ne a Quality and Excellence in Educatil Li = i ee 70-minui features at 26 dialogues. with Audio CD Sere Ae TI10 ital Everyday French The Practical Guide to OO IN MSI REEL Colloquial Expressions in the French-Speaking World ISABELLE RODRIGUES TED REATHERrer ened IcU Rtg ga Tap T Eau ns ea Rm ue a ree TET guide clues you in on the idioms, colloqy Pe aace ec ce Re ea OM een ee Gm nnd VEU Streetwise French with Audio CD helps you speak the Gallic language without Mai aac ee Bese Ur ee eR meen uC rs ria} Saude * An overview of signature words differentiating speakers across the Francophone world and recent developments in colloquial language Dele Epa eer Me ata Saat Er are experienced authors and university etic 178-0-07-147877-9 1-19: 978-0-07-147874.8 47874-4 ISBN-10° 0-07-1 518.95 $18.95 USA $22.95 CAN £11.99 UK gli7go07 la7874sl Cee edSpeak and Understand Everyday French Isabelle Rodrigues Ted Neather with illustrations by Chris Garratt is New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto(Menta Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rodrigues, Isabelle. Streetwise French : speak and understand everyday French / Isabelle Rodrigues and Ted Neather ; with illustrations by Chris Garratt. p.m, Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-658-00416-6 1, French language—Slang, 2. French language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English. |. Neather, Ted. Ul. Title. PC3739.R63 2000 448.3°421—de21 00:37349 cr Copyright © 2007 by Isabelle Rodrigues and E. J. Neather. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 1234567891011 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 LBM/LBM 09876 ISBN-13: 978-0-658-00416-2 (book) ISBN-1 0-658-00416-6 (book) ISBN-13: 978-0-07-147874-8 (book and CD set) ISBN-10: 0-07-147874-4 (book and CD set) |SBN-13: 978-0-07-147877-9 (book part of set) ISBN-10: 0-07-147877-9 (book part of set) ‘McGraw-Hill books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more information, please write to the Director of Special Sales, Professional Publishing, McGraw-Hill, Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2298, Or contact your local bookstore, This book is printed on acid-free paper.Contents Introduction viii CHaPITRE 1: Satut! €a vA? COMMENT VAS-TU? 2 Greeting people * Asking how they are * Saying how you feel Language and culture: Forms of address—using tu and vous * Monsieur/Madame * Greeting people 10 CHaPITRE 2: Y A DE U’ABus! Y EN A VRAIMENT RAS LE BOL! J’EN Al MARRE! 14 Complaining about unfair treatment * Giving someone a piece of your mind CHapPITRE 3: Excusez-Mol MonsIEUR. VOUS NE SAURIEZ PAS OU EST... ? 28 Asking the way * Understanding directions Language and culture: Pronunciation * Grammatical patterns 37 CHAPITRE 4: T’as PAS 20 EUROS A ME FILER? CA SERAIT CHOUETTE! 40 Asking a favor * Convincing/persuading someone to do something CHAPITRES DE REVISION 1—4: REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 1-4 52 Cuapitre 5: A N’A PAS L'AIR DE TOURNER ROND, TROUVE UNE COMBINE! T’EN FAIS PAS. 56 Giving someone moral support * Giving advice Language and culture: Argot, verlan, and la langue des bantieues 67vi CONTENTS CHAPITRE 6: ALORS, GA S‘EST BIEN PASSE? TU AS L’AIR FORTEMENT SECOUE! Ca Me scie! 70 Telling a story * Expressing surprise CHAPITRE 7: ENTRE NOUS DEUX, C’EST COOL. J’SUIS RAIDE DINGUE DE TOI. IL EST FRANCHEMENT CRAQUANT! 82 Expressing your feelings * Using expressions of love and affection Language and culture: Love, sex, and togetherness 93 CHapiTRE 8: C'est TOUJOURS HYPER-BONDE; GRAND COMME UN MOUCHOIR DE POCHE; UNE MEUF AGUICHANTE ET MARRANTE 96 Describing places * Describing people CHAPITRE 9: J’AVAIS CRAQUE POUR LUI. CA NE COLLAIT PAS. JEUAI PLAQUE. 110 Talking about the past * Remembering Language and culture: Changing society, changing language 121 CHAPITRES DE REVISION 5-9: REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 5-9 125 Cuapitre 10: Ca TE BRANCHERAIT PAS? Ca ME SEMBLE UN BON PLAN. ON POURRAIT PRENDRE MA CAISSE. 130 Making plans * Explaining your intentions Cuapitre 11: A TE DONNE UN LOOK PLUS COOL. TU ES DROLEMENT BIEN SAPE! 144 How to pay compliments and how to accept them * GossipingCONTENTS vii Cuapitre 12: ON A UNE GROSSE GALERE. C’EST RAPE. ON AURAIT EU DU FUN! 158 Telling someone how disappointed/how enthusiastic you are Language and culture: The varieties of French and Ia francophonie 170 CHapiTRE 13: C’EST DE LA DAUBE! J’EN AVAIS MA CLAQUE! C’EST FRANCHEMENT DELIRE! 172 Saying what you like and don’t like * Expressing your views and your preferences * Saying that you agree or disagree CHapITRE 14: CA s/ARROSE A Mort! A LA TIENNE! A LA NOTRE! 184 Ordering in a restaurant * Proposing a toast Language and culture: Eating and drinking 195 CHAPITRES DE REVISION 10-14: Review OF CHAPTERS 10-14 198 Answers to Exercises 202 French-English Glossary 209 Select Bibliography 229Introduction Anyone, however well they know a foreign language, can run into problems of comprehension in certain circumstances. Often, this is because courses in a foreign language do not prepare you for colloquial language, or perhaps even slang, which is part of the everyday speech of many native speakers. And when you start to get the hang of colloquial language, you may run into another problem. Perhaps you can understand it, but how much of this language can you personally use? It is important, when you learn a foreign language, to be aware of what linguists call “register.” What level of language, formal or informal, neutral or vulgar, is appropriate to use in any particular situation? To answer this question, let’s start by dividing colloquial language into three main levels. First, there are the words and expressions that form part of the everyday language of most people in relaxed situations. For example, you might not refer to “a man” but to “a guy.” In the same way, in French, you might talk about “un mec.” You would hope to understand this sort of language and to use it yourself in the right contexts. Next, there is the racier slang, which would be used by young people among themselves, or which might be particular to a group sharing a common interest. Again, you might want to understand this sort of slang, but it is doubtful whether you would want to use it yourself, unless you were the same age or part of the same “group” as the others. Finally, there is the point at which colloquial language becomes not just popular but vulgar. This is what the French call langue verte. Here, you need to be very careful, when using the foreign language, not to offend or shock your listeners. But it can be amusing to understand this langue verte, whether in real life, or, perhaps, in a movie. So in this book we have set for ourselves the following important objectives: * to provide a variety of authentic situations with participants of different ages and circumstances, talking quite naturally * to offer comprehension exercises, which allow you to understand and learn a range of colloquial or slang expressionsINTRODUCTION ix It is difficult to be precise when allocating words to a particular register. Language is changing all the time; expressions that were definitely to be avoided only a few years ago are now part of colloquial language. So we have given full explanations in the language notes to each chapter and marked with an asterisk expressions that are probably not for you to use personally, unless you know your companions well; even then, you may get it wrong! The layout of the book is as follows: Chapters and dialogues. The fourteen chapters each focus on certain functions in language, as indicated in the chapter headings. Each chapter contains two dialogues where French people, mainly of a younger age-group, use a variety of colloquial language for expressing these functions. One dialogue gives an example of Canadian French (québécois), but the others concentrate on French as spoken in France. English translations of the dialogues. Translations that are specifically British English appear in parentheses. Vocabulary notes after each dialogue, in a section titled Attention au langage familier! This section gives literal translations of the idioms, where this is helpful, and provides detailed notes about usage. A variety of exercises, in a section titled A votre tour! to check your understanding of the dialogues and your ability to use the idioms yourself. Vocabulary lists to assist with the exercises, covering the whole chapter, including dialogues, jokes, and cultural sections. Authentic jokes in some of the chapters, entitled Histoires dréles, follow the theme of the chapter and make use of word plays and puns, which help the understanding of the language. Language and culture. In seven of the chapters there is a short essay on a linguistic/cultural theme. These explain some of the background to recent developments in the colloquial language and link these developments to social trends and the French language’s place in the wider world (la francophone).