16.10 - France: Savour, Stroll, Speak
Inside this FREE le Bulletin: A summer of empty restaurant tables, the Paris recommendations nobody asked for (but everyone needs), and why poetry might just save your French accent. Bon appétit.
Today at a Glance: Your FREE weekly newsletter
Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today, at the beginning of a new year! Bienvenue !
In this newsletter, you’ll find these fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché with our talented contributors, and
Don’t miss the PAID subscriber edition of le Bulletin in your inbox: “16.10.a - .“ It’s not too late to upgrade & read it←
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy - 14.3.2026
1. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine: new articles
“There are many talented Contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes.
We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
Our list of valued Contributors →
a)The Restaurants of Wrath
by Betty Carlson
Throughout last summer, the French tourism industry was taking stock of how la saison was shaping up…or down, in the case of the French restaurant business.
The previous year, industry news had been dominated by recruitment difficulties and trouble housing summer hospitality workers.
In 2025, the problem wasn’t so much finding restaurant staff as keeping them busy. And restaurant owners’ tempers started to rise to a slow boil,…” writes Betty Carlson…
b) The Email of Paris Recommendations I Send to Everyone
by Shelby Chambers
“…A few times a quarter I get the classic DM requesting Paris recommendations. Maybe an old colleague will be in town for a few days and wants to eat like a local. Perhaps a friend from business school is passing through and wants to know where they can get a great cocktail in Paris. Or a friend of a friend of my parents wants activities recommendations even though they already booked a hotel near the Arc de Triomphe and nothing I say is going to save their trip at this point.”
I take Paris recommendations extremely seriously because I don’t want to ruin someone’s vacation or let them down or cause them not to like me anymore. I always reply with a heartfelt, overly detailed set of restaurant, monument, museum, leisure time ideas, all with too much context and too many caveats. (Yes, I know over-explaining is a trauma response. No, I’m not going to work on it.) It’s likely that no one even reads these lists I make, but at least I know if their vacation sucks, it won’t be my fault…” writes Shelby Chambers.
c) Why Poetry, Music, and Literature are the best tools for French Pronunciation
by Morgane Andersson
“If you’re learning French, you’ve probably heard the usual advice:
“Study IPA. Drill nasal vowels. Memorize silent letters.”
And sure, those have their place.
But what if the secret to truly speaking French, with beauty, with emotion, with flow, lies elsewhere?Let me present you with a different path. A softer, more powerful one:
Poetry, music, and literature.We learn to speak by listening. By repeating. By feeling the sounds.
This is how children learn. This is how actors train. This is how language becomes not just accurate, but alive.
And this is why I believe:French pronunciation is best learned not through drills, but through immersion in rhythm, sound, and meaning…” writes Morgane Andersson
2. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Mes ami(e)s, what a week to be a lover of France.
Betty had me nodding along with a kind of bittersweet recognition, because anyone who has watched the French restaurant world up close knows that behind every beautiful terrace is a story far more complicated than the menu suggests. She tells it with such honesty and warmth. And then Shelby… oh, Shelby made me laugh out loud, genuinely. That particular mixture of helpfulness, anxiety, and sheer love for Paris? I felt that in my bones. I think many of you will, too.
And Morgane. I want every single one of you who is learning French — or dreaming of learning French — to read her piece slowly, with a cup of something good beside you. She reminded me why language is never just language. It’s music. It’s feeling. It’s the reason a poem can teach you something that a grammar book simply cannot. I am so glad she is part of our little world here.
This community — you — continue to be the reason le Bulletin exists and the reason I keep showing up every week, grateful and full of things I want to share. There is, as always, a little more waiting for you in the paid edition of 16.10.a —A Quieter Summer, Paris Secrets & a Writer Who Nearly Chose Springsteen Over France, consider it the next course. 😊
Avec toute mon amitié
Judy x
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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Thanks for sharing ☺️🙏🏼
I always enjoy reading pieces that try to show France beyond the usual clichés. The real charm often appears in the small rituals - a long lunch, a slow walk through a town, a conversation that lasts longer than planned.
Those moments are often what stay with people long after the trip is over.