Decor and decorum

The next issue of our French audio magazine has just been published. Issue 24-07 of Champs-Elysées has been printed and is shipping to subscribers.

Champs-Elysées 24-07 Issue Contents
The next issue of Champs-Elysées combines elegance with sophistication. In our cover feature, Evelyne Pagès interviews the celebrated and influential interior designer Jacques Garcia, who has put his stamp on some of the most famous and luxurious venues in Paris. Among other things, they talk about the 17th-century château in Normandy that Garcia has renovated, furnished, and landscaped at his own expense. Continuing with the finer things in life, Jean-Sébastien Petitdemange takes us on a quest for the ancient liqueur made by monks at the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps. Turning to politics, Bernard Poirette reports on the environmental "New Deal" announced recently by Sarkozy as part of his election promise to make France a leader in the European ecological movement. Two other stand out features in 24-07 include Nicolas Fréret's piece on the opening of the newly restored Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris, now dedicated to the story of immigration, and Jean-François Johann's portrait of the life of Simone de Beauvoir, written to coincide with the 100th anniversary of her birth and the 50th anniversary of the publication of her seminal book, le Deuxième Sexe. Lastly, don't miss Gaëlle Alléhaux's report on the growing interest in genealogy. We hear from a number of experts about how to go about tracing your ancestry in France. Issue 24-07 of Champs-Elysées is shipping to subscribers. If your subscription has lapsed or if you haven't yet tried Champs-Elysées, sign up by clicking here.

Champs-Elysées Global Language Club

Available exclusively for North American subscribers to Champs-Elysées Audiomagazines, a membership of the new Champs-Elysées Global Language Club is the ultimate package for all language lovers. As a member you will be part of an elite group of language enthusiasts, benefiting from our extensive catalogue of world languages. The idea of the club is that members can download the audio portion of our audio magazines as soon as they are mastered, weeks in advance of publication. However, as many of our audio magazine subscribers speak more than one language, we are offering members of the Global Language Club the ability to download not just the audio from the program they are subscribed to, but the audio from any and all of our audio magazines. This means that if you're a subscriber to Champs-Elysées and you've been working on your Spanish too, you will be able to listen to Champs-Elysées as soon as we've produced it and you'll also be able to download the latest issue of Puerta del Sol so you can improve your Spanish as well! Click here to find out more about further benefits of joining the Global Language Club and to add it to your subscription.

Calling all Champs-Elysées subscribers--We want your feedback!
Whether you're a past or present subscriber to our French program we'd like to get your views. Simply click here to complete our survey. The survey should take a minute to do and does not require you to divulge personal information. Thanks for your feedback.

-------------

Best wishes from all at Champs-Elysées.

Stop Press--Previews of the next issues of our audio magazines

Champs-Elysées
In the next issue of Champs-Elysées, 24-08, Evelyne Pagès interviews the film actor, director and writer, Robert Hossein and Nicolas Fréret  reports on the French passion for cartoon books from the 35th Festival of Bande Dessinée at Angoulème.

Acquerello italiano
The next issue of Acquerello italiano, 14-01, will have a feature on the Venaria Reale, the former residence of Italy's Savoy Kings which is reopening to the public in all its splendor. We also have a feature on Italy's mommy's boys who still live at home at forty.

Puerta del Sol
In the next issue of Puerta del Sol, 14-05, we profile the new president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and we also take a trip around the chilli and food markets of Mexico.

Schau ins Land
In the next issue of Schau ins Land, 20-03, we interview three-star chef Eckart Witzigmann and we also have an interview with one of the few remaining organ builders, Friedrich Jakob, from Switzerland.

N.B. Content of future issues may be subject to change.

Featured Products

Balade en France--Now available in a new format!
	Balade en France is a tour around some of the well known and not so well-known regions of France, giving you a peek into people's lives and into the unseen sides of famous tourist attractions. Balade en France now features two audio CDs and a third disc containing mp3 files and a full PDF transcript. This 'stroll through France' will bring the country vividly to life for you. Order now.

Lexibook T200

The Lexibook T200 is a high quality French-English and English-French pocket translator based on the world renowned Collins-Robert dictionaries. With more than 90,000 translations per language, a dictionary of synonyms, a verb conjugation feature and a useful sentence function broken down into ten categories, the Lexibook T200 is as ideal for advanced French speakers looking for that elusive word as it is for those looking for help in a wide variety of situations. With a large LCD screen and a simple "on button", you're able to translate a word as soon as you think of it. Click here to order your Lexibook T200 now.

Stimmen der Zeit--Now available in a new format!

20th century German history in the words of those who created it. Stimmen der Zeit is available again in a combined audio CD and digital format and comprises archive recordings of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler, Goebbels and Göring. It also brings you up to date with the post-war "economic miracle" and has interviews with Kohl and Schröder who helped to reunite the nation. Consisting of three audio CDs and a fourth CD containing mp3s and a full PDF-format transcript, Stimmen der Zeit is an essential purchase for German speakers. Order now.

Voces de España--Order now while stocks last!

Voces de España is almost sold out, so take this opportunity to purchase this unique history of Spain in the 20th century featuring fascinating interviews with those directly involved in shaping modern Spain. Produced on three CDs and complete with a softbound book containing a word-for-word transcript, glossary and full notes, Voces de España contains recordings with such notable figures as Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, General Francisco Franco, King Juan Carlos and champion cyclist Miguel Induráin. Voces de España is an absolutely essential purchase for any student of Spanish language and culture. If you subscribe or resubscribe to Puerta del Sol you can also take advantage of the special subscriber discount, saving you $20 (£13.99, €20) off the regular cover price. Subscribe to Puerta del Sol by clicking here and take advantage of this great offer.

Drop In For Some Lively Conversation

Check out the latest hot topics of conversation among our online community of language learners. We've set out below four of the most recent posts to whet your appetite and, hopefully, to encourage you to contribute:

French Language and Culture Forum
Comprehension texts

German Language and Culture Forum
Deutsche in England

Italian Language and Culture Forum
Zucchero

Spanish Language and Culture Forum
esta, esto ese eso esa este etc...

Please join in and post to our forums if you have a burning question to do with language learning or European culture or if you think you can help. As a Celect subscriber and language-learning enthusiast, we hope you enjoy reading and contributing to our online community.

Notable Notes

The term un Grenelle de is instantly recognizable to any French person, and if you can throw it into a conversation, you will not fail to impress. The expression is used to describe any powwow where all sides to a dispute sit together and hammer out a solution. Grenelle is the name of the street in the 7th arrondissement where the Labor Ministry is situated and where, in May 1968, unions, management, and government worked out the deal that hastened the end of the student/worker protests. Basically, it was a surrender to the labor unions, who won a 25 percent increase in the minimum wage. Among those on the government team at the original Grenelle was a young Jacques Chirac. The use of Grenelle to refer to round-table discussions is an example of metonymy, where a noun stands for an associated concept, as when "White House" is shorthand for the American government.

Send us your suggestions!

Read a note that you'd like to see in Celect, or have a suggestion for the newsletter? Simply reply to this email to let us know.

Language and Culture Resources

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Based on the memoirs of Jean-Dominique Bauby, former editor of French Elle, the Diving Bell and the Butterfly was written by Bauby following a massive heart attack which at the age of 43 left him suffering from "Locked-in Syndrome." Bauby had complete control of his mental faculties, yet could only move his mouth a little, grunt and blink his left eye. To write his memoir, an alphabet was read out to Bauby and he would blink when the correct letter was read out, an obviously hugely time-consuming task. The film version of the book has already won best director and best foreign language film awards at the Golden Globes, Best director at Cannes and is now nominated for four Academy Awards®. The official websites of the film in both French and English contain trailers for what is sure to be one of the most talked about movies in 2008.

The Squashed Philosophers

Have you ever wanted to know more about philosophical thought, but don't have the time to read the works of Plato, Kant or Nietzsche? Squashed Philosophers is the website for you. The works of some of history's greatest philosophers have been condensed into easily digestible chunks using the words of the original authors. Perfect for being able to expound philosophical theories without having to do all the reading!

Fiat 500

The Fiat 500 is an enormously popular Fiat of yesteryear, but like so many classics has been given a make over for modern times. Famed for being cheap, small and reliable, the 500 is a design classic and the new model was launched on July 4th 2007, exactly 50 years after the original. Like the new Mini it is customizable with almost a million different variations available and has already sold out in most of the countries where is has been launched. Check out the website and design your own version – though US subscribers should be warned that it's not anticipated to be available in the USA until 2010. Get on the waiting list now!