Intro
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Eric: Using Descriptions to Play "I Spy" in French. |
Virginie: So what are we looking at in this lesson? |
Eric: Well, Rob is at that wine tasting with Cathy. She asked him about his home. |
Virginie: Oh, yes. Shall we listen to the conversation? |
Eric: Let's do it. |
Lesson conversation
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Rob: Giulia, tu as un téléphone portable? |
Giulia: Oui. |
Giulia: Non…non… |
Rob: (rires) Qu’est-ce que tu as dans ton sac? |
Giulia: J’ai…un portefeuille, un stylo, un paquet de Kleenex… |
Rob: (rires) Et un téléphone portable? |
Giulia: Ah! Voilà! |
Eric: One more time with the translation. |
Cathy: Donc, tu viens d’où, Rob? |
Virginie: So, where do you come from, Rob? |
Rob: Je viens de Chicago. |
Eric: I come from Chicago. |
Cathy: Qu’est-ce qu’il y a à Chicago? |
Virginie: What’s in Chicago? |
Rob: Il y a … des immeubles!!! |
Eric: There are… buildings! |
Cathy: Il y a aussi les fameux hot dogs! |
Virginie: There are the much talked about hot dogs too! |
Rob: Oui! Les fameux hot dogs et les fameux bandits! |
Eric: Yes! The much talked about hot dogs and the much talked about gangsters too! |
Cathy: Al Capone…Ah, l’Amérique… |
Virginie: Al Capone…Oh, America! |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Eric: I love how French people say Hot dogs. |
Virginie: Yes. You know, if you translated it literally it would be chien chaud |
Eric: I've heard that they say that in Quebec actually, they say chien chaud. |
Virginie: That's true, that's Quebec French. |
Eric: So Rob is from Chicago. |
Virginie: Yes, it always sounds very dangerous to French ears, Chicago. |
Eric: Really? Do you guys associate it with gangsters? |
Virginie: Yes, exactly. |
Eric: I guess it conjures up with the 1920 Chicago. |
Virginie: Yes, the prohibition, the gangster, the mafia. |
Eric: Interesting, okay. But French has its own gangsters too, right. |
Virginie: Yes, we have our own gangster. For example in the 60s and 70s there was that one man called Jacques Mesrine. |
Eric: Jacques Mesrine? |
Virginie: Yes he was French Public Ennemy #1. |
Eric: Was he a murderer? |
Virginie: No, he was more of a professional robber. He robbed banks. |
Eric: If you want to hear a little bit more about him, you can go to our lesson notes. |
Virginie: Yes there is a good summary of who he was in the cultural insight. |
VOCAB LIST |
Eric: But for now, let's take a closer look at the vocabulary. |
Virginie: Okay First, Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [natural native speed] |
Eric: What. |
Virginie: Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [natural native speed] |
Eric: Next. |
Virginie: Il y a [natural native speed] |
Eric: There is, there are and also ago. |
Virginie: Il y a [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Il y a [natural native speed] |
Eric: And then. |
Virginie: à + city [natural native speed] |
Eric: At, in. |
Virginie: à + city [slowly - broken down by syllable]. à + city [natural native speed] |
Eric: Next we have |
Virginie: Un immeuble [natural native speed] |
Eric: Building. |
Virginie: Un immeuble [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un immeuble [natural native speed] |
Eric: Okay. |
Virginie: Fameux [natural native speed] |
Eric: Illustrious or well-known. |
Virginie: Fameux [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Fameux [natural native speed] |
Eric: Okay. |
Virginie: Un hot-dog [natural native speed] |
Eric: A hot dog. |
Virginie: Un hot-dog [slowly - broken down by syllable], Un hot-dog [natural native speed]. Un bandit [natural native speed] |
Eric: A gangster. |
Virginie: Un bandit [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un bandit [natural native speed] |
Eric: And finally. |
Virginie: L'Amérique [natural native speed] |
Eric: America. |
Virginie: L'Amérique [slowly - broken down by syllable], L'Amérique [natural native speed] |
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
Eric: Okay. So what are we going to look at first? |
Virginie: Okay, so our first word is un bandit. |
Eric: Ah, Jacques Mesrine est un bandit. |
Virginie: Exactly, Eric Jacques Mesrine is a gangster. |
Eric: Could you also say gangster in French? |
Virginie: Yes. We actually use the English version (with the French accent) =Un Gangster. |
Eric: Wow, that sounds pretty tough. |
Virginie: I know. Stop making fun of me when I speak Frenglish Eric, please un gangster. |
Eric: It's fine. It comes from the American movies. |
Virginie: Definitely, yes. Bandit sounds more French. |
Eric: So let's talk about fameux. It sounds like famous in English. |
Virginie: Yes but it doesn't mean famous, it's a faux-ami, a fake friend, do you know that word? |
Eric: Right, a fake friend? Well what do you mean by that? |
Virginie: You know, les faux amis, fake friends, are words that sound the same in the two languages, in French and in English, but they mean different things. |
Eric: What does fameux mean exactly? |
Virginie: It means ""much talked about"", or ""notorious"", ""illustrious."" |
Eric: So how do you say ""famous"" in French? |
Virginie: It's a good question. It's celebre. For example Madonna est celebre. Madonna is famous. |
Eric: Okay I see. |
Virginie: And, another example with fameux is ""le fameux vin de Californie."" |
Eric: The much talked about or the well known California wine. |
Virginie: Exactly. |
Eric: One last word I would like to mention is Aussi. |
Virginie: Moi aussi! Me too. |
Eric: Aussi means too or also. |
Virginie: Oui. Cathy gets excited and says ""il y a aussi les fameux hot-dogs!"" |
Eric: There are the famous hot dogs too! |
Virginie: And usually aussi is placed right after the verb in French. |
Eric: An example Virginie? |
Virginie: Je suis professeur de francais. Je suis aussi actrice. |
Eric: I am a French teacher. I am also an actress. So remember, aussi means too and aslo. |
Lesson focus
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Virginie: What's our grammar point today, Eric? |
Eric: We're going to be describing the things around you. |
Virginie: Yes, that can be useful. Rob says that in Chicago Il y a … des immeubles"" |
Eric: Which means there are buildings. |
Virginie: Let's break it down. First we have Il y a. Let me spell it out for you it's Il y a. |
Eric: And that's there is, or there are. |
Virginie: Right after it, we have ""des immeubles."" |
Eric: ""Buildings"". |
Virginie: Once again, it's Il y a des immeubles. What's new here is the little word ""des."" |
Eric: Des, that's the indefinite plural article. |
Virginie: Right. Rob is describing what there is in Chicago among other things. |
Eric: So he uses an indefinite article, like he would say a building or a street. |
Virginie: Yes. Only it's plus, so it's des, DES, the indefinite article. |
Eric: Now, when Cathy mentioned the hot dogs, she uses the definite plural article. |
Virginie: Yes she says ""il y a les fameux hot dogs."" |
Eric: There are the well-known hot dogs. |
Virginie: Les is the definite plus, actually it's LES. |
Eric: And of course Chicago has special hot dogs. |
Virginie: Yes, they are unique. That's why Cathy uses the definite article. |
Eric: LES hot dogs de Chicago. |
Virginie: Okay, a quick recap here because it's a little tricky. Il y a. |
Eric: There are. |
Virginie: Des immeubles |
Eric: Buildings. |
Virginie: Il y a |
Eric: There are. |
Virginie: Les fameux hot dogs |
Eric: The well-known hot dogs. |
Outro
|
Eric: Okay, great. Well that just about does it for today. |
Virginie: Thank you for listening. Au revoir. |
Eric: Thank you. Bye. |
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