Sample: the first two tracks of an Interview with a French beekeeper. Slow Echoing www.fluentfrench.com Interview with a French beekeeper. Interview conducted by Anne-Sophie Martin. CD 1 : original interview CD 2 : original interview, slowed down by 25% CD 3 : slow-echoing recordings CD 4 : pronunciation tips CONTENTS Introduction in English : Track 1 Each CD starts with an introduction to explain how to use that type of recording depending upon your level of French and your goals. Interview with Magali : Track 2 through 10 This sample will help you get started with the beekeeper interview. If you like it and want to continue with Tracks 3 through 10, you can order the full interview at www.fluentfrench.com Magali has always had a passion for bees, and now she makes her own honey from wild flora in the Vercors mountain range. You ll love her pretty voice and precise pronunciation. Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. If you are a teacher and need group pricing, please contact us. David Tolman, Publisher Toll free (USA) 1-888-259-9601 dtolman@fluentfrench.com
Interview with a French beekeeper 1 2 www.fluentfrench.com Echoing Recordings since 2001 MP3 track 1 Introduction to tell you how to use the recordings. If you are a beginner, start with the original interviews (the recordings on tracks 2 through 10) and learn to understand all of the words, which should take about a month. If you want to improve your accent, use the slow-echoing recordings (tracks 11 through 19). We are sure that echoing will quickly become your favorite way of improving your French. MP3 track 2 (Slow echoing version is track 11) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 On 1 est ici dans votre miellerie. We are here in your honey house. Ça sent bon la cire et le miel, 2 c est ça? 3 It smells good, the wax and the honey, is that it? Oui, c est l odeur de la miellerie! Yes, that is the smell of the honey house! Alors, je voulais savoir, vous habitez dans So, I wanted to know, you live in le massif du Vercors, on est ici en montagne the Vercors mountain range, we are here in the mountains à quatre cents mètres d altitude et vous amenez at four hundred meters of altitude and you take vos ruches jusqu'à mille deux cents mètres. your hives up to 1,200 meters (of altitude.) Qu est-ce qui vous a décidé à 4 vivre ici? What is it that persuaded you to live here? Ben, 5 nous avons repris 6 avec mon mari 7 la suite 8 Well, we took over my husband and I the continuation 1 2 Alors, bonjour Magali! Vous êtes apicultrice. 1 So, hello Magali! You are (a) beekeeper. Merci de m accueillir 2 chez vous. 3 Thank you for welcoming me to your place. 1 Notice the (a) in the English translation. In French, the article is not given when stating a person s profession. Examples: Il est coiffeur. (He is a barber.) Elle est comptable. (She is an accountant.) Je suis entraineur de foot. (I am a soccer coach.) 2 Merci de m accueillir from accueillir quelqu un = to welcome someone; to receive someone. 3 chez vous = to your home, to your place. See other examples using chez on pages 25, 28, and 30. 1 On. Depending upon the situation, the French use on to mean one, we, they, people, etc. 2 This is a combination of Ça sent bon (that smells good) and Ça sent la cire et le miel (It smells like wax and honey.) 3 c est ça? = that's it?; that's right? 4 décider quelqu'un à faire quelque chose = to persuade someone to do something. Literally, to decide someone to do something. 5 ben, an informal, spoken version of bien. 6 reprendre = to take back up. reprendre une entreprise = to take over a business after the departure of the previous owner. 7 nous... avec mon mari = we... with my husband. This construction is common in spoken French : first the speaker says nous (we) and then realizes that she needs to tell us who nous is (she and her husband.) 8 la suite. Comes from suivre (to follow.) See an example of par la suite (afterwards, subsequently) on page 30.
Interview with a French beekeeper 3 4 www.fluentfrench.com Echoing Recordings since 2001 12 d une exploitation 1 agricole. Ici, nous sommes of a farming operation. Here we are 22 pendant pratiquement un an. Et comme ça, for practically a year. And like that, 13 dans le pays de la noix 2, c est la noix de Grenoble, et in walnut country, it s the Grenoble walnut, and 23 nous avons pu 1 nous installer 2 : c était en we were able to set ourselves up. That was in 14 l exploitation à laquelle nous avons succédé 3 the farming operation which we took over 24 mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-six. 1986. 15 est située à Saint-Jean en Royans. Mais c est une petite is located in Saint-Jean en Royans. But it is a small 16 exploitation et qui n était pas suffisamment grande farm and which was not large enough 17 pour faire vivre 4 une famille. Donc, il fallait 5 développer une to support a family. So, it was necessary to develop an 18 activité complémentaire. Et moi, j ai toujours eu additional activity. And me, I have always had 19 depuis très longtemps la passion des abeilles 6 et for a very long time a passion for bees and 20 tout naturellement, j ai décidé de monter 7 un petit quite naturally, I decided to set up a little 21 atelier d apiculture. J ai donc fait une école d apiculture beekeeping shop. I therefore (took a course at) a beekeeping school 1 une exploitation: a term often used in relation to a small farming, mining, or forestry operation. 2 Do not make the mistake of thinking that noix refers to an indeterminate nut. The different nuts have their own names. Noix = walnut. Noisette = hazelnut. Noix de cajou = cashew nut. Cacahuète = peanut. 3 à laquelle nous avons succédé: literally, to which we succeeded. 4 faire vivre: literally, to make live. 5 il fallait = it was necessary. From falloir (to be necessary). il faut = it is necessary. 6 la passion des abeilles: literally, the passion of bees (the bee bug ). 7 monter = 1) to go up; 2) to set up; to start; to put up. 1 nous avons pu: literally, we have been able. From pouvoir (to be able). Compare nous pouvons (we are able) to nous pouvions (we were able) and nous avons pu (we have been able; we were able). Because pouvoir is used so often and in so many ways in French, you need to be able to recognize the different forms and understand their meaning. See these pages for different uses of pouvoir: 11, 13, 14, 15, 21, and 29. 2 s installer = to settle; to establish oneself; to set oneself up. Literally, to install oneself. To help you understand the construction used by the speaker, compare it to Il a pu s installer (He was able to set himself up) or the present-tense version Nous pouvons nous installer (We are able to set ourselves up.) See another example on page 29.
Interview with a French beekeeper 5 6 www.fluentfrench.com Echoing Recordings since 2001 MP3 track 3 (Slow echoing version is track 12) 8 un aliment 1 de croissance, mais ça n a rien à voir avec 2 a food for growth, but it has nothing to do with 1 Alors, vous pouvez nous rappeler 1 un petit peu So, you are able to recall for us a little bit 9 le miel, ce n est pas du tout un produit sucré. 3 Par contre, honey, (pollen) is not at all a sweet substance. On the other hand, 2 comment ces abeilles font ce miel, how these bees make this honey, 10 les abeilles récoltent dans les fleurs du nectar qui est bees gather from flowers nectar, which is 3 le B.A.-BA 2 de la fabrication du miel? the basics of the production of honey? 11 un liquide un peu sucré et qu elles élaborent, et qu elles a liquid (that is) a bit sweet and that they develop, and that they 4 Alors, c est vrai que souvent, on croit que les abeilles So, it is true that often, people think that bees 12 travaillent, 4 et qu elles transforment en miel. En fait, refine and that they transform into honey. In fact, 5 font le miel à partir du 3 pollen. Le miel et le pollen, make honey from pollen. Honey and pollen, 13 on ne sait pas, l homme ne sait pas fabriquer fabriquer we do not know, man does not know (how) to produce to produce 6 c est deux choses différentes. 4 Les abeilles récoltent 5 du pollen those are two different things. Bees gather pollen 14 le miel, c est encore un mystère que gardent les abeilles. honey, that is still a mystery that the bees keep. 7 pour nourrir 6 les jeunes abeilles, c est in order to feed the young bees, it is 15 Ça veut dire 5 que vous devez domestiquer, That means that you have to domesticate, 16 apprivoiser les abeilles, c est ça? to tame the bees, is that it? 17 Ben oui, quelque part, 6 hein? En fait, les abeilles que Well, yes, in a way, you know? In fact, the bees that 1 vous pouvez nous rappeler : literally, you are able to recall for us From vous (you) + pouvez (are able to, a form of pouvoir (to be able)) + nous (to us) + rappeler (to recall). Compare rappeler quelque chose à quelqu un (to remind someone of something, literally, to recall something to someone) to the more-often seen se rappeler quelque chose (to remember something, literally, to recall something to oneself). 2 le B.A.-BA: the basics. This comes from one of the first lessons in reading that French children learn : the b sound plus the a sound make the sound ba. 3 à partir de = starting from. 4 deux choses différentes: this is the French way of saying, A and B are two different things; don t confuse the two. 5 récolter = to harvest. La récolte = the harvest. 6 nourrir = to feed. se nourrir = to eat; to feed oneself. la 1 un aliment = a food; a foodstuff. la croissance = growth. croître = to grow; to develop 2 ça n a rien à voir avec... : literally, that has nothing to see with. This is the French way of saying that the two things are independent and have no tie or relationship between them. 3 Compare sucré (sweet; sweetened) to sucre (sugar). 4 travailler means to work, but you can also travailler a substance or material to get it ready for the next step in whatever you are making. 5 vouloir dire = to mean, literally, to want to say. vouloir = to want. dire = to say. See other examples on pages 17 and 27. 6 quelque part, literally, somewhere. It is used here as in a nourriture = food. way, somewhat.
Interview with a French beekeeper 7 8 www.fluentfrench.com Echoing Recordings since 2001 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 nous avons sont des abeilles bien sûr 1 domestiques. we have are domesticated bees, of course Mais en fait, c est plus nous qui essayons de nous adapter à But in fact, it is more we who are trying to adapt ourselves to leur mode de vie, de leur reconstruire leurs conditions de vie their mode of life, to reconstruct for them their living conditions à l état sauvage. Et en fait, même si c est nous qui in the wild state. And in fact, even if it is we who les apprivoisons, c est elles qui restent maîtresses 2 de leurs tame them, it is they who remain masters of their destinées, et nous, on s adapte. Il y a des années. destinies, and we, we adjust. There are some years. On ne comprend pas toujours le comportement des abeilles We do not always understand the behavior of bees parce que parce qu elles ont gardé le dessus, 3 hein? because because they have kept the upper hand, you know? Je crois que c est aussi un bien. 4 I believe that that is also a good thing. 1 bien sûr = of course. sûr = sure. Tu es sûr? = You are sure? Bien sûr! = Of course! 2 Note that une maîtresse is the feminine form of un maître. Remember that worker bees are female. 3 le dessus = the top. avoir le dessus = to have the upper hand. garder le dessus = to keep control over the situation; to keep the upper hand. 4 un bien: a good thing. un bien can also mean a possession. J ai vendu tous mes biens. = I sold all of my possessions.