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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WARNING:  This particular post contains a lot of very crude language, and may be offensive for certain people.  Consider yourself warned.

This is the final post in a series of six posts which provides examples of colloquial (spoken) French.

I have good news and bad news for you.

First with the bad news:

This is the most difficult of the six posts.  I perfectly understand that if you are trying to learn French (especially spoken informal French, which involves a good deal of JOUAL, slang, contractions, and regional accents), a post like this may make you feel extremely discouraged… almost as if Mount Everest is staring you straight in the face.   But don’t be (I’ll get to that a little further down).

I consider this the most difficult of the six audio tracts because:

• of its speed,
• there is a noticeable regional accent from the Saguenay-Lac St-Jean region of Québec (see map below — the Green part near the top),

• the caller mixes up his tenses. He uses
  • the present tense for the past,
  • the past tense and imparfait for the present,
  • the future for the past,
  • the subjunctive is completely out the window (take that all you French teachers! — Yes, I’m talking to you “Madame C.” — all those years of trauma you put me through!),
  • and I think he even threw in the literary passé-simple at one point – I mean really??? Who does that?!  (At 0:53, I actually think he said “renversa” instead of “renversé”)
• some words and expressions are really out there… I mean really really out there (good luck finding them in the dictionary).  I think he even invented a couple of new words.
• Contractions, contractions, contractions – did I mention contractions?

Now with the good news:

It does not get much more difficult than this – truly.  (I can think of only a handful of other French accents and ways of speaking which are more challenging than this).  And even this is something you would rarely run into (especially if the bulk of your dealings will be with people from urban centres).

Don’t worry, because you will NEVER hear people speak like this on television.  Nothing in books, newspapers or magazines is ever written as it is spoken here.  Even 90% of radio stations would not feature people who speak like this.

Therefore, do not become discouraged, and be thankful that it cannot get any worse than this.  I say this because as you gradually improve your French through the ranks of the “intermediate” levels, you will actually begin to understand parts of the written transcript below.  Thus if you can begin to understand this (even in small doses), then you’re well on your way to beginning to understand ANYTHING! (truly – trust me).

You may recall that I stated in the post on JOUAL that it is rare to find people who truly express everything in Joual.  This is almost one of those instances.  If anything, the rareness of it should leave you more with a sense of curiosity and desire to continue to learn, rather than with a sense of discouragement.

For North American readers, you could almost think of it this way:

In the Southern U.S., there are pockets of populations with extreme accents which are very difficult for others to understand (even in other parts of the Southern US).  You will never hear them on television or the radio because nobody would be able to understand them.  The majority of the people do not speak like them.  For people learning English, knowing that such ways of speaking exist should not at all be a reason to become discouraged.  After all, there is no relation.  It’s simply interesting to know that very “informal / colloquial” ways of speaking simply exist out there.

Here is a perfect example of what I mean (using the Virginia “Tangier Island” accent / grammar as an example).  Fast-forward to 0:38 amd be prepared to be shocked at this English:

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FORTUNATELY…

There is a blog devoted to making sense of all this French colloquial madness.

www.OffQc.com

The next post at OffQc will be Felix’s 1000^th blog post on the topic (big day!!).   He has gone to a tremendous amount of work to help non-Francophones learn the in’s and out’s of informal spoken French (as it is spoken on our side of the ocean).

He has a very unique site, and I have never seen anything else which compares to it.  Check it out when you have a moment.

My hat goes off to him.

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A few things to note before we dive into it:

NOTE 1:  In the English translation below, I added a good number of things in (PARENTHESIS) in order for the story to make better sense.  If you ignore what is in parenthesis, then it is pretty much exactly as it is spoken.

NOTE 2:  I tried to provide as true an English translation as possible.  So if the English looks screwy, that’s how it also sounds in French.

After translating colloquial hick French into colloquial hick English, I actually feel like I lost a few brain cells in the process… so excuse the way I worded it in English.

My way of translating the below segment into English couldn’t possibly be any worse than the terrible French verb tenses, slang and wording the caller was using.  I mean seriously… “renvenir” instead of “revenir”??? Where did he even find that extra “n” !?!?  And is “parcédumé” even a word???  Well folks, I guess it is now – hahaha!

Actually, kidding aside, I should be the last person to point fingers.  After all, I grew up pronouncing CH as a heavy “H”, and “éch” as “tch”, and even dumb things like “J’ai”, I grew up as pronouncing as “H’ai”.   Also, my “ère” and “eur” are very very strange to many people.

So I suppose I should be the first to admit that my own day-to-day colloquial French and accent might be considered “hick” by a good number of people (straight from rural Alberta).  But cripes… I will say that this recording sure gave me stiff competition!

(You can hear my Alberta accent and Joual in the post on PRAIRIE FRENCH)

Before I present you with the video, when you read the English translation which follows, try to picture it being spoken with “THIS” hick English accent from the most rural parts of Ontario (It makes the whole thing even more funny if you try to transpose this rural Ontario hick accent in your mind onto the English translation I wrote below).

And yes… this sort of country-bumpkin English accent does exist in the further rural depths of Ontario.  Ever take a drive down highway 7 starting around Peterborough, heading in the direction of Ottawa?  Open your mouth and in their minds you might as well be from Vancouver — or Nunavut.  But at least it makes for a pretty drive.

Now, let’s jump right into the thick of it…

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When I made the closed captions, I made an extra effort to make them light and short — making it easier to rewind and review if you so desire.

Caller

• 0:00 – Oui, allô.
• Yes, hey there.

Host

• 0:01 – Vous êtes en ondes.
• You’re on the air.

Caller

• 0:02 – Oui, parfait. Hey, j’en ai une bonne histoire, moi. 
• Yes, great. Hey, me, I have a good story.

Host

• 0:04 – Go!
• Shoot!

Caller

• 0:05 – Mais moi, je viens du Saguenay, pis quand j’avais 9 ou 10 ans, on était une gang de chums. On était quatre flos.  Ok, parfait – entre 9 et 10 ans.  Pis on faisait dur, pis on faisait des coups plats, t’sais.
• See, me I come from Saguenay, and when I was 9 or 10 year old, we were a group of buddies. We were three kids.  Ok, good – between 9 and 10 years old.  And we never held back, and we pulled some mean stunts, ya’know. 

• 0:13 – Fait-que là, à un moment donné, le père un de mes chums, André Péron, il dit « Hein, les p’tits gars, la semaine prochaine je vous amène au chalet…
• So with that, at a certain moment, André Péron, the dad of one of my buddies, he says “Hey kids, next week I’m takin’ y’all to the cabin…”

• 0:18 – …On va aller pêcher le brochet pis la truite ».
• We’re gonna fish for Pike / Jack (fish) and trout.

Host

• 0:20 – Parfait
• Perfect

Caller

• 0:20 – On est quatre flos avec le père, pis on avait un autre, un cinquième ami qui était avec nous autres. Fait-qu’on était cinq flos avec un monsieur. 
• There are us four kids and the dad, and there was another, a fifth friend who was with us. So we were five kids with an adult.

• 0:26 – Fait-que là, on arrive là-bas.
• So then, we arrive there.

• 0:28 – Pis l’affaire en particulier, c’est qu’à un moment donné on pêchait le brochet.
• And the thing is, at a certain point we were fishing for Pike / Jack (fish).

• 0:33 – On était sur le quai.
• We were on the dock.

• 0:34 – Pis là, il y avait une catrou avec un canot, sur le rack.
• And there was a quad (a 4-wheel ATV) with a canoe on the rack.

This is the set-up they’re talking about with the canoe and the quad.

• 0:38 – Fait-que là, à un moment donné, le… ‘scuse moi…
• So then, at a certain point… excuse me…

• 0:42 – Le père à Nicolas, André Péron, il pluchait (éplucher) des patates s’a (sur la) gallerie.
• Nicolas’ dad, André Péron, was peeling taters (potatos) on the porch.

• 0:46 – Nous autres, on est tous les quatre, on recule le catrou avec le canot s’a (sur le) top, parce que lui il aimait mieux pêcher la truite. Nous autres, on aimait mieux pêcher le brochet avant le chalet. 
• Us others, all four of us together, we back up the quad with the canoe on the top, because he (the dad) would rather fish for trout.  But for us, we were rather wantin’ to fish for Jack in front of the cabin.

(NOTE : Here’s some extra info for the story to make better sense… The kids were going to fish for pike from a small boat close to the edge of the lake, but the dad was going to fish for trout at greater depths. Therefore the dad was going to take the quad and canoe far away to another part of the lake, and use the canoe to fish from another location.  While the dad was peeling potatos, the four kids were preparing the canoe for the dad to take a later time).

• 0:53 – Fait-que là, mon ami Nicolas, mon Péron, il recul le catrou – il grimpe dans la souche. À (la) catrou elle renverse sur le côté. 
• So there, my friend Nicolas — my bud “Péron” — he backs up the quad – but he runs it into a stump (on the ground from a chopped down tree). The quad (with the canoe on top) tipped over onto its side.

Host

• 0:59 – (Halètement / Gasp!!)

Caller

• 0:59 – Pis le canot tombe directe sus (sur) une souche, mon chum.
• And the canoe falls directly onto a stump, my man!

• 1:02 – Là, le canot, il est parcédumé là – fini le canot!
• Like, the canoe, it is like craked / split open – The canoe, it’s finished!

• 1:05 – Fait-que là, la panique nous poinge. Mais durant ce temps-là, André Péron, il épluche ses patates su’à (sur la) gallerie.  Il est loin de nous autres et il voit rien!
• So then, panic hits us. André Péron, he’s peelin‘ his taters (potatos) on the porch.  He (the dad) was far away from us and he ain’t see nuttin’!

Host

• 1:11 – Hahahaha!

Caller

• 1:11 – Là on est sur les nerfs ben raide.
• But like for us, our nerves are shot.

• 1:13 – Là on est quatre flos, on réussi à dresser le catrou.
• We were like four kids, and we managed to flip the quad back up right.

• 1:15 – On le park de l’autre côté pour ne pas à voir le trou, pis on retient sur nos mots.
• We parked it on the other side (of the cabin) so ya couldn’t see the hole (in the canoe), and we swear not to utter a word (to nobody).

• 1:18 – Le lendemain matin André dit « Bon. M’a dit moi je m’en va au pêche au lac ».
• The next day André (the dad) said « Well I’d say I’m gonna get in some fishin’ on the lake ».

(picture this last sentence being said with a really strong “hick” accent).

Host

• 1:21 – Ahhhhhhh! Avec un canot troué!
• Whoooaaa!! With a split open canoe!

Caller

• 1:23 – Ouais! Fait-que là, nous autres, il est malin – il est malin le monsieur, t’sais. 
• Yup! So then, as for us, he’s so sly – he’s so with it, that guy (the dad), ya’ know.

(Meaning the kids thought for sure that the dad would find out, and they’d be in deep shit!)

• 1:26 – Fait-que là, là je dis à mes chums, à Nicolas Péron, car c’est son père…
• So then, I like say to my buddies, to Nicolas Péron, because it’s his dad…

• 1:30 – … Je dis « crisse de fou est-il, tabarnak! Il a 20 kms de catrou à faire! ». « Ah, non, non, non! » il dit.  « Il va nous tuer, vas nous tuer! » il dit. « Il partira à (la) pêche avec ça! ». 
• … I say, « Christ, He’s fuckin’ nuts!  He’s gonna head 20 kms away on that quad (to take the broken canoe fishing).  He (Nicolas) said, “No, No, No (pleading “NO!” in the sense that this can’t be happening to us!).  He’s gonna to kill us… Kill us!”.  He said “He’s gonna take it (the canoe) fishing!”

• 1:36 – Fait-que nous autres quan-qu’il va (quand il va) à catrou, on fait pas ni un, ni deux!  On saut sur le lac en avant, et on s’en va à l’autre bout du lac…
• So the group of us, when we saw him (the dad) high-tailin’ it off with the quad, we didn’t waste a second. We jump  straight into the lake (into their own little boat), and we motored it off to the other side of the lake…

• 1:42 – … pour être sur d’être loin, parce qu’on savait qu’il (re)viendrait.
• … in order to be sure to be as far away as possible (from the dad), because we knew that he’d be coming back (when he found out he was fishing with a canoe that had a hole in it).

• 1:44 – Fait-que là, il se passe à peu près, je te dirais, une demi-heure.
• So then, I’d say somewhere in the neighbourhood of a half an hour goes by.

• 1:48 – … On entend une catrou qui se renvient, pis ça en renvient en tabarnak, a’l catrou!
• We hear a quad coming back in our direction, and fuck, was it ever comin’, that there quad!

Hosts x 2

• 1:54 – HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Caller

• 1:53 – Ça fait que là, on voié (voit) un bout de canot de par icitte (ici) de temps en temps. Tu sais, nous autres on était à l’autre bout du lac, pis on voit de temps en temps le chemin. 
• So then-and-there, from our spot (in the boat on the far side of the lake) we can see the tip of the canoe (poking through) from time-to-time (on the trail in the woods along the shore of the lake). Ya know, we were at the other end of the lake, and from time to time we would see the road (on which the quad was travelling).

• 1:58 – Pis là on voit la poussière qui se leve, et on voit le catrou qui s’en vient, pis il s’en vient!!
• And then we see the dust gettin’ all kicked up, and we see the quad a-comin’, and shit was it comin’!!

• 2:02 – Là, je dis à Nicolas, je dis « Crisse!! »
• Man, I say to Nicolas, I says “Oh shit!!”

Host

• 2:03 – Ça y est!
• You’re had / You’re cooked / There y’are! / You’re Toast !

Caller

• 2:04 – J’ai dit « On est fait! ». Aïe, il dit « On reste à (l’)autre bord!  On reste à (l’)autre bord!  On reste icitte. » 
• I says “We’re done-in / cooked / finished“. Well, he (Nicolas) said “We’re staying (here) on the other side (of the lake)!  We’re staying put on the other side.  We’re staying right here!”

• 2:07 – « Hey » Il dit « Hey! Ça s’en revient l’idot. Il a pas pêché une heure de temps.  Il a pas fait son coton ». 
• “Hey!” he (Nicolas) said. “Hey! It’s (the quad) comin’… the idiot.  He hasn’t even been gone fishin’ half an hour.  He hasn’t even broken a sweat / worked at it.”

(Note the expressions “Il a pas fait son coton”… I previously gave the meaning and source for this expression in the post entitled Denys Arcand: His place in Québec’s history)

• 2:11 – On est à l’autre bord du lac, et là son père arrive à catrou. Il tire ça, mon homme, quasiment sur deux roues.
• We were at the other end of the lake, and like his dad was comin’ back on the quad. He (the dad) pounded it into full gear, and it was practically goin’ on two wheels.

• 2:16 – Mais là, d’habitude il arrêtait le catrou à côté du chalet. Mais dans ce cas-là il arrêtait le catrou quasiment au bout du quai là. 
• But usually he’s parkin’ the quad beside the cabin. But in this case, he like was parkin’ the quad practically at the tip of the dock.

Host

• 2:20 – Il a passé tout droit!
• He went straight through (for the edge of the dock)!

Caller

• 2:21 – Pis là, il arrive au bout du quai, pis il débarque.  Là, je dis à Nicolas, il dit…
• So like he gets to the tip of the dock, then he gets off (the quad).  Then, I say to Nicolas, he said…

Host

• 2:25 – Vous êtes mort!
• You’re dead (meat)!

Caller

• 2:25 – Il disait « Il y a quelque chose qui se passe ».
• He (Nicolas) said (as the four kids were watching what the dad was doing) “There’s something happenin’! ”

Host

• 2:26 – Hahahaha

Caller

• 2:27 – Il arrive au bout du quai. Tu sais, dans le bois, ça fait de l’écho, hein. 
• He (the dad) gets to the end of the dock. Ya know, in the woods, things tend to echo, eh.

Host

• 2:29 – Ouais.
• Yup.

Caller

• 2:30 – Ça fait que là il crie, « LES GARS!!! VIENT-EN ICITTE, TABARNAK!!! ».  Il sacrait. 
• So it was like, he yelled “BOYS!!! GET YOUR FUCKIN’ ASSES HERE!!!”. He was swearin’.
• 2:35 – Et là il dit « QUE C’EST QU’IL A !?!? » Il dit « PRENDS-MOI PAS POUR UN INNOCENT?!?!?!»
• And then he was like “WHAT IS THIS!?!?!” He said “DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A RETARD / SOMEONE BORN YESTERDAY?!?!?!”

Note, I have a mentally handicapped cousin, so no offense… Am just translating 😉

• 2:38 – Fait-que là, Nick il commence à ramener la chaloupe. Mais là, moi, c’était moi qui étais sur le nez de la chaloupe. 
• So then Nick starts to take us back in our (small motor) boat. But, me, I was the one like stuck sittin’ on the front tip of the boat (as we were heading back to the dock).

Une Chaloupe… the type of boat the boys were fishing in as the dad was having his “canoe issues” elsewhere.

• 2:43 – J’ai dit « Crisse!  Arrivé au quai, il va fesser le premier du bord. »  J’ai dit moi, je reste pas sur le bout là.
• I says “Shit! Once we get back to the dock, (from where I’m sitting) I’m going to be the first to get smacked“. I said I ain’t stayin’ sittin’ on the front tip (of the boat).

Host

• 2:46 – Ouais.
• Yup.

Caller

• 2:46 – Fait-que là, tout le monde voulait s’assire (s’assoir) et chauffer le moteur.
• So like, all of us wanted to sit (at the back end of the boat) and steer the motor (so none of us could be in reach of his dad when we got back to the dock).

• 2:49 – Ça fait Nick a conseillera à nous, moi, peur-moi pas d’claque, c’est pas mon père, mais les deux autres, ils ont un p’tit claque, t’sais.

(Translation into proper French / Traduction en bon français:  Alors, Nick, il nous suggérait que moi, que moi je ne devrais pas avoir peur de recevoir une claque, car il ne s’agissait pas de mon père — mais (en ce qui concerne) les deux autres gars, ils ont reçu une claque, tu sais).

• So it was Nick who reassured us all to not go gettin’ scared of gettin’ schmacked, ‘cause it ain’t our dad. But the other two (sons of André Péron) got themselves a ‘lil smack, ya’know.  

• 2:54 – Pis il était pas content parce que, criffe, on l’avait laissé partir à la pêche avec un canot troué. Hahahaha!
• And he (the dad) wasn’t happy ‘cause, cripes, we let’im go fishin’ with a canoe with a hole in it. Hahahaha!

Host

• 2:58 – Ça fait-que, c’est la première et la dernière fois vous l’avez fait.
• So that means, it was the first and last time you ever pulled that stunt.

Caller

• 3:01 – Ah, oui. Hey. Il a toujours à dire les coups plats on fait, parce que des fois ça peut être encore plus angoissant et plus compliqué plus tard. 
• Uh, yup. Hey, ya always gotta fess up to the crap you pull, because sometimes if ya don’t, it can make it a whole lot worse and complicated later on.

• 3:06 – Pis ça amène la personne en maudit encore plus.
• And what’s more, it makes the other person even more pissed.

Host

• 3:08 – Hey, il y a une morale à cette histoire-là. J’aime ça.  Merci d’avoir appelé. 
• Hey, there’s even a moral to that there story. I like it.  Thanks for callin’.

Caller

• 3:11 – Hahaha.  Salut. Merci.
• Hahaha.  See ya.  Thanks.

Host

• 3:12 – Salut!  Bonne journée.
• See ya!  Have a good day. 

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After this post, I’m taking a break for a little bit!  I deserve it (I need to grow my brain cells back).  See ya sometime soon.

P.S.  —  And who said Canada doesn’t have culture !?!?!?!

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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

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

QUIZ

Here is a little quiz for you.

Some friends and I went camping for a few days outside Toronto.

There were eight eagles circling around us (maybe they saw the dogs)… It got us talking as we were keeping an eye out for them.  As I was trying to film the eagles, I happened to catch a short clip of a few of us talking about them.

Here is a challenge for you:  Considering past blog posts I’ve written on the topic of different accents, and materials which I have provided you with, see if you can identify the three different French accents in the video below.

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1.  Turn on the close captioning button “CC”

2.  See if you can identify Accents “A”, “B”, and “C”.    Listen very very carefully, and you’ll hear there’s a difference.

3.  I’ll give the answers at the very bottom of the post 🙂  

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ANSWERS:

French Accent “A”:  The Greater Montréal & Upper St. Lawrence Valley Accent

French Accent “B”:  Alberta & Saskatchewan Prairie French Accent

French Accent “C”:  Standard Québécois Accent

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

————————————————————

Here is the next in the series of colloquial conversations. (I’ve been super busy lately, so I’m a little slower getting these posts out).

I’m rating this one a notch higher on the difficulty level because of the speed with which things are being said.   Yet, this is perhaps normal speed for many people in a general conversation.

You’ll notice a few things (apart from the faster pace):

• You will start to hear many more contractions,
• Verb tenses and proper spellings are flying out the window (which allows for a faster pace of speech),
• You’ll start to hear extremely colloquial expressions (such as “débile mentale”),
• You’ll hear some English words and expressions which have become part of standard every-day colloquial speech (“yes”, “feeding-frenzy”, etc.)

There are a few things about how this guy speaks which identifies him as being from the Québec City region:

• The way he pronounces certain words, such as
  • “pêche” (with a short “ê”)
  • “écoute” (with a closed “ou”),
  • “là” (with a short and higher “à”), etc.
• People from Québec City also tend to say “conte” more often than the full word “raconte”

Try your best to follow along and become accustomed to the rhythm of everyday street-talk.

The good thing about these audio tracts is that I created closed captions, accompanied with a translation further down, with which to allow you to read and listen to segments over and over again until you are comfortable that you are able to distinguish all the words being said.

Don’t forget to turn on the closed captions by clicking the CC button.

Have fun with it — these types of colloquial conversations are very difficult to come by online.

I say this because most online material generally features

• monologues or
• very international / standardized French from professional interview programs,
• the news,
• documentaries, or
• sitcoms purposely written with with only simple colloquialisms.  Industry professionals say that sitcoms colloquialisms are written to such a basic point that any 6 year old could understand them (I’m serious when I say that).  Thus, even if you listen to sitcoms such as Les parents, Unité 9, etc, you still will not get the “full picture” of how many adults normally speak.

But what I’m giving you here is something very different from the above — it’s the real-deal on how many people normally speak (not what you hear on television).

Again, I underlined bits and pieces of vocabulary which you may wish to learn / pay attention to.

Caller

• 0:00 – Oui Bonjour. J’ai une belle histoire de pêche pour toi. 
• Yes hello. I have good fishing story for you.

Host

• 0:02 – Go, chu prêt.
• Go, I’m ready.

Caller

• 0:03 – Il faut que je (te la) (ra)conte tout de suite?
• Yes, should I tell it right away?

Host

• 0:05 – Mais oui, t’est en ondes. C’est là que ça se passe.
• Well yes, you’re on air. It’s happening now.

Caller

• 0:07 – Hey, salut salut salut. Écoutes, j’étais l’année passée à peu près début juillet au Lac-des-Neiges avec des chums.
• Hey! Hi hi hi. Listen, last year, around the beginning of July, I was at Lac-des-Neiges with some buddies.

Host

• 0:13 – Ouais
• Yah…

Caller

• 0:14 – Écoutez. Y a venté.  Je pense d’hier d’écoute.    Les trois jours qu’on était là il a venté tout le temps.   À la dernière soirée il était huit heure et quart (8:15).  La soirée était vraiment entamée.  
• It was windy.  I’m thinking back like yesterday, listen.  It was windy the whole three days we were there.  The last night it was 8:15.  The night was in full swing.

• 0:24 – Le vent tombe.  On devait cru à une explosion d’éphémère incroyable.   Ça sortait des bois.  Des buissons se causaient de désastres. 
• Then the wind came. You would have thought it was an incredibly instant explosion.  It was coming out of the woods.  The bushes were causing a disaster zone. 

Host

• 0:30 – Ouais
• Yup…

Caller

• 0:31 – C’était incroyable. Complètement là.  Je sors ma canne à moucher.  Je commence à moucher.  Il a eu un début de feeding-frenzy absolument… hein… j’étais là à couper le souffle.  J’ai vu des dots de poissons, et dots de truites à moucher pendant qu’ils mangent…
• It was incredible. Like seriously.  I took out my fly-fishing rod.  I started to cast and fly-fish.  It was the start of an absolute feeding-frenzy… uh… it took my breath away.  I saw the spots the fish were creating [on the surface of the water], and spots from trouts which were going after flies as they were eating…

Host

• 0:45 – Ils avaient faim là.
• They were like, hungry.

Caller

• 0:46 – Ils avaient faim, mais ç’a créé vraiment un feeding-frenzie là. Vraiment un effe  Ils ont tous remonté au complet.
• They were hungry, but really, it, like, created a feeding-frenzie. Really in a lively flash.  They all came up to the surface, completely.

Host

• 0:53 – Ça bouillonnait.
• It was boiling.

Caller

• 0:54 – Aïe, regarde. C’était débile mentale.  Au bout du quai j’étais sorti une truite de neuf et demi.  Pis (re)garde, écoute, c’est juste parce que j’étais le seul qui avait sa canne à moucher prêt…
• Wow, listen. It was completely mind blowing.  At the end of the dock I brought in a 9-1/2 [inch] trout.  And look, listen, it was only because I was the only one who had his fly-fishing rod ready…

• 1:03 – euh… (é)coute, j’sais pas s’il y a beaucoup de monde qui qui a c’t expérience. C’est… qu’ils ont l’expérience d’t’ça dans leur vie.  Mais c’était absolument incroyable.  Vraiment là. 
• Er… listen, I don’t know if there are many people who have had that experience. It’s… I mean who has had that experience there in their lives?  But it was absolutely incredible.  Like really.

Host

• 1:10 – Ah, ben c’est cool comme ça. Merci d’avoir appelé.  Pis euh, quand t’es là, c’est toi le guerrier-pêcheur, pis ta canne est prête, mettons que tu dois avoir une petite fierté un peu.
• Huh, well, that there is pretty cool. Thanks for calling.  And, er… when you’re the one there, it’s you who is the fishing warrior, and your rod is ready, and let’s say that’s gotta give you a little dose of pride.

Caller

• 1:20 – Ah, écoute! J’ai des moments, des moments que je vais jamais oublier dans ma vie. 
• Uh, listen! I’ve had moments, moment which I’ll never forget in my life.

Host

• 1:23 – Hey, merci d’avoir appelé.
• Hey, thanks for having called.

Caller

• 1:24 – Hey, merci.
• Hey, thanks.

Host

• 1:25 – 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