Learn to make suggestions in French
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maryssa: Making a Suggestion in French. Maryssa Here. |
| Aurore: Bonjour, I'm Aurore. |
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to give suggestions. The conversation takes place in a meeting room. |
| Aurore: It's between Laurène and Naïma. |
| Maryssa: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Laurène: Il y a des problèmes de management dans notre entreprise. |
| Naïma: Quels problèmes ? |
| Laurène: Pas assez de communication avec les employés. Et ils ne sentent pas considérés. |
| Naïma: Il faut prendre en compte leur ressenti. On pourrait peut-être organiser des petits groupes de réunion avec eux ? Voir ce qu'ils proposent ? |
| Laurène: C'est une bonne idée ! Peut-être créer une newsletter interne pour les tenir au courant ? |
| Naïma: Bonne idée également ! Il faut en parler avec le directeur. |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Laurène: Il y a des problèmes de management dans notre entreprise. |
| Naïma: Quels problèmes ? |
| Laurène: Pas assez de communication avec les employés. Et ils ne sentent pas considérés. |
| Naïma: Il faut prendre en compte leur ressenti. On pourrait peut-être organiser des petits groupes de réunion avec eux ? Voir ce qu'ils proposent ? |
| Laurène: C'est une bonne idée ! Peut-être créer une newsletter interne pour les tenir au courant ? |
| Naïma: Bonne idée également ! Il faut en parler avec le directeur. |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Laurène: There are management issues inside our company. |
| Naïma: Which problems? |
| Laurène: Communication with the employees is not enough. And they don't feel considered. |
| Naïma: We have to take into consideration their perception. Maybe we could organize small meetings with them? See what they suggest? |
| Laurène: That's a good idea! Maybe we could create an internal newsletter in order to keep them informed? |
| Naïma: That's also a good idea! We have to talk about it with our director. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maryssa: It’s important to ensure that employees feel as if they are being listened to. |
| Aurore: I agree. Nobody likes to be out of the loop. |
| Maryssa: What is the procedure for finding a job with a French company? |
| Aurore: You should thoroughly check the job advert first. |
| Maryssa: That way, you’ll know what they’re looking for. |
| Aurore: You’ll need to send a cover letter and a CV. Usually you don’t need to send a manuscript letter anymore. |
| Maryssa: Make sure that your CV and cover letter stand out, and aren’t just generic, or the same as everyone else’s. |
| Aurore: Finding a job in France isn’t easy. |
| Maryssa: We spoke before about the difficulties of getting a permanent job. |
| Aurore: The unemployment rate in France is quite high, too. |
| Maryssa: Would speaking English give an advantage? |
| Aurore: If you can speak English and French, that would be a great advantage! |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Aurore: management [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "management" |
| Aurore: management [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: management [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Aurore: il y a [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "there is" |
| Aurore: il y a [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: il y a [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Aurore: communication [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "communication" |
| Aurore: communication [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: communication [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Aurore: considéré [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "considered" |
| Aurore: considéré [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: considéré [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Aurore: prendre en compte [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "to take into consideration" |
| Aurore: prendre en compte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: prendre en compte [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Aurore: ressenti [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "perception" |
| Aurore: ressenti [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: ressenti [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Aurore: newsletter [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "newsletter" |
| Aurore: newsletter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: newsletter [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: And last... |
| Aurore: interne [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "internal" |
| Aurore: interne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Aurore: interne [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... |
| Aurore: prendre en compte |
| Maryssa: meaning "to take into consideration." |
| Maryssa: This is a verbal locution. |
| Aurore: It might sound formal as it isn’t used in everyday speech. |
| Maryssa: You’ll sound very professional if you use it at work, though! |
| Aurore: Tenir compte de is a similar expression to prendre en compte. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Aurore: Sure. For example, you can say... Il faut prendre en compte les nouveaux chiffres de cette année. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "The new figures for this year must be taken into account." |
| Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Aurore: ressenti |
| Maryssa: meaning "perception." |
| Maryssa: This is a masculine word. |
| Aurore: Don’t confuse it with j'ai ressenti. |
| Maryssa: "I felt." This is the past participle of "to feel." |
| Aurore: It comes from ressentir. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Aurore: Sure. For example, you can say... J'ai ressenti son ressenti. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "I felt his feelings." |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn about giving suggestions. To make a suggestion in French, the French conditional is the perfect tense to use. |
| Aurore: This is because it describes events that are not guaranteed to occur. |
| Maryssa: It’s very similar to English conditionals. |
| Aurore: A good verb to use is pouvoir. |
| Maryssa: This is "can." You can use it in conditional, or past tense. |
| Aurore: For example, Peut-être créer une newsletter interne pour les tenir au courant? |
| Maryssa: "Maybe we could create an internal newsletter in order to keep them informed?" |
| Aurore: Peut-être is often used with suggestions. |
| Maryssa: It means "maybe." You can use it to show that your idea is a possibility, but not one you’re 100% sure about. Let’s look at some other verbs that might be useful. |
| Aurore: conseiller |
| Maryssa: "to advise" |
| Aurore: prier, supplier |
| Maryssa: "to beg" |
| Aurore: donner l'ordre de |
| Maryssa: "to command" |
| Aurore: encourager |
| Maryssa: "to encourage" |
| Aurore: interdire |
| Maryssa: "to forbid" |
| Aurore: Inviter |
| Maryssa: "to invite" |
| Aurore: ordonner |
| Maryssa: "to order" |
| Aurore: inciter à |
| Maryssa: "to urge" |
| Aurore: avertir |
| Maryssa: "to warn." If you want suggestions from your colleagues, you need to tell them that there is a problem or issue that needs addressing. Here are a couple of phrases that you can use for this: |
| Aurore: J’ai remarqué que… |
| Maryssa: "I have noticed that…" |
| Aurore: Il y a un problème. |
| Maryssa: "There is a problem." Let’s finish with an example sentence. |
| Aurore: J’ai remarqué que la photocopieuse imprime mal. |
| Maryssa: "I noticed that the photocopier prints badly." |
Outro |
| Maryssa: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Aurore: A la prochaine! |
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