Hello and welcome to English with Languissimo®, the podcast in English where I share stories of my week with you.
My name is Vanessa. I’m the founder and CEO of Languissimo®.
Let’s go!
The Voice of Women (La voix des femmes)
March 8 is a special day as we celebrate International Women’s Day.
I remember the first time I discovered that celebration.
It was 2001. I was in Italy to compete in a ski race in preparation for the Olympic Games and the people from the hotel I was staying in gave me a small bouquet of flowers.
International Women’s Day is the day we recognize and celebrate women’s and girls’ social, economic, cultural, and political achievements worldwide.
It is a time to raise awareness of the progress made towards achieving gender equality and the work remaining to be done.
Women play an important part in our society but, unfortunately, their contribution is not recognized enough.
Women are too often victims of domestic, religious and/or cultural violence whether it be physical, verbal, sexual, psychological, or mental.
It’s criminal not to treat every human being with respect and dignity.
Without women, no one would be here. We owe our life to them.
Shame on those who abuse and hurt them.
Congratulations on women who survive such abuse and who take a stand against these unacceptable and coward actions.
Like Martin Luther King, I dream of a day when we will all live together in harmony and where everybody will accept other people’s differences no matter their race, gender, colour of skin, sexual orientation, beliefs, disorder, etc.
So many women fight alone behind closed doors and in silence.
That’s why today I’m raising my voice to tell women to keep fighting and not to give up.
We must all raise our voice against any discriminatory and violent acts made against women and girls on a day-to-day basis.
My dream and that of Martin Luther King’s must come true.
Let’s love one another and let’s open our hearts to tolerance and differences.
To all the women who are listening to today’s podcast, I take my hat off to you for fighting every day in your life.
I want to tell you this: stay strong (even if it seems impossible at times) and brave.
You’ll make it!
Hang in there.
I wish you a great Women’s Day! You are Fabulous!
Wherever you are, know that you are not alone, and that God is watching over you.
God bless you!
Some Study Points
- Pay attention to the possession in “women’s” and “girls’”. Even though “women” is the plural of “woman”, it is not considered as a plural as such. Therefore, we add “’s” after “women”: “women’s”. “Girls” is the plural of “girl” and ends with an “s”. Therefore, we add an apostrophe to the “s”: “girls’”.
- “To raise awareness” means “sensibiliser”.
- “To remain” means “rester”.
- “Domestic violence” means “la violence conjugale”.
- “Whether it be” means “que ce soit”.
- “To owe” means “devoir”. You usually “owe money, respect”.
- “Shame on those” means “honte à ceux”.
- “To abuse” means “maltraiter”. The noun “abuse” is “la maltraitance”.
- “To take a stand” means “dénoncer”.
- “No matter” means “peu importe”.
- “Disorder” means “un trouble”.
- “So many” means “tant de”.
- “To raise one’s voice” means “lever la voix”.
- “On a day-to-day basis” means “au quotidien”.
- “Let’s + verb without to” is the abbreviation of “let us + verb without to”. It is the imperative in the “we” form. Example: “Let’s love one another” = let us love one another (aimons-nous les uns les autres).
- “To take one’s hat off to someone” means “tirer son chapeau à quelqu’un”.
- “God is watching over you” means “Dieu veille sur vous.”
Some Practice Questions
- If you are a woman, what is your daily fight?
- Do you remember your first Women’s Day celebration?
Tada! That’s it for today! I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Subscribe to English with Languissimo®, practice, take care and have a great weekend! Big hugs 😊