French language Q&A Forum

Why people says Qu'est-ce que c'est que + [something] if Qu'est-ce que + [something] means the same?

I'm sure the speaker says "charger" and not "changer" in this exercise. I understand that "charger" wouldn't make sense in the context but it is still off putting when doing the exercise and trying to faithfully write what is being said

depuis que j'etais petite pendant l'hiver, on a campe dans les montagnes dans le canton de Geneve. 

In the first sentence, "la tempête [...] a frappé notre village à Noël," why do we use "à" here? Can you say, "la tempête a frappé le Noël"? Is "à" used with all holidays, e.g., "la tempête a frappé à Paques," etc.?

Salut

On dit " parlez-leur" Pourquoi pas "appellez-les" ? 

Merci

I was wondering why the use of indefinite articles with descriptive nouns was no longer in use. For example, I learned to say "Je suis une chanteuse." But, a textbook I am using in my class simply says "Je suis chanteuse." First, why is the un or une no longer included and second, is it grammatically correct to say something like "Je suis fille." or "Il est homme."? Much appreciated for any help. Rules have changed since I was a student.