267 — Le français du XVIIe siècle dans Paris-Babel (Gilles Siouffi) — mercredi 11 juin 2025

Last week, I walked through the doors of the Sorbonne, the famous university, the oldest in France, which has been in existence since the 13th century. I was there to meet linguist Gilles Siouffi, who has just written a book on the linguistic history of Paris. His book is called ‘Paris Babel’. I loved this book, which reads like a novel and allows us to take a closer look at the history of French as it has never been told before.

The seventeenth century is a very important century in the history of French. People fight over who has the best French. That's what Gilles Siouffi will be explaining in today's episode. He'll also talk about pronunciation patterns. The interview with Gilles Siouffi will be available in full on One Thing In A French Day, so be sure to tune in.

In the notes that accompany the podcast, we'll look at three natural turns of phrase in French. We'll also develop a strategy for learning a verb quoted in the text, which is very useful in everyday French. So, to cultivate your ‘bon’ French, I invite you to subscribe to the podcast notes.

www.cultivateyourfrench.com

#frenchcourtlanguage #versaillesfrench #17thcenturyfrench #frenchpronunciationhistory #sociallanguagetrendsfrance #frenchclassdistinctions #parisvsversailles #frenchlanguagefashions #historicalfrenchspeech #frenchlinguisticsorbonne