Learn to speak impressive conversational French
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous! |
| Eric: Where Did You Learn to Speak French Like That? |
| Virginie: In this lesson, our character Joe talks on Skype at 5:30 PM on a Saturday night with his French tutor Cecile. |
| Eric: This conversation is between Joe and his French tutor Cecile. |
| Virginie: Our speakers will speak formally. |
| Eric: Let’s have a listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Joe : Bonjour Cécile, comment allez-vous ? |
| Cécile : Je vais bien. Et vous ? Comment ça va ? |
| Joe : Ça va bien ! |
| Cécile : Oh, au fait. Demain, est-ce que c'est bien dimanche ? |
| Joe : Oui, demain c'est dimanche. |
| Cécile : C'est super ! Bon voyage alors ! |
| Joe : Merci Cécile ! À bientôt ! |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Joe : Bonjour Cécile, comment allez-vous ? |
| Cécile : Je vais bien. Et vous ? Comment ça va ? |
| Joe : Ça va bien ! |
| Cécile : Oh, au fait. Demain, est-ce que c'est bien dimanche ? |
| Joe : Oui, demain c'est dimanche. |
| Cécile : C'est super ! Bon voyage alors ! |
| Joe : Merci Cécile ! À bientôt ! |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Joe : Bonjour Cécile, comment allez-vous ? |
| Eric: Hello Cécile, how are you? |
| Cécile : Je vais bien. Et vous ? Comment ça va ? |
| Eric: I'm fine. And you? How are you? |
| Joe : Ça va bien ! |
| Eric: I'm well! |
| Cécile : Oh, au fait. Demain, est-ce que c'est bien dimanche ? |
| Eric: Oh, by the way. Is tomorrow Sunday? |
| Joe : Oui, demain c'est dimanche. |
| Eric: Yes, tomorrow is Sunday. |
| Cécile : C'est super ! Bon voyage alors ! |
| Eric: That's great! Have a nice trip! |
| Joe : Merci Cécile ! À bientôt ! |
| Eric: Thank you, Cécile! See you soon! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: So Joe and Cecile use vous to talk to each other? |
| Virginie: Oui, they do. Vous is the formal you in French. |
| Eric: Do teachers always use vous with their students. |
| Virginie: Yes, they do. It's a mark of respect. |
| Eric: And it keeps distance. |
| Virginie: Oui. In elementary school, you can say tu though. |
| Eric: Tu is the informal you in French. So little kids can say tu to their teachers. |
| Virginie: Yes, they say tu. And do you know how we call our elementary school female teachers in France? |
| Eric: No. |
| Virginie: We call them "maitresse". That can also mean "lover" |
| Eric: Interesting... I guess in another context. And what about a male elementary school teacher? |
| Virginie: We say Maitre. Maitre and Maitresse. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Virginie: bien [natural native speed] |
| Eric: well, good |
| Virginie: bien [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: bien [natural native speed] |
| Eric: The next one |
| Virginie: vous [natural native speed] |
| Eric: you (formal) |
| Virginie: vous [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vous [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: comment [natural native speed] |
| Eric: how |
| Virginie: comment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: comment [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Ok |
| Virginie: super [natural native speed] |
| Eric: great |
| Virginie: super [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: super [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Suivant |
| Virginie: oui [natural native speed] |
| Eric: yes |
| Virginie: oui [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: oui [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: demain [natural native speed] |
| Eric: tomorrow |
| Virginie: demain [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: demain [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Suivant, the next one. |
| Virginie: bon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: good |
| Virginie: bon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: bon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: au fait [natural native speed] |
| Eric: by the way |
| Virginie: au fait [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: au fait [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Ok |
| Virginie: Et vous? [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And you? |
| Virginie: Et vous? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Et vous? [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: Je vais bien. [natural native speed] |
| Eric: I'm well. |
| Virginie: Je vais bien. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Je vais bien. [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Ok |
| Virginie: Bon voyage! [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Have a nice trip! |
| Virginie: Bon voyage! [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Bon voyage! [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Ok |
| Virginie: à bientôt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: See you soon. |
| Virginie: à bientôt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: à bientôt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: le suivant |
| Virginie: lundi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Monday |
| Virginie: lundi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: lundi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: le suivant |
| Virginie: mardi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Tuesday |
| Virginie: mardi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: mardi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: mercredi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Wednesday |
| Virginie: mercredi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: mercredi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: The next day of the week |
| Virginie: jeudi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Thursday |
| Virginie: jeudi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: jeudi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: vendredi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Friday |
| Virginie: vendredi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vendredi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next |
| Virginie: samedi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Friday |
| Virginie: samedi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: samedi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And finally |
| Virginie: dimanche [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Sunday |
| Virginie: dimanche [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: dimanche [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Virginie: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| Eric: First of all I love that Cecile says "super" with her French accent. |
| Virginie: Oh yes we say super a lot. |
| Eric: C'est super! That's great! |
| Virginie: We also say "cool" a lot. C'est cool. |
| Eric: These are easy words to remember! |
| Virginie: English is sneaking into the French language! |
| Eric: Ok now what about the word Demain? |
| Virginie: Demain means tomorrow. Slowly- demain |
| Eric: OK. And to say see you tomorrow what would you say? |
| Virginie: You would say "a demain!" |
| Eric: So you just add the preposition a right before demain. |
| Virginie: Exactly. And to say see you soon |
| Eric: Which actually Joe in our dialogue says |
| Virginie: You will say "a bientot!" . One more time slowly. |
| Eric: Same thing as "a demain". The preposition "a" is placed right before the word "bientot". |
| Virginie: And once again it's a bientot. |
Lesson focus |
| Virginie: So the focus of this lesson is basic greetings with the verb aller "to go", |
| Eric: Yes that's the basics as to show your interest in the person you're greeting. |
| Virgniie: There are of course plenty of ways to say How are you? |
| Eric: Today we'll look at two phrases, "comment ca va?" and comment allez-vous? |
| Virginie: the first one, comment ca va literally means "how is it going? |
| Eric: It is (slowly) comment - |
| Virginie: And that's how |
| Eric: (slowly) ca va? |
| Virginie: and that's is it going? Comment ca va? |
| Eric: And this can be used with anyone in any situation, formal and informal |
| Virginie: Now our second phrase is "comment allez-vous? |
| Eric: And that means "how are you? |
| Virginie: Just like comment ca va it uses the verb aller, to go. |
| Eric: The first word is again, comment |
| Virgniie: And then allez is go and vous is the formal you |
| Eric: Literally - How go you? |
| Virginie: Comment allez-vous? |
| Eric: Now what does Joes tutor Cecile, answer to that. |
| Virginie: She says - Ca va bien merci! |
| Eric: One more time - ca va - it is going |
| Virginie: And then "bien" |
| Eric: Which is "well". Ca va bien. |
| Virginie: And finally, she says merci! |
| Eric: the indispensable "thank you! |
Outro |
| Virgnie: Now is time for us to say merci for listening. |
| Eric: Ok! Thank you very much! |
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