Hello everybody, it's your creme de la creme French teacher
Julien Moulin and welcome back to another delightful lesson
Today, we're going to learn how French thugs speak
Not necessarily to talk like them
But just for you to understand that part of the French culture
which for some reason is that as famous worldwide
as opposed to croissants and baguettes
But I think it's still very important because a lot of young people
who are not thugs, use the expressions we'll be learning
on a daily basis
First of all, I think it's important to highlight the fact that
the word "thug" might not be the most suitable one
because it has a certain connotation in English
especially in the United States
which is not exactly the same in France just because they have
different historical and socioeconomic backgrounds
I guess we could say slang or street French
but since this is a language learning video
Let me teach you the word we actually use in French
If you translate "thug" on the internet
it's probably gonna give you the term "voyou"
which is the closest translation I suppose
It's fundamentally the same as it's a synonym of "delinquent"
with this image of a very violent person
doing illegal and criminal activities
But to be honest with you, when I hear that word
it sounds a bit old fashion
So I would personally have the image of a 70-year-old woman
shouting "catch him he's a thug!"
Now that being said, in today's internet meme culture
when we hear thug we usually think of
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's "Next Episode"
And back in the 70s, there was actually a movie called
"Le Voyou" in which the main character embodies
the same definition of "thug life"
But we live in a different time now and we have a new word
in French which is "racaille"
Fun fact, the Pokémon Geodude was called "Racaillou" in French
Which actually sounds like a mix between "racaille" and "voyou"
So the double thug!
[Clip from "Rosh Smasher" by Shippiddge]
But I kinda understand what the French translating team did there
You see, the Japanese original name is [ishitsubute]
which I guess could be understood as either
"the stone crushing hands" or "the crushing stony hands"
Now the word for "stone" in French is precisely "caillou"
So it's a pun with "racaille" and "caillou"
But if I were in charge of the team, I would have probably chosen
something closer to the German translation "Kleinstein"
which of course, rhymes very well with the name of the genius
But it just means "small stone"
I'm sorry, I got a little carried away here...
Anyway, here is a good piece of advice for language learners
When you learn a new word, google it
and go on the images tab
Because even if you translate a word in your target language
What you have in mind in your mother tongue
might not exactly be the same in the native speaker's imagination
So let's type "racaille" on Google to have a better understanding
of the style and fashion we're talking about here
They usually wear a cap and a soccer jacket
or this type of jacket we call "doudoune" in France
Sometimes, you'll see them wear their socks
on top of their trousers like this
Finally and maybe the most important part are the shoes
The best you can hope for are the Nike Air Max
from the TN series, also known in France as "requin"
which means "shark"
Man, I really wanted a pair when I was a teenager
and we're talking about 15 years ago
So it's quite crazy that they're still so popular today
Now that we have a better understanding of how a French thug
or racaille looks like, let's get down to business
and study the way they speak
One word you should know is "wesh"
Originally, this word comes from Algerian Arabic
But today, it's used in France in different ways
to say "hi", "yo" or "whassup?"
So you could try saying "wesh, bien ou quoi ?"
Which literally means "hi, good or what?"
Or more naturally in English "hey, whassup?"
To which you could reply "tranquille"
meaning "relaxed" or "chill"
or more literally "tranquil"
The word "wesh" can also be used as an interjection
Like when we use "yo" in English
"Yo, what are you doing?"
Or you can place it at the end "tu fais quoi, wesh ?"
Tough you could also use "yo" in French
"Yo, tu fais quoi ?"
This word is so popular indeed that you can actually use
the noun "wesh-wesh" or "un wesh" as a synonym of "racaille"
By the way, even though there are mainly guys
For some reason, "racaille" is feminine "une racaille"
So here are a few tips to improve your pronunciation
First of all, you wanna lower your voice as much as possible
Well actually, there are racaille girls
But they do follow the same rule of lowering their voice
In any case, speaking with a high pitched voice is not recommended
Yo, what are you doing?
What are you looking at? Eyes down!
One thing that's gonna make you feel the difference
is the pronunciation of the letters T and D followed by i or u
There is the affricate sound /ʃ/ that squeezes in
"Tu" meaning "you" and "dis" meaning "say"
Together "you say" : [ty di] becomes [tʃy dʒi]
"Tu dis quoi là ? Qu'est-ce tu dis ? T'as dit quoi ?"
Which means "what are you saying?" Or "what did you say?"
It's the same thing with the word we saw earlier "tranquille"
which become [tʀɑ̃tʃil]
Wesh, bien ou quoi ? Tranquille !
I hope you can tell the difference...
But the most amazing thing is that an Ocean away
here in North American, the Chiac a French dialect spoken by Acadians
also shares the same phonetic variation
So for example, the word for "panties"
In standard French, it's "culotte"
But in Chiac or racaille, it's gonna sound like [tʃylɔt]
Yo put your panties on!
I think this one might be harder to hear
Anyway, now you know how to say panties in French
Last but not least, you'll need to know "Verlan"
Verlan is a word that comes from "à l'envers"
which means both upside down and backwards
In this case, it's when you say the syllables of a word but backwards
So for example, a very important one... for me at least
"famille" which means "family"
In Verlan, it's gonna be "mifa"
Another one is "cité"
which has the same root as the English "city"
but it evolved in a different way and today, it means "the ghetto"
So you could say "téci"
Or the ghetto: "la téci"
For "city", we would actually use the word "ville"
People in the US watching this video should know it
because it appears in a lot of names
Nashville or Belleville which literally means "beautiful city"
Now the wonderful thing is that even the word "racaille"
can be used in Verlan
Could you guess what it is? Very easy!
It's "caillera"
La Fouine, one of the most famous French rappers
actually released a song called "Caillera For Life"
This guy wants to embrace the French thug life
Now other useful words, so the word "woman" in French is "femme"
In Verlan, it becomes "meuf"
So if you wanna say "I've got a girlfriend"
you can simply say "j'ai une meuf"
The word "metro" is very easy "métro"
In Verlan, it becomes "tromé"
There are also occasionally Verlan words borrowed from English
For instance, the word "speed" becomes "deuspi"
But the meaning is slightly different, it means "quickly"
There are so many more words I'd like to teach you
but I'll let you practice these ones for now
And if you enjoyed this video, please let me know in the comments
and I'll make another one with more Verlan words
So here comes the test, could you guys understand this sentence?
"Wesh, je suis dans le tromé avec ma meuf là"
"On va dans la téci en deuspi pour voir la mifa"
Alright, let me give you a last one for the road
You probably know the word for "thank you" in French
If you don't, it's "merci"
And in Verlan, it simply becomes "cimer"
That's it for today guys, thank you so much for watching!
If you enjoyed this video, please let me know with a thumbs-up
Don't forget to share and subscribe to support this channel
And I'll see you soon for more videos, bye!