Learn about the Southern France dialect
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Bonjour chers auditeurs! Je m'appelle Gabriella. Travelling in the South of France with Marcel Pagnol! |
| Jeremy: Moi, c'est Jeremy. |
| Gabriella: Let's get started. Quel est le sujet de la leçon d'aujourd'hui ? |
| Jeremy: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the dialect vocabulary in the South of France with Vincent and Marc. Ils vont dans une boulangerie aujourd’hui. |
| Gabriella: Ok, donc c'est une conversation formelle ? |
| Jeremy: Oui, et Vincent et Marc ont du mal à comprendre ce que dit la boulangère. |
| Gabriella: So let’s listen to the conversation and see what’s going on in this bakery. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Vincent: Bonjour, je voudrais une baguette et trois pains au chocolat. |
| Boulangère : Pardon ? Vous n'êtes pas d'ici, non ? C'est pas plutôt des chocolatines que vous voulez ? |
| Vincent : eh bien, c'est la viennoiserie au chocolat très connue... |
| Boulangère : Donc trois chocolatines. Je vous met ça dans une poche ? |
| Vincent : Dans une poche ? Mais j'ai déjà des poches.... Ah ! dans un sac ! |
| Boulangère : Oui, dans une poche, quoi. Vous ne captez rien, hein ? Bah, c'est pas bien grave. Et il est gentil votre pitchou ! |
| Vincent : ah, eh bien, euh... merci madame, bonne journée ! |
| Vincent : J'ai pas compris ce qu'a dit la dame. On aurait dit qu'elle parlait comme Marcel Pagnol ! |
| Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Vincent: Bonjour, je voudrais une baguette et trois pains au chocolat. |
| Vincent: Hello! I'd like a baguette and three pains au chocolat. |
| Boulangère : Pardon ? Vous n'êtes pas d'ici, non ? C'est pas plutôt des chocolatines que vous voulez ? |
| Baker: Sorry? You're not from here, are you? Isn't it three "chocolatines" that you want instead? |
| Vincent : eh bien, c'est la viennoiserie au chocolat très connue... |
| Vincent: Well, it's the really well-known Viennese pastry with chocolate... |
| Boulangère : Donc trois chocolatines. Je vous met ça dans une poche ? |
| Baker: So, three chocolatines. Shall I put it in a pocket? |
| Vincent : Dans une poche ? Mais j'ai déjà des poches.... Ah ! dans un sac ! |
| Vincent: In a pocket? But I already have pockets... Oh! In a bag! |
| Boulangère : Oui, dans une poche, quoi. Vous ne captez rien, hein ? Bah, c'est pas bien grave. Et il est gentil votre pitchou ! |
| Baker: Yes, a pocket, indeed. You get nothing, do you? Well, it doesn't matter. He's really nice, your kiddie! |
| Vincent : ah, eh bien, euh... merci madame, bonne journée ! |
| Vincent: Ah, ehh, well...Thank you madam. Have a nice day! |
| Vincent : J'ai pas compris ce qu'a dit la dame. On aurait dit qu'elle parlait comme Marcel Pagnol ! |
| Vincent: I didn't understand what the lady was saying. It sounded like she was speaking like Marcel Pagnol! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: First things first...who is Marcel Pagnol? |
| Jeremy: Marcel Pagnol is a French novelist who was born at the end of the 19th century. Il est très célèbres pour ses romans. |
| Gabriella: Tu peux nous en dire plus, Jeremy? |
| Jeremy: Il y a deux séries de romans. Both are about his childhood in the Southeast of France, in Provence. |
| Gabriella: What’s the first series about? |
| Jeremy: This series is specifically talking about his own life. There are four books and they have all been turned into movies. |
| Gabriella: And what about the second series? |
| Jeremy: The second series is more about the daily life in Provence in the first part of the 20th century. C’est vraiment très intéressant de voir la vie quotidienne des gens. |
| Gabriella: Je devrais regarder les films. |
| Jeremy: Definitely! I would recommend it especially the first series. I loved them! |
| Gabriella: Listeners, you should check these out! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Gabriella: The first word we shall see is... |
| Jeremy: pain au chocolat [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: a chocolate croissant, pain au chocolat |
| Jeremy: pain au chocolat [slowly - broken down by syllable] pain au chocolat [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: être d'ici [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to be from here |
| Jeremy: être d'ici [slowly - broken down by syllable] être d'ici [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: viennoiserie [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: things of Vienna, baked goods and pastries made from a yeast-leavened dough |
| Jeremy: viennoiserie [slowly - broken down by syllable] viennoiserie [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: poche [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: pocket, bag |
| Jeremy: poche [slowly - broken down by syllable] poche [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: pitchou [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: kiddie, toddler |
| Jeremy: pitchou [slowly - broken down by syllable] pitchou [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: gentil [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: nice, cute |
| Jeremy: gentil [slowly - broken down by syllable] gentil [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Jeremy: capter [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to get, to understand |
| Jeremy: capter [slowly - broken down by syllable] capter [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: And last... |
| Jeremy: C'est pas bien grave [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: It doesn’t matter |
| Jeremy: C'est pas bien grave [slowly - broken down by syllable] C'est pas bien grave [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: Chocolatine. It’s exactly the same as the pain au chocolat actually, but it’s only said in the South of France. |
| Gabriella: A "chocolate croissant", right? And what if you ask for a chocolatine in the North? |
| Jeremy: You’ll probably get a pastry stuffed with cream and chocolate chunks! |
| Gabriella: Ca a l’air bon aussi ! Next word ! |
| Jeremy: Pitchou, or pitchoun (pronounce pitchnoune). |
| Gabriella: "Kiddie/toddler". C’est mignon ! |
| Jeremy: Sure it is. But you can use it only for little children up to twelve years old. After this age, it’s still ok from the elderly people. |
| Gabriella: Ok! How about gentil? It means “nice”, right? |
| Jeremy: Yes, but in the South, it means also “cute” or “noble”. |
| Gabriella: Oh, je vois. En fait, ce mot veut dire que la personne est quelqu’un de bien. |
| Jeremy: Exact! |
| Gabriella: So, what’s our last word? |
| Jeremy: It’s an expression - être d’ici. |
| Gabriella: "to come from the neighborhood." |
| Jeremy: C’est ça ! En général, cela désigne le quartier où on vit. But it can also be about a bigger area, like in this dialogue. Basically, the baker is asking if they come from Northern France! |
| Gabriella: (laughs) ok, got it! Let’s move on to the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn some Southern French vocabulary! |
| Jeremy: Oui, je pense que c’est important à savoir. Many people really appreciate the South of France, but the accent and the vocabulary can be an issue. |
| Gabriella: I used to watch some old French movies, and I heard some expressions, like monter à Paris” |
| Jeremy: Yes, in this sense, imagine France is like stairs - the lower part is in the South, and the upper part in the North. If you’re in Marseille, you will say - Je monte à Paris. |
| Gabriella: "I’m going to Paris." Et si je viens de Rouen? |
| Jeremy: You would say - Je descends à Paris! |
| Gabriella: That’s simple! |
| Jeremy: Il est monté à Paris en roumégant qu’il avait la maffre. |
| Gabriella: "He went to Paris grumbling that he had bad luck." There are two words I don't get at all! |
| Jeremy: Rouméguer and Maffre. The first is a verb meaning “to grumble” and the second stands for “bad luck”. |
| Gabriella: Est-ce que les autres Français comprennent facilement ? |
| Jeremy: Most of the time, yes, thanks to the movies, songs, and travels! |
| Gabriella: In the dialogue, they are surprised by poche, "pocket". |
| Jeremy: Oui, on dit plutôt “un sac” dans le reste de la France. Je vous met ça dans une poche ? |
| Gabriella: "Should I put it in a pocket?". It sounds strange, like if the baker wanted to put it in my coat pocket! |
| Jeremy: (laughs), yes, but you get used to this really quickly! |
| Gabriella: Do you have some other common expressions? |
| Jeremy: Il me tarde de rentrer chez moi! |
| Gabriella: "I can’t wait to come back home!" I’ve heard that once, Il me tarde. |
| Jeremy: Ca veut dire - ”j’ai hâte”. Maintenant, beaucoup de Français le disent partout. |
| Gabriella: Ok, I see. How about capter, which is in the dialogue. |
| Jeremy: Basically, this verb is translated as “to get”, or "to receive”, especially about TV channels, or the radio. But it’s also used to say “to understand”. |
| Gabriella: The meanings are really close - you received the information or not, correct? |
| Jeremy: C’est exactement ça ! Il est idiot, il capte rien à ce qu’on lui dit ! |
| Gabriella: "He’s an idiot, he never gets when people are talking to him!" |
| Jeremy: Keep in mind it’s colloquial. Everyone talks like that in the South, but try to avoid it in a formal context. |
| Gabriella: Bien sûr! Chers auditeurs, n’hésitez pas à pratiquer dans les commentaires! |
Outro |
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| Jeremy: Bonne chance, et à la prochaine! |
| Gabriella: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time! Salut! |
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