French language Q&A Forum

I do not understand why "Sams does Aikido" is translated as "Sam fait de l'aïkido.".  The lesson says that in front of masculine nouns that de le and les will contract to du and des.  Why is this not "Sam fait du aïkido"?  

Thank you.

In the case of "She's not joking. She's saying it seriously.", what is "it"? Where is the idea that "it" is replacing? "She's saying she's not joking seriously"? Or is it "She's saying it's not a joke, seriously"?

I understand that I have to use "le" here as the lesson is about replacing an idea, but the idea seems so disconnected that I can't nail down what "le" represents, or why "en" would not be just as valid. 

J'habite en Californie et ma banque est à Tahiti. Donc, je dois faire les opérations bancaire enligne. C'est difficile parce que je ne comprends pas le vocabulaire bancaire de base en français. Où puis-je trouver le vocabulaire bancaire en français ?

I am having great difficulty with this despite various peoples attempt to explain. Could someone give a few more examples in English, just breaking the sentence down and showing how you understand which is the subject and which is the object. Thank you!

In English we do not say they kissed themselves. I see this has been discussed before. It is an incorrect translation

The text above says "different than" - this is an Americanism.  In British English it should read "different from", or (less favoured) "different to."  However the words are spelt in British English.  I am nitpicking, but isn't this par for the course?!