China Syndrome

The next issue of our French audio magazine has just been published. Issue 24-08 of Champs-Elysées has been printed and is shipping to subscribers.

Champs-Elysées 24-08 Issue Contents
The next issue of Champs-Elysées 24-08 kicks-off with a lively feature on Sarkozy's recent trip to China. Bernard Poirette explains the background to the president's mission to China as super sales rep for French industry. Moving from big changes on the world stage to equally significant changes at home, in the following feature Jean-François Johann charts the gradual process of French legislation toward a total ban on smoking in public places. Since January 1, smokers have been banished to the pavement outside their favorite bistros. We continue our coverage of social issues in Gaëlle Alléhaux's fascinating piece on the Restos du Coeur soup kitchens. She talks to customers and volunteer helpers at the organization started 20 years ago by the much missed French comedian Coluche. Turning to the arts, Nicolas Fréret reports on the 35th annual Bande Dessinée festival at Angoulême. The experts he talks to find the French genre in good health and agree that the native version is open to foreign influence (notably from the U.S. and Japan). Other highlights of 24-08 include Evelyne Pagès's interview with Robert Hossein, legendary French film actor, theatre director and creator of historical epics. After Julius Caesar, General de Gaulle, Bonaparte and Ben Hur, Hossein has now directed his creative energies to a life of his fellow Slav, the man who was Pope John-Paul II. Lastly, don't miss Jean-Sébastien Petitdemange's quirky feature on why the French eat pancakes in February. We learn how they are made, why they are round, that the tradition dates back to an ancient Roman festival of light, and that Bretons like to toss one on to the top of their high wardrobes! Issue 24-08 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.

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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, 24-09, Evelyne Pagès interviews Roselyne Bachelot, Ministre de la Santé and Gaêlle Allehaux reports on the Moulin Rouge and the current state of the French Can-can.

Acquerello italiano
The next issue of Acquerello italiano, 14-01, will have an interview with well-known Italian entertainer Renzo Arbore and a report on the famous pastry shops of Turin.

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, 20-04, we interview well-known actor and producer, Michael "Bully" Herbig and we have an entertaining report from Bavaria on the history of the Lederhosen.

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

Featured Products

BBC Language Courses

Learn a new language with BBC active courses. Backed up by regularly repeated programs on the BBC learning zone for those in the UK or available on the internet for learners outside the UK, BBC active language courses are one of the best ways of learning a new language from scratch. Each in-depth course uses authentic dialogue so your language develops the way it is actually spoken, and the course contains information on local culture and customs. Champs-Elysées are proud to be able to bring you the following courses:

BBC French Experience	BBC Sueños World Spanish	Italianissimo	Deutsch Plus

French Audiobooks

Our French audiobook collection contains something for everyone! Modern classics like L'Étranger and La Gloire De Mon Père read by their authors, a series of fables and nursery rhymes and the beautifully presented Limited Edition Jacques Brel box set rest alongside Voltaire's Candide and Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo. Order your favorite today!

Jacques Brel Limited Edition box set – Jacques Brel	L'Étranger – Albert Camus	La Gloire de mon père – Marcel Pagnol	Le Château de Ma Mère – Marcel Pagnol	Les fables de La Fontaine Vol. 1 – La Fontaine
100 Ans – Jacques Prévert	50 Chansons et Comptines de France Vol 1 – Various Artists	Le Comte de Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas	Candide ou L'Optimiste – Voltaire	Thérèse Raquin – Emile Zola

Magnetic Poetry Kits

Create your own poetic masterpieces in another language whilst washing the dishes! Magnetic Poetry is a firmly established favorite in our shop, and is available in many different languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. Each kit uses words selected by native speakers to bring out the beauty of the language and enable your inner poet to be fully expressed on your fridge door! Order online today.

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
Recommendations for German self-study courses?

Italian Language and Culture Forum
Best Italian dictionary for Palm Pilot

Spanish Language and Culture Forum
Use of Dentro

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 Smurfs, or Schtroumpfs, were invented in 1958 by the half-English Belgian artist Pierre Culliford (1928–92), who went by the pen name Peyo. Originally they were incidental characters in another cartoon strip, Johan et Pirlouit, which appeared in the long-running comic magazine Spirou (founded in 1938, it still exists). Responding to popular demand, Peyo developed the blue-skinned tribe of midgets into a storybook of their own and so began the phenomenon that remains Belgium's best known cultural export. The Smurfs have been translated into 30 languages; their PVC figurines are collectors' items; there have been films and television series; and in 1977 the Dutch singer Father Abraham (alias Pierre Kartner) had an international number-one hit with the insufferable "Smurf Song."

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Language and Culture Resources

How German is American?

How German is American is a booklet produced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows how much German culture is ensconced in America. With 15.2% of Americans identifying themselves as having German ancestry, German-Americans are a larger group than Irish-Americans, English-Americans or African-Americans. Huge contributions have been made by this ethnic group to American culture and some well known and less well known examples are given in this absolutely fascinating resource.

Social networks around the world

French newspaper Le Monde takes a look at social networks around the world, showing that while MySpace rules in the United States and Australia, Facebook is king in the UK and Canada. Interestingly, the most popular social network in France is skyblog which has not got a large worldwide presence according to the data from Le Monde. Naturally Champs-Elysées have a Facebook page and a Myspace page – to become our friends, go to Facebook here, or MySpace, here.

La Vie En Rose

With Marion Cotillard having just won the Oscar for best actress at the 2008 Academy Awards, becoming the first winner of an Academy Award for a performance in French, interest in this film has increased. The official La vie En Rose site contains a synopsis, trailers, downloads and ecards and the film can be bought from amazon.com in the United States or amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom.