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Lesson

32

Plus PublicationsBramleyDouglas RoadCorkIreland(t) 353-(0)21-4847444(f) 353-(0)21-4847675(e) [email protected](i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com

LEARN FRENCHBY PODCASTAUDIO PODCASTSFOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

“How are things going for your new

colleague?”

�� © Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 32: Saturday, November 18th, 2006Level: beginner. “How are things going for your new colleague?”

• nouveau / nouvelle• s’occuper de: [to look after / to care for …]• avoir l’air [+ adjective]: [to seem [friendly]]• apprendre: [to learn / to teach…]• être d’origine [allemande / polonaise]: [to be German / Polish, to be of German / Polish extraction]• mélanger: [to mix]

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Where you see this symbol…

… it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.

Hello and welcome back to Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and here with me is Amélie Verdier. Bonjour, Amélie!

Bonjour!

In this lesson, lesson 32, we’re going to hear a chat about a new colleague at work, from Poland. Before we begin, don’t forget the accompanying Lesson Guide, available from www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com.

As you’re listening, try to figure out the answers to the following questions:

1 When did Amélie’s new colleague join her staff?2 Why is Marie out of work at the moment?3 Before working with Amélie’s company, what did

her new colleague do, back in Poland?

Alors, quoi de neuf ?Bof, pas grand-chose. Ah, si ! J’ai un nouveau collègue depuis hier !

Ah bon ?Oui, il remplace Marie qui est partie en congé de maternité.

Et il s’occupe de quoi ?Il fait les plannings pour l’ensemble du personnel.

Ça se passe bien ?Oui, il a l’air sympa comme gars. L’ennui, c’est qu’il est Polonais !

C’est bien, ça, non ? C’est un bel exemple des bienfaits de l’Union Européenne !

Oui oui. C’est très bien. Seulement il ne parle pas très bien français ! En Pologne, il était chargé du recrutement dans une petite entreprise de province. Il a appris le français sur le tas !

C’est courageux, non ?Oui, mais il mélange tout, le français, le polonais, l’allemand…

L’allemand ?Oui, sa mère est d’origine allemande.

C’est un atout pour l’entreprise d’avoir un employé trilingue !

Note… Marie est partie …

= “Marie has gone” (on maternity leave).

“Partir” (to leave) is one of those key verbs which require the auxiliary verb “être” in the passé composé (the Perfect tense). In these cases, the past participle must agree with the subject (Marie, in this case).

(Refer, again, to lesson 21, for more information on these verbs.)

Note… Il a l’air sympa comme gars …

= He seems to be a friendly guy. (Literally, “He seems friendly, as a guy.”)

The key expression is: avoir l’air [+ adjective].

Note… L’ennui, c’est que …

= The problem is that …

l’ennui – a masculine noun – can refer to boredom, in a general sense or, more specifically a problem or a nuisance, as is the case here.

Note… Il est Polonais.

That is, “He is a Pole.”

Watch it! We have “une majuscule” – a capital letter – at the beginning of the noun in the sentence above.

On the other hand, if we had “Il est polonais”, we would be saying that “He is Polish”!…

Note… … l’Union européenne.

Note that the noun (l’Union) is capitalised, but the adjective (européenne) is not.

Note… Ah si !

[= Ah, yes ! (there is something, now that I come to think of it)]

We met this form of “Yes” in a previous lesson. It is unlike “Oui” in that it is used when one is contradicting oneself.

Note… Ah bon !

That’s “Oh, really?…” or “Oh, is that so?…”

Note… remplacer [= to replace]

Watch it! It’s remplacer – that is, with an “m”, in French.

nouveau / nouvelle

s’occuper de …

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. �

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eLesson 32: Saturday, November 18th, 2006Level: beginner. “How are things going for your new colleague?”




Let’s listen to the dialogue one more time.Alors, quoi de neuf ?

Bof, pas grand-chose. Ah, si ! J’ai un nouveau collègue depuis hier !









Now, the answers to those questions were: 1 Amélie’s new colleague joined the staff yesterday

– that’s “depuis hier” – “since yesterday”. 2 Marie is on maternity leave – that’s “en congé de

maternité”.3 The new colleague used to work in recruitment for

a small business in the country. He was…

… chargé du recrutement dans une petite entreprise de province.

Now, we heard about a�new�male�colleague. That’s:un nouveau collègue un nouveau collègue

If it had been a female�colleague, we would have heard:une nouvelle collègue une nouvelle collègue

You asked “What does he do?” or, put another way, “What is he in charge of?” The key verb is “s’occuper�de” – “to look after” or “to be in charge of”. Let’s listen again:

Il s’occupe de quoi? Il s’occupe de quoi?

Note… il a appris le français sur le tas…

Here, we have the verb “apprendre” in the passé composé. The past participle is “appris”.

The verb “apprendre” is conjugated in exactly the same way as “prendre”:

apprendre – to learn / to teachj’apprendstu apprendsil / elle / on apprendnous apprenonsvous apprenezils / elles apprennent

past participle : appris

Note… il parle français …

Almost without exception, this has become the spoken form. To be grammatically correct, however, it should technically be:

Il parle le français Il parle bien le français Tu parle l’anglais? Je ne voudrais pas qu’un jour tout le monde parle

l’anglais…

Note… une petite entreprise de province…

That is, “a small provincial (or rural) business”. In other words, a business located away from an urban centre.

Don’t confuse this with la Provence, a region in the south-east of France.

Note… L’ennui, c’est que …

Note this combination of :[noun,] + “c’est que…”It’s the equivalent of: “[The problem] is that …”

This is very common. Note also: Le problème, c’est que… [The problem is that…] L’ironie, c’est que… [The irony is that…] Ce qui est sûr, c’est que… [What certain is (the

fact) that…]etc.

avoir l’air [+ adj]

avoir l’air de [+ verb]




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Let’s take another couple of examples with this useful verb – “s’occuper�de”: “She looks after the children” would be…

Elle s’occupe des enfants. Elle s’occupe des enfants.

“We look after Tom’s cat at weekends”:On s’occupe du chat de Tom le week-end. On s’occupe du chat de Tom le week-end.

Moving on, we heard that the new guy seemed friendly. Now “to�seem” is “avoir�l’air�de”. Let’s hear it in context:

Il a l’air sympa. Il a l’air sympa.

What about: “She seems sad”?Elle a l’air triste. Elle a l’air triste.

Or, “They seem tired”:Ils ont l’air fatigués. Ils ont l’air fatigués.

We can use this expression with a verb, too. We might say, for example, about Tiger Woods that he seems to possess a supernatural gift. In this case we’d follow our expression with the�infinitive�“posséder”:…

Il a l’air de posséder un don surnaturel. Il a l’air de posséder un don surnaturel.

We heard another interesting expression – that this new employee had learned his French “on�the�job”. Let’s hear that once again…

Il a appris le français sur le tas… Il a appris le français sur le tas…

… “sur le tas” – “on the job”.

Note… On s’occupe du …

That’s “We look after…”

Once again, we have the pronoun “on” which, in this case, is like a casual “nous” – and refers to “we”.

In other situations, it can mean one or people.

apprendre

être d’origine [allemande / polonaise]

mélanger

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. �

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eLesson 32: Saturday, November 18th, 2006Level: beginner. “How are things going for your new colleague?”




Let’s make a point, too, about the verb “apprendre” which, in this case means “to�learn”. But strangely, this same verb, depending on the context, can mean “to teach”, also! About an interesting teacher, we might say:

Elle m’a appris tant de choses intéressantes…

… that is “She taught me so many interesting things…”. Once again:

Elle m’a appris tant de choses intéressantes… Elle m’a appris tant de choses intéressantes…

So, watch it! Sometimes the verb “apprendre” will be “to learn” and sometimes it will be “to teach”. We’ll have to figure it out from the context.

We heard that, in effect, the new employee was trilingual as his mother was a native of Germany. In relation to his mother, we heard…

Elle est d’origine allemande. Elle est d’origine allemande.

That’s the expression “être d’origine”, plus the adjective relating to the particular country. We could also hear…

Francesco est d’origine italienne. Francesco est d’origine italienne.

or… John est d’origine irlandaise. John est d’origine irlandaise.

To finish, this new employee was quite difficult to understand because he mixed different bits of three languages. The verb “to mix” is “mélanger” and can be used in a variety of situations : mixing ingredients, mixing with gangsters, mixing success and failure, and so on. Let’s hear the expression from our dialogue once more…

il mélange tout, le français, le polonais, l’allemand…

il mélange tout, le français, le polonais, l’allemand…

Now that we’ve looked closely at the dialogue, let’s hear it once again in its entirety. Don’t forget that you’ll find all this information, and a lot more, in the accompanying Lesson Guide, downloadable from www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. Here’s that dialogue, once again…

Alors, quoi de neuf ?Bof, pas grand-chose. Ah, si ! J’ai un nouveau collègue depuis hier !



Note… tant de choses …

That’s “so many things”

Consider also: tant de joueurs … [so many players] tant de difficultés … [so many difficulties] tant d’espoirs … [so many hopes]

Note… en congé de maternité…

That is, “on maternity leave”. In spoken French, the “de” is frequently omitted. We’ll also hear of:

(un) congé de maladie … [sick leave]

Note… un nouveau collègue…

Don’t forget the grave accent on the “è”!




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If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate…

1. He has a new colleague. Her name is Claire.

2. Joe and Caroline are looking after our dog.

3. Is it going well?

4. She seems friendly.

5. The problem is that it’s too far away.

6. He speaks Japanese well.

7. He learned Russian when he was young. [… quand il était…]

See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

Now

it’s

your

turn

…

Any questions?…

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Any comments?…

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Vocab extra!• air, avoir l’~ ............. to seem• allemand (m) .......... german• atout (m) ................. asset• bel ........................... good• bien ......................... well• bienfait (m) ............. benefit• bof ........................... (I) dunno…• c’est ......................... it’s• chargé, ~ de............ in charge of• collègue (m) ............ colleague• comme .................... like, as (a)• congé (m) ................ leave• courageux ............... courageous• dans ........................ in• ennui (m) ................ problem• ensemble (m) .......... whole, entirety• entreprise (f) ........... enterprise,

business• espoir (m)................ hope• exemple (m) ............ example• faire ......................... to do• gars (m) .................. guy, bloke• joueur (m) ............... player• maladie (f) .............. illness, sickness• mélanger................. to mix• neuf ......................... new• nouveau .................. new• occuper, s’~ de ........ to look after• parler ...................... to speak, to talk• passer, se ~ bien ..... to go well• personnel (m) ......... staff• planning (m) ........... planning,

scheduling• Pologne (f) .............. Poland• Polonais (m) ............ Pole• polonais (m) ............ polish• province, de ~ ......... rural• quoi ......................... what• recrutement (m) ...... recruitment• remplacer ................ to replace• seulement ............... only, but• sur ........................... on• sûr ........................... sure, certain• sympa ..................... friendly• tas (m) .................... pile, heap• tout ......................... everything• trilingue .................. trilingual







Amélie, we’ve covered a lot in this lesson. Until next time!A la prochaine!

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