Learn how to engage in friendly French conversation with that great-looking person next to you
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Virginie: Hello, bonjour! |
| Eric: Hello! Eric here. How to Make a First Impression in French that Will Last a Lifetime. |
| Virginie: Hello everyone. I am Virginie and welcome. In this lesson, you will learn about how to get to know people and how to introduce yourself. |
| Eric: This conversation takes place on Sunday on the plane just after boarding at 11 AM. |
| Virginie: Yes, remember, Joe is going to France and this conversation is between Joe and Manon, the girl he meets on the plane. |
| Eric: The speakers are friendly. So, therefore, they are going to be speaking informally. Okay, so let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Manon : Ça m'énerve, ça m'énerve... |
| Joe : Excusez-moi ? |
| Manon : Oh, pardon. Allez-y. Je vous en prie. |
| Joe : Bonjour. Moi c'est Joe. |
| Manon : Bonjour. Moi c'est Manon. |
| Joe : Excusez-moi. Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement ? |
| Manon : Ma-non. |
| Joe : Manon. |
| Manon : C'est ça. Mais vous pouvez m'appeler Mano. |
| Joe : Mano. Enchanté. |
| Manon : Moi aussi. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Manon : Ça m'énerve, ça m'énerve... |
| Joe : Excusez-moi ? |
| Manon : Oh, pardon. Allez-y. Je vous en prie. |
| Joe : Bonjour. Moi c'est Joe. |
| Manon : Bonjour. Moi c'est Manon. |
| Joe : Excusez-moi. Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement ? |
| Manon : Ma-non. |
| Joe : Manon. |
| Manon : C'est ça. Mais vous pouvez m'appeler Mano. |
| Joe : Mano. Enchanté. |
| Manon : Moi aussi. |
| Eric: One more time with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Manon : Ça m'énerve, ça m'énerve... |
| Virginie: It gets on my nerves, it gets on my nerves. |
| Joe : Excusez-moi ? |
| Eric: Excuse me? |
| Manon : Oh, pardon. Allez-y. Je vous en prie. |
| Virginie: Oh, sorry. Go ahead, please. |
| Joe : Bonjour. Moi c'est Joe. |
| Eric: Hello. I’m Joe. |
| Manon : Bonjour. Moi c'est Manon. |
| Virginie: Hi. I’m Manon. |
| Joe : Excusez-moi. Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement ? |
| Eric: Excuse me. Can you repeat, slower ? |
| Manon : Ma-non. |
| Virginie: Ma-non. Ma-non. |
| Joe : Manon. |
| Eric: Manon. |
| Manon : C'est ça. Mais vous pouvez m'appeler Mano. |
| Virginie: That’s it. But you can call me Mano. |
| Joe : Mano. Enchanté. |
| Eric: Mano. Nice to meet you. |
| Manon : Moi aussi. |
| Virginie: Nice to meet you too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: So Manon is listening to some pop songs, right? |
| Virginie: Yeah, she is listening to a song by Eric Greff. |
| Eric: And what is the name of this song? |
| Virginie: It’s called ça m'énerve. It annoys me. |
| Eric: And what is so annoying to him? |
| Virginie: Okay. Well, first, let me explain. Eric, the singer of this song is fictional. It’s a character. |
| Eric: Ah, so it’s a character that Eric Greff is making up. |
| Virginie: Right, and the character is German, his name is Helmut Fritz. |
| Eric: That’s a great name, Helmut Fritz. |
| Virginie: Yes, and he inherited a large amount of money. |
| Eric: Ah Ouais! |
| Virginie: And with this money, he moves to Paris. |
| Eric: Okay. |
| Virginie: And he starts hanging out with the French high class. |
| Eric: Ah, the bourgeoisie. |
| Virginie: Yes the trendy bourgeoisie, the jet-set. |
| Eric: So what happens? |
| Virginie: After a while he gets tired of that you know superficial world, night life et cetera. |
| Eric: Ah and that’s what he is singing about in the song, ça m'énerve. |
| Virginie: Right. It annoys me. Exactly, he is annoyed and in this song, the song that Manon is singing in our dialogue, he says things like girls who wear Kate Moss bags it annoys me, et cetera, et cetera. |
| Eric: Okay, well, the real name of the singer is once again? |
| Virginie: Eric Greff, let me spell that for you. Eric is like Eric, and Greff is G-R-E-F-F. You can check him out on YouTube. This is very, very funny. |
| Eric: Okay, great. Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Virginie: excusez-moi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: excuse me |
| Virginie: excusez-moi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: excusez-moi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: pardon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: pardon, excuse me |
| Virginie: pardon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: pardon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: Je vous en prie. [natural native speed] |
| Eric: You are welcome; by all means |
| Virginie: Je vous en prie. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Je vous en prie. [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: bonjour [natural native speed] |
| Eric: hello |
| Virginie: bonjour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: bonjour [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: lentement [natural native speed] |
| Eric: slowly |
| Virginie: lentement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: lentement [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement s'il vous plaît? [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Can you repeat more slowly please? |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement s'il vous plaît? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement s'il vous plaît? [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Le suivant, the next one |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez m'appeler |
| Eric: You can call me |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez m'appeler [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez m'appeler [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: c'est ça. [natural native speed] |
| Eric: that's it |
| Virginie: c'est ça. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: c'est ça. [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next... |
| Virginie: Enchanté(e). [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Pleased to meet you. |
| Virginie: Enchanté(e). [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Enchanté(e). [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Finally… |
| Virginie: Allez-y [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Go ahead |
| Virginie: Allez-y [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Allez-y [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Well let's start with the first words that Joe says in our dialogue. |
| Virginie: Yes, Joe says ”Excusez-moi ?” |
| Eric: and that means Excuse me but it's a little more of a formal way of saying this. |
| Virginie: Oui and so once again it's excusez-moi. Joe is trying to get to his seat. |
| Eric: And so Manon realizes she's in the way that's why she says "oh pardon" |
| Virginie: Which is also, excuse me and that can also mean "sorry" |
| Eric: It's a little more informal, a little more commonly found |
| Virginie: You can either say excusez-moi or pardon to say excuse me or sorry. |
| Eric: But excusez-moi is a little more strong, maybe you bumped into somebody or something like that. |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: We can also add another important word here, Bonjour. |
| Virginie: Oui bonjour, it's actually the basics, Bonjour is hello |
| Eric: And that's pretty formal. |
| Virginie: Yes. If you talk to a friend you will say "salut". |
| Eric: Salut or hi. Okay, one last word? |
| Virginie: Manon tells Joe "allez-y" |
| Eric: And that means "go ahead" |
| Virginie: Yes. She's letting Joe go. |
| Eric: Don't get confused with allons-y. |
| Virginie: Allons-y is let's go. Allons-y. |
| Eric: So remember . |
| Virginie: Allez-y is go ahead |
| Eric: And allons-y is let's go. |
| Virginie: Great. OK, now some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Virginie: This Lesson Focus on making polite requests, introducing yourself. |
| Eric: Now Joe is very new to being in the French language, so he asks Manon.. |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement, s'il vous plaît ? "Can you repeat |
| more slowly, please?" |
| Eric: Ok let's break that down. |
| Virginie: Vous pouvez répéter plus lentement s'il vous plaît. So first you have "vous pouvez" which is literally "you can". |
| Eric: And then you have the infinitive |
| Virginie: "répéter" |
| Eric: And that means to "repeat" |
| Virginie: And then, you have "plus lentement" |
| Eric: Which means "slower". |
| Virginie: And finally you have "s'il vous plaît" |
| Eric: Which is "please". |
| Virginie: S'il vous plaît. Very important one Eric, right? |
| Eric: Yeah. |
| Virginie: Do you call "s'il vous plaît" the "magic words" in English? |
| Eric: Yeah. |
| Virginie: We call them "les mots magiques", the magic words. |
| Eric : And now what is also interesting is that just like in English you can ask a question |
| without reversing the verb and the subject. |
| Virginie: Sometimes in French only the intonation will indicate that it's a question. |
| Eric: Ok so repeat it one more time so we can hear your intonation. |
| Virginie: The question is, vous pouvez répéter plus lentement s'il vous plaît ? |
| Eric: Did you hear how her voice went up at the end of the sentence? That's an easy way to make any statement a question. |
| Virginie: Right, absolutely, oui. |
Outro |
| Virginie: I think we're done here, Eric. |
| Eric: I think it's all wrapped up. Thank you for listening. |
| Virginie: Merci beaucoup and thank you for listening |
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