Transcript
0:00Okay, so usually we have an introduction track explaining the method and the
0:05project, but I suspected we might be losing quite a few learners this way, so
0:11we can just jump right into learning French.
0:14I do need to tell you a little bit about how we're going to learn, though, and
0:18that's just basically that you need to relax and simply follow this
0:21conversation that we're having like you would with a friend, just that now that
0:26friend is me, and when I ask you something, you will think it out and reply as
0:31you would in any other conversation.
0:33I'll be speaking to a real student, hello, who is here with me, and you should
0:39get in the habit of replying when he does, and any other advice that you might
0:44need to follow the course will be given as we go along.
0:47I wanted to begin by speaking about how in English we already use a lot of
0:54French in English.
0:56English as a language is kind of half Germanic and half Latin, somewhere there
1:00in the middle, you know, a lot of the time we have two words to say the same
1:04thing, and one sounds formal and the other one sounds informal, and you know,
1:08one is the formal one is Latin and the informal one is Germanic, you know, you
1:13could have, for example, to ask, which is very Germanic, and then to enquire,
1:18you know, which is very Latin.
1:20That Latin word is often going to sound like a French word, so we already speak
1:24or use a lot of French in our English, even though we may not realise it.
1:29For example, the word for cake in French is gâteau, and of course we have this
1:35in English now, but in English gâteau describes a type of cake.
1:40In French, it's just the everyday word for cake, gâteau, or the cake, le
1:46gâteau, or we have the word coffee in English, which is café in French.
1:56Café, meaning both coffee or a coffee shop, you know, like where you go to
1:59drink coffee.
2:00Café.
2:01So if le gâteau is the cake, le gâteau, how might you say the coffee?
2:10Le café.
2:11Le café, very good.
2:13So for the students listening to the recording, you would have had a second or
2:17two pause there to respond like the student here with me and say le café, but
2:23you should get in the habit of pausing, even though you might not need to yet,
2:27you should get in the habit of pausing, thinking out slowly and calmly your
2:32response, saying it out loud, and then continuing to see what the student here
2:37with me has said, and in this way participate in the class.
2:41I want in French, I want is je veux, je veux, je veux.
2:48So we have I, je, and then veux for want.
2:52And this veux is actually connected to the word volunteer.
2:57A volunteer is the one who wants to do, they are doing something just out of
3:02wanting.
3:03So we get je veux in French, I want.
3:07Je veux.
3:08So je is I, and that's spelled J-E, and then we have veux for want.
3:15And je and veux are actually two different vowel sounds, two slightly different
3:19vowel sounds, although they may sound the same when people speak fast.
3:24But we have one sound in je and another vowel sound in veux.
3:28So give me again I want.
3:32Je veux.
3:33Je veux.
3:34Je veux.
3:35Very good.
3:36I want the cake.
3:39Je veux le gâteau.
3:42Good.
3:42And le is spelled L-E, just like je, which is spelled J-E, and that's the same
3:48vowel sound there.
3:49Le, je.
3:50So give it another try.
3:52Je veux le gâteau.
3:54Very good.
3:55Je veux le gâteau.
3:58I want the coffee.
4:00Je veux le café.
4:02Je veux le café.
4:05If you want to say it, like I want it, well the word for it is the same as the
4:10word for the, which was le.
4:14But we have it first.
4:16We say I it want.
4:18We put it before want in French.
4:21So if we want to say I want it in French, we say I it want.
4:25How would that be?
4:28Le et.
4:30So je le veux.
4:32Je le veux.
4:33Very good.
4:34I want it.
4:35Je le veux.
4:37You want is tu veux.
4:41Tu veux.
4:42Tu veux.
4:44Now depending on the accent in French, and also depending on your ear, you
4:49might hear something like a CH to your ear here.
4:52It might sound like tu a little bit, or maybe like a CH with a little bit of an
4:59S in Canada, for example.
5:02And the OO sound here might be a bit unfamiliar for English speakers.
5:07Tu.
5:07Tu.
5:08We point our lips out there when we make that OO.
5:11So you want is tu veux.
5:14Tu veux.
5:15How would you say you want the cake?
5:20Tu veux le gâteau.
5:22Very good.
5:22Tu veux le gâteau.
5:25And you can make that into a question in French just by making it sound like a
5:29question.
5:30So we just can make a question tongue with our voice now to get the question.
5:34Do you want the cake?
5:35How would that be?
5:38Tu veux.
5:38Tu veux le gâteau.
5:40Tu veux le gâteau.
5:42How would you say you want it?
5:46Tu le veux.
5:48Tu le veux.
5:50Very good.
5:50Do you want it?
5:53Tu le veux.
5:55Very good.
5:55Just with your voice now.
5:57Tu le veux.
5:57Tu le veux.
5:58Very good.
5:59So we've seen we can pull some words into French or back into French from Latin
6:04English, words like gâteau, café, and also relate words that might seem
6:10unrelated but in fact are related, like veux, for want, and volunteer, the one
6:15who wants.
6:17We can also learn some tricks to convert huge groups of words into French from
6:21our Latin English or our French English.
6:24Now, whenever we have an ION word in English, like invitation, opinion,
6:31participation, we can identify this word as coming from Latin by its ION
6:37ending, which means it is probably the same in French, as most of Latin English
6:42came to English through French.
6:45So, for example, collection in French is collection, collection, collection.
6:51Now, it's spelled the same, but we notice an S sound instead of the SH that we
6:57have in English, collection, and in French, collection, like with an S, and we
7:03also notice that the N is barely heard, barely pronounced, or not heard, but
7:07it's not exactly silent.
7:09We don't ignore it totally.
7:11We do think about that N.
7:12We kind of finish there, collection, no?
7:15Which affects the sounds before, but we don't really hear the N.
7:19So, collection, collection.
7:21We're like, we're going towards the N, but we don't, we don't get there, but
7:24it's not silent as is often said.
7:27How might you say organisation?
7:29That's it, organisation.
7:34Tradition?
7:38Attraction?
7:43What was the cake again?
7:48The coffee?
7:52Le café.
7:54So, much more like le than le.
7:56Le café.
7:57So, we saw how the word for the was le, no?
8:01Le café, le cateau, and also that we can use this le for it, but the collection
8:08is la, la collection, la The tradition is la tradition.
8:18This is because French nouns, nouns are words we can put the in front of, are
8:23considered either masculine or feminine.
8:26The word itself, rather than the object it refers to, has a gender.
8:30The masculine nouns go with le, L-E, and the feminine nouns go with la, L-A.
8:36What was I want?
8:37Je veux.
8:40I want the collection.
8:46You want?
8:50Very good.
8:52Do you want?
8:57The confirmation is la confirmation, la confirmation.
9:04La confirmation.
9:06So, again, we have a la word, no?
9:08We have a feminine word, and we notice that apart from the N on the end, we
9:13also don't really hear the N of con, confirmation.
9:17We don't ignore it, we still think about it, but we don't really hear it.
9:24Do you want the confirmation?
9:27Do you want the confirmation?
9:33So, we said that the word for it is the same as the word for the.
9:36So, if you want to say, I want it, and you mean the confirmation, la
9:42confirmation, how would you say, I want it, I it want, in French?
9:51Very good.
9:52You want the collection.
9:59Very good.
10:02You want it, and we mean la collection.
10:09Very good.
10:11Do you want it?
10:16Do you want it?
10:17So, we just can make a question tone with our voice, no?
10:22Do you want it?
10:23In English, we added do there, but we don't need to worry about that for
10:26French.
10:28Now, you may be thinking, how will I know whether a word is masculine or
10:33feminine?
10:34Or before that, you may be thinking, why the hell are words masculine or
10:37feminine?
10:38Which is also a good question, but it's actually much simpler than it might
10:42seem to identify the gender of the word, and it isn't random.
10:47You will notice how certain endings will show you what gender the word is.
10:52So, for example, all of the ion, I-O-N words, ion in French, no?
10:58Just like collection, tradition, confirmation.
11:01All of these go with la.
11:03So, how might you say the reservation?
11:08La réservation.
11:10La réservation.
11:12The tradition?
11:14La tradition.
11:17La tradition.
11:18The complication?
11:21La complication.
11:23Good, and the M here is also kind of slight.
11:26La complication.
11:28How would you say opinion?
11:29Opinion.
11:31Opinion.
11:32Good.
11:33Opinion.
11:34If we say the opinion, as opinion starts with a vowel, we will lose the A of
11:40la.
11:41So, we get L apostrophe opinion.
11:44So, how might that sound?
11:50The organisation?
11:54L'organisation.
11:55L'organisation.
11:57The passion?
11:59La passion.
12:00La passion.
12:01And less N, la passion.
12:03La passion.
12:04Very good.
12:05So, you notice we get a lot of different types of words with this ion pattern
12:09related to many different areas of life, and we can access them just through
12:13our Latin or French English.
Etymology
Etymology connections will appear here as they are discussed