Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Learning French is a continuous process

Learning French is a continuous process. I hear words that I don't understand everyday. Sometimes I finished by getting the meaning, sometimes I just let it go. Here is an expression that I have heard several times and finally understand what it means.

Le mouton à cinq pattes = The lamb with five legs.
My team has been looking for someone who has a special skill on a specific domain. We have been looking for this five-legged lamb without success. It means someone with a very special skills that is hard to find or non-existent.


I was finishing a report and I needed to describe to my boss the pie chart I prepared. I realized that I didn't know the French word for pie chart, so I turned to my coworker, showed him my monitor and asked him what was the word in French. He replied : "Camembert". Camembert is one kind of cheese in France. I felt so confused, why was he telling me a cheese when I was asking him about a chart? He laughed, explained that pie chart = camembert in French.
Ok now I know.
And it makes sense.
In English it is called pie chart, pie is one kind of foods.
In Mandarin it is called a biscuit chart, one kind of foods as well.
The French loves cheese, and cheese is also a kind of foods.

 I'm enjoying the learning process.

1 comment:

  1. Oh there's always new expression that crops up every so often. Luckily my friends are good in spotting my confused look, and would proceed to explain.

    This summer, I'm going to learn different food-related expressions, hehehe ;)

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