Learn about the use of technical prefixes
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Bonjour chers auditeurs! Je m'appelle Gabriella. Leading an Organic Lifestyle in France |
| Jeremy: Moi, c'est … |
| Gabriella: Let's get started. Quel est le sujet de la leçon d'aujourd'hui ? |
| Jeremy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about technical prefixes. The conversation is between Charlène and Laure. |
| Gabriella: Ok, donc c'est une conversation informelle ? |
| Jeremy: Oui, et Charlène donne des conseils de vie saine à Laure. |
| Gabriella: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Charlène: Je ne mange que du bio depuis quelques temps. |
| Laure : Mais c'est cher, non ? |
| Charlène : Pas tant que ça. Et puis c'est meilleur pour la santé. |
| Laure : Je suis tellement habituée à cuisiner au micro-ondes... |
| Charlène : Tu devrais utiliser Internet. La cyberculture est pleine de trésors culinaires, tu sais. On trouve énormément d'informations aussi. |
| Laure : Tu crois que ces machines bourrées d'électronique peuvent m'aider ? Tu connais un site sur la bioéthique ? |
| Charlène : Bien sûr, suis-moi au salon, je vais te montrer ça sur le portable. |
| Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Charlène: Je ne mange que du bio depuis quelques temps. |
| Charlene: I've been eating only organic for a while now. |
| Laure : Mais c'est cher, non ? |
| Laure: But it must be expensive, isn't it? |
| Charlène : Pas tant que ça. Et puis c'est meilleur pour la santé. |
| Charlene: Actually, not that much. And it's better for your health. |
| Laure : Je suis tellement habituée à cuisiner au micro-ondes... |
| Laure: I'm so used to the microwave... |
| Charlène : Tu devrais utiliser Internet. La cyberculture est pleine de trésors culinaires, tu sais. On trouve énormément d'informations aussi. |
| Charlene: You should use the Internet. The cyberculture is full of culinary treasures, you know. A lot of information can be found there as well. |
| Laure : Tu crois que ces machines bourrées d'électronique peuvent m'aider ? Tu connais un site sur la bioéthique ? |
| Laure: You really think that those machines full of electronics can help me? Do you know any website about bioethics? |
| Charlène : Bien sûr, suis-moi au salon, je vais te montrer ça sur le portable. |
| Charlene: Of course I do. Let's go to the living room, I'll show it to you on the laptop. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: I rarely eat organic food. It’s too expensive! |
| Jeremy: Oui, c’est encore un peu cher, mais c’est devenu plus abordable récemment. |
| Gabriella: Is it easy to find in France? |
| Jeremy: We have a lot of dedicated areas in classic supermarkets, but also a lot of organic supermarkets too. |
| Gabriella: C’est super, ça ! Mais on trouve quoi dans ces supermarchés bios? |
| Jeremy: De la nourriture, des cosmétiques… but also clothing, natural medicines… and gluten-free food too! |
| Gabriella: Oh, that’s fantastic! So people with allergies can find whatever they need in these shops? |
| Jeremy: Yes, and the French really care about that. |
| Gabriella: They seem to be concerned by nature and chemicals a lot. |
| Jeremy: C’est exact, de plus en plus de gens font attention. |
| Gabriella: I’ll definitely give it a try when I’m in France! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Gabriella: The first word we shall see is... |
| Jeremy: bio [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: organic |
| Jeremy: bio [slowly - broken down by syllable] bio [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: tellement [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: so much |
| Jeremy: tellement [slowly - broken down by syllable] tellement [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: trésor [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: treasure |
| Jeremy: trésor [slowly - broken down by syllable] trésor [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: pleine [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: full |
| Jeremy: pleine [slowly - broken down by syllable] pleine [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: culinaire [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: culinary |
| Jeremy: culinaire [slowly - broken down by syllable] culinaire [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: bourrer [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to be full of |
| Jeremy: bourrer [slowly - broken down by syllable] bourrer [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: électronique [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: electronic |
| Jeremy: électronique [slowly - broken down by syllable] électronique [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: bioéthique [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: bioethics |
| Jeremy: bioéthique [slowly - broken down by syllable] bioéthique [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: portable [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: laptop |
| Jeremy: portable [slowly - broken down by syllable] portable [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: And last... |
| Jeremy: santé [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: health |
| Jeremy: santé [slowly - broken down by syllable] santé [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s our first word ? |
| Jeremy: Cyberculture. |
| Gabriella: Which is "cyberculture" in English too! |
| Jeremy: It refers to the Internet culture and sometimes stands for geek culture. |
| Gabriella: Mais ce n’est pas geek, dans cette conversation. |
| Jeremy: En effet, Charlène parle des forums, des blogs et des sites, où les gens échangent des conseils. |
| Gabriella: Je vois, c‘est simple! Ok, so what’s the next word? |
| Jeremy: Culinaire. |
| Gabriella: Culinary. |
| Jeremy: It’s a formal and elegant adjective to designate food. La spécialité culinaire de Lyon est la bugne. |
| Gabriella: "The culinary speciality of Lyon is the bugne." What's a bugne? |
| Jeremy: It’s a sweet fritter, I highly recommend it! |
| Gabriella: C’est promis, je goûterai ça ! What’s our last word? |
| Jeremy: Portable. This word may refer to a laptop or a mobile phone. |
| Gabriella: Oh, but how do the French tell the difference between these devices? |
| Jeremy: Ca dépend du contexte. Voilà un exemple - Elle l’a appelé avec son portable; |
| Gabriella: "She called him with her mobile phone." |
| Jeremy: Elle a cherché des informations sur ses médicaments avec son portable; |
| Gabriella: "She searched for information about her medicines with her laptop." |
| Jeremy: Les Français disent parfois “laptop” ou “téléphone” aussi. |
| Gabriella: Oh, that’s nice! It’s better to avoid confusion! Ok, let’s move on to the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use technical prefixes in French, like cyber, micro, bio… |
| Jeremy: Oh, c’est intéressant ! They all come from the Greek language, right? |
| Gabriella: Yes, that’s right. |
| Jeremy: Okay, let’s start with bio. It refers to “life”. Bio, as a noun, means “organic”. |
| Gabriella: And as a prefix? |
| Jeremy: You will find it in words concerning ecology, nature and so on – biocarburant and biodégradable, for example. |
| Gabriella: "biofuel" and "biodegradable." |
| Jeremy: On entend souvent ces mots à la télé. |
| Gabriella: What about micro? It means “little” in Greek. |
| Jeremy: As a noun, it refers to a netbook or a computer. But it’s rarely used now. It also means "microphone." |
| Gabriella: Ok! And as a prefix? |
| Jeremy: Microentreprise, micro-ondes and microbe ! |
| Gabriella: "Microenterprise," "microwave," and "microbe." Do you have a sample sentence ? |
| Jeremy: Ils possèdent une microentreprise pour vendre des produits bios. |
| Gabriella: "They own a microenterprise to sell organic products." |
| Jeremy: And from the dialog - Je ne mange que du bio depuis quelques temps. |
| Gabriella: "I’ve been eating only organic for a while now." |
| Jeremy: Un autre préfixe souvent utilisé – cyber. It refers to anything related to the Internet, computers, and futuristic technologies. |
| Gabriella: As in cybercafé? I used to go to these kinds of places years ago. |
| Jeremy: Oui, c’est ça. Les Français disent parfois juste cyber. |
| Gabriella: C’est vrai, je l’ai déjà entendu aussi ! Tu as un exemple ? |
| Jeremy: Le groupe électrogène du cybercafé est tombé en panne. |
| Gabriella: "The internet café generator broke down." Oh no! |
| Jeremy: (laughs) it will be fixed up very soon, I guess! Well, in this sentence, you can find électrogène... |
| Gabriella: électro is our last prefix! And obviously, it refers to electricity. |
| Jeremy: Exactement ! You also have électroménager… |
| Gabriella: "household electrical appliance." C’est plus court en Français ! |
| Jeremy: Yes, for once! Another one useful to know is électrocuter. |
| Gabriella: "To electrocute." C’est bon à savoir, même si je ne le souhaite à personne ! |
| Jeremy: Indeed. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gabriella: That’s all for this lesson! It was a really easy one! |
| Jeremy: Avec un peu d’entrainement, ce n’est pas très difficile. |
| Gabriella: Chers auditeurs, n’hésitez pas à pratiquer dans les commentaires! |
| Jeremy: Bonne chance, et à la prochaine! |
| Gabriella: Thanks for listening, everyone! Salut! |
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