Learn how to complain in everyday situations
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maryssa: A Frustrating Situation in France. Maryssa Here. |
| Laurent: Bonjour, I'm Laurent. |
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn about making a complaint. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Laurent: It's between Thomas and Laurène. |
| Maryssa: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak formal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Thomas: Je suis désolé de vous embêter mais il y a un souci, nous n'avons toujours pas reçu notre commande de papeterie. |
| Laurène: Ce n'est pas vrai ?! Mais tu as passé la commande il y a deux mois au moins ! |
| Thomas: C'est vrai. J'ai appelé le service après-vente. Ils ont enregistré ma demande et doivent me recontacter. |
| Laurène: Tu as bien fait. Envoie leur un mail pour avoir une trace écrite et te plaindre. Nous avons besoin de cette commande ! |
| Thomas: C'est si embêtant ? |
| Laurène: Oui. Nous n'avons presque plus de papier d'impression ni d'enveloppe. |
| Thomas: Je vais voir si le service informatique a un peu plus de stock pour nous dépanner. |
| Laurène: Bonne idée ! |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Thomas: Je suis désolé de vous embêter mais il y a un souci, nous n'avons toujours pas reçu notre commande de papeterie. |
| Laurène: Ce n'est pas vrai ?! Mais tu as passé la commande il y a deux mois au moins ! |
| Thomas: C'est vrai. J'ai appelé le service après-vente. Ils ont enregistré ma demande et doivent me recontacter. |
| Laurène: Tu as bien fait. Envoie leur un mail pour avoir une trace écrite et te plaindre. Nous avons besoin de cette commande ! |
| Thomas: C'est si embêtant ? |
| Laurène: Oui. Nous n'avons presque plus de papier d'impression ni d'enveloppe. |
| Thomas: Je vais voir si le service informatique a un peu plus de stock pour nous dépanner. |
| Laurène: Bonne idée ! |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Thomas: I'm sorry to bother you but there is a problem, we still haven't received our stationery order. |
| Laurène: This can't be true! But you ordered it at least two months ago! |
| Thomas: That is true. I called the after-sales service. They have registered my request and will call me back. |
| Laurène: You did well. Send them an email to have a written record and to make a complaint. We need this order! |
| Thomas: Is it so annoying? |
| Laurène: Yes. We are short of printing paper and envelopes. |
| Thomas: I will see if the IT department has a little more stock to help us out. |
| Laurène: Good idea! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maryssa: In this lesson’s conversation, Thomas had a problem with an order. |
| Laurent: Yes, problems can happen a lot in business. |
| Maryssa: It seems that he tried to resolve it himself first. |
| Laurent: He did call the after-sales service, and logged a request. |
| Maryssa: Is that the right thing to do, first? |
| Laurent: It’s important in French companies to show that you can handle difficult situations. |
| Maryssa: So you should try to resolve things yourself? |
| Laurent: At first, yes. Then you can ask your superior or co-workers. |
| Maryssa: Which is what Thomas did. |
| Laurent: Yeah, he told Laurène and received some advice. |
| Maryssa: How can you ask someone to help you? |
| Laurent: You can say Pouvez-vous m'aider s'il vous plaît? |
| Maryssa: This means "Could you help me please?" Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laurent: commande [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "order" |
| Laurent: commande [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: commande [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: souci [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "worry" |
| Laurent: souci [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: souci [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: papeterie [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "stationary" |
| Laurent: papeterie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: papeterie [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: faire [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "to do, to make" |
| Laurent: faire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: faire [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: idée [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "idea" |
| Laurent: idée [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: idée [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: service après-vente [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "after sale department" |
| Laurent: service après-vente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: service après-vente [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: papier d'impression [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "print paper" |
| Laurent: papier d'impression [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: papier d'impression [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: enveloppe [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "envelope" |
| Laurent: enveloppe [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: enveloppe [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: stock [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "stock" |
| Laurent: stock [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: stock [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: And last... |
| Laurent: déppaner [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: "to help out" |
| Laurent: déppaner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: déppaner [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: tu as bien fait |
| Maryssa: meaning "you did well." |
| Maryssa: This is a phrase in the past tense. |
| Laurent: Yes, the passé composé. |
| Maryssa: This is one of the more common past tense phrases. |
| Laurent: You can translate it to English in the present perfect or simple past. |
| Maryssa: You can use this phrase to congratulate someone. |
| Laurent: The opposite is tu as mal fait |
| Maryssa: "You did something wrong." Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... Tu as bien fait de m'appeler. |
| Maryssa: ...which means "You did well by calling me." |
| Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laurent: c'est une bonne idée |
| Maryssa: meaning "it's a good idea." |
| Maryssa: This is another phrase. |
| Laurent: Bonne is the feminine adjective for bon. |
| Maryssa: This means "good." |
| Laurent: As I’m sure you know, adjectives change gender depending on what they are describing. |
| Maryssa: This is another supportive sentence. |
| Laurent: A more polite version is Je pense que c'est une bonne idée. |
| Maryssa: "I think that is a good idea." Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... Je trouve que c'est une bonne idée. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "I think it's a good idea." |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn about making a complaint. Is complaining something you hear a lot in French offices? |
| Laurent: Oh yes! French people love to complain about everything. |
| Maryssa: Let’s look at some phrases that we can use to complain. |
| Laurent: You can use the verb réclamation- "to make a complaint." J’aimerais faire une réclamation |
| Maryssa: "I would like to make a complaint." |
| Laurent: Another verb is se plaindre. |
| Maryssa: This is a reflexive verb meaning "to complain." A reflexive verb is a verb using a reflexive pronoun. Can you give us an example sentence? |
| Laurent: Arrête de te plaindre et sois positif ! |
| Maryssa: "Stop complaining and be positive!" |
| Laurent: You can also use toujours. |
| Maryssa: This means "still." You can use this adverb to show that something still hasn’t been done. |
| Laurent: For example, Il travaille toujours dessus. |
| Maryssa: "He is still working on it." |
| Laurent: Another useful phrase is au moins meaning "at least." It’s often used with the copula być. |
| Maryssa: That means "to be." Let’s hear an example sentence. |
| Laurent: J’ai passé ma commande il y a au moins un mois! |
| Maryssa: "I ordered it at least one month ago!" Next, we’ll look at some natural conversational phrases that you can use. |
| Laurent: First is Ce n'est pas vrai?! |
| Maryssa: "This can't be true!" |
| Laurent: C'est vrai. |
| Maryssa: "That is true." |
| Laurent: Mais qu’est-ce qui s’est passé? |
| Maryssa: "But what happened?" |
| Laurent: Je suis désolé d’apprendre ça. |
| Maryssa: "I’m so sorry to hear that." |
| Laurent: Je n’y crois pas ! |
| Maryssa: "I can’t believe it!" |
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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