Hello everyone, my name is Julien Moulin
I am a French tutor and a language coach
And today, I'm going to teach you the most important thing
you need to learn if you want to become fluent in French
traveling to France
Is my accent disturbing you?
Wait, I have the solution!
Just sit back, relax and do just like me
Ah the best drink in the world
One glass of that every day and you'll live longer!
Alright, is that better now?
I'm sure a lot of people learning languages
also find it easier to speak after a few drinks...
So as I said: sit back, relax
Let go, be happy and let's learn French!
One of the things you'll notice if you go to Paris to learn French
is the fact that it's pretty difficult because everybody replies in English
And most of the time, the intension is not bad
You know, they see that you're struggling
and they want to make you feel comfortable
Although I have to admit that there is a bit of a selfish motivation too
Because it's also an opportunity for them to practice English
But I know, they do that even if you're desperately trying to speak French
And I understand that it can feel frustrating or even insulting
because you took the time to learn all these sentences
And you might feel like they're just disrespecting all that effort!
So if there are Parisians watching this video
Next time, you meet someone who is struggling to speak French
but who is making the effort
Just say "wow, that's great"!
Because a little bit of positive reinforcement is always nice
Don't you agree?
Sometimes, I even hear stories about French speakers
like my friends from Quebec in Canada
going to France and people replying to them in English
What the &@#! man
There are different contexts, and the first one is when
the other person doesn't even realize that you're speaking French
So today, I'll give you a few weapons to fight back
in this kind of situations
But that being said, it's absolutely ok to have an accent
Everybody has one, so don't feel bad about that!
On the contrary, you should be proud of where you come from!
America is the best country in the world!
Well, without necessarily looking down on others
Why does it always have to be a competition?
Let's all live in peace, drink wine and be friends!
By the way, isn't America a continent?
Anyway, sometimes people genuinely don't understand
because they're not used to different accents
so no one is to blame in this situation
However, you can simply insist on the fact
that you're speaking French
"Je parle français" which means "I speak French"
If you wanna put a little bit of nuance here
you can say "je suis en train de parler français"
"Je suis en train de parler français"
which literally means "I'm speaking French"
as opposed to "I speak French"
So, the nuance is exactly the same as in English
When you say "I speak French" you wanna emphasize on the fact
that you have the capacity of doing so
But if you say "I'm speaking French" you're obviously lying
because you're in fact speaking in English, right?
In terms of grammar, it's very convenient to remember
"Être en train de faire quelque chose"
To be doing something
"Il est en train de manger" He is eating
"Nous sommes en train de jouer" We are playing
If you wanna sound proper, you should make the liaison
"Je suis en train"
But it's alright not to
And if you wanna sound even more French
"Je suis" becomes [ʃɥi]
And there is no liaison
"Chui en train"
"Chui en train de parler français"
And you can add a little "là" at the end
which literally means "here" but in this context
it's like en emphasis
"Je suis en train de parler français là"
Hopefully, the person will understand the message
and you can continue in French
You can also say "j'apprends le français"
which means "I learn French"
"J'apprends le français"
I'm sorry, there are a lot of Rs
You'll have to train and get used to it
But don't force it, it's always better to have a light
"J'apprends le français" rather than a thick exaggerated
"J'apprrrrends le frrrançais" right?
Also, I know that in English we say "I learn French"
and not "I learn the French"
But don't forget "le" in French
"J'apprends le français"
And quicker "j'apprends l'français"
"J'apprends l'français"
Now can you guess how to say "I'm learning French"?
That's "je suis en train d'apprendre le français"
"Je suis en train d'apprendre le français"
Or more casually "chui en train d'apprendre le français"
Are you guys repeating after me?
It's a very important part of learning, you know!
So another practical one you can use is
"Je veux parler français"
which means "I wanna speak French"
"Je veux" or more casually "j'veux" is something very useful
to express your needs "je veux"
Here you can say "je veux parler français"
or "je veux parler en français"
"Je veux parler en français"
Both are correct, don't ask me why
I guess we just enjoy seeing you struggle learning our language
If you wanna sound more sophisticated
without being posh you can say
"J'aimerais parler en français"
It's the same nuance in English when you say
"I would like to speak English"
as opposed to "I wanna speak English"
Same with Spanish when you say "quiero hablar español"
as opposed to "me gustaría hablar español"
Man, this wine from Bordeaux is really good!
Let's take it to the next level and ask the favor in the most natural way
In English, you would ask "Can we speak in French?"
And according to the standard, that would be
"Pouvons-nous parler en français?"
And you can add "s'il vous plait" at the end which means "please"
"Pouvons-nous parler en français, s'il vous plait ?"
If you go to France, you'll notice that we don't use "nous" that much
It sounds way too formal
Instead, we use "on" which has the same root
as the impersonal "one" in English
One speaks in French
And that makes "peut-on parler en français, s'il vous plait ?"
"Peut-on parler en français, s'il vous plait ?"
Literally "Can one speak French, please?"
which sounds weird in English but trust me
It's the most natural way, I love it
And I would personally be impressed
That being said, it might still sound formal to some people
Reverse the position of the words and say
"On peut se parler en français ?"
So you see "peut-on" becomes "on peut"
"On peut se parler en français, s'il vous plait ?"
But like in many languages, just by changing he intonation
you can make a question out of it
"On peut se parler en français ?"
"On peut se parler en français, s'il vous plait ?"
There is another way that's as natural
It's adding "est-ce que" at the beginning
"Est-ce que"
"Est-ce qu'on peut se parler en français ?"
"Est-ce qu'on peut se parler en français, s'il vous plait ?"
The "est-ce que" form is indeed very useful
And every time you hear it, it means that it's a question
You don't wanna know what it means...
Oh you do?
Well, literally "est-ce que" means "Is it that"
So for example, like J-Roc used to say
"You know what I'm saying?"
In French, that becomes
"Est-ce que vous comprenez ce que je dis ?"
Is it that you understand it that I say?
So yeah, don't think too much
And just remember that "est-ce que" means it's a question
The last one is probably the one I would use
because of my personality
"Ça vous dérange si on parle français ?"
Or "si on parle en français?"
"Ça vous dérange si on parle en français ?"
"Ça vous dérange" means "does it bother you"
Or "do you mind?"
Do you mind if we speak French?
So here you go guys, if people reply to you in English
try one of these sentences
[BigBong reads out loud all the sentences]
If they don't wanna speak to you in French after that, bring them to me!
Alright, good luck!