SERIES:  COLLOQUIAL (SPOKEN) FRENCH – HARD-CORE LEARNING EXERCISE (6 POSTS)

• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 1 of 6 (#323) – Difficulty level 1
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 2 of 6 (#324) – Difficulty level 2
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 3 of 6 (#325) – Difficulty level 3
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 4 of 6 (#327) – Difficulty level 4
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 5 of 6 (#328) – Difficulty level 5
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 6 of 6 (#329) – Difficulty level 6

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In this post on colloquial French, I’m picking up from post #325.   I rank this post one notch higher on the difficulty level.

I want to re-emphasize that colloquial (spoken) French conversations tend to be much more difficult than

• written French
• the French we hear on TV (news, documentaries, and even sitcoms which generally tend to use quite simply colloquial French)
• monologues (when one person speaks, but not with the intention of anyone speaking back, such as teachers, YouTube videos, speeches, etc.)

That is why I believe these exercises can be useful for your own French learning.  They can offer Anglophone Canadians general insight into how spoken conversations sound.

And on that note… Do not think for a minute that European Colloquial French isn’t as equally challenging.   Although I don’t have issues understanding our Canadian colloquial French, I sometimes have a heck of a time understanding certain aspects of regional French colloquial conversations in Europe – especially if spoken with a strong accent.   European Colloquial French can also be VERY different from written French, European TV French or European monologues

Thus, take your pick — If you are an Anglophone Canadian, you can chose to learn our own colloquial French with all its challenges, or you can chose to learn Europe’s own difficult colloquial French.  There likely won’t be much of a difference in difficulty levels (on a colloquial level, they’re two different language systems… so it’s simply a matter of choosing to learn one or the other, whereas on a standardized, television or written level, they are very similar).  

But, if you’re an Anglophone Canadian, I would strongly urge you to learn our own (and your own country’s) colloquial French — and not that of Europe.  The opportunities to hear it, practice it, and speak it will be infinitely greater across all of Canada.  I cannot see the logic for Anglophone Canadians to try to struggle with European colloquial French when it will be of little use to them.

Keep in mind that by the time you get around to learning colloquial French, you will already know  “international” or “Standard” French (that which is written, found in books, heard in television, etc.).  It remains the same across the world – thus you’ll already have that global advantage.  

However, if for whatever reason you do live in Canada but you chose to learn colloquial European French, I think you’ll find the task will become quite daunting because of the limited opportunities to hear it and practice European colloquialism in Canada (versus our/your own Canadian / Québec colloquial French).

Back to the audio tracts…

I ranked the following colloquial conversation higher on the difficult scale than the last one.  The reasons are because

• it integrates a greater amount of colloquial (spoken) vocabulary, slang, and expressions than we have seen in the past dialogues,
• the speaker has a slight (but noticeable enough) Saguenay-Lac St-Jean regional accent,
• The caller’s speed of speech might be slightly faster than average.

One last thing worth mentioning:

When you read the English translations below, you will notice that the English translation is just as colloquial (informal & spoken) as the original French.

That might give you an idea of the challenges faced by immigrants who move to English Canada when they have to contend with our colloquial English (a style of English they NEVER learn in school, in books, or from TV).

Thus, like you who wishes to improve your French, they too just have to suck up the challenges posed by colloquialisms in English when they want to improve their English.

Nobody said that learning a language (any language) is easy.  Colloquialisms across all languages (be it Canadian French, Mexican Spanish, Beijing Chinese, Berlin German, Lebanese Arabic, France French, etc, etc) are all much more difficult than the book versions of the language.

The key is for you to find ways to have fun with it, to practice it, and to find opportunities to find and listen to other exercises similar to the ones I am presenting you with here.

Bottom line… Enjoy the challenge!!

Let’s dive in.   Remember to turn on the closed captions “CC” function at the bottom of the audio tract.

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Caller

• 0:00 – Salut les boys.
• Hey guys.

Host

• 0:01 – Salut, comment ça va?
• Hey, how are you doing?

Caller

• 0:01 – Je m’en va (vais) au chalet tantôt.
• I’m heading to the cabin in a bit.

Host

• 0:03 – OK

Caller

• 0:04 – J’allais partir avec un de mes chums. On est à monter.  Moi je viens de Saguenay, de Mont-Vallain.   J’sais pas si ça te dit de quoi?
• I was gonna go with one of my buddies.  We’re heading up there.  Me, I’m from Saguenay, from Mont-Vallain.  I don’t know if that says anything to you?

Host

• 0:11 – Oui, absolument. Chu déjà allé dans ce coin-là.
• Yes, of course. I’ve been to that area

Caller

• 0:14 – En tout cas, on était dans le fin fond. Pis moi j’ai peur de l’eau. 
• Anyway, we were at the deepest point (of the lake). And I’m afraid of water.

Host

• 0:16 – Pis t’es allé à la pêche, pis t’as peur de l’eau.
• So you went fishing, but you’re afraid of water.

Caller

• 0:18 – Pis on pêchait, pis tout le kit. On avait nos flottes, mais on ne les avait pas sur nous autres.  Mais on a poigné un squale.  Ça dit-tu c’est quoi?
• Well, we were fishing, and the whole kit ‘n caboodle. We had our life-jackets, but we weren’t wearing them on us.  But we hit a squall.  Ya know what that is?

Host

• 0:23 – Non
• No.

Caller

• 0:24 – C’est une tempête qui arrive gros dans le coup.
• It’s a big storm which slams you in one fell swoop.

Host

• 0:25 – Ah, une espèce de tempête éclaire là.
• Oh, like a type of flash storm.

Caller

• 0:28 – Ouais, mais ça allait caler d’un coup.
• Yah, but it swallows you in one fell swoop.

Host

• 0:30 – Ouais.
• Yup.

Caller

• 0:31 – C’est des gros vents, tout le kit, pis toutes les bébelles.
• It’s big winds, the whole kit ‘n caboodle, and all the stuff that goes with it.

Host

• 0:32 – En plein milieu du lac?!?
• Right in the middle of the lake?

Caller

• 0:34 – On était en plein milieu.  Fait-que, moé je vois que ça arrive, fait-que je mets ma flotte.  Pis mon chum il se met à m’écœurer, de bébé moumoune, bébé moumoune.
• We were right in the middle.  So, me I saw it coming, so I put on my life-jacket.  And my buddy started to get on my nerves, like a crybaby, a crybaby. 

Host

• 0:42 – Évidemment.
• For sure.

Caller

• 0:43 – Sauf qu’à un moment donné, en poignant des vagues, la chaloupe a monté, pis quand on descendait la vague, l’autre vague nous arrivait de suite. Les vagues ont commencé à rentrer dans la chaloupe.
• Except at a certain point, when we hit the waves, our fishing boat went up, and then came down with the waves, and another wave came after. They started coming into our boat.

Host

• 0:50 – Pfff. Ok, pis là…
• Sheesh. Ok, and then…

Caller

• 0:53 – J’ai viré regarder mon chum. Là, na na na na.  Pis là, lui il trippait là non plus là.   Ç’a tout pris qu’on s’en arrive.  On est en train de caler là, ben raide là là.
• I turned to look at my buddy. Like blah blah blah.  And so he wasn’t any more impressed  It took all we had to get through it.  We were frozen in place while gripping for life, totally, right there.

Host

• 1:00 – Ahhhh!
• Huh!

Caller

• 1:01 – Mais on a réussi à fran(chir) là, mais sincèrement ça n’a pas été, euh… on n’a pas trippé, mais pas pantoute.
• But we like managed to get through it. But seriously, it wasn’t uh… we were less than impress, not at all.

Host

• 1:06 – C’était pas votre meilleure 15 minutes.
• It wasn’t the best 15 minutes you’ve had.

Caller

• 1:08 – Non non non… Pas pantoute. On a poigné là, mais c’était pas la (rire), C’est pas ma meilleure journée, mettons. 
• No, no, no… not at all.  Like we were sure slammed, but it wasn’t (laughs).  Let’s just say it wasn’t my best day.

Host

• 1:14 – Ben, ce qui est plate, c’est que souvent les meilleures pêches, c’est les pêches quand il fait pas beau. Tu sais, quand il pleut (bang!)
• Well, what sucks is that often the best fishing, it’s the fishing to be had when it’s not nice out. You know, when it rains (bang!)

Caller

• 1:18 – Hein, ‘scuse-moi, j’ai poigné, uh, j’ai poingé de quoi? ‘scuse-moi.  Hein, les meilleurs pêches, c’est quand il fait pas beau, tu dis?
• Hey, sorry, I banged into something, uh, what did I just bang into… sorry. Hey, you said the best fishing, it’s when it’s not nice out?

Host

• 1:24 – Ben, c’est ça, tu sais, quand il pleut pis c’est grisâtre un peu là. Fait-que des fois tu peux le faire le tard ou le tôt. 
• Well, that’s it ya know, when it’s raining and when it’s like a little duskish. So sometimes you can do it when it’s late or early.

Caller

• 1:29 – S’il faut trop chaud, le poisson il est mou, pis s’il fait trop fraitte, ben il est gelé, fait-qu’il fait rien.
• If it’s too hot out, the fish become mellow, and when it’s too chilly, well they become frigid, so nothing happens.

Host

• 1:34 – Hey, merci d’avoir appelé.
• Hey, thanks for having called.

Caller

• 1:35 – Pas de trouble.
• Not a prob.

Host

• 1:36 – Salut, bonne journée.
• See ya. Have a good day.

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SERIES:  COLLOQUIAL (SPOKEN) FRENCH – HARD-CORE LEARNING EXERCISE (6 POSTS)

• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 1 of 6 (#323) – Difficulty level 1
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 2 of 6 (#324) – Difficulty level 2
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 3 of 6 (#325) – Difficulty level 3
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 4 of 6 (#327) – Difficulty level 4
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 5 of 6 (#328) – Difficulty level 5
• Fishing & Hard-Core French – Post 6 of 6 (#329) – Difficulty level 6