French Word of the Day

French Fanatic

Learn French vocabulary with one new French word a day
Monday, August 17, 2009

A Message from French Fanatic

Many students are resuming their studies this week, and some will be studying French for the first time! That makes this a perfect week to begin reviewing some basic, beginning French vocabulary. Over the coming days, we’ll post words and phrases that are essential to getting started with French.

If you’re a new student or teacher of new students, we hope some of the words and phrases will help you reinforce what you’re learning and teaching in your classes. If you’re a longtime student of French, maybe the upcoming postings will bring back some memories of your own early French studies and just maybe refresh a few forgotten details.

Here’s hoping you enjoy your studies of French as much as we do!

Bonne chance! (good luck)

French Fanatic Editor

Vocabulary Section: Editor's Message


Monday, November 9, 2009

Editor’s Message

We wanted to thank everyone who took the time last week to share their thoughts on whether they preferred exploring a single topic each week instead of more random words each day.

While the single-topic approach was very popular, some of you also said you liked the random approach better. So, we’ll give you some of both. Look for  individual topics some weeks, and the more random approach others.

Additionally, thanks to the many people who have mentioned that they would like to have pronunciations for the words. Although we are not yet able to provide that service, it is something we will consider for the future.

Merci!

French Fanatic Editor

Vocabulary Section: Editor's Message
Monday, November 7, 2011

faire une pause

to take a break

À partir d’aujourd’hui, French Fanatic fait une pause.
Starting today, French Fanatic is taking a break.

About two and a half years ago, I started a little project to post a French word every day. The project was called French Fanatic. I wasn’t sure how long this ambitious goal would last. After a false start or two, the first word — à propos de, or about, which you can still see here — was published on April 1, 2009. It was to be the first of more than 900 consecutive French Word of the Day postings.

These daily posts have explored a wide range of topics that we hope helped and will continue to help native English speakers who want to learn French. Each post was designed to be a word that would be useful in everyday French conversations — sometimes basic and sometimes more advanced.

After covering so much territory, we’ve decided that it’s time for a rest. Starting today, French Fanatic will be taking a break. We hope to return soon with some new ideas about how to make the site even more useful. In the meantime, I invite you to spend some time revisiting some of the 900-plus past words that you can find by rummaging through the archives on the right-hand side of this site.

Members of our Voilà service will continue to have access to all the quizzes as well as English links to many of our words by topic.

If you are an educator who has used this site or still uses it in your classes, we’d love to hear from you to learn more about how you’ve used it or what ideas you might have for improvement. Just use the Contact link on the site.

Finally, a sincere thank you to all of our readers who share a passion for the French language. Together, we are all truly French Fanatics.

Merci et à bientôt,
French Fanatic Editor

Vocabulary Section: Editor's Message
Monday, May 21, 2012

Salut, tout le monde!

Hi, everyone!

It’s a simple greeting but such a nice thing to be able to say after a 6-month break from the Word of the Day. If you’re reading this as a subscriber to the daily e-mail, many thanks for remaining with us. If you’ve signed up since we last posted, thank you for joining, and, as the French say, bienvenue, or welcome.

Starting this week, we’re going to dust off the cobwebs from many of the words and phrases we posted over a 2-year-period by giving them a chance to be reposted each day. If you’ve been with us for a long time, we hope you’ll see this as a great way to reinforce your learnings. If you’re new, be prepared to discover some great new words and phrases to build your French vocabulary.

French Fanatic is back, and we couldn’t be happier!

Merci de nous accompagner! Thank you for joining us.

Vocabulary Section: Editor's Message,Greetings
Sunday, July 25, 2010

un coup d’œil

a peek or glance

A SPECIAL INVITATION FOR YOU
If you’ve seen the links to the new members-only section of our site called Voilà and wondered what it was all about, now is your chance to find out in a whole new way. We’ve opened Voilà to visitors so that you can see for yourself all the great quizzes and vocabulary topics that members are able to enjoy.

Take a coup d’œil, or peek, at more than 25 quizzes and more than 35 vocabulary topics. These activities help you get more from our Word of the Day. And by doing so, you also support the work of French Fanatic with the nominal 3.95/month subscription contribution.

When you click through, look for the Quizzes marked with the word FREE. You’ll be able to use these just as our paid subscribers would. We hope you’ll enjoy what you find and sign up to get even more from your daily word.

CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER VOILÀ!

Vocabulary Section: Editor's Message,Word of the Day