frogsmoke.com

If you’re looking for a flatshare in Paris, you may want to check out newroommate.co.uk.
They even give you useful translations, such as Do you smoke? Est-ce que vous fumez?, and a list of “What you should know about the French Roommates“, including this one:
“The French do not speak very well English, even the […]

Barack Obama gives a lesson on language and offensive American behavior. He’s embarrassed that Americans cannot speak French when they go on their trips to France.

He needn’t worry — poor language skills (among other qualities) have just put the French at the top of the list of obnoxious European tourists.

Some journalists are full of it! (Thanks, Jen!)

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Scrabble word game, Mattel commissioned this campaign in France. Advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather in Paris is behind the beautifully crafted ads. Here’s one (click for bigger):

The other ones are here, here, here, here, and here.
Via Ads of the World

(Spotted by Rue98)

It happened in Paris in 1965. This little known band from Liverpool made an effort to woo their audience by introducing a song in French. Nice try, but it didn’t get them anywhere.
Via Clarkspicks.com

Click for bigger picture.
German language school Sprachcaffe wants you to learn French, and displays a French flag built from girl’s names to give you the right reasons. But Carnation, Jacquenetta, Vignette, Charlisa, Cheyenne, Comforte and a few hundred more are not French names at all.
With a little homework they could have done it right. […]

Wonderful Photoshopped entry in the “Engrish” contest on Worth1000: show us images from a world run by Engrish product translators.
Source | More about Engrish (wiki)

The best headline today comes from Australia:
Parlez-roo Francaise? Town ready to greet new Aussie force

THE Australian flags are hung, toy kangaroos are crammed in shop windows and now all the small French town of Villers-Bretonneux is waiting for is Anzac Day.
Up to 6000 Australians are expected to descend on the rural town on Friday for […]

Berlitz wants you to learn foreign languages. This is an ad to sell their French courses. Nicely done. Click image to see more details.

The most practical way to improve your French: oo la la pill box and oui! oui! tampon case
Add some French flair to your life with these Parisian pill and tampon cases. Each features a dashing damsel and a French phrase. The “oui! oui!” (”yes! yes!”) case discreetly holds tampons, keys and makeup, while the “oo […]

A website of unknown (probably Chinese) origin reviews the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
Swept France fat to every meal snack Bianshou
“French women do not obesity,” the author Guiliano, the French Veuve Clicquot champagne company’s chief executive officer. In the original decision to write this book, she is not expected that […]

If you’re not a native speaker, counting in French is tough, especially when the numbers go beyond 69. Let this frog be your teacher, covering the complex range from 90 to 100. (But don’t use this lesson if you want to spend time in French-speaking Belgium or Switzerland, because there they count differently.)
Discover many more […]

From Sky News: Carla Makes First Speech In Britain
Carla Bruni Sarkozy called on women to unite in the battle to help mothers who die in childbirth in her first public speech in Britain as France’s first lady. She was speaking at Lancaster House as a guest of Sarah Brown, wife of Prime Minister Gordon.
Still […]

About time…
From the Telegraph:
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has been taking intensive English lessons in order to impress his guests during his state visit to the UK.
While Mr Sarkozy, 53, will make his speech to a joint session of Parliament in French, he is said to be keen to impress the Queen and Gordon Brown […]