues her series on the feast of Candlemas, which in France is centered around the crêpe. Due to its round shape and golden color, the crêpe was a symbol of the sun in pagan times.

Le saviez-vous? - La tradition de la galette des rois (2 videos)

Patricia explains in detail the tradition of the galette des rois (kings' cake), which predates Christianity. The tradition is linked to a Roman pagan celebration called Saturnalia, during which a lucky slave was crowned "king" for the day.

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Le saviez-vous? - Mener une vie de bâton de chaise

Difficulty: Beginner

France

This video takes an in-depth look at the curious French idiom mener une vie de bâton de chaise (to lead a chair-pole life). Though the life of a chair pole might not seem very interesting, the history behind the idiom certainly is!

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Le saviez-vous? - Le romantisme français

Difficulty: Beginner

France

It's been said that Paris is the most romantic city in the world. In this video, you will discover the origin of the word "romantic" and learn about the romanticism movement, which originated not from France as one might expect, but from England and Germany and later took hold in France.

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Le saviez-vous? - D'où vient le nom de la France?

Difficulty: Beginner

France

This video is all about the people of France, from the ancient Franks and Gauls to the present-day population, which currently numbers over sixty-six million inhabitants.

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Il était une fois: les Explorateurs - 10. Amerigo Vespucci - Part 2

Difficulty: Beginner

France

He may not know it yet, but Amerigo Vespucci's life is about to change. Though he works as a successful banker, Amerigo feels restless and aspires to greater things. Luckily, Lorenzo de' Medici has offered him the opportunity of a lifetime: a trip to Spain to help Christopher Columbus prepare for an expedition to the Indies.

Matches in Transcript

Caption 22 [fr]: Comment le savez-vous, Señor Berardi?
Caption 22 [en]: How do you know that, Señor Berardi?

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