"D'où vient le nom des Schtroumpfs ?" has been shared to the blog from the French reading practice section of the learning library where you can find a large selection of interactive texts to help you with your reading skills. This article also has audio for you to practice your French listening skills; you can find many more listening activities in the French listening exercises section.
| French listening and reading practice: B1* |
If you were a kid (or parent) in the 80s, you undoubtedly knew the little blue creatures known as Smurfs. As odd as that name might be, the original French is even odder: les Schtroumpfs. Learn where this strange word came from in this sound file, then scroll down to the bilingual reader to check the French transcript and click any phrase for the translation and links to related grammar lessons.
Note: Some of the tenses in this French text and its English translation don’t match! In French, we use the present tense to describe historical events like this to evoke a sense of immediacy, whereas in English, we commonly use the past tense – learn more about historical French tenses.
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Aurélie is our resident French Expert. She has created most of the wonderful content you see on the site and is usually the person answering your tricky help questions. She comes from a small village near Chartres in Central France, country of cereal fields and not much else. She left (in a hurry) to study English at the world-famous Sorbonne in Paris, before leaving France in 2007 to experience the “London lifestyle” - and never looked back! She's worked as a professional French teacher, translator and linguist in the UK since. She loves to share her love of languages and is a self-professed cinema and literature geek!
Laura is a French expert and Kwiziq's Head of Quality Control. Online educator since '99, Laura is passionate about language, travel, and cooking. She's American by birth and a permanent ex-pat by choice - freelancing made it possible for her to travel extensively and live in several countries before settling permanently in Guadeloupe. Laura is the author of Lawless French, Lawless Spanish, and other websites and books on French, Spanish, Italian, English, and vegetarianism. She spends most of her spare time reading, playing with food, and enjoying water sports.