Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Language as a Portal To Another Culture

Bonjour, ceci est votre phrase française du jour.
Good morning, this is your French sentence of the day. 

 

Reading these words is how my mornings have started since the COVID-19 lockdown. 

I’ve always wanted to learn French and when I told my boyfriend (who is from Paris), he happily came up with the idea of sending me French sentences everyday — and, after I insisted, audio recordings too. 

This is my favorite way to learn, but I admit I am a bit biased. For those who don’t have a French petit ami to help them, here are other resources that I’ve found to be helpful. Many of them have equivalent programs in other languages as well.

Pamela Rose Haze’s “French Made Simple” is my main study workbook. Each chapter starts out with a dialogue in French, and then asks questions based on the dialogue and teaches grammar points. It also has pictures, guidelines on pronunciation, and a dictionary in the back. I bought it on Amazon for $14 but a Kindle version is available for $7. 

Rosetta Stone is the first runner-up. It’s convenient to use whenever you choose to, and it works on your oral and listening skills. It teaches mainly through realistic photos, and the accents in the app are very good. 

Rosetta Stone also offers interactive learning and live, group tutoring sessions focusing on particular subject areas. I’ve only tried a few live sessions and haven’t been disappointed yet. It’s a bit more costly, but I’ve found it to be worth the money. The different subscription options are as follows: three months for $36, 12 months for $180, 24 months for $250 or a lifetime package for $300. 

I sometimes use iTalki, a website that allows you to connect to a native speaker via video chat for a very small fee (I paid $16 for an hour). On the website at www.italki.com you’re able to choose your teacher by watching a recorded video of the instructor, which allows you to listen to their accent and check out their lesson plan. This platform is especially great during COVID-19 because you get to have a safe, one-on-one social interaction even if you’re chatting with someone who is halfway around the globe. 

Speaking of social interactions, my neighbors in Salisbury, Conn., (who have much more experience in French than I) organized some weekly socially distanced French soirées. 

One out of the five of us picked a topic each week for discussion. The subjects could range from an article in Le Monde (the French equivalent to the New York Times) to a music video. We would translate it and then talk about it in French. 

From time to time I also like to watch French television shows or listen to French audiobooks —I mean, who doesn’t like to “Netflix and Chill”? When you’re doing that in a new language, it  suddenly feels productive! I’ve been watching “Call My Agent” and “A Very Secret Service” on Netflix with English subtitles. 

The next learning tool I would like to try is looking up a recipe in French and actually cooking it. Learning new words while doing an activity is the best way to learn. And, hey, if I don’t remember the words at least I’ll be able to (hopefully) eat whatever dish I make. 

 

Lena Szeto, 24, from New York City but currently residing in her Salisbury home, is a Bates College graduate. She is excited to be writing for The Lakeville Journal again after interning for two summers at the paper while in high school.

The roots of the author’s interest in France and the French language began at a young age, while riding a carousel in Paris. Photo by Paul Szeto

Carousels are just a memory in Paris for now — but photos of them can evoke powerful memories. Photo by Michelle Alfandari ​

The roots of the author’s interest in France and the French language began at a young age, while riding a carousel in Paris. Photo by Paul Szeto

Latest News

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notice

Notice of Formation of Kaits Kleaning LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 05-22-2026. Office Lo-cation: Dutchess county. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 24 Attlebury Hill Road, Standfordville NY 12581.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tenmile Distillery is making history the old-fashioned way

Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.

D.H. Callahan

In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.

Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

Belinda Sinclair

Dean Chamberlain
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.

Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.

Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.

Keep ReadingShow less

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.

Hilary Scott

On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local playwright revisits Revolutionary moment in “Rebel Town”

The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”

Jack Sheedy

John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.

“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.