Learn how to make business-related small talk
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maryssa: Making Small Talk in France. Maryssa Here. |
| Laurent: Bonjour, I'm Laurent. |
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn about business small talk and ordering food. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Laurent: It's between a waiter, Laurène and Johanne. |
| Maryssa: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Waiter: Bonjour, avez-vous choisi ? |
| Laurène: Oui merci. Je vais prendre la salade de saison et le plat du jour. |
| Johanne: Et moi je vais prendre une salade lyonnaise et une assiette de frites s'il vous plaît. |
| Laurène: Je suis contente de te revoir. Tout se passe bien au travail ? |
| Johanne: Tout se passe bien. Mais j'ai besoin de ton avis sur notre site internet. |
| Laurène: Bien sûr ! On mange d'abord et on en parle ensuite ? |
| Johanne: Faisons comme ça ! C'est tout bon. |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Waiter: Bonjour, avez-vous choisi ? |
| Laurène: Oui merci. Je vais prendre la salade de saison et le plat du jour. |
| Johanne: Et moi je vais prendre une salade lyonnaise et une assiette de frites s'il vous plaît. |
| Laurène: Je suis contente de te revoir. Tout se passe bien au travail ? |
| Johanne: Tout se passe bien. Mais j'ai besoin de ton avis sur notre site internet. |
| Laurène: Bien sûr ! On mange d'abord et on en parle ensuite ? |
| Johanne: Faisons comme ça ! C'est tout bon. |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Waiter: Good morning, have you made your choice? |
| Laurène: Yes, thank you. I'll take a seasonal salad and the dish of the day. |
| Johanne: And I'll take a Lyonnaise salad and a plate of fries please. |
| Laurène: It's nice to see you again. Is everything going well at work? |
| Johanne: Everything is going well. But I need your opinion about our website. |
| Laurène: Sure! First we eat and then we talk? |
| Johanne: Let's do this then! All good. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maryssa: This time, we heard a conversation at a business lunch. |
| Laurent: Yes, Laurène and Johanne were discussing work in a restaurant. |
| Maryssa: What are French business lunches like? |
| Laurent: I think that it’s quite an experience. |
| Maryssa: Why is that? |
| Laurent: French people like to take their time when they eat. We can spend hours around a table. |
| Maryssa: Do you have tips for French business dinners? |
| Laurent: It’s common for wine to be served, but try not to drink too much! |
| Maryssa: That’s a good piece of advice! At the end of the meal, how do you ask for the bill? |
| Laurent: L'addition s'il-vous -plaît. |
| Maryssa: "The bill, please." How about, "I pay the bill?" |
| Laurent: Je règle l'addition. |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laurent: choisir [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to choose |
| Laurent: choisir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: choisir [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: prendre [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to take |
| Laurent: prendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: prendre [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: salade [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: salad |
| Laurent: salade [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: salade [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: plat [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: dish |
| Laurent: plat [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: plat [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: avis [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: opinion |
| Laurent: avis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: avis [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: site internet [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: website |
| Laurent: site internet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: site internet [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: d'abord [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: first |
| Laurent: d'abord [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: d'abord [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: bon [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: good |
| Laurent: bon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: bon [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: And lastly... |
| Laurent: ensuite [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: next, then |
| Laurent: ensuite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: ensuite [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Maryssa: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Laurent: Faisons comme ça ! |
| Maryssa: meaning "Let's do this then!" |
| Maryssa: How is this phrase used? |
| Laurent: It’s used to express agreement with someone. |
| Maryssa: You’d usually hear it at the end of a discussion. |
| Laurent: It’s a common expression in French. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... C'est entendu, faisons comme ça ! |
| Maryssa: ... which means "Alright, let's do this!" |
| Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laurent: C'est tout bon. |
| Maryssa: meaning "All good." |
| Maryssa: This is an idiom. |
| Laurent: Yes, it’s used to express your agreement. |
| Maryssa: It shows that everything is good. |
| Laurent: You can add pour moi at the end of the sentence. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... C'est tout bon pour moi. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "That's fine by me." |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn about business small talk and ordering food. What phrase do you think would come in handy when making small talk in a business setting? |
| Laurent: I think, Je suis content de... |
| Maryssa: This means "I’m glad of…" or "It’s nice to…" |
| Laurent: In that phrase, content is an adjective. |
| Maryssa: It means "happy." In French, adjectives change depending on the gender and number of the noun they describe. |
| Laurent: content is used with masculine nouns. Contente is used with feminine nouns. |
| Maryssa: Let’s hear some sentence examples. |
| Laurent: Je suis content de te revoir. |
| Maryssa: "It’s nice to see you again." |
| Laurent: Je suis content que tu aies accepté mon invitation. |
| Maryssa: "I’m glad that you accepted my invitation." |
| Laurent: Je suis contente que la transaction se soit bien passée. |
| Maryssa: "I’m glad that the transaction went well." Now, let’s look at ordering food. What is the sentence pattern for this? |
| Laurent: Je vais prendre, followed by the food or drink, then s'il vous plaît. |
| Maryssa: "I’ll take," followed by the food or drink and then "please." An example, please? |
| Laurent: Je vais prendre la salade de saison et le plat du jour. |
| Maryssa: "I'll take a seasonal salad and the dish of the day." |
| Laurent: This sentence pattern uses the futur proche. |
| Maryssa: This is a tense used to talk about the near future. |
| Laurent: We use the present tense of aller and then add the infinitive. |
| Maryssa: So that’s the verb "to go" plus the infinitive. How does this work, Laurent? |
| Laurent: For example, Je vais prendre… |
| Maryssa: "I’ll have.." |
| Laurent: Tu vas prendre. |
| Maryssa: "You’ll have…" As well as "have," there are other verbs you can use. |
| Laurent: Yes, such as Je voudrais… |
| Maryssa: "I’d like…" |
| Laurent: J'aimerais… |
| Maryssa: "I’d like…" |
| Laurent: Je souhaiterais... |
| Maryssa: "I’d like…" Let’s finish with one last sentence example. |
| Laurent: Je voudrais commander à manger. |
| Maryssa: "I’d like to order food." |
Outro |
| Maryssa: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Laurent: A la prochaine! |
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