Instant! French

Nick Theobald &

Description

Instant! French is a practical, street-wise and witty English-French phrase book. It's the phonetic phrase book that's got the world talking.
With Instant! French, what you see is what you say.
Speak French in seconds with Instant! French.

Sujets

• Foreign Language study
• Lettres et linguistique
• Language
• French

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• EAN13: 9781456600235
• Langue: English

Extrait

Speak French in seconds
Instant! French
 
Nick Theobald & Denis La Touche
 
Published for the Internet by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
©2009 Nick Theobald & Denis La Touche
[e-mail]
ISBN: 978-1-4566-0023-5
First printing. 2009.
 
Acknowledgements:
Proofing: Jean-Pierre Gautier.
Cover design: Russell Chambers, [e-mail]
 
This book is copyright. Except for reasonable purposes of fair review, no part may be stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or storage in any information retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publishers. No reproductions may be made, whether
by photocopying or by any other means, unless permission has been granted by the publishers. So watch it.
We’ll be onto you in an Instant!
 
This book is dedicated to the memory of
Simon Johnston, 1956-2009.
 
Speak French in seconds
This little book is your passport to speaking French.
 
Instant! French contains thousands of practical, street-wise and occasionally risqué phrases and words.
 
Everything from “Don’t step in that dog shit,” to “Hello, I’d like to join the French Foreign Legion.”
 
Millions of us studied le français at school, so why not re-discover this beautiful language?
 
When you are in France, speaking French is not only polite, it’s important from a business and social perspective: you may just get better snails too.
 
Many phrase books require a degree in linguistics to pronounce their words and phrases - we use simple phonetics.
 
Thanks for buying our book. One author fancies a chateau on the Loire, while
the other one needs more conflict- free diamonds to grace his imaginary girlfriends’ fingers.
How Instant! phonetics work
With Instant! French, w hat you see is w hat you say.
 
English: I love you.
French: Je t’aime.
Phonetics: Je tame.
Je - as in the first sound of Zhi vago.
tame - my dog is tame.
 
English: After you.
French: Après vous.
Phonetics: Ah-pray voo.
Ah - as in Ah-choo!
pray - what you do in church.
voo - as in the voo of voodoo.
 
English: Thank you very much.
French: Merci beaucoup.
Phonetics: Mair-see bow-coo.
Mair - sounds like fair.
see - see what we mean.
bow - bow & arrows.
coo - what pigeons say.
 
English: Excuse me.
French: Excusez moi.
Phonetics: Excuse-zay mwa.
Excuse - as in excuse me.
zay - same sound as say.
mwa - the sound humans make when air-kissing.
 
English: I’ve got a hangover.
French: J’ai une gueule de bois.
Phonetics: Zhay oon girl de bwa.
Zhay - the Zh of Zhivago plus an ay (same as “say”).
oon - like moon.
girl - as in girl.
de - the de of department.
bwa - the air-kissing “mwa” with a b.
 
English: She’s not here.
French: Elle n’est pas là.
Phonetics: Elle nay pa la.
Elle - as in the magazine ‘Elle’.
nay - that’s right, ‘nay’.
pa - the pa of ‘papa’.
la - same sound as pa.
The Le & La of French: It’s a gender thing
Like many languages, French contains masculine and feminine words.
(That’s right! The masculine words are rough ‘n tough and the feminine words display a better attitude towards personal grooming. Or vice versa.)
The definite article “The” and the indefinite article “A” are identified as follows:
The masculine The is written as Le.
The feminine The is written as La.
The masculine A is written as Un.
The feminine A is written as Une.
Class dismissed.
Please read these bits care-full-lee
Our phrase book uses phonetics to ensure correct pronunciation.
We’ve hyphen-a-ted the phonetics of most words of more than one syllable, to make them easier to pro-nounce .
Phrase books and phonetics will never give you perfect vowel sounds, intonation, stress, length of words, emphasis, etc.
However…I’ve found that if someone hears you’re at least trying to speak their language, in most cases you’ll achieve Instant! respect.
If you get a word wrong, most people will correct your pronunciation. Dialogue begins, barriers come down, smiles reign and phonetic pennies may even fall from heaven.
 
The Top 10 Instant! French phrases
Hello.
Bonjour.
Bon-zhoor.
How are you?
Ça va?
Sar vah?
Goodbye.
Au revoir.
Oh rev-wah.
Yes.
Oui.
Wee.
No.
Non.
Non.
Please.
S’il vous plaît.
See voo play.
Thank you.
Merci.
Mair-see.
Sorry, I don’t speak French well.
Désolé, je ne parle pas bien le français.
Day-so-lay, je ne parl pa bee-en le fron-say.
I would like…
Je voudrais…
Je voo-dray…
Excuse me.
Excusez moi.
Excuse-zay mwa.
Good-natured phrases
How’s it going, mate?
Comment ça va, mon pote?
Com-mon sar va, mon poat?
What’s new?
Quoi de neuf?
Kwa de nerf?
Take it easy.
Du calme.
Doo calm.
Look after yourself.
Prends soin de toi.
Prond swan de twa. (not exactly “swan”)
You feel me? (meaning: You understand me?)
Tu me suis?
Too me swee?
Know what I mean?
Tu sais ce que je veux dire?
Too say se ke je vurr dear?
Everything’s cool.
Tout est cool.
Toot ay cool.
No worries.
Pas de problème.
Pa de prob-lem.
Everything’s fine mate.
Tout va bien mon pote.
Too var bee-en mon poat.
A Room With a View
Can I get a quiet room?
Je voudrais une chambre tranquille?
Je voo-dray oon shombre tron-keel?
Is there any construction going on in the hotel?
Est-ce qu’il y a des rénovations en cours dans l’hôtel?
Ess-keel-ee-ya day ray-no-vass-ee-yon on core don low-tel?
The above phrase, in one author’s experience, is the world’s best question to ask when making a booking. Ask this question and you will avoid that depressing noise at 8am as the jackhammers start - on the floor above you.
A room with a view please.
Une chambre avec vue s’il vous plaît.
Oon shombre ah-veck voo see voo play.
My room has got bedbugs.
Il y a des punaises dans ma chambre.
Eel-ee-ya day poo-nayse don ma shombre.
A room NOT near the lift (elevator) please.
Une chambre qui n’est pas proche de l’ascenseur s’il vous plaît.
Oon shombre key nay pa prosh de la-son-sir see voo play.
The people next door are too noisy.
Les gens à côté sont trop bruyants.
Lay zhon a coat-ay son tro brewy-yon.
Can I/we get a late check-out please? Est-ce que je peux/nous pouvons quitter la chambre plus tard?
Ess-ke je purr/noo poo-von key-tay la shombre ploo tar?
How do I say this in French?
What’s this called in French?
Comment ça s’appele en français?
Com-mon sar sa-pell on fron-say?
How do I say this in French?
Comment dit-on ça en français?
Com-mon dee-tonn sar on fron-say?
Accommodation
Hotel.
L’hôtel.
Low-tell.
3 star hotel.
L’hôtel trois étoiles.
Low-tell trwaz ay-twarl.
Boarding house.
La pension.
La pon-see-yon.
Bed and breakfast.
La chambre d’hôte.
La shombre doat.
Guest house.
La maison d’hôte.
La may-zon doat.
B & B with 3 ears of corn.
La chambre d’hôte trois épis.
La shombre doat trwaz ay-pee.
(B&Bs in France are rated with ears of corn, not stars as for hotels. The more ears the better.)
Half board.
La demi-pension.
La demi-pon-see-yon.
Full board.
La pension complète.
La pon-see-yon com-plet.
Backpacker. Le routard.
Le roo-tar.
Youth hostel.
L’auberge de jeunesse.
Low-bairzh de zhern-ess.
Asking for directions
We are lost.
Nous sommes perdus.
Noo somm pair-doo.
We want to go to …Montpellier.
Nous voudrions aller à …Montpellier.
Noo voo-dree-on allay ah…Montpellier.
What direction is it?
C’est quelle direction?
Say kell de-rex-ee-on?
We are looking for the right road.
Nous cherchons le bon chemin.
Noo cher-shon le bon sh’man.
Examples of typical directions that someone might give you
• Take the first turn on the right, then the second turn on the left, cross the bridge and you will find the supermarket in front of you.
Prenez la première (rue) à droite, puis la deuxième à gauche, traversez le pont, et vous allez trouver le supermarché en face de vous.
Pren-nay la premier roo ah drwat, pwee la derz-ee-em ah gauche, traverse-say le ponn, ay vooze allay troo-vay le super-marshay on fass de voo.
• At the roundabout, go straight on.
Au rond-point, allez tout droit.
Oh rond-pwan, allay too drwa.
• Take the Autoroute A9, in the direction of Montpellier, and come off at the off-ramp number 13.
Prenez l’autoroute A 9, direction Montpellier, et sortez à l’échangeur numéro treize.
Pren-nay law-toe route ah nerf, de-rex-ee-on Montpellier, ay sor-tay ah lay-shon-zhurr noo-mair-row trays.
• Remember. It’s driving on the right.
Attention. Il faut conduire à droite.
Ah-ton-see-yon. Eel foe con-dweer ah drwat.
• You need to back up, turn round and go back to the crossroads. Il vous faut reculer, faire demi-tour et retourner au carrefour.
Eel voo foe reck-you-lay, fair demi-tour ay retournay oh car-for.
• Where is the nearest service station?
Où est la station-service la plus proche?
Oo ay la stass-ee-on sir-veece la ploo prosh?
• Let’s stop at the next rest area.
Arrêtons-nous à la prochaine aire de repos.
Ah-ret-ton noo ah la prosh-ain air de re-po.
• Where is the next rest area?
Où est la prochaine aire de repos?
Oo ay la prosh-ain air de re-po?
• Where is the next service area?
Où est la prochaine aire de services?
Oo ay la prosh-ain air de sir-veece?
• The next motorway service area is in 12 kilometres.
La prochaine aire de services est dans douze kilometres.
La prosh-ain air de sir-veece ay don dooze kilo-metre.
At the A.A. meeting
Hi. My name’s...(your name) and I’m an alcoholic.
Bonjour. Je m’appele …(your name)et je suis alcoolique.
Bon-zhoor. Je ma-pell ...(your name) ay je sweeze al-cool-leek.
At the bakery
4 croissants please.
Quatre croissants s’il vous plaît.
Car-tre qwa-sonn see voo play.
2 baguettes please.
Deux baguettes s’il vous plaît.
Durr bag-ett see voo play.
At the beach
Help!
Au secours!
Oh seck-coor!
Shark!
Requin!
Wreck-can!
At the dance
Would you like to sit down with me?
Voudriez-vous vous assoir avec moi?
Voo-dree-ay voo vooze ass-swa ah-veck mwa? (Proven to