We read on the back cover: “celebrating the art of the French language”. Beautiful, huh?
Le mot juste is a collection of French words, phrases and quotations with their actual meaning, pronunciation and sometimes also literal translation. I think it’s a good way to refresh one’s French if it’s a bit rusty or to have a useful reference of the borrowed French words, such as la joie de vivre, je ne regrette rien, l’avant-garde, la crème de la crème, cordon bleu or le prêt-à-porter.
My favourite French words:
Un pamplemousse. A grapefruit
Au claire de lune. In the moonlight
Le coup de foudre. Love at first sight (lit. translation: a thunder bolt)
En faire tout un fromage. To make a fuss (lit. translation: to make a whole cheese out of it)
Plus tard ça sera trop tard. Notre vie c’est maintenant. Jacques Prévert (translation: Later will be too late. Life is for living now.)
Nous sommes nos choix. Jean-Paul Sartre (translation: We are our choices.)
Have you read a similar publication in the language you currently learn? Please let me know in the comments below.
Kinga Macalla