Today I met my tutor for my sixth French lesson in the past fourteen days. I returned home with a French phrase that I’d like to share, and a set of photos to show you part of our new world.
First, the phrase — “faire le pont” — can be translated literally as “to make the bridge.” Not very interesting so far, as it sounds like a lot of back-breaking labor and possibly a waste of taxpayers’ money. But let me give you some context, a conversation between two friends last week, in the French town of Thionville:
Adèle: Yes, we’re going to faire le pont, and we’ll go to Spain and Portugal.
So here’s the scoop. Bastille Day fell on Tuesday this year, and it’s a public holiday. So, if you want a nice, long weekend, you can take Monday off and “bridge” the weekend with the holiday.
Thus, the French phrase, “I’ll make the bridge.” I’ll take Monday off and fly to Iberia on a four-day trip. What a lovely idea!
If you want to use it for yourself, say, “Je fais le pont.” (Click here to hear an MP3 file of my heavily-accented pronunciation.)
It’s getting late, so I’ll save the photoset for tomorrow. Until there, here’s a photo of a bridge (“un pont”) that I passed under today…
The photos I promised yesterday: a photoset on Flickr.
Comment by Will — 16 July 2009 @ 17:23
I might be able to work this in to my Plan redesign meeting tomorrow. My friends in Montreal would be so very impressed… :)
Comment by Laurie — 20 July 2009 @ 14:04
I hope it’s Canadian French, too! Let us know how it goes.
Comment by Will — 21 July 2009 @ 18:38