Learn French with this podcast clip from Balades ep. 1. This clip has 47 words in 18 seconds, how many can you understand? Try a quiz and practice your French!
Learn French with a podcast snippet! This clip is from Balades Episode 1. Listen and fill in what you hear below. Read more and find a translation below. Find the full podcast here.
I’m exaggerating a bit…
Let’s continue with lesson 13. We were just talking about the “kiss” and while this episode doesn’t mention la bise, which Isabelle started to discuss in Lesson 12.
She jokes it takes the morning, but it doesn’t, well actually it does. French people explaining the bise also seems to be something that is common sense, but hard to explain. And the humor that Isabelle has about it is always there.
There is even a website surveying French people to understand how many kisses is standard in every department of France, check the stats at Combien de Bises.
The self deprecating humor about their own culture, while also reverence to it is wonderful in this tiny clip. And the expressions like “quite normal” and “almost the whole morning” and, of course, “I’m exaggerating a bit” are all expressions I can use and get behind.
This was a more challenging block for me. It seems the speaker’s (Isabelle’s) pace picked up in these three sentences, in parts this clip flies through words I’m not familiar with, and phrases blur together in a flurry! Gotta press on, keep the loop going!
How much of this snippet are you understanding?
Can you only hear the articles or are you catching keywords?
What’s your favorite part about this?
There’s absolutely no way that I could get through an entire podcast in French without melting my brain, that’s why I broke it up into snippets like this. Join me for the next snippet.
The snippet in English
Find a translation of this snippet here, how much of this did you hear?
Vous allez me dire que cela est tout à fait normal. Bien sûr, vous avez raison, mais quand on travaille dans une grande entreprise avec beaucoup d’employés, cela prend presque toute la matinée. Bon d’accord, j’exagère un peu. Mais en tout cas, cela prend un certain temps.
You will tell me that this is quite normal. Of course you are right, but when you work in a large company with a lot of employees, it takes almost the whole morning. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit. But in any case, it takes a while.
The above text courtesy of Google Translate. Source
What does “j’exagère un peu” mean in French?
“J’exagère un peu” is a French phrase that translates to “I exaggerate a bit” in English. It means that the speaker is exaggerating, or being overly dramatic, about something they have said or done, and it’s not entirely accurate. It’s similar to saying “I’m exaggerating a little” or “I may be exaggerating a bit” in English.
Examples:
“Je dis que je suis épuisé, mais j’exagère un peu” (I say that I am exhausted, but I exaggerate a bit)
“Il a dit que c’était la pire chose qu’il ait jamais vue, mais je pense qu’il exagère un peu” (He said that it was the worst thing he had ever seen, but I think he exaggerates a bit)
“Il a dit que c’était facile, mais je pense qu’il exagère un peu” (He said it was easy, but I think he exaggerates a bit)
In general, “j’exagère un peu” is used to indicate that the speaker is exaggerating or being overly dramatic about something they have said or done, and it’s not entirely accurate. It’s a way of tone down the statement and not to be taken too seriously.
What words did I look up in this snippet?
What words did you have to look up in this clip?
tout à fait normal
Bien sûr
prend presque
toute la matinée
un peu
Mais en tout cas
un certain temps
What did you love about this?
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