Hosts Introduce Language Travel Series

Speaker 0:00

This transcript was automatically created and has not be read or edited by our team. Hi , I'm Alexa, and I'm Rory.

Speaker 2 0:03

Together

Speaker 0:03

we are The ROAMies welcome , we are married to each other. Right. We are a touring musical duo. And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

Speaker 2 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to eat all your plates made.

Speaker 0:22

And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug.

Speaker 2 0:38

Well, you can't speak it yet. We haven't taught it yet.

Why French Helps Across Continents

Speaker 0:40

Okay. Y'all, welcome again to the Romies Podcast. We are in our series of learning language for travel.

Speaker 2 0:47

Hello, vehicle men. Because probably we've already heard the German.

Speaker 0:51

Yes, because English German. So, y'all, today we're going to learn French. Yay. Now, French, it's going to get you through France, right? Yay. That's awesome. When you visit France. But you're also going to use French when you visit Belgium. When you visit some many African countries, you're going to use French. Yes. Yes. Middle Eastern.

Speaker 2 1:17

And you know why it's so helpful? French was the international language forever. When I was a boy. It was the international language.

Speaker 3 1:24

Good old days. Yeah, the good old days.

Speaker 1:28

So it's a very helpful language. And we that's what Roy and I each studied like in school growing up.

Speaker 2 1:34

Yeah, in the second grade, they start teaching us French where I'm from.

Speaker 1:37

We have so much fun with the language. We love it. We're not yet fluent after all of these years, but we have learned enough where we can carry a conversation, we can get by. It's been super helpful. Yeah. But it's also helpful, like because it's a romance language. So when you learn French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, for example, all of those are like romance languages that all have this foundation together. And so as you're learning one, you find so many similarities between the others and then how they connect with English. And it's just a wonderful thing.

Speaker 2 2:10

If you're fluent into Spanish, a great, much easier second language to pick up would be French. If you're fluent in French, you can pick up more quickly on Spanish.

Speaker 2:19

And Italian and Italian.

Speaker 2 2:20

Did you speak both of those Portuguese?

unknown 2:22

Right.

Speaker 2:22

In the band.

Speaker 2 2:23

I'm going to blend it.

Meet Paul: Culture And Politeness

Speaker 2:25

That's what we hear anyway. So today we are so excited to have with us Paul. Paul, thank you so much for joining us. And Paul is, okay, so we are recording this in Finland, but Paul is actually French. And so we figured even though we're in Finland, you are our expert French guy here. So we're really, really excited to learn some French from you today for travel. So do you what do you want to just give us a quick little cultural insight on, you know, before we dive into maybe some words, what might be some cultural things that a traveler should be maybe a little aware of or sensitive to or anything?

Speaker 3 3:07

Yeah. Well, thank you for having me. Uh I think I would start with the fact that French people can be very, they really want you to speak French. So they we can have this kind of pride thing as a Frenchman that uh we don't like when people come to our country and don't make efforts. Yes.

Speaker 3:26

So I think I think same with English. I mean, it's you know, we want people, if they're gonna come to our country, to speak English, right? We just expect to be right.

Speaker 2 3:34

It's been respectful to no matter what country you go to.

Speaker 3 3:38

Totally. That's true. Uh maybe we push it a bit far sometimes, but yeah, maybe you know.

Speaker 3:42

Maybe I can take the critically. Yeah, no, I do feel like Fran France has a reputation for that. Yeah, yeah. But I I it's completely understanding.

Speaker 2 3:50

I've been chewed out in French before.

Speaker 3 3:53

Totally. But yeah, I would say that that's uh anything you can throw in French, I think we appreciate it a lot as long as you try. And of course, I think we're getting better and better in English, I believe. But yeah, whatever you can throw in French, it's always appreciated.

Greetings And Formal vs Informal You

Speaker 4:08

Great, great. So maybe down the road in today's lesson, you'll teach us I don't speak French or or I don't understand French, or you know, maybe we can go there sometimes. So, in an effort to be polite, we can start with hello. What's what's sounds good?

Speaker 3 4:24

So we have uh one way to say good morning, good afternoon. It's bonjour, bonjour. So very like straightforward, and then after it becomes like evening-ish, I would say like after six, we start to say bonsoir, so good evening. So those are the two ways that are polite, and of course, if you know the person a bit better, you can say hi and it's salute. But that's for the intimates.

Speaker 2 4:54

Ah, okay. So say say those three slowly for us. The one for the earlier in the day.

Speaker 3 5:01

So whenever you wake up in the morning, you say hello to people, you say bonjour. Bonjour. And if it's midday afternoon, you still say bonjour, and whenever it's past around six-ish, you say bonsoir. Bonsoir.

Speaker 2 5:19

Okay, so they have this similarity that I hear in the beginning of each of them.

Speaker 3 5:23

Yes. Bon. Bon means good. Okay. So good afternoon, good day, good morning, and then jour, which is for good morning, good afternoon, whatever you want to say in there, it means day. So it's pretty much good day. Yeah. But it also means good morning. Okay. And bon soir is good evening. So means evening.

unknown 5:45

Okay.

Speaker 5:46

All right.

Speaker 3 5:47

Excellent.

Speaker 5:48

And then if we want to say excuse me.

Speaker 3 5:54

So there's two ways to go about it. I think I'd like to say that there's uh the easy route, which is maybe the good, like kind of if you need to throw something in and you don't remember your French, uh, maybe it's better to stick with this. So the easy route is pardon.

Speaker 6:08

Like pardon, like we would say pardon, and then just French it up. Pardon?

Speaker 3 6:12

Yes, pardon. You add the little mm-mm in the country.

Speaker 1 6:15

That's right.

Speaker 3 6:18

Exactly, classic. And if you want to be polite, there's excusez-moi. And I think there's something really important to know with French is that we have kind of our language is trying to be as polite as possible. So we have a way to talk to people we know and a way to talk to people we don't know, and we want to show respect. And so there is it's quite tricky, but there is like different ways to address to someone you don't know, and as well as to the elderly, even though you know them, you still want to show respect.

Speaker 2 6:50

Yeah.

Speaker 3 6:51

So the thing with this is that if, for example, I don't know you and we get to know each other, I will say vo to say you, vo. And it also means you in plural. And so that's a bit tricky. But you never say to, which is also you, but this is for the intimate. But if you say that to a French person that you don't know, he's gonna see it as an offense. So that's very important.

Excuse Me, Do You Speak English

Speaker 7:15

Yeah, and as you're traveling, the majority of the people you come across are going to be strangers. You need to know that that's focus on the voo, and even if you know someone, you're not gonna offend them saying vo, like right.

Speaker 3 7:27

It's they will correct you to say, Hey, by the way, you can say two, but at least you come as very respectful, and that's super important. So if you say excuse me, you say excusez-moi. That's like the polite way, and the more straightforward is excuse-moi. But so pay attention to, I mean, more focus on excusez-moi.

Speaker 7:50

Right, right. And so the and those and I think for purposes today, we can focus on the vo forms, yeah.

Speaker 2 7:56

Yeah, and so uh, it's are those two different words you're saying there with excusez-moi.

Speaker 3 8:01

Yeah, so excuse is like excuse. Well, it's pretty much Finnish and unfinished. I mean, English and French is very connected. Okay, uh, there's a lot of uh similarities. Yeah, French.

Speaker 8:12

So again, you can say excuse me, and then just he's French either.

Speaker 3 8:18

So yeah, there's the excuse and then me, moi, moi is me. Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 2 8:26

And then the the pardon you said is more for it it means the same thing.

Speaker 3 8:33

I think it's more it's not as polite. If you want to be as polite as you can, you kind of avoid it. But pardon is mostly used when you, for example, you bump someone or you drop something, or if you're in the metro and you need to pass or then you can play with both. Okay, um, so it's kind of like more of a hurry thing, I would say.

Speaker 8:54

Now, would you use sorry in French?

Speaker 3 8:57

Sorry?

Speaker 8:58

Like sorry, yeah, like instead of pardoning, you would say sorry, you wouldn't say that.

Speaker 3 9:02

Yeah, we tried uh anything you can throw that's not that doesn't sound English, people French people will like it. Uh they'll appreciate they have a beef with the English speaking for some reason. Yeah, just uh yeah, in case you go to Paris and you don't get some uh attack for that, it's good to know.

Speaker 9:18

Totally in my experience, in order to have someone engage with me, even if I even if they need to speak English to me, because I don't know French, for example, if I say, excuse me, do you speak English? I find that's a really good door opener. And what's really funny, I'm just doing a little side rabbit here, but like a side rabbit.

Speaker 2 9:39

That's interesting. Have you ever heard of it? A rabbit trail, but you've got a side rabbit.

Speaker 9:43

I do have a side rabbit. Okay. And you're making it longer. So Rory's really good with languages. Like so, when when we travel around the world, he'll he'll say the local phrases, he'll say these things we're learning, you know, on on this uh series. And he people will speak back to him in their language because he says it so well. When I'm in a French-speaking country and I say something in French, they speak back to me in English because my friend, I sound like an American trying to speak French, right? So I think even if you can learn that, excuse me, do you speak English? Is is very like you can correct me if I'm wrong, but like I feel like that's a good door opener to at least, hey, I want to make an effort.

How Are You And Honest Answers

Speaker 2 10:28

Yeah, instead of just assuming, oh, they're gonna speak English because English is the international language, and I'm American, so you just start in English, not a good way to begin.

Speaker 3 10:38

I've learned, yes. Well, we we can we can learn that. I think uh first I would say on behalf of all the French people, I'm sorry for that. We're so rude.

Speaker 10:46

And uh But it's not rude, it's your country. Yeah, I mean we're coming to your country. So we're rude if we're not speaking your language, right? Okay, okay.

Speaker 3 10:56

All right, let's let's keep the rudeness uh in place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um yeah, really good point. I think it's really good to start with uh what we learn, uh excusez-moi, to open the the conversation because I think what will happen is that you will go to someone on the street or like someone that works in somewhere in some shop. So you start with excusez-moi, parlez-vous anglais. Parlez means do you like speak? And vous is what we learn, it's the polite you. So speak you English. Parlez vous anglais.

Speaker 2 11:32

And uh to make it a question, you just sort of raise we put it like uh kind of backwards, yeah.

Speaker 3 11:39

So it's more like do you speak? It's like speak you English. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 11:44

That's the way you can even raise the tone a bit at the end, yeah.

Speaker 3 11:49

Like we're doing parlez, yeah, exactly. So you you start with excusez-moi, parlez vous anglais. Parlez-vous anglais.

Speaker 2 12:04

The anglais is interesting, yeah. It's like our in G sound.

Speaker 12:08

Can you say uh syllable by syllable?

Speaker 3 12:11

Yeah, uh so the the beautiful thing about French is that we have so many letters that you don't even pronounce, so it's very, very confusing.

Speaker 12:19

Well, one thing I'm I'm noticing is I'm hearing you, I don't hear excusez-moi. I hear excusez-moi.

Speaker 1 12:27

Yeah.

Speaker 12:28

So so I've noticed that. So yeah, if we I want to make sure that I'm hearing the vowels in the right direction and all that.

Speaker 3 12:35

Yeah, I I think uh because the French people speak really really quickly. And I think we can just uh share some words. Okay, but yeah, excusez-moi is excusez-moi.

Speaker 12:47

Okay.

Speaker 3 12:48

I want to say it very properly, and then it's parlez vous anglais.

unknown 12:55

Okay.

Speaker 3 12:56

But yeah, if you would say all the syllables, it would be parlaise vos englise. Yeah, that's right. It's really a mess. I think uh learning to write and read is really, really hard. Yeah, it's a different thing.

Speaker 13:10

All right, and then uh say it again fast. Excuse me, do you speak English?

Speaker 3 13:14

Excuse-moi, parlez-vous anglais. There you go. That's good to know. Very good.

Speaker 13:18

Click me, yeah.

Speaker 2 13:20

Yeah, yeah, good way to start.

Speaker 3 13:21

And even if the pronunciation is not great, I think as long as they understand you, they will really appreciate it.

Speaker 13:26

Yeah, right.

Speaker 3 13:26

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 13:27

They just appreciate the effort. Okay, so what is so I we just said très bien, what does that mean?

Speaker 3 13:32

Very good. Okay, très bien is good also. Okay, and and of course, uh, you can learn the how are you, very good uh, and you. I think that's uh that can be a polite thing. How are you is comment? And then you can answer either très bien, very good, or bien, good.

Speaker 13:53

Now, are you gonna say comment ça va to a stranger?

Speaker 3 13:57

Maybe not. Maybe maybe it depends. I think it's it can be something in the conversation that the other person is asking you, and you can answer good and you. So good and you is bien et toi. I think it's pretty rare that as a non-French speaker that you will go to someone and ask actually, like, hey, how are you? Because that's very like uncomfortable kind of to say. Oh, okay.

Speaker 14:20

So that's why we went and say evu.

Speaker 3 14:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 14:23

Okay, because yes.

Speaker 3 14:24

So maybe you just like learn the good and you, so bien et vous. That's like I'm doing good and you. Yeah.

Speaker 14:32

Okay, so then we would use vo.

Speaker 3 14:34

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 14:35

Okay, yeah. Bien evu.

Speaker 3 14:37

Yes.

Speaker 14:37

Okay. And so then if we were speaking to this person, are we gonna say como sava or are we going to say something else?

Speaker 3 14:44

Like, yeah, you can that's a very polite way. The non-polite, what I would tell my brother, for example, I would just say, Hey Sava. Okay, you know, or uh salut sava, just like very like the shorter way. But that's not seen as the most polite thing you would say to a stranger, yeah.

Speaker 15:01

And then so what's the difference between como sava and tale vu?

Speaker 3 15:06

That's really good. Kommentale is maybe the highest degree of politeness, I would say. And that's really like very polite. So if you can pull that off, it's it's even better. But I don't think it's needed per se. Like it's it's really something that's for example, someone will say from a store to someone coming in, like very, very polite. But commentalez-vous is also a good one. Okay, but it's but it's easier to say comment. Yeah, it's pretty much how are you, and comment allez-vous is how are you doing. Yeah, it's like you push it a bit further, but yeah, two both of them are really good ones.

Speaker 2 15:41

Okay. And are the answers?

Speaker 3 15:47

Yeah, so bien is good. So if you're just good, nothing else, then you say bien, and then if you are doing very well, you say très bien. Tre means very. So you just add that.

Speaker 2 15:58

Now, what if what if you're being honest and things are going poorly and that's why they're asking? Because like something happened. Yes, okay. How would you answer not good, you know?

Speaker 3 16:09

Or so so. Yeah, yeah, there's a few ways to go about this. I would say the the first one is not doing great is Sava Pa. I'm not doing well, like it's or it's more like it's not going good. Sava pa pa means it's like a negative kind of word. Like not, not not doing well. It's like sava pa.

Speaker 2 16:29

And the good thing about that is it that a lot of that is what you just just came from the question, como sava, and then you answered sava yeah.

Toilets, Water, And Essential Nouns

Speaker 3 16:36

And you can do sava bien also if you want to. Yeah, doing that's good. Yeah, you can French is really a lot of mismatch. You can just put things around and uh and make it work.

Speaker 16:46

Yeah, you just said bien is well, and I think that's kind of a good distinction because Rory asked earlier, bon is good, bien. So, but you were saying bien, I'm doing good. Yeah, like so. We want to say bon is more good and bien is more well. Yes, exactly. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 17:04

All right, there you go. Okay, so so run us through that again. If someone says and it's not going great, you might say, Okay, so you can use part of the question to answer the question, right?

Speaker 3 17:16

So that's nice. Then you need to be ready to explain why it's not going well. Right? That's another difficulty.

Speaker 17:21

Then you say parlay bou anglais. Exactly.

Speaker 3 17:25

Yeah, but if if something happens, you fall or you see uh, I don't know, more something happens bad to you, it's it's good to right away say it's not doing well, then the person knows that something is.

Speaker 17:35

You need some kind of help or something. And then what if you're just kind of doing okay?

Speaker 3 17:42

I would say the best is to say pas terrible, it's not not terrible.

Speaker 17:46

Okay.

Speaker 3 17:47

So again, French English, terrible. Yeah, it's terrible, terrible. You just terrible don't say the end. Yeah. Terrible. Isn't that great? So you say pas terrible, not terrible, not terrible.

Speaker 2 18:01

And if it is going terrible, just leave off the pot. Terrible, yeah. That's really bad.

Speaker 3 18:05

If you say it in French, it's really bad. It's really something bad has happened, someone has died or something.

Speaker 18:12

You can say horrible, too. You can say terrible, horrible. Okay.

Speaker 2 18:15

Oh, you'll be saying okay. So, what are the things if someone is visiting France and they're trying to or a French-speaking country? Yeah, a French-speaking country, trying to make their way around. What are some helpful phrases they would like if they're lost?

Speaker 3 18:28

Yeah, I am lost is a good one to to know. Um that it can be useful many times if we visit places. I am lost, it's je is I, je suis perdu. I am lost. Je suis perdu. Perdu is lost.

Speaker 2 18:45

Okay. Yeah. I say the perdu slowly for us, the syllables.

Speaker 3 18:48

Perdu.

Speaker 2 18:49

Okay. Perdu.

Speaker 3 18:51

Okay. Je suis perdu. Je suis is good to know. It's I am. So if you want to someone is asking what's your name. So what's your name is Okay, uh there's the the the nice and the I mean the polite way in the non-polite way, so we can go straight to the polite way. Um comment vous appelez vous. It's a hard one.

Speaker 1 19:13

Yeah.

Please, Thanks, And The Bill

Speaker 3 19:14

Or maybe the easier is quel est ton prénom. It's not even easier, but that's like the first one is what are you called? It's the most classic that we use. And then what is your name? Is Kel eston prenom. This is like not super common. It's more like if you go to the border patrol and then ask what's your name, yeah. Then we say like, quel est ton prénom, like tell me your name. But we would more say comment vous appelez-vous, uh, which can sound pretty uh tricky, but usually you don't have to say it yourself, so it's more someone will say it to you. So if you kind of remember that, and then you can say je suis Paul. I am Paul. Okay. Or je m'appelle Paul, I am called Paul.

Speaker 20:02

Yeah. I call myself Paul. Yeah.

Speaker 3 20:05

Yeah, I call myself Paul.

Speaker 2 20:06

But it's great if they could use the je suis, which is what they used a minute ago too.

Speaker 3 20:10

Yeah, you can use it like uh pretty much for a lot of things, yeah. Je suis Paul, and yeah, and that's really good. And then you can say and you, which you remember from earlier, it's evu. Okay, that's good to know. Nice. Yeah, yeah. Uh then something like where is, for example, that's quite useful. So you can start with je suis perdu, I am lost. Very simple two words. Ou eh. Sounds like you're singing something.

Speaker 2 20:43

Yeah, or like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or the first thing I thought of was a monkey. Yeah, in any case, we go, right?

Speaker 3 20:49

Exactly. Yeah, so where is where is and then it's very tricky uh the following because in French also we have feminine and masculine words. So if it's for example, where is the castle? It's le chateau. But if it's like, for example, uh what is where's the hotel? L'hôtel is neutral. For example, where is the TV? That's the first thing. Yeah, ou e la tele. So you can have things with la and le is for masculine, so it's very tricky. But this is not a big mistake. If you mistaken like le la un, which is like one in feminine, masculine, it's not a big issue, we'll still understand you, but it's good to know that there's those types of things. Yeah, so ooh e, and then you can show your things on the phone, or you can just, if you know the thing, the chateau or the menu.

Speaker 2 21:48

Yeah, or write the address and say ooh e and show the menu. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 21:52

Yeah, menu is menu. So ou e le menu.

Speaker 21:56

Okay. And where is the restaurant?

Speaker 3 21:59

Ou e le restaurant, same word as English.

Speaker 22:02

Okay, can you slow that down?

Ordering Bread, Coffee, Tea, Pastries

Speaker 3 22:04

Ou e le restaurant. So nice. Where is the restaurant? Restaurant. Restaurant.

Speaker 22:16

All right, okay. Where are the restrooms or the toilet? In the in the in Europe, people are using saying toilets more than restrooms.

Speaker 3 22:26

So for plural, because it's the toilets, it's ouson le toilet. So whenever it's plural, you have to switch.

Speaker 22:37

Okay.

Speaker 3 22:37

So o e is singular.

Speaker 22:42

Okay. Because you're not gonna ask for where is the toilet, you're going to be saying where are the toilets? Yes.

Speaker 2 22:48

Yeah.

Speaker 22:49

And so that therefore it makes it plural. So we're gonna bring that in.

Speaker 2 22:52

Yeah, what if somebody messes up and like ou le toilet?

Speaker 3 22:56

That's fine too. Yeah. They'll understand it. They will understand it. Yeah. And I I think people, I mean, French people, we have the pride of that you need to speak French, but if you try, they will be very happy to kind of walk you through whatever you're going, you know, you need help with.

Speaker 2 23:09

So yeah, they may answer in English because you tried exactly French.

Speaker 3 23:13

As long as you try, it's yeah.

Speaker 2 23:15

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 23:16

Totally.

Speaker 23:16

Okay, and then I always need to know like where is water? Because I'm drinking water all the time. So, what's our word for water?

Speaker 3 23:24

Water is uh, just uh oh. It's written E A U, but it's pronounced O.

unknown 23:30

Okay.

Speaker 3 23:31

Same as my as my uh last name, actually. Um my name is Le Pino, but it's written E A U. Okay, it's O. So uh E A U O is water, and then uh it kind of you have to say lope with an L like the water. So if you want to say like uh do you want to say like words?

Speaker 23:52

I would how about I would like, I would like to. Yeah, yeah, like I'm thirsty a lot.

Speaker 3 23:56

I would like is let's say the easiest way is je voudrais, I would like je voudrais.

Speaker 24:03

So the je is the I I would like voudrais de l'eau.

Bakeries, Butchers, And Cheese Shops

Speaker 3 24:09

I would like some de lo. I would like some water. So je voudrais de l'eau, s'il vous plaît. Ah, this is very good. We haven't touched from the good card. This is very good. So uh, whenever French is, you have to think of French as uh you have to try to be as polite as possible. Yes, uh, it's very tricky, and so you have to add like s'il vous plaît in a lot of things. Well, it's kind of like please in in English that you have to add after sentences, and so you have to say s'il vous plaît, s'il vous plaît, s'il vous plaît. It's like je peux pas avoir or je voudrais de l'eau, s'il vous plaît. Um, that's very important. And then thank you, uh, merci. Yeah, those are really important ones. Merci beaucoup, thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.

Speaker 25:01

All right, syllable those out, please.

Speaker 3 25:03

The merci beaucoup. Uh you want the every letter or yeah, or mer.

Speaker 25:13

Okay, great. There you go.

Speaker 2 25:14

And boku is something we've taken into English. We say, oh, boku. Boku sometimes, and or whatever. We it's a word that at least where I'm from. That's true.

Speaker 3 25:23

Yeah. Use it a lot. And I think it's the same word. I and also a thing at the restaurant that I think is pretty good to know is the bill. Yes, okay. Yeah, yeah. Asking the guy, you raised your hand, and then you say l'addition.

Speaker 2 25:38

Now, it is related to a word that we will recognize in English, addition.

Speaker 3 25:43

Addition. It's the same in French. It means the calculations, you know, the you add up. And I just used it for that. So the addition, the addition of what you you have eaten. And then you add laddition, s'il vous plaît.

unknown 25:56

Okay.

Speaker 3 25:56

That's very important. If you just say addition, it's gonna take it as your very root and uh you're taking him as uh, you know, yeah, bring it to remember.

Speaker 26:04

And it's not just addition, right? You put that L in front of it, you put the article in front of it because you're pretty much always gonna have the la, the la, the right common in front of it.

Speaker 3 26:15

So it's okay. And you of course if you mess up and you say le addition, it's it's fine, it's still not gonna understand. But there's a little thing before.

Speaker 2 26:25

I often make use of this.

Speaker 26:28

Right. The sign language. They're not gonna hear that in the everyday. Or he's doing sign language.

Speaker 2 26:34

Listen closely, everyone. I do this. Got it. Did you hear me in my hand? Yeah, it's it's uh it's like um if I'm in a restaurant and I need and I need the bill, whatever country I'm in, if I don't speak the language, I'll it's like your signature. Like you move your fingers like you're signing something in the air, you get their attention and like and look polite on your face and like that's right, please, you know. And they usually understand. Yeah, usually and so if you're in a sign language. Oh, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 27:03

Excusez-moi, and then sign.

Speaker 2 27:05

But if they don't like it, they might resort to sign language too. I'm just the less resort, yeah. Yeah, they're excited too. Yeah, yeah.

unknown 27:13

All right.

Speaker 27:14

Okay, so we've learned where is um How are you?

Speaker 2 27:18

Hello.

Taxis, Maps, And Pointing Politely

Speaker 27:19

Now, okay, tell me the difference. Let's let's because you you did two words that are quite similar. What's the difference between the word where and the word water? Or just just repeat them for us.

Speaker 3 27:33

Yes, that's uh that's a small uh difference. Uh where is ooh, ooh, and water is ooh.

Speaker 27:41

Okay. Okay. So we got our ooh and our own.

Speaker 3 27:43

That's right. Ooh, ooh, oh, yeah.

Speaker 27:47

So where is the water?

Speaker 3 27:49

Ooh e-lo. Ooh, ooh, or is the water? I don't know when when you would say that, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe if you're looking for a swimming pool.

Speaker 28:01

And then you'd use pool or whatever.

Speaker 3 28:03

Yeah, pool, yeah.

Speaker 28:04

Okay. Um, all right. Anything else? Yeah, what else? Before we say go go.

Speaker 2 28:10

We can't say that yet. We have to again, what else might be helpful to someone because they're in France that you guys would think that'd be really nice if they would have tried that or said that or something of that nature. Or do we need to know train station and airport or I don't know, something.

Speaker 3 28:26

For example, maybe you would use the taxi quite much.

Speaker 2 28:29

Okay.

Speaker 3 28:30

So the taxi driver is gonna ask you, or it depends nowadays if you use Uber or anything like that. But if he asks you, for example, where are you going? So he's gonna ask the same thing. We learn who where ale vu. Where going you very much, but Ale is going. So ale vu. Uh, and then you have to answer uh nu it's alon we are going to nu it's us, it's going to.

Speaker 29:05

Okay.

Speaker 3 29:06

Whatever.

Speaker 29:06

And then if we're solo traveling, then what would we say?

Speaker 3 29:10

You're by yourself. Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:16

So I often when when I'm traveling, my brain is often thinking about a hundred things. So when I would get in a taxi, I would often write down where I'm going. Uh when I was in Russia, we would do this, they would ask us, and we would recognize one word like ooh, and so we know, oh, they're asking where, something about where. And so then we would hand them where we're like the business card from your hotel, yeah, yeah, and then follow up with Bajovsta, please. Oh, right. So if you're in a if you can't remember how to say some of these things, and you hear them say something and there's ooh in there, and you're in a taxi or an Uber. An Uber, you know, no, an Uber.

Speaker 3 29:56

Yeah, remember s'il vous plaît, s'il vous plaît, and also you can. Say here uh if you have something to point on the map, okay easy uh easy, easy, it's easy, uh easy, but with this, yeah, yeah, easy, easy, and then you point it.

Goodbyes, See You Soon, And Wrap

Speaker 2 30:11

Yeah, that's good. And then follow up with the please. Yeah, simple please. Yeah, easy, easy. Okay, yeah, great. Remember, the goal is to be really, really polite when you're in France. Yes. If if you're questioning, should I do this or not do this, just think of the most polite way you can pull it off, even if you can't say it in French, that's right, and you're gonna say it in English, have the expression on your face in your body language, like uh that looks a bit apologetic because you don't say anything in French to someone when you first approach them in their own country, right? Yeah. We know how it is if someone approaches us in America and just starts going off in another language when they're looking at us, we're thinking, what makes you think I speak anything other than English? Right? I mean, uh, why are you speaking my language? It's really odd. So it's the same when you're in when you're in France, except they really want you to be polite.

Speaker 1 31:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2 31:00

I was in the train and I was headed to Paris. I had to go to the airport, and I was traveling from somewhere in southern France, and I knew how to ask the guy in French, which train do I take to get to Chard de Gaulle, right? I probably Charg de Gaulle. I said that terribly anyway. How do I get to this to the airport, right? I knew how to say it. And I got off the train and I walk up to the conductor and I totally chickened out. Oh, that's horrible. I don't know why. And so I said, How do I get? I immediately, first of all, the conductor's doing a hundred things. He's got people all around him, he's trying to figure out, make sure everything goes on you know on time and happens as it's supposed to. So I walk up and immediately like English in his face. I know he understood me because it was a main train station, like a big one, and of course he speaks English. Hey, which train do I take to get to the airport? And man, he laid it to me in French. I mean, not a single word in English, and he let me have it. And I was like, uh, and he's he's telling me off at the same time, pointing where I need to go. And if I had just said anything in French to start the conversation, start the question, it would have made all the difference in the world.

Speaker 32:12

Excuse-moi.

Speaker 2 32:13

I would feel the same way if somebody did this to me, right? So it's a big lesson learned from me. I chickened out, but even if I I would have said, excusez-moi, yeah, yeah, and then jump into English after that.

Speaker 32:24

But at least you start with something.

Speaker 2 32:26

I don't speak French. Even if you say it in English, you start with the excusez-moi. Anything you can do to be as polite.

Speaker 3 32:33

I think a good one is help me, please. Yeah, that's good. Uh so straightforward help me is I think it's the easiest rather than can you help me? Uh help me is aid moi. The food.

Speaker 32:51

So it's just like English the word aid. A I Dive me, give me aid. Yes, so it's the verb is the same. Yeah.

Speaker 3 33:00

And we learn moi. Moi is me. And uh another one that we're gonna do them all, but I don't understand. Yeah, so someone is like really going at you ranting about it. You say je comprends pas. Je comprends pas. I don't understand you. And we learned pas a while ago, it's the negative. Yeah, and je and pas, and then in between you say comprend, understand, je comprends pas.

Speaker 33:28

And you can remember that because we have the word comprehend.

Speaker 3 33:31

Comprehend, exactly. You'll see French is very close to English.

Speaker 33:35

Super fun. Now, you're gonna when you're in France, you're gonna need to eat some bread. I was almost said it.

Speaker 2 33:45

Uh-uh.

Speaker 33:46

You're gonna need some bread. Of course, you're gonna bread's also. You're gonna need coffee and tea and things like that. So, how do we ask, you know, like, may I have some or I would like insert wonderful, delicious, delicacy?

Speaker 3 34:00

Have your choice, yes. So, okay, which way to go about it? The simplest way possible and polite. I think the the most the most straightforward and easy to remember is some bread, please. We can learn that first. Then if you want to really have special uh units like one bread or uh one, you know, a piece of bread or something, it's usually called uh a baguette. So you will say baguette s'il vous plaît. If you want many de baguette, then you have to learn the numbers, what's that? Yeah, yeah. Um and if you want to be extra polite and you want to learn this one, is can I have some bread, please? Is puis avoir du pain s'il vous plait. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. I think it's better to say du pain s'il vous plaît. S'il vous plaît, yes, or de croissant s'il vous plaît.

Speaker 1 35:01

Yeah, you gotta do it.

Speaker 3 35:03

Yes, but uh it's good to know the units also if you want to order a special amount, yeah.

Speaker 1 35:07

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 35:07

Okay. So give us one, two, three.

Speaker 3 35:10

Un deux trois. So like uh Spanish, for example, uno dos tres, or Italian uh uno something. Sorry, Italians I don't know. Yeah, but uh very close it. So unde. Okay.

Speaker 35:29

Alright, so we've had our baguettes and our croissants. You know, they have a fun thing that I didn't know about till we went to France and Belgium and all that. You have this bread with chocolate inside of it.

Speaker 3 35:40

Oh yeah.

Speaker 35:42

I mean, you're kind of combining a lot of luxuries there in the city.

Speaker 3 35:45

That's really one of my favorites for sure.

Speaker 35:47

Yes, so what is that?

Speaker 3 35:49

So there's a big uh kind of controversy in France about this.

Speaker 35:53

Okay.

Speaker 3 35:53

There's the whole northern kind of the country split in two, and my team we say pain au chocolat.

Speaker 36:01

Okay.

Speaker 3 36:01

It's like bread with chocolate. But the guys in the south, they will say chocolatine. It's like chocolatine, like chocolate thing. What? Uh yeah, it there's a big I've never heard that. Yes, yeah, neither have I. It's a very internal thing. It's a big beef, but I think we're winning it really clearly.

Speaker 2 36:19

I would say internationally, you have already won't be.

Speaker 36:26

Okay. So let's go with the winning phrase. How do we say this bread with chocolate? It's a it's like a croissant with chocolate inside.

Speaker 3 36:33

Yeah, with kind of a chocolate pastry with chocolate. Yeah, it's all good. Pan or chocolat. Pan or chocolat. We learned pan is also bread. Right.

Speaker 2 36:42

And chocolat is almost chocolate. Yes. Yes, chocolat. Except there's the O in the middle. Yeah. And no E at the end.

Speaker 3 36:50

And no E at the end. Yeah, not chocolate chocolat. Yeah, you don't say the T. Of course it's written with a T, but typical French, you don't say it. So you're gonna know it, yeah.

Speaker 37:00

Okay. Um, and just for Grins, uh is spelled like we spell pain. P-A-I. P-A-I-N is how you spell bread. So when you see pain, you're just you know unless you're gluten intolerant, it's not painful. Right, yeah.

Speaker 2 37:15

Unless you are, it's the opposite of pain in front. Because the bread's awesome.

Speaker 37:18

Yeah. Okay, now coffee, tea, how do we say those?

Speaker 3 37:23

Coffee is cafe. So, like a coffee place, cafe. Okay.

Speaker 37:27

So we're gonna use the same word for a cafe and a coffee.

Speaker 3 37:30

So you will say un cafe, s'il vous plaît, a coffee, please. Or you can say je vais au cafe, I'm going to the coffee place. And so you can use both.

Speaker 37:40

Or ooh le cafe.

Speaker 3 37:46

Uh usually you follow up like où est le cafe. I don't know.

Speaker 2 37:50

The name of the cafe.

Speaker 3 37:50

The name of the cafe, because there is plenty of coffee, but uh coffee places. But if someone says we're going to this coffee place, then you can say où est le cafe. Où est le café? Tea. So very similar. Du te.

Speaker 2 38:04

And again, you learn a while ago, like some.

Speaker 3 38:06

Some, yeah. Yeah. Du te, du pain, des croissants, if it's many.

Speaker 2 38:12

Yes, definitely. Of course, that's the one everyone should remember because they're gonna throw their one. Yeah, many, of course. You'll find if you eat one, then you'll want to learn what's the plural. That's all I need. Yeah, always.

Speaker 38:24

Yeah. And then pastries. There's a lot of pastries as well. So is there a different word for just a pastry?

Speaker 3 38:32

It's a good one. Pastry, pastry. What is the word for pastry?

Speaker 38:36

I don't know. You know, I don't know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 38:38

Okay, here's a here's a better question. If someone knows they want some bread, where do they go to find fresh bread? What's the place called?

Speaker 3 38:46

Actually, pastry is we have a word for it that just now came to my mind is vienoiserie. So it's you don't need to use that, but that's if you want to be fancy. Okay. Viennoiserie. That is fancy, and that's the word for pastry. That's for pastry, yeah. Okay.

Speaker 39:05

Wow.

Speaker 3 39:05

Okay. If you say je veux, je veux is pretty good. This I want.

Speaker 39:09

Okay.

Speaker 3 39:09

Je veux des viennoiseries. It's like I want pastry. Like I want all of them.

Speaker 1 39:14

I want stuff.

Speaker 3 39:16

But I don't think it's really useful for like beginners.

Speaker 1 39:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 39:20

And what was the other question? So where would someone go to find where would someone go?

Speaker 39:23

Yeah, because they're that's one thing that's fun about the French culture.

Speaker 3 39:27

Oh, yeah. That's you can see them all around the every corner, every street. Yeah. So they're called boulangerie. Boulangerie. It's uh the the bakery. And the baker is boulanger. So you just make it a little bit longer. It's the bakery. Okay. Boulanger boulangerie.

Speaker 39:43

And we can get at this boulangerie, we can get the bread and the pastries, yeah?

Speaker 3 39:47

Yeah. So basically in France, kind of distinct between like you don't really go to the store to buy a baguette or to buy croissant or chocolate. Usually you go to those bakeries, it's kind of still traditional.

Speaker 1 39:58

Yeah.

Speaker 3 39:58

Stay the same with the butchers, yeah. But I think more and more, of course, people are still buying at the local shopping, like shopping center or uh grocery store. But um there's a lot of butchery, and I would recommend to go to those and the bakeries. What are those called?

Speaker 40:16

What are the butcheries?

Speaker 3 40:17

Groceries, uh butcheries.

Speaker 40:18

Okay.

Speaker 3 40:20

So very close. Very close.

Speaker 40:21

And you also have one for cheese. Hello!

Speaker 3 40:25

Yeah, because cheese.

Speaker 40:27

What's that store called if you're gonna just go to the cheese store?

Speaker 3 40:30

Yes, so cheese is fromage, and the cheese store is fromagerie, same as boulangerie. Same ending.

Speaker 40:39

And you can go in and taste different cheeses, right? You could go in and say, let me taste that.

Speaker 3 40:43

Yeah, they can use that.

Speaker 40:45

Silver play.

Speaker 3 40:46

If you don't say silver play, they're like, no, we don't let you taste.

Speaker 40:50

It will spit on your cheese. Yes, you can taste it. All right, well, anything else that we need to learn before we head out?

Speaker 2 41:02

Yes, before we say goodbye. Is there anything else we need to learn before we say goodbye?

Speaker 3 41:10

I think that's a lot of homework already with everything they have. Yeah, they're pretty much set with what they you can survive in France with this.

Speaker 41:18

So, how how will we say goodbye?

Speaker 3 41:20

Yeah. Oh, goodbye is au revoir, au revoir, au revoir. Nice, goodbye. Okay, and if you want to say see you later or see you is à bientôt. A bientôt. And if you want to say welcome, it's that's also good to know it's bienvenue. That's good. So bienvenue. Can someone say ciao or I say that actually on the phone a lot uh when I hang up? Ciao, ciao. Yeah, in France, it's quite yeah, I don't know why, but uh, it's not really typical French though. It's yeah, you took it from the Italians, but yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, Albiento is the most common.

Speaker 2 42:03

Uh in Belgium, they said a lot of uh ciao tschüss.

Speaker 3 42:07

Can you say this? In the eastern part of France, yeah. Okay, in Strasbourg they say choose. Yeah. That's more like right on the border, yeah. Yeah, French. Yeah.

Speaker 42:16

Okay. And so can you just slow down the yeah?

Speaker 3 42:21

So goodbye is au revoir.

Speaker 42:24

Okay.

Speaker 3 42:24

Au revoir. And see you is a bientôt. A bientôt. Actually, the translation is pretty funny. It's uh to to like a good oh, it's hard to say see you again. See you in a good early time. Yeah, like see you in it's like good bien toll is like early. So good early. Good early. See you in good early in the girl.

Speaker 42:49

But I think you can use tall as soon. So like see you soon. I think that's the implication. At least that's how I remember it when I Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 42:57

You can use that. The straight restation is early.

Speaker 43:03

Good early.

Speaker 3 43:04

Good early.

Speaker 43:07

Okay, good early.

Speaker 3 43:12

Next time.

Speaker 43:16

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Speaker 2 43:24

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Speaker 43:25

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Speaker 2 43:27

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Speaker 43:39

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Speaker 2 43:42

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Speaker 43:44

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