Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss how the city of Paris is getting ready to host the Olympic Games. There is the vexing problem of getting the Seine cleaned up in time for the swimming events. Patrice has some interesting tongue-in-cheek solutions for the athletes...
Difficulty: Beginner
France
In this very interesting video, Patrice and Sophie talk about the problems and resolutions discussed during the COP28 climate conference. Sophie notes that participating countries not only failed to reach their goals, but are actually going backwards.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie bought a bicyle that she's hoping to ride when the weather allows. Patrice discusses bike gear that could make riding in the cold and the rain more comfortable.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
It's winter in France and Patrice and Sophie are feeling it! They list the many colorful expressions describing cold weather and talk about ways of warding off the cold with full winter regalia.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
With Christmas around the corner, Patrice and Sophie discuss the pros and cons of live Christmas trees versus artificial ones. Patrice makes a crazy suggestion. Be sure to watch to the very end!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss the 2023 Rugby World Cup finals held at the Stade de France. Despite hosting the games, France didn't win—which to Sophie suggests that the organizers didn't manage to pay off the referees!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss the latest scourge that threatens to affect the Olympic Games in Paris, among other things: bedbugs! This current threat has Sophie paranoid and Patrice cracking a few jokes.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss the recent government decision to ban students from wearing abayas in schools, since they're considered a religious symbol.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie are in the Belleville-Jourdain neighborhood around the nineteenth arrondissement. This quiet neighborhood is benefitting from the city officials' committment to bring back pedestrians areas to the city.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie and Patrice discuss the pollution problem in Paris. Although efforts have been made to keep cars out of the city center, there's still much to improve. Cars still clog the freeways outside Paris.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie have the impression that things are changing because of disinformation and social media. Do you agree with their ideas?
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss the outcome of the recent referendum on self-service scooters in Paris. Why have scooters been taken off the streets and sidewalks?
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
The postponement of King Charles III's visit to France prompted an interesting conversation between Sophie and Patrice. While Charles has always captured Patrice's imagination, Sophie has a certain admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice discuss the retirement reforms in France and the mass protests opposing them. They also explain the role of President Macron in this controversial situation.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Sophie and Patrice complain about the excessive use of Article 49.3, a law that allows the government to bypass parliament and push through many unpopular measures like the latest labor reform.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patrice and Sophie don't quite see eye to eye about the protests against pension reform in France. Listen to them discuss both sides of the argument.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
How do Patrice and Sophie celebrate Valentine's Day? It's a big surprise...especially for Sophie, who takes it all in stride. It's the thought that counts, right?
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice talk about kitchen utensils, and Patrice shares a few tips on how to avoid burning your food.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Patrice and Sophie have a conversation in one of the many little parks that dot the Paris landscape.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice discuss the legislative elections in June 2022. The left-wing parties have reunited for the first time since the Popular Front in 1936. How long will they be able to set aside their differences to form a solid and lasting coalition?
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss astrology. You will learn the twelve zodiac signs in French, and even a forgotten thirteenth one!
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patrice and Sophie discuss the war in Ukraine and the consequences of the sanctions and trade embargo for the Russian people.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice discuss the weather as they shop at the market on a miserable winter day. Sophie detests the cold and the rain whereas Patrice doesn't mind at all!
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie is upset because someone stole her cell phone. It's not just the loss of her phone that makes her mad but the real inconvenience of losing all her contact information. Patrice has a few good suggestions for her.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice share their impressions of Paris under a gray sky. They say that the multiple shades of gray make Paris all the more beautiful. Even the old buildings blackened by years of grime add texture and beauty, but they concede that a good clean-up is sometimes necessary.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie reminisce about playing ombres chinoises (shadow puppets) when they were little. Patrice makes some interesting observations about Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible and Coppola's Dracula, two films that incorporate shadow puppetry.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie exchange their views on artificial intelligence, its advances, its dangers, and its advantages.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
In this video, Patrice and Sophie pretend to be a realtor and prospective tenant looking at an apartment in Montmartre. Before they go up to the apartment, Patrice tells Sophie about the neighborhood, which she doesn't know very well.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie and Patrice have different breakfast habits. Patrice only has a cup of coffee for breakfast, whereas Sophie doesn't drink coffee at all.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie shares her grandmother's crêpe recipe with us. If you're game, you can make the crêpes by feel, without measuring anything, just like her ancestors used to do. Good luck and bon appétit!
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patrice is not getting enough sleep and looks a little worse for wear, but he's very philosophical about it. As Simone de Beauvoir said, "A successful life is living like an adolescent at sixty-five."
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie loves plants so much that she isn't averse to snipping a cutting or two from a public garden. Her interest in plants comes from her grandmother, who spent endless hours tending to her plants and even climbed trees at 95 years old!
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice discuss the evolution of the word "handicap," from its origins as a horce racing term to its current usage in French. Rather than les handicapés (the handicapped), the French now say les personnes en situation de handicap (persons with disabilities).
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice talk about growing old in Paris. They both agree that it's tough for the elderly in Paris and that they would rather spend their golden years somewhere else.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patrice is feeling down because he lost his job under difficult and unfair circumstances. He discusses his options with Sophie, who tries her best to cheer him up.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
In the Porte des Lilas neighborhood, Sophie and Patrice discuss a relatively new form of transportation in Paris: the tram. It's clean and green, though according to Sophie, it could use a bit more charm. Still, it's a great way to get around Paris.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice discuss the meaning of expressions involving colors, such as vert de rage and une peur bleue. They have their own theories about their origins.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
We live in tumultuous times, but Patrice and Sophie are optimistic, excited even, about the changes that are happening around the world. They're referring specifically to the yellow vests movement (les gilets jaunes), a populist movement that began in France in 2018.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Paris is experiencing a population decline, partly due to short-term rentals and extreme commuting. Executives are able to live far out in the provinces while still working in Paris.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie explains in greater detail how she makes lamps out of old jam jars. She has some blue ones that make great night-lights, and some brighter ones that are perfect for reading.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie explains her hobby to Patrice. She makes fun lamps out of vintage American canning jars to which she applies a cold plating solution to make them look aged.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Patrice and Sophie have a conversation about the French language. They agree that French people speak too fast for the average learner, and abbreviations and contractions make it even more difficult to understand. Patrice has a few theories as to why Parisians in particular speak so fast.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Sophie and Patrice are trying to recover from the Christmas festivities and can't stand the sight of foie gras, turkey, or Yule logs... They consider doing away with the Christmas tradition of big feasts altogether and escaping to the tropics instead.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Sophie and Patrice question the tradition of the Christmas tree and think it's not very environmentally responsible. They'd like to find of way of conserving the tree they bought and reuse it for next Christmas.
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