Learn how to ask for help in a business setting
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maryssa: Asking for Help in a Difficult Business Situation. Maryssa Here. |
| Laurent: Bonjour, I'm Laurent. |
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for help in an office. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Laurent: It's between Thomas and Laurène. |
| Maryssa: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Thomas: Excusez-moi de vous embêter mais je n'arrive pas à utiliser la photocopieuse. Pourriez-vous m'aider ? |
| Laurène: Bien sûr. Quel est le problème ? |
| Thomas: J'ai besoin de photocopier cette image au format A3 et en couleurs. Mais je n'ai pas réussi. |
| Laurène: Pas de souci je vais te montrer comment faire. |
| Laurène: C'est bon tu as compris ? |
| Thomas: C'est tout bon merci. Désolé de vous avoir embêté. |
| Laurène: Mais pas du tout, tu as eu raison de demander. |
| Thomas: Merci beaucoup |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Thomas: Excusez-moi de vous embêter mais je n'arrive pas à utiliser la photocopieuse. Pourriez-vous m'aider ? |
| Laurène: Bien sûr. Quel est le problème ? |
| Thomas: J'ai besoin de photocopier cette image au format A3 et en couleurs. Mais je n'ai pas réussi. |
| Laurène: Pas de souci je vais te montrer comment faire. |
| Laurène: C'est bon tu as compris ? |
| Thomas: C'est tout bon merci. Désolé de vous avoir embêté. |
| Laurène: Mais pas du tout, tu as eu raison de demander. |
| Thomas: Merci beaucoup |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Thomas: I'm sorry for bothering you, but I'm unable to use the copy machine. Could you help me? |
| Laurène: Sure. What's the problem? |
| Thomas: I need to photocopy this image in A3 format and in color. But I couldn't manage to. |
| Laurène: No problem, I'll show you how to do it. |
| Laurène: It's alright, you got it? |
| Thomas: All good, thank you. Sorry to have bothered you. |
| Laurène: Not at all. It's good to ask. |
| Thomas: Thank you very much. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maryssa: I think most of us that have worked in an office have had problems with the printer at one point. |
| Laurent: That’s true! Printers, photocopiers… They’re always difficult to use. |
| Maryssa: It’s not a surprise that Thomas had to ask for help. |
| Laurent: And Laurène was glad to help, too. |
| Maryssa: Is it okay to ask your colleagues for help all of the time? |
| Laurent: Not really. You should try and find the answer yourself, first. |
| Maryssa: Right. If there is some information that you can check, do that. |
| Laurent: Otherwise you’re just wasting your colleagues’ time. |
| Maryssa: If you do try to answer your questions on your own but can’t, how should you approach a colleague? |
| Laurent: Concentrate on what is troubling you, and isolate a few priority questions. |
| Maryssa: This way you can be quick and to the point. How can you ask your colleague for help? |
| Laurent: You can check if they’re available by saying Puis-je te poser quelques questions concernant mon travail? |
| Maryssa: "May I ask you some questions about my job?" Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laurent: désolé [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: sorry |
| Laurent: désolé [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: désolé [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: photocopieuse [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: copy machine |
| Laurent: photocopieuse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: photocopieuse [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: aider [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to help |
| Laurent: aider [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: aider [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: réussir [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to succeed, to accomplish |
| Laurent: réussir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: réussir [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: montrer [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to show |
| Laurent: montrer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: montrer [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: embêter [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to bother |
| Laurent: embêter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: embêter [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: pas du tout [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: not at all |
| Laurent: pas du tout [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: pas du tout [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: raison [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: reason |
| Laurent: raison [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: raison [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: demander [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to ask |
| Laurent: demander [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: demander [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: And last... |
| Laurent: couleur [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: color |
| Laurent: couleur [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: couleur [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 word is... |
| Laurent: en couleurs |
| Maryssa: meaning "in color" |
| Maryssa: This is an adverbial phrase. |
| Laurent: It’s used as an adjective. |
| Maryssa: You might notice that it’s in plural form. |
| Laurent: Yes, couleurs is plural and it has to be plural in this phrase. |
| Maryssa: It refers to many colors, not just one color. |
| Laurent: And that’s why it’s plural. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... C'est le premier film en couleurs. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "This is the first color movie." |
| Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laurent: réussir |
| Maryssa: meaning "to succeed, to accomplish" |
| Maryssa: All French verbs can be split into one of three groups. |
| Laurent: Réussir is a second group verb. |
| Maryssa: All of the verbs in this group have the same ending. |
| Laurent: Yes, it’s -ir. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... Je n’ai pas bien réussi le test. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "I didn’t do well on the test." |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask for help in an office. We’ll start by looking at serious situations where you might need help or assistance. |
| Laurent: If it is serious or dangerous, you don’t need to worry about being polite. |
| Maryssa: You can just quickly shout out a warning, or shout for help. These phrases will be helpful outside of the office, too. |
| Laurent: Right. For example, Au feu ! |
| Maryssa: "Fire!" |
| Laurent: Appelez le SAMU ! |
| Maryssa: "Call an ambulance!" |
| Laurent: A l’aide ! |
| Maryssa: "Help me!" |
| Laurent: Allez-vous en ! |
| Maryssa: "Get out of the way!" |
| Laurent: Soyez prudent ! |
| Maryssa: "Be careful!" |
| Laurent: Attention ! |
| Maryssa: "Watch out!" Now, if it isn’t a dangerous situation, you should be polite when trying to get someone’s attention. What can we say in a non-dangerous situation? |
| Laurent: You can say something like Excusez-moi de vous embêter mais… |
| Maryssa: "I'm sorry for bothering you but…" |
| Laurent: Another example is Je suis désolé de vous déranger, mais... |
| Maryssa: "I’m sorry to interrupt, but…" You can then follow this "but" with why you are interrupting. For example… |
| Laurent: Je dois vous parler |
| Maryssa: "I need to talk to you." or |
| Laurent: Il s’est passé quelque chose |
| Maryssa: "Something has come up." Once you have someone’s attention, you can ask them for help. |
| Laurent: The easiest way is to say Pourriez-vous m'aider? |
| Maryssa: "Could you help me?" You can change this sentence to say what you want help with. |
| Laurent: The pattern is Pourriez-vous, verbe à l'infinitif, s'il vous plaît? |
| Maryssa: That is "Could you," plus a verb in infinitive form, followed by "please." |
| Laurent: For example, Pourriez-vous me donner cette boîte s'il vous plaît ? |
| Maryssa: "Could you give me this box, please?" |
| Laurent: Pourriez-vous répondre dès que possible s'il vous plaît ? |
| Maryssa: "Could you reply as soon as possible, please?" |
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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